Whitney potty trains..... herself!

Tucker working really hard to button his top button

Whitney spending some serious quality time on froggy

Tucker playing cars with Tanner

Midnight snack.  Literally

Tucker at kid's museum talking to or about fish.  Not sure which

Tucker spending serious quality time here while Whitney is spending quality time with Froggy

Whitney at kid's museum

This pyramid is so cool!

Tucker playing with water at kids museum.  But then again, I can do this at home

Whew!  I feel like I have had a lot of fun and craziness all at once the past two weeks, and most especially around Thanksgiving.  But we are all alive and the better for it.

The week before Thanksgiving I was doing laundry and found water on the floor.  It wasn't the washing machine.  It wasn't the pipe.  It was the septic system.  We have been having people come out and assess the septic system as well as fix it for the past week.  We finally settled on a contractor and they dug up almost our entire back yard to fix the leech pipes to the drain field.  Good thing we don't have landscaping.  As a result, there have been lots of exciting tractors making beeping noise and general excitement that warrants an excuse to take nap a little later in the day. How cool!  Tucker and Whitney really like watching the tractors.  They also have taken to saying "beep...beep..beep" when pushing stools around the kitchen.  That is pretty dang cute, I must admit.  We'll not comment on the price tag of such a fix, but needless to say, a new washing machine would have been WAY cheaper.  Oh well.  Good thing we found it before worse stuff starting backing up in the house.

During this time, we weren't doing laundry as the sudden influx of water put a stress on the system and we were saving that for flushes.  So Whitney and Daddy got in cahoots and decided to POTTY TRAIN!!!!  Yeah!!  Mommy was much, much, much less enthusiastic.  Although, this might be why Whitney did soooooo much better with Daddy.  And Daddy adapted the program to lots more treats, juice boxes and a cool potty chair that Mommy did not do.  Whatever! Success!  We went to church today and there were no accidents.  Whitney told us when she had to go.  But we did cheat a little and she didn't go to nursery on account of the huge amounts of snot that came out with each sneeze.  It was a very, very good thing to get back to doing all sorts of stinky laundry with the new septic system in place.  Daddy said about potty training "this is the most exciting thing I've done as a parent so far!"  He loves to teach.  I keep teasing Jim that maybe he should stay home with the kids and I should go to work so he gets to have more time with them.  And a HUGE thanks to Grandma Ann and Hannah who spent a whole lot of quality time with Whitney in the bathroom.  For TWO DAYS of their trip here.  Tucker was also a huge trooper and played really well, solo, while Whitney was learning.  He even brought Whitney some things while she was on the potty chair.  He spent quality time getting into cupboards and opening and shutting the microwave, his favorite thing.

Some really cute things Tucker did this week is play really well.  There is a photo of him on his belly with another 6 month old.  He got down on his belly and pushed cars around with this little guy, as if he were entertaining him.  He did it all on his own.  He is also learning to do comfort pats to Whitney when she is sad.  He gets a kick out of Piglet pretend talking.  And he loves the ball fort Daddy got him.  I guess it was to compensate for all the treats Whitney got and the fact Tucker is going to have a hand me down potty frog.  There is a video of him playing in it, but I can't find it on this silly computer of ours.  He is making good use out of it.

Tucker has had a tough time with being a picky eater.  He doesn't want to eat what's given him except rice, fish crackers and oatmeal, with some swigs of milk in between.  Really annoying.  He must have this internal calorie counter in his body because if he doesn't get a certain number, HE WAKES UP AT MIDNIGHT for a snack.  We all hate this trick.  And he only eats fish crackers during this time.  See above photo.

We had a great Thanksgiving and a full house.  Jim cooked and organized the tons of other helpers we had to make it all work.  We had Paul, Cathy, Hannah, Erik, the missionaries, Mina, Ixchell, Christopher and us.  It was great fun!  Jim smoked a turkey and some ham.  Lots of good times!  Cathy has the pics for that.

Oh yeah.  And in all the midst of this, Jim gave his two weeks notice at Razorfish and will begin work at Nintendo starting December 1.  Crazy.  He is excited as this was the job that he was supposed to have with Amazon.  He had a great time at Razorfish, but this will be another great opportunity for him.  Here we go!

This week is decorating.  And testing public bathrooms. Any tips?

Whitney potty trains..... Bear!

Tucker cooking up some serious meat (puzzle pieces of farm animals)

In the box... in the box!

The cutest thing ever this week.  Whitney potty trained Bear (her stuffed bear).  I was in the bathroom washing my hands when I looked over at Whitney.  She had flipped the toilet lid up, sat Bear on the potty and held him there like I do when I put her on the toilet.  After about 30 seconds, she took Bear off the potty and put the lid down.  I really wish I had my camera for that!

One of the videos should be titled "Eddy!  Wish you were here! -Sammy and Rocky".  This week the babies have been very amused by watching the dogs eat.  So they gave them lots of opportunity with lots of dog treats.  One time Tucker was lying on the floor on his stomach, propped up on his elbows, lazily kicking his legs a bit watching the dogs eat.  Very amusing.  Whatever.  They weren't fighting or doing anything dangerous, so it let me get something done.  Although, I regretted it a bit later in the week when I went to poop scoop and there seemed to be a lot more poop to scoop this week.  Whitney is the narrator in the video.

That's another cute thing.  Is to poop scoop while the babies point out where the poop is.  Whitney is the most diligent at sticking to the task.  There is an explanation of "poop!" and then "yuck" follows repeatedly as I actually pick it up.

This week was a bit like having a newborn.  Tucker (and Whitney) had a cold.  He got up around 12 or 1 am almost every night this week.  To cry, eat crackers and just generally be awake until he was comfortable enough to sleep.  Whatever.  By Saturday I was exhausted and tired of the constant whining and just left the house.  Jim asked where I was going.  I didn't know, but just wanted to leave.  I ended up going to the library.  No screaming children that were mine there.  Hallelujah!  Thank heavens for good hubbys.

Another video is them playing with "the box"  The box is a new smoker.  Because we needed a new smoker since we haven't used the last one since the "ice fishing incident when mandy was gone for a weekend" time.  About 3 years ago.  This one is bigger and better.  Bigger and better to take up more space.  But I do have to say, it was pretty cool that the next expense was $25.  He did sell the other smoker.  Now, he can smoke a Thanksgiving turkey while I use the oven for other things.

Tucker has been practicing his cooking skills, as noted these past couple of weeks.  The video of him putting the spices in and out of the microwave was easy to get because he literally did that same activity for 1/2 hour straight.  I got the dishes done.

I got back some really cute Halloween pictures that I put on Thanksgiving postcards and will send a letter out on Christmas paper.  That way you can have my three favorite holidays in one envelope.  At least, that will be my goal for this week.  Soooo  It should be done around the first week in December.  Keep checking the mailbox!

I think I have to do a separate post for the box video.

halloween and it's aftermath

Tucker playing with the oven mitts.  He knows they need to be used to touch anything in the oven

Diaper boxes are always the best

Daddy carving the pumpkin.  Whitney eating string cheese  Tucky supervising

Hmmmm... so far, looks good!

And we make it look even cuter!

We were invited over to dinner by some friends who let Tucker and Whitney play with and take home these bowls.  Who knew they were the best toys ever!  Whitney made block soup

And a hat

Tucker wearing his hat while helping me with chores

What I should have done for costumes (the other set of twins in the ward and their big brother.  yep.  only 16 months apart.  My life is suddenly easier

Another cute idea.  Mom is referee (obviously), Dad is the fan and the kids are the players. 

Before they knew how much fun they were going to have

Getting closer to fun with bags in hand.  one is a candy corn and one is a ghost bag

I told Daddy that they could eat as much candy as they wanted Halloween night and  the next night, then that was it.  Party hardy!

Can't even wait to open the wrappers

I haven't had this much fun on Halloween since I was a kid.  The cutest things we liked were how much fun they had loading their bags with things.  Once Whitney figured out that she could ask people for objects to put in her bag, she was totally sold.  They didn't even care that it was candy.  I don't think they knew.  Then, on the way home, they figured out it was candy when I opened on.  After that, they tried "opening" the wrappers themselves with their teeth.  They now know what candy is. The day after Halloween, I went to put their trick or treat bags away and Whitney spied them.  All of a sudden, she wanted to go for a "walk", grabbed her bag and went to get her socks and shoes on.  I think she was wanting a repeat of the night before.  We had a blast.

This week I was thinking about how a year ago I was in Illinois.  I had so much fun last year.  And kind of wish I had waited to come this year (although my mom isn't already up here to help get them back there) because they are so much more fun.  For one, they don't sleep as much and eat more foods, not to mention all the fun stuff they do.  Oh well.  It was a great trip with lots of good memories and I can't believe it has been a year.  They still play with the dolls my aunt gave them and love the soft blankets when in the car.

This week has seemed like more of the same.  We went to the mall indoor playground, which they love.  They can literally bounce off the walls.  But I'm not sure I love it.  3 days after, predictibly, they are sick again, which makes for sleepless nights. Hmmmm..  But they are very cute bouncing off those playthings.

This week they had lots of fun helping me dig in the dirt, deadhead plants, put rocks in the wheelbarrow, draw on the white board (with lots of supervision),  and add ingredients to receipes. It still does my heart good of how much they like to help right now.  They have been getting better with each other.  Since Whitney's cold, Tucker has been fairly vigilant about getting her Kleenexes.  And since they have all sorts of winter clothes and rain boots on outside, they fall often.  But they have started helping each other up.  It's very cute and sometimes a little dangerous.  Tucker still pulls Whitney's hair, but less often, and when he does, he has figured out how to say sorry.