Jocelyn's Christmas Past & Present

2008

2009
2010

Jocelyn's Potty Party

Today was the big day! The day Jocelyn got to have her #1 reward choice honored for going on the potty!

When this whole process of training started I put up a chart in the bathroom with ten squares on it. I told her that each time she went on the potty, she could put a sticker in a square and then when all the squares had a sticker she could do whatever she chose or picked out any toy she wanted from Toys R Us. She thought for a second and told me that she wanted to go to Dennis & Heather's house for ice cream when her chart was full. I made sure this was okay with Heather and Jocelyn started working toward my (oops, I mean HER) goal. It was a slow start, but once she started putting stickers on the chart it was full within a couple of days!

Tonight we went to Heather & Dennis' house an had an ice cream party! Jocelyn was thrilled!

Here she is with her gracious hosts and the sticker chart!

Thanks Dennis and Heather for making all her dreams come true! She loves you guys so much! ;)

Holiday Fun with The Doverspikes!

Last weekend we traveled to the Doverspike home to eat delicious tomato basil soup (thanks Trish), watch the Steelers game (kind of), and go to Pine Holiday Dazzle.

It was a busy & really fun day!

The girls love Godfather Uncle Bert! LOLThe kiddos exchanged Christmas presents.

After lunch and the game, we went to The Holiday Dazzle. It was a lot of fun! They had a Thomas train display that Jocelyn was allowed to control.

Arts & Crafts

A Holiday hat parade

They said to "get creative" and this was about as creative as I got. A present hat. She did get a prize, but that may have been because there were only about 4 or 5 kids that participated.

Horse-drawn Carriage ride

It was F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G outside!

Santa also showed up at the end, but my fingers were too frozen to work the camera anymore!

It was a really fun day! Hope we do it every year! Thanks for having us Bert & Trish!

Our First Gingerbread House

This year we thought we would try out making a gingerbread house! It was a fun family time!

Potty TRAINED!

Well, it's official. Jocelyn has learned the potty! I've been ready for her to be trained for a while now, but she was finally ready, which I learned was the most important aspect of it all. All it took was two accidents and she got it.

It all started last week when Jocelyn had a pretty disgusting diaper. That was it for me. She was too big and that diaper was too nasty. It was time. I made a sticker chart and let her decide the reward when it was filled, I put her in Pull-Ups and told her not to poop in them. She didn't. She pooped on the potty. After she was used to that it was time to ALWAYS pee on the potty too. I got rid of the Pull-Ups, she had two pee-pee accidents and after that she has used the potty successfully every time. It has been about a week now and we have even gone out in public several times without any accidents. I can't believe it! It's so nice!

So the reward Jocelyn chose was to go to our friends Heather & Dennis' house and have an ice cream party! We will be doing that sometime soon! I'm so proud of you Jocelyn!!!

Visit With Santa 2010

This year's visit with Santa went very well! Jocelyn wasn't afraid, just quiet and refused to really smile. Reagan was all smiles--not even really knowing what was going on! We got a few really great shots. At the end Jocelyn told Santa what she wanted for Christmas: Toys. Oh and she also said she wanted toys for Reagan as well. What a sweet big sister!

My Battle With Holiday Cards!

Okay, so every year I struggle with our Christmas cards. I want the best pictures, the best card, the best layout. I want PERFECT. Can I get perfect? Not usually. You may ask: What is the hardest part of creating a Holiday card? I would answer: Finding the perfect pictures to use. The second would be finding the perfect card that displays the perfect pictures the exact way I imagine the best card to look like. Ha! I think I may need to start lowering my expectations (at least when it comes to finding the perfect pictures).

This year, I want to use Shutterfly holiday cards. I have found the layout that I love!
Here it is:Why do I love this layout? Because I can use a lot of pictures and the above layout works really well the the pictures I have chosen to use this year! I'm also loving the way 'Merry Christmas' is displayed!

This is another that I really like. Yeah, it looks pretty similar to the above card. Can you tell I'm stuck on one type of card this year?

You may just have one picture you would like to use, and you may want to use a card that looks more like this. It's nice, but not for me. I can't pick just one picture!You can find these and more here (for Christmas photo cards) or here (for Holiday cards) or you may even have a need for some birthday invitations coming up, and then you would want to click here! They are all available at Shutterfly!! You should really check it out if you haven't started your holiday card yet for this year...or remember them for next year or for other occasions you may need to use them for.

Also, if you would like to receive 50 free Holiday cards from Shutterfly, you can write up a blog post much like mine and get 50 free prints as well! Click here! I'm just hoping I did this in time!!

Thanksgiving 2010

Reagan's first Thanksgiving! It was a bummer that she couldn't join in the eating part, but she still looked cute!
Jocelyn tried all the food. Last year she ate cranberry sauce and loved it. This year she hated the cranberry sauce. She liked the rolls the best. She does NOT like mashed potatoes or stuffing, she liked the turkey at first, but then refused to eat the rest.

Papa and Meme were here!

Great Grandma, Anna & Aunt Di (and Grandma not pictured)too!

Jocelyn had fun watching movies (The Polar Express & Santa Paws) and snuggling with Reagan and Meme.

Dara came to visit as well! It was the first time Reagan met Dara. Oh, and take note...look who can sit up!!!!!!

We had a great Thanksgiving!! We have SO much to be thankful for!!

Todd's 29th Birthday!

This year for Todd's birthday we went to Gran Agave for dinner, then came home and celebrated with a mini party (as per Jocelyn's request--she's too cute). Jocelyn wanted daddy to have balloons and she also picked out a festive table cloth. We gave daddy his present, sang happy birthday and ate cake and ice cream. Perfect!

Jocelyn helped blow out the candles.

Yes, I have seen the warning on the side of the bumbo seat that tells you not to use on elevated surfaces. Reagan likes to be a part of the action. On the table. We were right there. I promise!

One year closer to the big 3-0. I've already started planning the party! :)

Happy 29th Birthday Daddy!!
We love you!

More Rolling!

I have to document this here, on my blog, because the calendar where I write down all of Reagan's milestones is stuck in a place where I can't get to it. So, until Todd moves the piece of Furniture I need him to move...

Today, Monday, November 22, Reagan rolled over onto her belly from her back for the first time!

My Little Chub-a-Lub

One of Reagan's favorite places to be is on the changing table! That may seem silly, but I think it may be because she always has my undivided attention while she's laying there, or maybe she just likes to be naked! Either way, she always gets really happy and does a lot of smiling, laughing, and talking while she lays there.

She "plays" this game with me every time I change her diaper: She reaches up and grabs her toes, then I say, "You've got your toes." then she promptly slams her legs down as hard as she can and waits for me to say, "Boom!" Then she laughs and does it all over again. She's just so darn cute (and chubby).

Just look at my bald beauty in her favorite spot!

A little closer...

Grabbing those little toes!Like the title states: My Little Chub-a-lub. A little chub looks too cute on a baby!