Random Cute Pictures and Funny Quotes from May

Silly, silly, silly! Rockstar glasses
We match
Reading with Josiah
Underwear!!
Softie can go potty, too

Yummy popsicle

Belly button!! This is a great place to sit Caught that thumb!
I'm a little jealous of those eyelashes
Love the hat!!

Sitting in the fireplace Playing in the sprinkler Gotta love that dirty face! Swimming
Micah helps Conner color
I'm not sure that I could have put those magnets on the fridge any more neatly!

"Micah gwoke it." Yes, he somehow pulled the closet door down! (But don't look inside the messy closet!)

Micah: "Nee new diaper, Dad. Got poopy e-rywhere. Nee see it."

Conner: "I think I need a reading machine. It would have no buttons. You just turn it on and it reads to you."

Rachel: "If it doesn't have any buttons, how would you turn it on?"

Conner: "It just has a switch...you're my best reading machine, Mom." Not real sure where my reading switch is...

Micah: “Ha-uh Mudder Diee!” (Happy Mother’s Day)

Conner: “Mom, today at school we watched the movie where Jesus said, “Peace, be still.” Then those mean guys called Jesus a frog. Why did they call him a frog?” You think maybe he meant “fraud?!”

Conner: “Mommy, when you cry it makes me cry a little bit, too. I think you need to cuddle with me and then maybe take a little nap.”

At the dinner table one night:

Micah: "Micah gwo up." (Micah throw up.)

Conner: "Yuck."

Micah: "Micah gwo up ye-yo." (yellow)

Conner: "EEW! What if you threw up black?"

Micah: "Micah gwo up back."

Conner: "Whoa."

Micah: "Micah gwo up gween."

Conner: "EEW! What if you threw up pink?"

Micah: "Micah gwo up pee."

Conner: "EEW! What if you threw up white?"

Micah: "Micah gwo up wy."

Conner: "EEW! What if you threw up red?"

Micah: "Micah gwo up re."

Conner: "EEW! What if you threw up blue?"

Micah (suddenly angry): "NO!! Micah gwo up YE-YO!!"

Oh...my...goodness...I'm sure this is just the beginning...

While eating corn dogs for lunch:

"Conner, did you know that when I was a little girl, we used to call them corny dogs?"

"Well I'm going to call them porny dogs!"

Um...yeah... We called Daddy and let him handle that one!

Conner: "Mommy, I made Josiah smile!"

Mommy: "He's smiling at you because he loves you."

Conner: "No, Mommy, I made him smile."

Mommy: "He likes to hear you talk to him."

Conner: "No, Mommy. I made him smile. I pushed his cheeks up like this!"

Micah: "Not Gwe Gwe. Gammie. It's Gammie. Not Gwe Gwe."

I know she's excited he can say Gammie now, but I'm really a little sad! :(

Conner to Bret: "Dad, look at the game I'm playing. This is the jail for the good guys."

Bret: "Why is there a jail for the good guys?"

Conner: "Because the bad guys put them in there."

Bret: "Bad guys don't put you in jail, only the police do when you've done something bad."

Conner: "Well bad guys put Paul and Silas in jail and they weren't bad."

Bret: "Good point. Nice jail."

After Micah went potty, we were on our way to get the candy in the Easter eggs. I pulled one out, and he angrily said:

"No Ee-der egg, Mom. Micah want co chee (cottage cheese)!!" Okay...

I Just Swimmed Like a Champ and Goodbye to Whitney

There were no swimming lessons today - we just have them Monday through Thursday this week and next. So this afternoon, I asked Conner to write a story about them for me. He typed the first line by himself, and then he dictated while I typed. (He wanted his story to be red!)

i had too swym too mi techr but i wuz a litl skard but i didint senc A LITL BIT
(I had to swim to my teacher but I was a little scared but I didn't sink a little bit.)

Miss Paige just holded me and I had to try to touch the bottom with my feet and toes. I did it! I wanted to do it two more times.

I looked under the water and blowed my bubbles and kicked my feet. I just swimmed like a champ! Summer is my best friend in my class. There was two more kids. Their names was called Tucker and Riley. That's pretty much all!
I love his little story!

Bret watched Joey for us (thank you, thank you, thank you, babe!!), and Micah was so cooperative. We got there early each day to play in the kiddie pool, and then when Conner went to the big pool for lessons, Micah sat with me and ran around the pole,
drank the water from the water gun (gross, I know), and ate (yes that's a big sandwich...he'll finally eat a sandwich that's not cut up into little "snails"...wonderful, but a little sad...)
Since there were no swimming lessons today, I thought we would just stay home -- something we hadn't done in a long time. I thought I'd try to get some "cool mom points" while I was at it, so I completely rearranged the living room furniture and made a tent. Micah loved it, but Conner was mad because it didn't look like a jail. He whined pretty much the rest of the morning... and by the end of the day the game was over because he discovered that the blankets don't hold you up when you lay on the part that's between the backs of the couches! I guess I only got 1/2 a "cool mom point." (sorry...the pictures didn't really turn out) I don't think Joey was feeling just great, and Micah had kind of a rough potty training day, so...

...after Bret came home this evening, I nearly ran out the door when Angela came to pick me up to go out with the girls. I must admit, the break was really nice, and I have to brag on Bret -- all three kiddos were asleep when I got home, and he had cleaned up most of the mess that I had left, including moving the couches back! We had Mexican food with Whitney.

She is moving next week, and we will miss her and her sweet, fun family so much. Whitney, we will so miss your quick smile, funny stories, and eagerness to take a baby. Even though we're leaving, too, we will sorely miss you guys. Thanks for a wonderful evening, ladies -- good talks, good laughs, mostly good food, good friends. Carrie, I am so sorry about your camera (I dropped it in Whitney's soup!!). I will be checking on it tomorrow, and perhaps be taking you shopping for a new one... Angela, thanks for posting these pics a little while ago so that I could snatch them! :)

Aggie's Wedding Pictures (Round 1 - Dinner and Rehearsal)

It's finally happened...Tiffany Wells is now Tiffany Strong!! Conner and Micah still call her Aggie, though, so that's what I'll call her from here on out...

I was so proud of myself that I did a better job of taking some pictures with my own camera than I did at Lydia's wedding...then I looked at them, and they are all of my boys. I don't think I have a single picture of Aggie and Uncle Kevin together. What a bad sister I am -- I'm so sorry, Tiff! Maybe when/if you get some digital ones you can share, and I'll post them, too. But, for now, I will post what I have, including a few I snatched Krystal's blog and Kelly's facebook. Thanks, ladies.

I'm just going to post the pictures that I have and do my best to tell the wedding story from the perspective of the Wells Brothers.

Conner and Micah made the "Jist Mared" sign you see above. Conner wrote and spelled everything by himself. The purple guy with the horns on his head is Sully from Monsters, Inc. Mike Wazowsky (I have no idea if that's how you spell it!) is just below him and to the right in very light, bright green, really hard to see. Micah added a few scribbles in the bottom right corner, that I framed in orange to protect them (and then, of course, I cut most of them off with the camera!) The intention was for the poster to go on their truck as they were leaving. Sometimes I get the best ideas when I'm totally desperate for something to keep these guys busy! But once again I failed as a good sister and left the poster at Gammie's house. :(

After a crazy trip to Singleton (see "We're Back") I got to spend most of the day Friday with the bridal party getting pampered. Manis, pedis, and a delicious lunch for all! Thanks, Aggie. Conner and Micah got to have a "Man Day" with Bret, Uncle Adam, and Poppy...which I think actually turned into running a bunch of errands. Joey hung with me and politely watched as we got our nails done and ate lunch. Then everyone was off to the Kimbro Center to set up and decorate for the reception. Let me just say that I will always appreciate perfectly ironed tablecloths a little more after that experience!

We left the Kimbro Center only half-finished (if that much), ran home to change clothes, and then were off to the rehearsal dinner. (I know, that's a little backwards...she did it that way because we thought we would be waiting for Bret to make it in from Abilene...but he ended up being able to come on Thursday night.) I think my playground kharma rubbed off on her, because (among a few other things) they got to the church only to find that a breaker had been flipped as they were trying to cook dinner...and the breakers were in a locked shed that eventually had to be broken into! The spaghetti ended up being worth waiting for, though.

As we were waiting for the okay to load up our plates, Micah went right to work with the marbles on the table. This is funny because it's exactly what he did at Bubba's rehearsal dinner a few weeks ago. He even remembered to fish for them after dinner in his ice cup!Conner sat with his Aunt Caroline and drew pictures of animals.You just can't go wrong with chocolate bon bons and eclairs for dessert!Joey took a little nap before he woke up and made the rounds. He was oh, so cute in his little hat! Aggie, you can shop for them anytime!!Then there were the gifts. Bret got paid with a bag full of pennies, which Micah helped him receive.Krystal, the maid of honor, put together a beautiful book of Tiffany's bridal portraits (which Krystal took), and letters from all of her bridesmaids. What a cool idea.
Aggie also put together some little "busy bags" for the kids. They were wonderful to have -- they certainly kept them busy. During the rehearsal Conner and Micah both drug all of their stuff out to play with. Here was Micah's pew by the end of the evening:...and Conner's:We tried so hard to pick all of the pez, markers, crayons, and stickers up after both the rehearsal and the wedding ceremony...but I'm afraid the members of the Singleton Church may be finding the remnants forever.The brothers actually did quite well during the rehearsal. They followed instructions, who could really ask for more? Who knew how they would do for the actual ceremony, though!

At Bubba's wedding, it was Conner who was all about the flower girl. But look out Conner, Micah was the lady's man this time! Jenna, or as Micah calls her, Ee-na, was just as cute as could be. She held his interest so much that he actually sat right there by her nearly the whole time.Conner did try to make a move or two on his own, but she only had eyes for Micah (except for when we were taking pictures and actually asked her to sit by him...then she couldn't get far enough away!) And then Micah discovered the Pez candy. I don't know what we would have done if I hadn't grabbed that silly little cup for him to carry the Pez around in. Once he discovered that, it was all about the Pez.

The rehearsal was a typical rehearsal...a little chaotic, a little stressful, but mostly successful in that everyone at least had somewhat of an idea what they were supposed to do by the end! :) Went it was over, I went home to put babies to bed (after, of course, the Gammie's-house-ritual of a bowl of Lucky Charms before bed), the girls went to finish decorating the Kimbro Cener, and who knows what the boys did!

Pictures from the ceremony and reception coming soon...

Micah, Will You PLEASE Go Potty Again?!

Yes, that's what we were hearing by the end of the day...Conner was loving getting candy everytime Micah put something in the potty!

Micah ended the day yesterday with only one big accident...not too bad. Today went perfectly (I think, anway...who knows what happened in the kiddie pool at swimming lessons this morning!) until after his nap. I had been setting the timer for 30 minutes, asking him to go everytime it beeped. I guess it was the big cup of milk he had before he went to sleep, I don't know, but reminding him every 30 minutes all of the sudden became not often enough. We had five big accidents, including two #2's (ugghh!), before we got back on track again, finally figuring out that we needed to set the timer for every 20 minutes. Gosh, 20 minutes goes by fast! When Bret got home a little after 5:00, instead of having dinner waiting for him as usual, I was still trying to figure out what in the world we were going to have.

He's wearing big boy undies (the pull-ups are for when we are out), and really doesn't it like it when they are wet. That means it's more messy for me, but everyone I've talked to that's done it this way had their kids good to go relatively quickly. That's what worked for Conner, and I know each kid is different, but I'm hoping this will work for Micah, too. He seems to be bothered by the wet/dirty undies much more than Conner ever was. I think part of the problem is that he gets so excited when anything comes out that he isn't able to get everything out at any one sitting. Hopefully in the next couple of days, the new will start to wear off and we will start making the transition from potty training Mommy (me having to remind him every 20 minutes) to potty training Micah (him telling me when he needs to go).

Until then, I'm trying to enjoy all of the time I'm spending sitting on the edge of the bathtub, watching him discover this wonderful thing called potty training. He plays, he talks, he goes, he looks ("Wook, Mom. Two ca-wuts!!" (carrots - what he's calling the #2's!)). I am so glad that we have what I thought was waaaaay too many pairs of little boy undies, and I may have to make another candy trip to the grocery store. Even with only three little skittles per egg, two eggs every 20 minutes ends up being a lot of candy! Maybe he'll go for some yogurt raisins or something...

Sorry there's no pics. The ones I've got are not appropriate to post on the web! I'll try to keep you posted on the progress.

Wii Had a Memorial Swimming Old McPotty Day

Today was Memorial Day, which means that Bret had a very-much-needed day off from work. (Yes, he's just been out of the office, out of town, out of state for the past week -- but he hardly had a day off!)

To kick the day off, we went to Franco's to swim a little and for Conner's first day of swimming lessons. He blew lots of bubbles for his teachers. (This was the very exciting, major accomplishment of swimming lessons last year.)

He still remembered how to kick those little legs, too.
I tended to Joey, trying to keep him from baking in the heat, and Micah and Bret did a little kicking of their own.
The morning wouldn't be complete without a little excitement. We inadvertently learned that Conner can very quickly be lured away by a new friend to the 2-story water slide (which he loved) and when necessary, can kick well enough to keep his head above the water long enough for the lifeguard to rescue him!

Oh. My. Goodness.

And, by the way, the froggie slide looked wonderful with it's fresh coat of paint. Maybe it was worth not being able to swim the last time we came so that we wouldn't have to slide down a diseased-looking tongue!

Before:

After:

(That's Micah in there -- he wouldn't go down the slide, he only wanted to sit there.)

Then it was back home for Micah to take a nap. While he was sleeping Bret and Conner ran a few errands. They came home with a Diego game for the Wii that they had rented at Blockbuster, and Bret, after finally having saved enough dollars, came home with Guitar Hero!!

While Bret and Conner were gone and Micah was asleep, Joey and I decided that it was time for him to discover the joys of "Old McMicah." Old McMicah is one of those little baby gym things that you put on the floor, lay them in, and bask in a few moments of freedom while they are entertained by music and little toys dancing above their heads. Ours was new for Micah, and has farm animals...thus the name. Joey did not disappoint -- he kicked and smiled and cooed and squealed like I'd never heard him do before. I just don't know if it will ever be able to become "Old McJoey," though!Soon, Micah woke up and it was our turn to go out. He and I had a potty shopping date. Micah has been so very interested in the potty, and increasingly bothered by wet and dirty diapers. It looks like now is the time. We went to "Tah-git" where he picked out cars pull-ups, Elmo undies,

and some "potty candy." (Gummy worms -- just for you, Poppy!, Chocolate Skittles, and Chewy Sweet-tart minis) Now, I know that all of the books and magazines say not to reward them with candy. The reward of going in the potty and your praise should be enough. Maybe so, but I can still remember nearly 25 years ago when Jodi, my youngest sister, was potty training. Everytime she put something in the potty, all of us got to have an Easter egg with some kind of treat in it. Mom had the help of the older three siblings constantly begging Jodi to go to the potty. It worked with Conner...no reason not to try it with Micah. Hopefully it will be a way for me to get Conner's help, too!

Then it was hot dogs, always a crowd-pleaser, for dinner (probably the only memorial day-ish thing we did all day!) and kids in bed on time for the first time in a week! Monday nights are date night...usually Bret cooks steaks on the pit and then we watch a movie or play a game. Tonight it was hot dogs and Guitar Hero. I must admit, I think I see what all the hype is about. (Angela and Carrie!)

Thank you to all of those who have sacrificed, and are still sacrificing so much, so that we can have the freedom of enjoying all of the simple little pleasures of life.