Erin Go Bragh!

Considering my name means "Ireland," is it any surprise that St. Patrick's Day is a well-loved holiday in the Winters' home?

My three little leprechauns:

Aubree and I took a week off from our standard Five in a Row Curriculum, and spent this week reading, learning, and doing activities about Ireland and St. Patrick's day.  I've been amazed at the great Irish legends and tales we've discovered.  Apparently literature is a big deal to the Irish. 

This afternoon Aubree invited over a couple friends (identical twins) to help her decorate Shamrock cookies. 

We finished off the day with (what else?) a green dinner.  We even ventured to make Irish Soda bread, which the kids liked well enough.  The big hit of the day, though?  Green jello. 

Cursed

My blog is cursed.  

It seems whenever I post about something that's going great, it immediately falls to pieces.

Sleeping well?  Cue Teething.

Thane's top two front teeth are trying to poke through and apparently are causing quite a bit of discomfort.  He only sleeps well after having a dose of Tylenol.  And even that's not a guarantee.  Last night he was awake from 2:30 - 5:30 am.  Cursed blog!

So, you can imagine my reluctance to tell you about Bryce's success with potty training.  

I'm not going to write about how, faced with a looming third birthday, we decided to finally get serious (a.k.a. get a sticker chart) about potty training.  

 I'm definitely not going to post about how one day something clicked in Bryce's brilliant brain and he told me, "Mom! The pee started to come out and I stopped it."  Nor will I tell you how that moment turned the potty training tides so that he is now officially a Big Boy.

 I will tell you that he still has occasional accidents (the most recent right before bed tonight), because I won't mind at all if that reverses itself and he stops having accidents.  

But, no, I absolutely refuse to post about how wonderful it is to no longer have to change stinky, nasty, poopy big boy diapers. 

Because, don't you know? My blog is cursed!

Wild Thane (I think I love you...)

Thane is nine months old now.  He's at the remarkable age where he's just on the cusp of communicating (he signs "milk" and babbles "mama" and "dada") and walking.  His awareness of the world is growing at light speed.  He's the kind of kid who loves to see new things and be in the middle of the action.  He hates to sleep; perhaps he's afraid he might miss something interesting.

 The week after we got home from Tahoe, Thane made several big developmental leaps - he started crawling "for real," learned to go from crawling to sitting and back again (one of my most favorite developmental feats), learned to stand up in his crib (one of my least favorite developmental skills), and learned to pull himself up to a standing position anywhere.  Now (two months later) he's proficient in all those skills and has started to try standing on his own.  He cruises along the furniture with ease and I'm torn between thinking he'll be walking any day or that he'll never walk because he's always bouncing.

The boy never stops moving.  He's always been a mover and a shaker (bouncer?).  Giving Thane a bath is a bit like trying to bathe a boat with it's motor on. It took my a while, but I finally realized that I could give him a bath all by himself (instead of with his older siblings) and only put in an inch of water (yeah, I'm a little slow sometimes).  Makes bath time much easier. "Spin and flip all you want, kiddo."

 We've also finally (finally!!) reached the point where he will sleep.  Some days are better than others, but usually I can get him to take two reasonable naps a day.  I know that should be normal, but Thane fought long and hard against naps and bedtime, and with the Big Move, I couldn't be predictable enough to fight back effectively.  Thankfully, we've gotten into a good routine.  Now he goes to bed at 6:30 pm and seems to be a much happier, calmer babe as a result.  I know I'm a much happier and calmer mom.  Last night was the very first night he slept the whole night. 

*Celebration!*  

Crossing my fingers for a repeat performance.

 Thane's a lucky kid in that he's got two older siblings who love to play; there's no shortage of activity to watch or dive into.  He's learning it's usually best to steer clear of Bryce, who doesn't prefer Thane getting into his toys (and has a nasty habit of pushing Thane over), but the boys do have one game they've created that's hilarious.  The kids dubbed it "Chase." It involved Bryce pulling his Lego trains around the living room as fast as he can while Thane earnestly pursues.  Aubree alternately cheers for both boys.  I have the best job...I've been assigned to sit back and laugh.  Really!  That's my assignment!

Thane loves to smile and laugh, and is so cute, clever, persistent, and energetic.  Wild Thane, we DO love you. (cue the cheesy music...)

Feast Upon the Words of Christ

One of our family's main goals this year was to be better about family scripture study.  This ties in wonderfully with the Primary's focus this year on scripture study.  Each month the Primary has a different scripture theme.  For January, the scripture was 2 Nephi 32:3 which reads, "Feast upon the words of Christ, for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do."

So we made a Plan. And threw in a sticker chart (I love sticker charts).  And an incentive.  Once we reached our goal of having family scripture study for thirty days, we got to "Feast upon the words of Christ."

Book of Mormon cupcakes.  Simple, yet extremely effective.  When Aubree saw the cupcakes, she trilled, "this is the most exciting day of my whole life!!"

Dramatic much?

Scripture study is pretty short and sweet (usually we just read and discuss a verse or two), but we've added an element of memorization to our nightly gatherings.  We recite the primary theme of the month and also focus on a scripture of the week (so far, that's been the Articles of Faith).  Aubree's memorization skills are sharp and swift.  We've also been impressed with Bryce's ability to pick up on the repeated scriptures.  Turns out he can run in circles AND listen. 

 And an outtake:

Now the task is to keep it up.  We're pretty good about making Plans and getting started.  Could use some improvement in the "follow-through" stages.  Somebody ask me how it's going in another 2 months, kay?

White Winters

It's been snowing all day today.  Last week the sunny, almost-warm weather tricked me into thinking it was nearly Spring.  Old Man Winter is laughing at me now.

Mark came home from work early hoping to avoid the 5-hour commute he endured during the last snow storm (of course, as soon as he got home, the sun came out again and melted all the snow from the roadways - go figure).  The minute he walked in the door, Aubree begged, "can we please go out and build a snowman, PLEASE?"

They tromped outside and by scraping up ALL the snow from the patios, were able to make a pile of snow just large enough for a pseudo-snowman.  I tried to take a picture, but my camera has given up the ghost.  

Instead, here are some pictures of our last snow escapades, when we were in Tahoe (and this is the final Tahoe post - promise).

Posing at a park right on the shore of South Lake Tahoe:

One of my all-time favorite Bryce pictures:

Everyone with a baby strapped to (or, in Paula's case, growing inside) their belly (Thane slept the entire time we were at the park):

Bryce spent his time at the park trying to throw snowballs into the lake.

My wonderful Aunt Becky (who we were lucky enough to have come visit us with her kids) didn't want Bryce to go overboard and kept a tight grip on his coat.

                                  

Aubree finally got to build her snowman.

Seth decided to take a walk on the wild side.  See the snow floating in the water?  That's what detached from the rest of the bank when he walked out on it.  I think Seth just delighted in causing the rest of us to freak out.  Bryce appreciated having an extra snowball target.

Uncle Sean pulling the big girls (Aubree, Kylee, and Killian) on the sled (Aubree thought that was fun until he tried to pull them up the stairs...):

 

And finally, a great Aubree pic too:

Addiction

I knew we had a problem the first night we were in Tahoe.  After putting the kids to bed, Aubree called me back to the room.  I found her sobbing.  "I can't go to sleep without Daddy," she wailed, "I need Crack!"  I can't sleep without Craaaaaaaaack!" 

My siblings looked concerned.  "She can't sleep without crack?" 

"Yes," I conceded, "it's true.  Aubree's addicted to Crack and Mark's her supplier."

***

It began innocently enough.  Mark was putting Aubree to bed and cracked his knuckles.  Aubree giggled, "do it again!"  So he did the other hand.  "More!" she pleaded.  

The next night she asked again and soon they'd developed a regular routine.  Dad cracked everything he could and Aubree's job was to keep count.  "Wow!" I'd overhear, "15 tonight!  Good job, Dad!"  

When Mark was gone at bedtime, I proved a poor substitute - turns out I can only reliably crack my jaw and maybe a couple toes.  "Three," Aubree would count, barely hiding her disappointment, "uh, that's good, Mom."

From the other room Bryce pipes up, "Did you hear that?!  I cracked my toe!!"  He likes Crack too.  

Apparently, it's addicting.

Graff Family Photos

One of our top priorities at Tahoe was getting family pictures taken.  Here are some of my favorite shots:

The Whole Crew (minus Mark):

 The Whole Crew in typical form:

The Originals:

Siblings, in age-order:

Grandparents with the grandkids:

Just the grandkids (perhaps this wasn't the best plan...):

The behind-the-scenes of the grand-kid shot:

The 2010 babies:

 The "older" cousins:

Bryce's preferred pose:

Just my adorable kidlets: