In My Defense

Ok Scotty, I REALLY didn't want to have to do this, but after the many phone calls I have received in the last 2 days as a result of your blog...it looks like I have no choice.

Reese rushes to use the potty before bed

She makes a poop.

And gets a new care bear.

Well there you go...physical proof that i reward my child for making poopies.
Tyrannical dictator I think not!


Also...consider the first 2 pictures of the bathroom the "before" pictures. I'm going to scrape the ceilings, tile the floor, build up the tub wall and add a shower, and install a white toilet...eventually.

Potty Prizes

Well It was an eventful day. Yesterday, Quincy started crawling...and she is ON THE MOVE! Life with a dirty floor is over as I know it. It's crazy to think that just two weeks ago I had loose screws, razor blades and barbie shoes on my kitchen floor. It's no longer safe to leave things lying around that Quincy might eat. Exciting day for her, sad sad day for me.

In other news, Reese potty trained herself yesterday. I put her in underwear and told her not to pee in them. Then I told her i had a bag of prizes in my closet and every time she "made a poop" or "went pee pee" in the toilet, she could choose one. But if she peed in her underwear, she would have to put the prize back in the bag. One accident is all it took. (yes it was a SAD moment when i pried one of Ariel's mermaid sisters from her kung fu death grip and put it back in the bag)

Now we are on day two and have successfully made it through a play date at a friends house with 4 potty uses, no accidents and no prizes either. horray!


I had a picture of reese on the toilet saying "ta-da!" as well as a picture of her first little dookie in the toilet...but decided to spare you all the graphics. Just know that it has been a very exciting two days!

Civil War at the Farmers Market

We went to the farmers market on Saturay morning. We had fun walking around the different booths looking at the crafts and produce that various vendors had brought it. The farmers market happens every saturday morning, but this was our first time to go check it out.

Reese in the fountain again. Her tutu was pretty much soaked by the time we left.

This week also happened to be the "sneak peek" show of the upcoming Civil War reenactment scheduled for october. How about that? I might have paid attention in history class if I'd had one of these guys teaching instead of freaky old Ms. Ghezzi. It was actually interesting.

These guys are hardcore...and quite proud of their confederate history. We will, of course be posting photos of the actual reenactment in October when we attend.

AnyTown USA

It's official. Bentonville, Ar is AnyTown USA. Either that or Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls. Every Friday evening until an hour after the sun goes town, all the local musicians gather together in the town square for "Pickin' On The Square" Basically everyone pulls out their bass, fiddle, guitar, banjo and harmonica and have a little bluegrass jam session. There is a great big fountain in the center of town square that keeps the sound from traveling very far, so little groups gather at each corner of the square and can play simultaneously without disturbing one another. It was incredible! We ran into a bunch of people from aaron's work (no surprise there) and several members of our ward. Reese also pet her first dog tonight...without being pressured to do so! Maybe having Sundance and Gwen around last week left a positive influence on her. Anyway, here are some pics we took tonight...hope you enjoy them as much as we do. Anyone who comes to visit will have to experience an evening on the square. My description just doesn't give it justice.


How about the guy on the far right? What's that hat all about? Anyone know the name of the instrument he's playing?

Reese had more fun playing in the fountain than listening to the music!

These guys sang a few songs that everyone (but us) seemed to know and a lot of people sang along. All i can say about that is 'when i get ta heavin' i gonna sing sing sing'.

If you look closely, you can see the famous Walton 5andDime. It was Sam Walton's original store, where Walmart was born. Next to that is a great art studio, and next to that (and most important) is the Station Cafe, which is a burger place that has the BEST chocolate milkshake I have ever had in my entire life. They make a mean grilled ham n cheese as well.

For the record, Aaron hates these sunglasses, but Quin was too cute in this picture not to post it.

These people had a 10 yr old kid that would sing and yodel for them. The "lady" on the far right in the trucker hat smoked about a thousand cigarettes tonight and would sing with one hung out on her bottom lip at all times. Two of the guys played harmonicas and spoons (yes, spoons!) and people got up and danced once in awhile

Reese gives me a private performance of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. How 'come none of those banjo guys joined in with her? She was a lot better than some of the glory glory ladies.

We took this photo early in the evening...after another hour this view would have held a little quartet on the bench, and two other groups in the far corners-we were in front of the "smoker lady" group when this was taken.

This fiddle guy was awesome. Plus, he would sing and play at the same time!

Reese tells daddy a "secret"

Quincy is sitting up and trying to clap.

Yellowstone and Old Faithful

While out west on our family vacation, we took a little drive through Yellowstone. Reese and Quincy really enjoyed seeing all the birds, elk, buffalo, rivers and geysers.

Here we are in very windy yellowstone. Quincy was asleep in the van with grandpa.

It was such a beautiful day!

Old Faithful. Hey Dad (grandpa), is that a bald spot I see?

Here we are in front of Old Faithful as it finished erupting ..which wasn't as big as I had remembered it being, but it was incredibly windy that day and i guess that can affect the geyser as well. We had a nice little day trip-even though aaron didn't get to go flyfishing (that day) and i missed out on Annie Get Your Gun at the playmill theatre in West Yellowstone we still just really enjoyed having another day to spend with family. It is so fun to watch our girls discover the world that is around them that we almost forget that we've been there before! And Aaron didn't get us lost once! (he did manage to get himself lost in the Madison River flyshop for about 40 minutes on the way home though! Luckily, new hat and t-shirt came to the rescue and helped him navigate his way to the register and eventually back to the car)

Almost Done!

The grout is in! I am more than extatic to say that my tile project is complete. Horray! All i have to do now is put the light switch covers back on the outlets (with the power unnecessarily turned off...better safe than sorry, again) and paint. I have a few surface cracks from settling, etc to fix first....and if aaron and i could ever agree on a paint color this would be much easier. The grout dried darker than anticipated but i am still very happy with it! I can't wait to decorate with my lettering above the cabinets now!



The blue tape is there because I still need to paint the kickboards black under the cabinets.


Any suggestions for what to do about the window casing? I can't decide whether i should stain it to match the floors, paint it white like the rest of the door casings and baseboards, or black like the cabinets.



This probably doesn't look much different than the picks without grout...but trust me, it's fabulous! ...and hard as cement, it should last a loooong time. My friend just got her real estate license and said that a tile countertop adds $2000-$2500 to the value of your home. Plus your house will sell faster without yellow laminate. Cost of doing it myself: 300 bucks! woop woop!

Mommy's Helper

As many of you know, I have a small obsession with old windows and old doors. It started after owning a near 100 year old home. When our home in Green Bay was built, a door wasn't just a door, it was something beautiful to look at before you entered a room and windows weren't just functional elements to let in light and fresh air, but beautiful frames for the views they created. Anyway, i found this particular crusty old door and fell in love with it...broken window and all. I'm sure it's full of lead paint and will poison my children if they suck on it, so they'll have to stick to the old teething ring instead. I had to find a place for it in my home, but old doors do not fit the door frames of homes built in the late 1970's, so I turned the door into a chalkboard and added a cute little vinyl bistro sign. Here is Reese checking my measurements (with her own tape measure) for the chalkboard to make sure they are right.





Here is the (almost) finished product. I'm going to anchor it to the wall after we paint. Quincy is creeping everywhere and i don't want it to come down on her, it weighs like 40 pounds! I haven't tried out the chalkboard yet, hopefully it really works!