1st Successful *not really* Potty Time!

Yay! Here's my first ever successful potty training post update.

Conner finally went tee-tee in the potty, er...the floor. He was actually sitting on his potty while reading a book. I guess I should have expected that first time he will have a miss-the-pot-party event. He was wearing one sock on, so that got soaked & went into the wash.

 Anyway, like any good mama would, I gave him not one but two awesome stickers for his poster. He had color a poster a few weeks ago. It is now hanging on the back of the bathroom door. He admires his artwork every time we visited the loo. Yes, I said "loo" because it's cooler than typing "bathroom". haha!

**By the way, Conner is not in a full force serious potty training. I let him use it whenever he wants to. Or when he tells me that he is aware of his body needing to go by "pointing" to his diaper. Tonight, he pointed to his diaper and I asked him if he wanted to use the potty to which he said yes. :)

isn't he cute?
(Sorry, don't mind our dirty laundry. That actually went into the wash after potty time!)

Saying a little prayer

Last night, we asked Conner if he wanted to pray to which he said yes. So he "officially" prayed on his own. "Thank you, mama, dada, papa, mimi, and dog. Amen!" :D Yay! I'm such a proud mama!

He is already learning his 2nd verse. "Be holy for I am holy" 1 Peter 1:16.

Today, he was in a cuddling mood. LOVE! He also learned how to play "Simon says" with Mickey Mouse. It was adorable to watch him touch his nose and toes with Mickey. He also decided to jump off the couch onto a bean bag. A couple of times. Ek! I have a little daredevil. :) That's ok though...maybe one day he will ask me to go sky diving with him when he hits 18. I would definitely go! :D

Teaching Our Child To Pray

   2 weeks ago, BG and I decided to go ahead and start a children's bible devotions with Conner before bedtimes. It was hard at first because it wasn't like the regular jump-on-the-bed-giggle-times. It was more of getting into a deep talk about the story or a picture that we are focusing on. After about a week, Conner began to look forward to our devotion time. He knew which book we used. He was much calmer, focus and receptive to what we said about the bible stories. He started to recognized who Jesus is in the pictures. I knew that we have a long ways to go before he will understand who God is. He does not appear to us like we can see our dog or our car for example. Unless God chooses to appear to Conner's visible eyes, it will take a lot of explaining that He is always with us & loves us.

   After our every devotions, we close with a prayer. We thank God for a wonderful day, for family, toys...you get the idea. Well, at first I felt guilty for not follow-up with teaching him to pray beside at the dinner table. He signed "food" every time we prayed. Yes, he prayed for food during our prayer time even though there's no food. Now, I want a snack. haha! Yes, of course, we thank God for the yummy food we had eaten today. Now, he signs "thank you", "bed" (for goodnight sleep), "mama, dada, Mimi, papa" and his favorite "AMEN". Haha! It's so sweet to watch my son watching his daddy praying for us. He was so observant of how we pray and worship God. I really hope that this new ground will be something that he will want to walk on for the rest of his life.

   Oh one more thing, after our trip to Chattanooga, we decided that it's never too early for Conner to start his memory verses. Due to close friends being a great example, we wanted to follow because we saw the joy the kids had in telling their memory verses to us. So last Monday, Conner's first memory verse is "Lord, teach us to pray", Luke 11:1. He was able to sign the verse (with our help) to Mimi tonight, "Lord, teach me pray". He had a giggle & a shy smile, he twirled while signing "Lord". I don't know where he got that idea. It's still pretty cute! haha! What a sweet moment for him! That small memory thing is so important to him as a child (and as a spiritual child).
Thank you Lord for teaching our son to pray and to memorize your word!

found this picture of a painting. It made me think of my son. :)

Our Son's First Puketastic :/

UGH! BG and I experienced our first puketastic trip with our son. We were on the way home from a wonderful weekend trip to Chattanooga. Conner got carsick at the last hour & a half. We had to pull over 2 or 3 times to clean him up. Oh the poor thing! He had no idea why he was making such a big mess. We ran out of wipes. Not fun! So we bear it in and drove the rest of the trip home (40 minutes) with puke still on him. Even though, I wipe some off it's still gross. So nasty but you gotta do what you gotta do. Finally, we gave him a bath...twice. Right before he went to bed, he decided to puke all over me. Yay...not! That was the last of his sickness. Just when he got better, it was my turn. I think there's a stomach bug going on. My dad has it now. And it's awful! I don't ever remember being this sick both in stomach and potty problems. Sorry for the TMI. Although, my hubby is amazing! He was willing to help me out with whatever I needed. He stayed home from work the next day to chase a toddler and went to bed late. He is a wonderful man. He works 12 hours a day and still tries to put in family time. I love my sweetie!

on the plus side...BG got me a new Tobymac cd! I am now finally listening to it after not wearing my CI for a couple of days. I mean who wants to hear the world while you're sick. Not me. :)

Thunderstorm

Friday night, we had a big thunderstorm heading out way. We realized this was the first time that Conner was aware of it. We were playing in my bedroom after a story time. When suddenly he heard a thunder rolling. I didn't hear it because it wasn't loud enough for me to feel it. BG was there. He screamed and cried whenever he heard the thunder rolling nearby. He ran to daddy for safely. Who doesn't want a daddy to feel safe in his big arms. So sweet! Poor thing, this lil' guy took awhile to get used to the storm. It was so new to him. We never had problems in the past until now. We tried to help Conner by being excited about hearing the thunder after we watched some lightnings going off. We taught him to be aware that when lighting comes, thunder will come after it. Conner felt much better and soon got used to it. Although, as a mommy, I did really like cuddling with him under a freshly washed, warm, big & soft blanket on the couch. I love nights like this! Pretty soon, we can have game night and hot cocoa by the candle lights! ;)

You Are YOU!

Conner, oh boy! You have grown so much in the last few weeks. You ate spicy peanuts! I know for sure that you have my similar tastes for spicy food. You recently got a toddler's basketball hoop which we got on sale for $15! Whoohoo! You loved it! Playing with cars is one of your favorite things to do too. You would make a "vroooming" car noise and push a car around the couch. Wrestle is one of another favorite pass time. You seem to always have the need to wrestle between 5 to 7pm haha! You are still trying to learn how to jump and how to speak some words. You have been doing a really good job of trying to imitate our voices to speak a word or two. :) So what else is new? You are growing out of size 24 months clothes and moving on to 2T. Yikes!! Only 3 more months until you're two. I can't believe you are going to be TWO! Just the other day, you crawled up into my lap and looked at my face then kissed my forehead. You are so sweet, loving and kind. You still have that spunky, funny & strong personality. You are YOU!

Love mommy!

Hot Weather!

Today is HOT HOT HOT! The temperature had already gone up to 102 degree here in Northeast GA. If that's not hot enough to melt, tomorrow is gonna be 108 degree. YIKES! I don't ever remember Georgia being that hot in June. I hope everyone will stay hydrated and cool from the sun. Don't forget water & sunblock, even if you're just going to the store.

Be thankful if you have access to water! :)

Keep those sunburn away!

Now, updates on my lil' bug! We can't forget about him right? :) He is still a very curious and loving boy. He loves to taste the fresh veggies from Mimi & Papa's garden. We picked some tomato, green bell peppers, zucchini, spinach, also some blueberries. Conner learned how to pick a blueberry  off the bush. Sometimes, if we're walking the dog, he would stop by the bush and eat the blue ones. Such a smarty pant! I noticed that he prefers raw food than processed food (like cheese puff, et). I guess I should be happy, right? He really LOVES hummus. I used to dislike those until my mom had me tried the Sabra's roasted red pepper hummus. It's the best! It’s so full of good protein. It’s good for those lil' picky eater who doesn't like meat. There's never a quiet time for me to have snack on hummus and pita bread without having Conner come running to me and hog on my dip. Unless he is napping...hey that's a good idea. haha!

So good! Try it with fresh raw veggies or pita chips.

Lots of green bell peppers!

Eating his first fresh picked tomato! (notice the dirt on his forearm...such a boy!)

What a big zucchini!

My first batch of spinach...probably the only batch because the plant is dying in this heat.

So guess what? 4 more days until our family vacation to Michigan!! All I can think of is the commerical for Pure Michigan. haha! We're gonna stay with BG's family over 4th of the July week. Fireworks, bonfire, ice cream, watermelon, and BEACH is on the top of my Summer vacation list. As BG's list is golf. haha! I'm so exciting because this will be my first Green's trip in the Summer time where's it's going to be WARM! Usually, when I visit Michigan, I have to wear my jacket/coat/sweater at some point. ;) Maybe this time I don't need it. I'll let it collet dust over the weekend for all I care. ha!

Tim Allen...where are you? :)

I know that Conner is going to have a lot of fun playing with his nephews and niece, especially on their 5 acres land. So many "boy" adventures are waiting to be explored! I will be sure to take lots of pictures and blog about it when I get back. Stay tuned!

Berries, berries & more berries!

Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries & blackberries. No matter what kind of berries that we have in the kitchen, it won't last long. We love all kinds of berries! Summer time is a great time to get them. We have some blueberry bushes at my parents' house. We can pick all we want! Today, my dad brought home a gallon each of blackberries and blueberries from a local farm. He would have brought home some strawberries too but the season is over for it. Conner had his first blackberries today and LOVES it. He would cried if he can't have anymore. Oh dear! :) I also got to try making my first blackberry clobber. It was good but just a little tarty. Oh, I would love it if we could get some huckleberries from my family in Montana. They are my favorite! It's very much similar to blueberries but it's more purple and sweeter. Or so I think. Berries, I love them all!

Some of the blackberries were twice the normal size!
Look, it's big as Conner's thumb!

This boy loves blackberries!

Mess-Free Artsy Paint Bag

Today was suppose to be another rainy day. Lucky, we got some sunshine but it was too wet to play outside. We (Conner & I) wanted to do something fun! Then I remembered this idea that I had found through Pinterest. It's "paint-in-a-bag" that's taped to the window. It's something to keep my lil' boy busy & having fun at the same time. :)

Finger painting in a bag? Ummm, yes. It's MESS FREE! All you need is a Ziploc bag, a couple squirts of paint & a strong tape to keep it on the window.

This is where I found the idea through Pinterest...click here!

It's such a fun and mess free idea! Conner enjoyed playing with visual art while I'm a happy momma. I don't have to clean up afterward! Plus, I get to join in the fun! Conner's face kept smiling when he realized what this simple bag of paint can do. I would be doing this again for another rainy day!

Lovin' Some Beach Boys Music!

I recently downloaded some Beach Boys music and this one particular song came on. This was when BG and I realized that Conner liked this song. He is lip-syncing and dnacing to it. Haha, he makes  me laugh!

"Barbara Ann"

Anabel May

My niece is finally here! Anabel May came early morning (2am!!) after 40 weeks & 2 days. She weights at 7 lbs. & 8oz. 20 1/4 inches long. She is SOOO cute! Cute as a cupcake! Her has glorious blue and blonde hair. Aww! Congratulation to mommy, daddy & lil' sister (Aubrie, Aaron & Amira Vance)!

My mom upper left corner with her 3 grandkids. BG lower right corner.

Ball Game at the Gwinnett Braves!

Brian got 2 free tickets to our local minor league baseball game last Friday night. We took Conner with us because he was free to get in. I was so excited to go to the ball game with my boys. It's a fun way to kick off the Summer on a Memorial Day weekend. Conner was full of energy the entire night so there was a lot of walking & exploring. Other than that, he had a lot of fun watching people and spotting the team's mascot. Our team won, 10-8! Go Gwinnett Braves!! I think my favorite part was watching the fireworks with my boys. Funny story, we decided to watch the fireworks in the parking lot (across the spot where the fireworks will set off). Well, while it was going off, we realized that the debris were falling on us. Lots of smokes and such. So we ran into our car. What's weird was our car felt like a cannon was going off inside. LOL! **No one got hurt this** It was a blast to watch the fireworks with the curious boy! I can't wait for our trip to Michigan for 4th of the July! :) 

Ready to see the ball game!

Father & son's first (of the many) baseball outing.

The view from our seat.

We found some Kubota tractors from BG's work.
Conner LOVES "riding" on it!

Yes, he can mow and watch the game at the same time!

My boys & I!

Mommy & me :)

Fireworks!

Book It Club with Pizza Hut!

I'm so excited to share this with the parents of young kids. This is a great program to get your kids start reading for some rewards. Maybe a free pizza? I used to do this with my brother when I was 5 or 6. It was a lot of fun getting rewards for reading a bunch of books. I love pizza and I still do! This is for grades K-6th grades. Homeschool kids are allow to be involve too. yippie! `

Book It program


p.s. they do have a program for preschools and pre-k.

Free Story Time Online for Kids!

Check this out! This is a great site for kids to have story time by Barnes & Noble. It's is free and voiced by authors & celebrities!

Online Story Time!

My Cell Phone Choice

Please the article first before process to read the rest of my post.

"How to miss a childhood" by HANDS FREE MAMA

"Each minute of every day, we are presented with a choice on how we spend our moments. We can either miss the moments or grasp them."--Rachel Stafford

This is one of a similar reason on why I gave up having a cell phone. It started last year February 2011. To be honest, I love having a cell phone to text my friends and family while I stayed home with Conner. By February, I got a iPod touch for a Valentine's gift. It's a pretty neat technology. But having a iPod touch AND a cell phone? It was taking a lot of my time and concern on carrying both handheld devices everywhere I went.

After the two or three weeks went by, I felt too attached to my cell phone. Kinda like I had to survive with it. It was causing me too much distraction from learning about my baby. By that time, my cell phone charger had died and I couldn't find a replacement. I felt the Lord telling me to give up on having a cell phone. I knew it's was the quickest way for people to contact me but since we moved from Chattanooga, I have been getting less and less texts. I started to get sad because I miss having a daily conversation with my friends back in Chattanooga. Pretty soon, I didn't need it. I only used it to talk to my mom and my hubby.

So, after a deep conversation with my husband, I decided to give up the cell phone. I think it was one of the best decision I ever did. I felt so much better afterward! I didn't feel the need to check my phone every hour or so forth. I didn't have to worry about paying my monthly phone bills. I gave more attention to my baby. Don't get me worry, I did not leave my baby alone. I just felt that my mind were more involve with him after letting go the cell phone. Maybe my readers who are parents will understand what I mean. Anyhow, I often received emails from long distance friends who asked me why I didn't have a phone contact. My story may sound strange to them but it works with me. I can still check my emails through my iPod but I don't have to pay for it. Yeah!! Sure, there are days when I wanted to send a quick text to my husband to bring home some pizza but it's one of the good reasons to work on our relationship more. He usually guesses what I want for dinner right, most of the time. ;) Oh by the way, to get a hold of me, you have to go through my husband. I hope this helps you understand where I stand. I also encourage you to spend less time in the technology world and more time investing in your child's, a spouse's or a friend's life. :)

Summer Kids' Movie Programs 2012

Thanks to Southern Savers! I found lots of movie theaters that offers a kids' movie for cheap. Summer is right around the corner! What a better way to start the Summer by taking your kids (or neices, nephews or your neighor's kids) to the movies? This is an awesome way to save money and kick that "boredoom" away. Many local movie theaters offer a Summer kids program for $1-$2 each (maybe free), depending on your theater. Some theater offers a $5 Summer Pass for all the movies showing. Please keep in mind that these are not recently new released movies but still are "new". Theaters usually show the movies in the morning. Here are a list of different theater links. Be sure to check if your local theaters are offering a Summer Movie Program. Have a great Summer!

Cinemark Theaters – 10 movies for $5, if purchased in advance

Regal Entertainment Group– $1 per movie, Tuesdays & Wednesdays at 10 AM

Ultrastar Cinemas  – 10 movies for $5, if purchased in advance or $1 at the door

Clearview Cinemas – 8 weeks of movies for free on Wednesdays & Thursdays at 10:30 AM, starting 7/11

Great Escape Theatres  – Select free movies

Harkins Theatres – 10 movies over 10 weeks for under $1 a movie

Marcus Theatres – $2 per movie, Tuesday-Thursday at 10 AM, starting 6/9

Blue Ridge Train Ride

It's my birthday...I'm not telling you my age. But I can promise you that I'm not 25 anymore. ;) My hubby took Conner and I to Blue Ridge, GA. We rode on the train to the state border between TN and GA. We explored two cute little tourist towns and bought some wonderful fudge! It was great to spend some time in the mountains and with my boys!

So excited for his first train ride!

Waiting for the train to move

Daddy's first time too!

We're moving! He was pretty surprised!

Lovely breeze from the open window

Meeting the train's conductor! He is so nice and friendly.
He kinda looks like the conductor from Polar Express movie. haha!

worn down barn.

side view of the train

Bridge by our patio

Duck in the water by our patio at a restaurant.

Cool!

Neat signs!

We're standing on the GA/TN line

Yes, my Toms made it!

FRESH FUDGE!!!

Our tradtional to get a pressed penny from places we have been to.
We got the train pressed.

Yummy ice cream!

He was happy to get back on the train again!

So sweet!

This looks like I'm in a old movie.

Watching the world go by!

beautiful landscape

The start of the downtown Blue Ridge, GA.

I'm not sure what I'm doing...I promise I'm not trying to lick the train.

Our train, the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway!

Well, Amish stuff at Ace's hardware store. This is something I don't see everyday.

All tuckered out!

So many choices!

Coke always tastes better in a coke glass!

I love the wood work

We picked 5 different kinds of fudge for a great deal!