Our Christmas Letter...Kinda

So, I was going to write a Christmas letter this year.  A much needed, better-late-than-never, life update!  A reminder that we MOVED (let me know if you want our new address, I don't want to miss any of your wonderful Christmas cards!).  I was going to write a great summary of our year, and a brief look ahead to our future.  I was going to.  And then print it.  And then stuff a bunch of envelopes.  But then I remembered I have 4 kids.  Things came up.  GOOD THINGS.  So in the battle of which good things win....Christmas Letter gets bumped to blog style (off the top of my head in 15 minutes or less) and posted electronically.  :/ !!  :)

2015:

The New:

The year I wasn't pregnant or with a new baby....since 2008.  YUP.  2008.  :)  Josh and I got to go to Las Vegas in April for some Army training/visit some great friends.  In May, Jordan started to walk (at 17 1/2 months old).   In June, we moved to a new house in the same city on nearly no notice. :)  In August, we got to go to Michigan for a few weeks of summer fun! We started to homeschool this fall and have far and beyond loved it! In September, I journeyed to NYC to visit some friends and spent a wonderful few days with them.  For Thanksgiving we road-tripped 26 hours to Colorado and had a blast! We are now in the midst of the Barricklow "12 Days of Christmas"...when we have a 5 year old, a 4 year old, a 3 year old, and a 2 year old---for 12 days (until one very excited girl turns 6!) :)

The News:

The Barricklows finally found out our future in a downsizing Army.  As many of you know, we have been waiting for promotion news for over a year. The list was finally released the week before Thanksgiving and we were not on it, which means a separation from the Army.  Unfortunately, quite a few Soldiers/Families are finding themselves in the same boat.  There is some disappointment to be sure, but we are at peace knowing God, who has faithfully directed us thus far, has our future planned and we can trust His provision and care to continue.  We had known this outcome was probable and have been preparing for awhile.  The past 11 years in the Army have been a fabulous and tough adventure!  Josh (and the rest of us) has loved serving.  We have quite a number of possibilities in front of us- Josh has had several people offer to assist in finding what's next.  Overall, we are very excited!!

The Truth:

No matter what life throws at us, the most important things never change.  God loves us.  There are always trials to come.  He will never leave us.  God is more loyal to those who love Him than we could ever even imagine. There is more to life than our short lifetimes...eternity awaits. Because of God's great love, Jesus came to dwell with us.  His birth was the wonderful beginning to an incredible love story already in play.  Ultimately, Jesus' death (in our place), and resurrection (which He willingly shares with us) allows us the miraculous opportunity of spending eternity with the God who loves us.  To believe Jesus paid for our sin, and in return allows us to serve and worship Him for a thousand lifetimes!!  The Good News!  There is HOPE.  The Prince of Peace loves, transforms, and makes valuable that which was unlovable, wasted, and ruined.

This is just as true in 2015 as it will be in 2016!  Join us in celebrating the Son, the Lamb who is Worthy!  Jesus is ALIVE!

Merry Christmas!

Love, The Barricklows

#momfail(S)

because if YOU can't laugh at yourself...who can?  ;)

Example 1: (and 2 and 3 and probably 4)

Last Wednesday we had a chance to go to a park after BSF so our group could have some more fellowship time.  I hurried the kids into the van afterwards to head towards the park.  All is great, the park is fabulous- it even has a gate (!!) ... until Kid "N" comes over and tells me he has to go potty.  There. Are. No. Bathrooms.

Now, Josh and I are not of the 'use a tree' persuasion.  If we lived in the country (as I did) we probably would let the kids go potty outside (as I did). But, we don't.  Outdoor pottying is reserved for camping in the middle of nowhere.  Who wants their kids to play in a park, or a friend's yard, where every mysterious puddle might be urine?  Or every time a child drops their snack (andthenpicksitupandeatsitsofastyoucan'tstopthem) you are continually wondering how many kids and pets peed in that spot?  Not me! Consideration people!

Anyway, I was quickly convinced to leave my opinion, convictions, moral high ground as the fear of wet pants stared me in the face.  Peer pressure at it's finest!  So since Kid "N" is just barely 3, I showed him the ropes.  Find some privacy, go off the beaten path, you know - the ropes- of public urination.  Well, let me just say that I am not a boy.  It is supposedly easier for boys, right?  And I figured his bladder must be at least partially drained due to the visual wetness of his pants.  BOTH of those assumptions were WRONG.  I also picked a slope-in the not our favor direction. I know, I know, rookie mistake.  So as bladder emptying commenced, the puddle took on a form more like that of a wide river journeying downhill toward both of our feet.

I panicked.

With one hand holding his shorts appropriately down (I was futilely attempting modesty), I scooped up Mr. Over40lbs with my other arm to move us to dry land.  Except for he was still going potty.  And the fire hose was now untamed in the upheaval.  My arms and my shorts holding hand were grave casualties.

Wonderful.  He finishes up.  I sneak to the van to get wipes FOR MYSELF.

That could have gone better.

As I'm finishing cleaning myself up, making mental notes, continuing to fellowship with my fellow Mommies, Kid "R" shows up in dire need.  Dire as in- she probably should have gone 30 minutes ago.  Sigh. So I tell her to find some privacy and go behind a tree.  She's gives me the A-OK.

A few minutes pass and she doesn't return so I venture behind the pavillion to find her.  She's walking towards me like she's saddle sore, with one leg of her leggings pulled up above her knee and DRENCHED.  "What happened?" I asked nervously.  She said she got potty on her leggings.  No other information offered, so I begin asking questions.  "How far did you pull down your pants?"  She points to her ankles.  So far so good. "Did you squat down?"

No.

NO!?!   !?!?!?!?!!!  I am sure my face was a mix of miffed, holding in laughter (which would have hurt her feelings at this point), and complete shock. For real.  NOT ENOUGH INFORMATION MOMMY!

So at this point fellowship is over for the Barricklows.  Begin rounding up the crew.  A friend had kept Jordan occupied with snacks during the whole fiasco and Jack was just playing away in some mud.  I ask him to rinse his hands in the water fountain so he can get in the van mud free.  Ok, we get to the van.  I remove Kid "N's" wet shorts and put him in his carseat in his undies.  Tell Kid "R" to follow suit.  Kid "J's" shorts were wet from his attempts to clean his hands in the water fountain, so he joins the undie party.  I'm laughing with a friend about how chaotic life can be sometimes when Kid "J" taps me on the shoulder.

"I need to go potty, Mommy".

For. Real.  So my friend stays by the van to keep the other hoodlums kids in line, while Mommy and Kid "J" venture to a third set of bushes.  (Reminder: He's not wearing pants.) He accomplishes his duty without any hiccups.  (I clamped my mouth shut when his put his undies down around his ankles.)

We head back to the van and he asks me innocently, "Mommy, what's that box over there?"

For the love.  "Well, son, that would be what we call a port-a-potty."

"What's it for???"

Who even knows.

Example 5:

That time your 4 year old ask you to draw a picture of a word that starts with "I" and you drew an eye.  (this just happened today) #facepalm  ((AND THEN YOU GOOGLED WORDS THAT START WITH "I"!!!))

Example 6:

The day I went to Target to return something (this is a whole fail in itself because I never actually returned the item--AND while I was in there, Jordan kicked off her shoe -somewhere...- so we had to backtrack the whole store to find it.  Renae spotted it, of course, with her "I spy eyes".  A Target employee was walking around with a broom and dustpan and swept it up (!!!).  Renae reached right in her little trash bucket and pulled out Jordan's shoe...the worker just kept on sweeping.  C'mon!), then had to go to Wal-Mart to return something, then went to Staples to look for something they didn't have, and then went to the post office.  WITH THE KIDS. That went about as well as you can imagine it did.

Example 7:

I made a freezer meal (read: made in a disposable foil dish) casserole a week and a half ago or so.  Baked it, served a quarter of it, then went to move it to the fridge when the pan buckled and dumped hot food all over me and the floor.  We still ate it.

Example 8:

I took the kids to Kohl's today because I had $20 of KOHLS CASH that was going to expire.  We pull in to the parking lot, I get the umbrella stroller out of the back of the van (while all the kids are still inside--I still have a few brain cells left!) go to unfold the stroller (had years of practice on this one) and it acts as if it's spring loaded and flies out of my hands...wheels everywhere...me desperately grabbing at air (several times) while it heads to the ground.  Surprisingly, mostly assembled.  (#meanttodothat?) Oh, but in the process the handles hit the giant fancy black pickup parked next to us- CAR ALARM.  As if getting four kids from carseats thru parking lot to front door were easy.  Try ramping the noise level up 180 dbs.  Ear shattering   Lots of crying   Mommy "talks" over the noise  Awesome.

We go in.  We survive.  We exit.

A soldier is getting in his super nice giant truck.  Great!  I'll get to apologize and tell him what happened.  Sir, I'm sure your truck notified you that the alarm had gone off, I'm really sorry, I bumped your truck with the stroller.  I didn't see any damage (which was the truth because I didn't look), please let me know if you need me to do anything, I'm really sorry...(all while shooing four kids out of traffic).  He smiles, "It did. And it's ok.  I saw the whole thing..."

And I was instantly beet red.  #icoulddie

I think I muttered something like "Thanks for being understanding", but I don't remember because 1: I was mortified that he saw my embarassing battle with the stroller, and then ensuing fiasco where I used my voice at a reasonable volume and 2: there were 4 kids fighting over car seats and two of them were already crying.

Sweet.

Fall? Fall!

The last three weeks have been unseasonably cool and rainy here in Savannah.  Leaves are falling in the Seattle-style rain, the breeze is cool, we've had our windows open!  (Which is fabulous because our A/C has been out of commission and is barely hobbling along as we speak)  Though it's way too early to bust out our fall attire, it's been very beautiful weather!

Some other great stuff has been happening around here:

1.  (I might overly love lists)  We are so proud of Jordan.  She has officially completed her 1st Google search.  Josh is more proud of WHAT she searched FOR...m ms  :)  hahaha!  She is definitely his child!

2. Jack, as we reported last, learned to ride his bike without training wheels.  It does not matter the size of the bike, he can start it and ride off into the sunset without trouble :)  He has, however, had his first wreck.  And it was doozy.  He was racing Renae (primarily) and a car (secondarily (!?!)) to our driveway.  They saw our friends' car heading to our house and took off top speed....and he went over his handlebars. Ooooo nellie!  But nothing is broken and he has all his teeth!  The inside of his left cheek was black for a few days, and his face was swollen and bruised up pretty good- not too bad though!  Gotta love the face first landing...We met some new neighbors out of the whole deal--there's an elderly couple that bikes around every evening and the husband put Jack's bike in his bike's basket and rode it home and another neighbor ran out of her house to pull the wagon with Noah and Jordan in it so Josh could carry Jack home.  (I was home waiting for the friends!  Talk about a welcome wagon!) A couple days later:

3. Two Saturdays ago we had a large adult lizard in our house dining room.  It was an adventure!  No one wanted to catch it of course, so it got chased behind a heavy cabinet.  Fabulous. Awesome. Yay. So I (under the influence of the Holy Spirit) went to get a yard stick and Josh forced the lizard to climb onto it.  He held it's tail and let the kids look at it up close.  What a fun experience! Until it startled Josh miraculously escaped from Josh's death grip and jumped onto Renae's chair (it is worth noting that Renae was the only child who wanted no part in examining or petting this lizard).  Horror movie quality screaming ensues.  Josh recaptures and relocates.  Lysol and dinner commence.

4.  Josh had another great save a few nights later as we look up to the ceiling and see a full grown cockroach just hanging out up there.  Now, if you miss killing it on your first attempt, that thing is gone so fast you are left wondering where to search and good luck.  So, Josh get's a chair, and the container of lysol wipes (I told him he was so brave to forgo the shoe method and just clamp the grossness inside a wipe in his iron grip) which he then slammed into the ceiling (the WHOLE container, not A wipe).  He held it there for a good minute. Then risked a minuscule peek....STILL ALIVE!!!  By the time he applied full pressure again, the head had wiggled out.  We were left with this:  a roach beheading.  Siiiiiiiick.

I'll zoom in for you:  :) hahaha

5.  Josh and I went to see War Room (actually the same night as Jack's face injury) the movie.  All I'm going to say is this:  If you haven't seen it, you MUST.

I'm the first to admit that most faith based movies thus far have been a little (or a lot) cheesy at times.  There are only about 10 cheesy seconds in the movie, and they aren't even very cheesy.  We loved it.  LOVED IT. Ok so I said a little more... ;)

6.  Josh got to go to the Nebraska-Miami football game in Miami with some great guy friends!  He had a great time, and that game was incredible frustrating something else!  Check out facebook for some great pictures.

7. I got the chance to go visit some of our favorites in NYC a week or so ago...Parts of that city sure are beautiful!  I got to eat at Wahlburgers and attend an Army 9/11 Remembrance Service on Sept 11th--very moving!

8.  One of Josh's soldiers made us a delicious pie.  Sweet potato cheesecake. :)

9.  We met another neighbor due to flying our Nebraska flag...they are Air Force retirees who were long-time stationed at Offutt AFB!  She said Omaha was one of the two places where they felt at HOME in their entire career.  The other was in central Georgia.  I think they might be us in 20 years :)

10.  BSF has started again.  Bible Study Fellowship.  We are studying the book of Revelation this year.  If you are interested in studying the Bible---only the Bible!---I promise you BSF is not what you think it is.  We study the Word, we study Jesus, we study Truth, and we trust the Lord to teach us as we study Together.  Please look it up--men and women and school age kids--guided study thru Revelation, verse by verse.  www.bsfinternational.org  I've been a part of the Genesis study, the Matthew study, and the Life of Moses study (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy).  Always wonderful!

The Day Everyone Learned Something New

We've started school!  Three weeks down and so far so great!  One thing I love about Classical Conversations is that it promotes education for the whole family--Josh and I are learning right along with her and honestly, Jack and Noah and Jordan know A LOT of it just from listening :)

There was a day last week where everyone child in our house learned something new.  :)

Renae learned how to get on and start her bike all by herself...she has been capable of doing this for awhile but too timid to try it..she's finally got it! :)

Jack asked to take his training wheels off his bike and took off on his own.  No coaching or helping required!  This has been a long time coming, too, but he finally asked! :)

Noah has always been a singer, but now he's singing Renae's school songs that involve science facts, prepositions, Latin, and skip counting :)  He's always got a song to sing.  Also, he and Jack can both bounce a baseball on the driveway and hit it when it comes up.  I'm still not coordinated enough to do that! hahaha!

Jordan learned how to make fishy lips.  And to say the word bathroom. She now says- Daddy, Mommy, Dak (Jack), Nae (Renae), ok, no, ball, shhhhhhhoes, gink (drink), baby, peas (please) and bathroom. (which by the way is clear as can be...hahaha!)

Grand Intentions!

We had such a GREAT GREAT GREAT Summer!  Quite possibly my favorite summer of life so far...(close 2nds are MB Summer Project 2004, and the summer we got married {2006}).  It took me most of the summer to really put a finger on why I was LOVIN' this Summer so much.  

*Dramatic Pause*

This is the 1st summer in 6 YEARS that I have not either been pregnant, or nursing a baby!!!!

This was a hot summer (even by Georgia standards!) but...I LOVED IT!  I had the body temperature of a normal human, not growing or feeding anyone else, not the one who was 12,000 degrees sitting indoors or holding a sweaty baby 4-5 times a day.  Ok, ok, you get it!  But seriously, I loved the heat.  We were outdoors almost every day.  We went to the beach almost every weekend, and if we didn't go there, we went to the pool.  We got to vacation! (Look on Facebook for pictures, there are A LOT)  It was the vacation of the 'Villes.  We journeyed to Clarksville, Evansville, Hudsonville, Stevensville, and Nashville!  A trip filled with floating down a river (4 adults and 6 kids 7yrs old and under), friends, the zoo, parks parks and more parks, cousins, the pool, grandparents, Lake Michigan, the county fair (the rides, the animals, the food!), fire pits, hammocks, and new babies.  We had such an enjoyable time :)

With the Fall comes fresh starts.  A schedule begins again!  And FOOTBALL.  ((And maybe-I know, I know- I can find time to write more updates!))

We begin our homeschool adventure this year as Renae starts Kindergarten.  So far, so fabulous! It is exciting to watch how eager she is to learn.  It is definitely infectious.  Jack wants to do some school everyday now, too!  :) I'm definitely remembering things I had forgotten!  We are doing Classical Conversations which is a wonderful homeschool program.  The Community is incredible, and the academics are rigorous and challenging.  If you are thinking about homeschooling and have any questions about CC ask me!  I'd love to talk with you about it!

Triumph!

Ok, so I failed my blogging goal for April.  But not so for May! :)  However, now I have so many stories rattling around in my brain that this will be yet another list of happenings.  But, I'll limit this to a list of triumphs!!

How about newest to oldest:
1. THIS MORNING- I came out of my room to see Noah (2.5) feeding Jordan (17 mo) yogurt.  He acquired and opened the blueberry yogurt himself, and was feeding it to her in the middle of the living room.  He had even had a Kleenex to wipe up messes!  Thankfully he was only a couple bites in when I entered and took over :) #winning

2.  YESTERDAY- Jordan officially took on the title "Walker"!!  She walks!  #WHOOHOO!

3.  ALSO YESTERDAY- During lunch, we were watching two birds that were hopping around in the grass.  It had just finished raining so food was plentiful.  I explained that birds eat worms, and Jack started this play-by-play:  "That bird is going to eat the big Mommy worm...then all the kids...and then all the littlest baby worms..." creepy, lost my appetite, #whatanimagination! :/

4.  ALSO YESTERDAY- Josh and I's 9-year Anniversary!  :)  #hopingfordecadesmore

5.  TUESDAY- Our last MOPS meeting, the kids made me this awesome Mother's Day card! #blessed

6.  Mother's Day- the Renae and Jack's classes sang in church.  They both sang, and did actions. Best part= 1/2 thru the song Renae got really shy, Jack in his usual never-hold-still-self, moved into her line of vision and they exchanged thumbs up and then she was fine! #besties

 7.  And then this...the best pic we could get.  Our moment of Mother's Day triumph. #uhhhtriumph?

UPDATE:  Lest you think all we have is Triumph....while I was typing this post, I heard Noah wake up from his nap.  No big deal, he was just talking in his crib...I bet you can see where this is going. Finish post...turn off computer....Enter Mama to Noah's room....there it is--an open diaper and lovely brown "art" all over the crib. #winning #nowsupperisanhourlater

More Visitors!

Grandpa and Grandma came to visit!  It was quick one, but for the 24ish hours they were hear we played hard!  We dug holes,

ate a lot of food,

read a lot of stories,

went to Forsyth park to play,

more playing,

and lots of hugs and smiles!

The kids have enjoyed lots of new things lately!  Renae can read, and ride a bike without training wheels.  Some friends gave us a balance bike, and Jack is a professional on it!  He loves it.  Noah is still singing and learning new words.  He can almost pedal a bike and potty training is just around the corner.  Jordan is getting closer and closer to walking--we aren't even letting her 'practice' much!  I saw her take a tentative step yesterday, completely on her own, no one around...but then she thought better of it and sat down to crawl.  I think that might be the story of her life.  She learns things alone, without help, and then show us her perfected skills when we least expect it!  We've gotten some new guidance with feeding her, so we might actually get this girl over 20 pounds soon!  We've hit 18 so far, which is up a little over a pound in the last three months!

If You Can't Laugh at Yourself, Who Will?

We recently had a very wonderful surprise house guest!  A friend we hadn't seen in years was passing by and need a place to stay overnight!  YES!! YES!! YES!!  And then I looked at the house. hahahaha.  While the kids were helping me straighten up a bit (I didn't do a whole lot, she's a good friend!), this advertising voice enters my head, hitting the high points of our luxurious overnight experience.  I was was laughing so hard to myself that I had to write it down to share.  And so now here it is, recorded for posterity.  :)

Welcome to the Barricklow Inn & Suites! Where the beds are lumpy, the floors, recently sloshed with orange juice, have been paper toweled clean. Most rooms have been cleaned solely by preschoolers. There are wipes in every room, and peace and quiet in none. Zero rugs in any bathroom and only 2 clean towels. Most surfaces are some level of sticky, and those that aren't are piled with laundry, but the sheets- those HOT PINK sheets, those are clean! wink emoticon We are also proud to feature a strict No Rats policy. Once you enter, due to the exorbitant amount of baby-proofing doorknobs, YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE!  **ominous music** You'll love it here! smile emoticon smile emoticon

The Photo Blog

How about a photographic update :)

This is Jack since Christmas. ANY DAY since Christmas.  But, now that I think of it, if you scroll back through these posts I'm sure you'll find him doing this same thing 2 years ago.

Renae lays down for quiet time in her room everyday.  Some days she sleeps, some days she just plays with whatever stuffed animal 'friend' she took with her.  This particular picture was taken during Sunday afternoon naps.  :)  She came out from her nap, found us all sleeping, and joined in :)

Here's what she looks like when she sleeps in her bed.  Her poor 'friends'.  I have often found her asleep on their face. HA!  So cute ;)  Also, Renae's room gets a little chilly, thus the 2 blankets, comforter, long sleeve and hoodie.  Mickey is clearly under dressed.

Jack's hair looks super, super awful after a stocking hat.  Seriously, so bad.  Here's some proof: 

He got a hair cut last weekend because it was getting out of control!  He calls it snowy owl hair. Hahaha! 

Renae's 'short' hair :)  Check out the "W" sitting in the background. (if you're confused, read the post previous to this one).

The fangs!

Here's a fuzzy all  3 1/2 teeth shot with more "W" sitting :)  And her one long clump of hair over her ear.

Here's a picture of Jack and Renae's earrings.  They think it's hilarious.  They rest them on the tops of their ears and wear them for hours.  So funny.  The 'earrings' swing around when they move just like giant hoops.

And this picture is hilarious for multiple reasons.  Noah got Pluto for Christmas.  He has called him Pluto probably 1 time.  Josh and I couldn't figure out what he was calling him for the longest time, it sounded like "Pow".  I finally got it.  When Mickey talks to Pluto he usually calls him his PAL.  "Who's my Pal, Who's my pal!?"  So cute.  Noah says, "Where's my Pow?"  "Don't see him anywhere!"  "Oh! There's my Pow!"  GIANT HUG.  Repeat.  So here's a picture of that.  Also pictured, the yogurt from lunch on his forehead that I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE until I looked at the picture.

"Oh!  There's my Pow!"

The kids were so proud of this tower.  They dumped out all the baskets of toys, put them on top of each other, and the kicker: every container has a toy in it 'sleeping'.  They would look through the handles and make sure the toy was behaving!  HAHA.  Can there ever be a fun game that doesn't involve dumping every single thing out?  After 5 years of parenting experience I'm starting to think NO.  Yes, Renae is wearing a pasta necklace.

And I'll leave you with these two January beauts:  Here are our trees :)

Even closer :)  Sigh. Love winter in GA. Spring is here!

You should probably come visit.

Resolutions?

I, personally, think resolutions are silly.  There are upsides to resolutions, that's for sure: identifying areas to grow, making a plan, planning a remarkable overhaul of personal habits, believing the best of intentions will surely happen this year...  But, I think when resolutions actually work, it's more likely that you are goal setting,   But all that's neither here nor there. I am going to blog more.  I am.  I just am.  (---resolution).  I'm realizing a need for a creative outlet, and I like to blog!  It needs to be quick, mess free, and fun, and I like to write.  I'm aiming for twice a month.  (---goal setting).  On that note :)

Since I last wrote, here are some happenings...off the top of my head.

1.  Noah can talk.  Very well.  He is learning new words left and right. So cute and so funny!   He has a bunch of favorite songs at Christmas time:  Wrosty the No-man, Jingle Bells, anything from the Veggie Tales Christmas album, and the Snowflake song from Mickey Mouse.

2.  Jordan has fangs.  Two top incisors and one lower middle tooth so far.  She looks hilarious.

3.  I have finally realized that some how I have completely morphed into someone very different than I was 10 years ago.  The foods I like...I wear PINK now...I do my hair regularly :)...I like crafts (?!!?) Ok, so it's not a vast transformation but still.  Can't even believe it.  Also, I took a spiritual gifts test and all my tops were lower-middles and my now four highest were brand new!  My outlook on life and the ways God is using me have changed for sure.

4.  I won a chili cook-off.  Yep.  Won it.  BOOM.

5.  Jordan is a "W" sitter.  Whenever she is sitting her legs make a W shape. (knees bent, feet off to the sides) Apparently, this is a physical therapist's nightmare.  So we are now following her around to help her sit correctly.  Disclaimer: this advice did come from a medical professional  :)  Jordan still gets a visit from a NICU nurse periodically to ensure she is growing just right!  And, also apparently, she IS  :) --with one large exception--"W" sitting.  Sadly, it is very cute, and very unique to her so I'm sad to see it go.  We are, however, parents of 4, so I can neither confirm nor deny that we are making any progress.

6.  Jack is completely diaper free.  Well, he has been since late September but here's the funny part.  Well, 'funny' part.  We told Jack that if he could keep his undies dry all night long, 10 nights in a row he could get a big giant cookie.  He was soooo on board with this.  Nothing like a little incentive for learning a new skill!  (----goal setting) Every morning he and his bed were dry, he'd put a sticker on the calendar to keep track.  Well, the 'funny' part was that right off the bat he made it 5 or 6 nights consistently with an oops here or there.  Then he began consistently getting 9.  I'm talking get 9 stickers on the calendar in a row then night #10...in order to get his big giant cookie...wet. FOR TWO MONTHS!  9 nights then oops.  9 nights then oops. Repeat.  Poor guy.  But, he made it!  Right before Christmas he got his big giant cookie :)  And honestly, I don't think he's had an accident since.  

7.  Both Renae and I got a hair cut.  Mine=really short.  Renae's=6 inches off, a few inches below her shoulders.  She is proud of her 'short' hair!  HA!  And, I get home and Josh asks me when I'm going to grow my hair out again. C'mon man!

8.  Renae learned to read.  She's still a little timid, but she likes to figure out what everything says.  She's pretty good!

9.  Josh and I are on day 19 of a 21-day No Junk Food Challenge.  WOOP!  It was good Christmas detox, and now we are set up to make healthier choices until the holiday season rolls around again! (---resolution)

10.  There is a lot of laughing in our house.  Like the time Josh hit Noah in the face with a ball, or the time I stubbed my toe on the kitchen table and my foot made a "red lake", and then the time three days later that I did THE EXACT SAME THING...!!, or when Renae is practicing her reading and butchers a bunch of words and I can't hold it in, or when the kids are playing and the most common repeated phrase is "You suuure have your hands full!" (because it is impossible for me to take the kids anywhere and not have someone say that to me), or the time when Josh fell asleep playing with the kids on the floor in the most flattering way possible--so so funny!  Or then the time we told Noah (fresh out of the bath) to go find something (probably his blankie) and come right back only to find out his rear end had recently #2'd.  Middle of the living room floor (that was on Christmas).  Basically what I'm saying is that our house in a wreck...I mean just flat chaos...and thankfully we more often than not end up laughing really really hard!  Just last night we made a "people stack" after our bedtime story.  Noah had to climb all the way to the top and let's just say it took many tries, and the falls would have won AFV  :)  So funny!

So here's to twice a month (or more!)  :)