The Circus is in Town?

Here's a picture of our Bearded Lady enjoying prunes for breakfast this morning.

She has not been a big fan of solid food, so far. She'll gladly take a bottle over it any time. But, the two items I've noticed that she doesn't mind too much are SQUASH and PRUNES....really? No, REALLY? Squash and prunes???

Flip Flops and Crawfish and Vows, Oh, MY!

Jay and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary today. I know 6 years isn't necessarily a long time in 'wedding years', but it sounds long to me, being that it seems like it was yesterday that we were getting married.

Before I get into how we celebrated, just a quick 'recap' of our wedding...it'll clear up the title of the post for those of you who might not get it.

Jay and I were married at Central Park in Lewisville, surrounded by our family and closest friends. Neither Jay nor myself have ever been big on formal affairs so we decided to take a more casual approach to our wedding. I wore a white blouse with white capri pants and wedding flip flops. Jay wore khaki pants and a black button-up shirt with black flip flops. All of our friends and family wore shorts, flip flops, sandals, etc... I remember when I told my mom what I was wearing she said, "Twenty years from now, are you really going to want to look back at wedding pictures of you in flip flops?" It's been 6 years so far, and I LOVE it! :)

Emily (my sister) was my Maid of Honor

Jim (Jay's brother) was his Best Man

We also wanted to do something that was fun and a little more casual as far as the reception was concerned, too. We all agreed that the only appropriate thing would be to have a big crawfish boil! Once the ceremony was over, in lieu of a fancy sit-down dinner reception, everyone enjoyed boiled crawfish, corn on the cob, and potatoes.

Our wedding cake: tiered cupcakes...YUM!!!!!!

The groom's cake: Jay's favorite...cheesecake

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Jay Praytor

It was such a great celebration that we were (and still are) so thrilled to have shared with family and friends.

The night of our wedding, we stayed at the Embassy Suites in Grapevine on the top floor. We didn't get much sleep that night, but not because of any typical 'wedding night behavior' :) The night we got married, was the same night of one of the biggest hail storms in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. All night, we could hear the golfball-sized hail bang against the window on the balcony and the glass rooftop of our suite! We were really lucky, though, because it wasn't until after we had left the park that the storm blew in. They always say it's good luck if it rains on your wedding day...I guess it's even better if it hails!!!!!!!!

Sooooooooooo, this weekend, Jay and I decided to have a low-key celebration. We brought the kids to my parents' house and headed off to dinner at Bob's Chop House. We had a wonderful meal, although at that stage in our life, any meal that is uniterrupted by potty breaks, pacifier searches or diaper changes is wonderful...even a burger from Micky D's! :)

After dinner, we contemplated checking out the nightlife, and probably should have, but we opted to get a good night's rest of uniterrupted sleep. In memory of our wedding day, we chose to spend the night at the Embassy Suites, again. It was so nice to be able to rest without worrying about whether or not the kids were going to wake up. So nice, in fact, that we were both WIDE AWAKE at 6:30 a.m.!!!!!!!!!!! BOOOOOOO! hahahah!

We enjoyed a quiet breakfast together and then headed off to Mass before picking up the kids.

Next year, we may not remember how we celebrated our anniversary, but I know we'll never forget our wedding day. It was the perfect day and I am I so thrilled to spend the rest of my days with Jay.

Jay - I love you more today than I did yesterday and I'll love you more tomorrow than I do today. Thank you for the best 6 years of my life (so far), for our two sweet, precious babies and for asking me to marry you. I love you. Happy Anniversary!!!!!!!!!!

Wet and Wild

Truett and Emma will both be starting swimming lessons within the next few weeks so today Emma experienced the day that every girl dreads once the weather starts warming up...bathing suit trying on day! Luckily for her, she looks great in whatever she wears!!! :)

My litte cherry blossom! :)


You can't really see it well in this pic, but there is a little tutu that goes around this bathing suit...C-U-T-E!!!!!!

Love the ruffles on the butt!
Emma loved trying on her suits. I can't wait for her to get in the pool for the first time. If she's anything like her big brother, she's going to LOVE it!

Potty Pics

I wanted to post some pics of Truett and his potty gear. :)

Here's Truett sporting his big boy underwear (and of course, his work goggles)
Squirt the Turtle from Nemo

Truett's boxer briefs...soooo cute! :)

Truett, Handy Manny, the Tools and his toolbox after a long, hard day of fixing things

Truett's a Big Kid Now!

I know my last post was supposed to be a recap of all of our events from the month of March, but I wanted our last big event to have a post of its own.

TRUETT IS USING THE POTTY!!!!!!!

As some of you may or may not know, I had tried potty training with Truett about 6 weeks ago. I had heard rave reviews about a book called Toilet Training in Less Than a Day. As soon as I heard about it, I ran out and bought it because, with a new baby in the house, I didn't have time for weeks of training.

So, I did what the book said and got rid of all the distractions in the house. I sent Emma to my mother-in-law's house for the day and Truett and I parked it on the kitchen floor.

I stocked up on treats, salty and sweet snacks, juice, milk, SODA (Sprite, but nonetheless...soda!). We had our potty AND our babydoll that wets...we were going to teach her how to use the potty before doing it ourselves! Yeah...you read right!

Anyway, the morning started out pretty well, until Truett decided that he was no longer in the mood for treats or drinks. According to this book, when the child has an accident, you're supposed to do 10 practice runs from different rooms in the house so that you can make sure he knows how to get to the potty, no matter where he is. Yeah, well, my child wasn't having accidents due to not knowing how to get to the potty. He wasn't even having accidents due to not getting to the potty on time. MY CHILD was having accidents due to the fact that he wasn't even ATTEMPTING to PRETEND like he was THINKING about TRYING to get to the potty!!!!!!!

After what seemed like 100 'practice runs', our potty training session finally ended the next morning with Truett and I both in tears and Truett yelling to me, "This is ruh-dic-a-lus!" That was when I decided he wasn't quite ready yet...YA THINK??? :)

Well, last Monday night, I was running a bath for the kids and all of a sudden, Truett starts yelling, "I did it! I did it!" I turn around and look and he had actually gone to the potty!!!! I couldn't believe it!

The next day, I sent him to school in a diaper, but as soon as we got home, and for the whole day the following day, I let him run around naked. Now, he knows he can't go to the bathroom on the floor, so I guess he figured if he has to put it somewhere, it might as well be the potty. :)

By Thursday night, he was wearing big boy underwear (still in a diaper at night and during naps). Tuesday, I decided to send him to school in big boy underwear. I was so nervous about it, especially since I know adults who have fears about going to the bathroom in public places. :) When I dropped him off, I brought him to the office to take a look at the treasure chest that the kids who are potty training get to pick a prize from if they stay dry all day. I let him have a good, long look to find the prize that he'd pick if he accomplished his goal.

When I picked him up, my heart sank when I saw him in different clothes than what he was wearing when I dropped him off, but I was pleased to hear that he had only had one accident. YAY! He didn't get to pick a prize from the treasure chest, but I got him an ice cream after school. :)

So, this morning when I brought him to school, I reminded him about his toy in the treasure chest. When I got to his school this afternoon, his class was still in the computer lab, so I immediately went to his backpack to see if there were still 2 extra changes of clothes. HIP HIP HOORAY...both of them were still there!!!!!

Just then, Truett and his class came out of the computer lab and I was soooo excited to see he was still wearing his little grey sweatpants I had put on him this morning!!!!

His teacher took him to the office to pick out his prize from the treasure chest...some sort of pig-looking animal holding a birdhouse-looking thing that lights up! hahaha!

We've also rewarded him with some Handy Manny toys...his FAVE! He sleeps with his tools every night and between he and Jay, I'll never have to worry about breaking something in the house again!!

We are soooo proud of Truett and RELIEVED that he has pretty much trained himself. I've always heard that kids will go to the potty when they're ready, but I didn't want to let Truett down by waiting for him to teach himself...not to mention the fact that I was getting tired of changing diapers for TWO kids everyday! :)

It's crazy to me just how big he seems to me now. I can't believe my sweet baby boy is growing up so fast. It's bitter sweet, but DEFINITELY more sweet than bitter!

Happy Birth/Circus/Western Day!

Being that I haven't really blogged about March and we're now heading into April, I figured I'd recap last month in one blog.

Here are some pics from my birthday party at my mom's house. My mom had called Jay and gave him 1 of 3 options for my birthday:
1. We could do a family birthday dinner at her house with all of us.
2. She and my dad could watch the kids while Jay and I went out to dinner.
3. Sarah could watch the kids while Jay, my parents and I went out to dinner.

After thinking about it, I chose option 1 because Truett is so into birthdays right now, I didn't want to leave him out.

So, we went over to my mom's. My dad made YUMMY lasagna and we had chocolate birthday cake...always a favorite!

No need to worry about the blazing fire on the cake...it was just the candles!
Everyone singing the Birthday Song (except John Daniel, who apparently was playing on my iPhone at the time...THANKS! :) )

Sarah and I

Truett and Aunt Emily enjoying some cake

John and Dan

Mom and Emma

Emily cleaning the kitchen. I'm not in the picture because it was my BIRTHDAY...no cleaning for me!!! :)

Truett's school has Western Days every year. They usually have a petting zoo, train ride, campfire, etc...The kids all dress in rodeo-wear (we are in Texas, after all). Here are a couple of pics of Truett before school that day.

Picture #1: Truett's pose when I say, "Let me get a picture of you in your outfit."

Picture #2: Truett's pose when I pretended to cry and be so sad because he wouldn't let me take his picture.

Don't judge me...it worked! :) hahahah!

We also, for the first time, took a family trip to the circus. Jay's mom and dad came along, too. Neither Jay nor I had been to the circus since we were kids, so we were pretty excited about going.

As soon as we walked through the entrance of the circus, there was a tent with three HUGE elephants just hanging out. Truett, at one point, was obsessed with Dumbo and then moved on to being obsessed with The Jungle Book. When he saw the elephants, he yelled, "O-M-GEEEE!"

Truett catching a glimpse of the elephants, up close and personal

Emma enjoying her time at the circus, taking it all in

Dancing poodles...one of the many typical acts at the circus

I've saved my favorite part for last...So, during intermission and after the show was over, they offered camel and elephant rides. Jay got in line and bought tickets for he and Truett to ride the elephant together. Truett was so fired up about...not so sure I can say the same for Jay! :)

There was another dad who had braved the elephant ride for the love of his kids, so while they rode, Truett and Jay stood in line, waiting their turn behind 5 other kids. The guy in charge started loading all of the kids onto one elephant, which I was happy about because when I saw he had only put the dad and his 2 kids on by themselves, I thought we'd be waiting forever for each of the 5 kids to take their own turn. I was also pretty excited because I figured it meant that Jay and Truett would get to ride by themselves.

Well, next thing I now, the guy is motioning for Jay to bring Truett up and Jay says that he's riding too. The guy keeps motioning for them to go up, so it ended up being Jay and Truett and the 5 other kids on this elephant...TOO FUNNY!

Not sure how soon we'll be heading back to the circus again, but it's always fun experiencing something with Truett for the first time. I guess we'll have to go again when Emma is older. :)