Potty Train (ed?)

Mission accomplished!

I've been without transportation for a month or so (Randy takes the car to work every day), so since its no fun to go places with a potty trainee in tow, we figured it was a good time to train her. Ruby's out of a diaper, and lovin' every minute of it!

She really was pretty awesome to train.--Nighttime and naps included.

Here she is with the bribery: panties to wear and a candy bar!!!

(one for her and one for Anne--in the hopes that Anne would be helpful and encouraging)

A Chart to record successes. She loved putting stickers on it!

SUCCESS!!! They were hers for the taking.

Here is the finished chart. She chose to ignore the days and use the corners, as you can see.

Whatever, as long as she's motivated to use the potty, right?

Woo hoo!! Back to only one in diapers at our house. Phew.

North East

When we went to Iowa we didn't think we would miss it much when we left, but we were wrong. We loved Ames: the many great parks, the amazing children's section of the public library, the good and inspiring people we got to know, the fun storms (although we are grateful we missed the flooding).

The girls handled the packing pretty well thanks to several friends that watched Anne and Ruby while we did the majority of the packing. Thanks!!!

We left Ames about 6:30 in the p.m. and went straight to Raleigh, NC to Megan's sister Jane's house. We got there at about 8:00 p.m., not too shabby.
We had breakfast in Kentucky (I think).

We had fun with Jane and her family for the weekend. Megan and I left for North East, MD Tuesday morning while Anne and Ruby stayed at Jane's for the week. They didn't miss us much but we were glad to see them Saturday.

Upack failed to inform me that the truck was delayed on Monday and wouldn't be able to make my appointment Tuesday afternoon. So Megan slept on an air mattress we had with us and I slept on the floor.

The apartment is quite new and we have brand new carpet. It didn't take long for Ruby to draw on it while our backs were turned. Thanks mom for the little bissel... it came right out :).

We found a beach nearby on the Chesapeake Bay. The water was quite warm, 70-80 degrees. Anne did NOT enjoy the sea grass floating in the water, but se really liked the sand and the warm water.

Lucy is getting pretty chubby. She has come to life since we moved here, which is fun but tiring.

This was Ruby's lunch the other day... after she was done eating.

The girls like eating on the patio and the door is a bit heavy for them.

Swimin' what?

We were hoping that the security clearance for Randy's new job at Aberdeen Proving Grounds would be through by now. But the HR department that processes the forms before the security clearance can be processed has been SLOW. Randy finally received the security clearance forms on Wednesday morning. He spent the whole day filling them out and sent them in first thing yesterday morning. They tell us it usually takes about two weeks before people are cleared with a working clearance - which would put us hearing back from them a few days before the end of the month. (Dare we hope for a quick return? I'm not holding my breath.) However, our lease is up this month. So we are moving forward and have finally set a moving date for the last Wednesday of this month. We have had that calm assurance that everything will work out in the end. So even though it sounds a little crazy that we might be moving to Maryland before knowing that the job is a go, it doesn't feel crazy to us.

Here are few pictures of the girls having fun in the boxes we have been collecting.

And no post would be complete these days without a picture of the newbie:

As requested

More pictures:

And just to clarify, yes, we blessed her at 3 days old--before our parents had to leave. Randy gave a really nice blessing!

A musician??

Oh, the sisterly love!

Lucy at 1 week

Anne and Ruby have done really well with the adjustments. It's not pure bliss or anything, but all-in-all, not bad at all! This is the tea party I found in the kitchen after feeding the baby. I love it.

And last but not least, here she is in her Sunday duds! It's so fun to dress her up!

I feel so blessed! Heavenly Father knew just what I needed right now. I was worried (and so was Randy) that things would be too crazy right now. Randy has been really busy finishing things up with school, so it has been such a relief to have such an easy baby. We've got some really busy weeks ahead of us too. To be continued...

The Arrival

Here are the pictures. No order. Self explanatory.

Things have happened...

Grandma and Grandpa arrived so we showed them the willows. But here's a picture of us.

Grandpa read books and books.

Grandma brought sticker earrings for the girls!!

We waited for Grandma and Grandpa Tovey to arrive to celebrate.

Happy Birthday to Ruby!

She is glad to be able to tell you she's two. (It's a piggy cake.)

Bocce and Art

Every year on Memorial Day the Elder's Quorum of the Ames 1st Ward has a get together where where we bring snacks and have a Bocce Challenge. Yes, bocce ball. I had never heard of bocce ball before arriving in Ames, but it's pretty big in this ward. Last year I was too busy with the girls to compete, but this year I was the runner up (by one point). Since the winner had recently moved to North Carolina (his sister was getting married and he was visiting), I am now the holder of the trophy which is prominently displayed in my entry way as outlined under the Rules of Engagement of the Bylaws Governing Award of the Russell Trophy. Yes, it's a serious matter here.

Anne and Megan were drawing pictures of each other a few days ago. Anne's picture has a description as she described to Megan after finishing. (I think she captured Megan's belly well, don't you?) Then she asked Megan to draw a picture.

Too bad Ruby got a few marks on Megan's head with the crayon when no body was looking.