Trae has finally decided that when going down the stairs, it might be a good idea to turn around! woo hoo!!

Winni's 2 yr pictures!! Isn't she sweet! To view all of her pictures, go to https://www.thesmilestation.com/home.asp?AC=LTTT0884100483TAR and enter AMBER GUNTER as the guest. Enjoy!!

"Mommy, you rock a bye baby in the treetops out the window?"

Translation:
"Mommy, can we sit in the rocking chair?"

On our way to the gym this morning, Carrie Underwood's version of "I'll stand by you" came on the radio. Of course I was singing along, but I didn't notice how much Winni was paying attention. After the song was over she said, "Mommy, I'll stand by you! Nobody hurt you!"

I've had quite the trouble keeping track of all of our animals these days. I finally got Xena to stop jumping the fence, by putting a long cord leash on her. It has worked, except I have to go out there a few times a day and unravel her from trees and such! Then Malachi, our other black lab, got out and was picked up by animal control. They tell me that next time he gets out I get a citation!! Of course, the turtles didn't want to be left out of the fun, so as i was cleaning their habitat, I put them in some tupperware. I thought it was deep enough, and it was, until they played turtle pile and the smallest one got out. He crawled across the table...and then fell off! I found him behind some CD's on the floor. He's ok, we're all ok! I guess I'm an unfit animal mother! :) And that's ok by me!

Today I took the dress back! I was going to get a smaller size, but who wants to keep a dress that makes people think you are pregnant!?!

My little Fo Hawk Man!!




Apparently Winni wasn't the only person confused by my dress. As I got out of the car today one of my neighbors, Lori, called to me and asked..."Are you pregnant?" I was shocked! I said "No, why?" She told me that someone at church had asked her!! I knew I did't like baby doll dresses!! Well, I guess I can just save the dress for when I AM pregnant!

My Fashion Consultant let me know, delicately, that she didn't approve of my new dress!! Usually when I am getting ready for church, Winni comes in and says, "Oh, Mommy BEAUTIFUL!!" It makes me feel so good. Well, today was different. I put on my new dress and came to the kitchen where my kids were having breakfast. Winni's first comment was, "Mommy, you wearing a napkin?" I told her I wasn't, and then she continued. "Mommy, you doing dishes?" Apparently my new dress isn't cutting it!!



I think it's cute! But, what do I know?!?

Last Night:



"Nice hat Winni!"



"Mommy, I go to Afghanistan and get Daddy, ok??"

We are now at day 7 of Trae crying himself to sleep. I think I'm just about worn out!! He falls asleep, then realizes he is standing and cries. After 2 hours every night, I end up going in and laying him down because he is trying to sleep standing up!! Oh the joys!! I'm open to new ideas.....

The other night I found Winni playing with her building blocks. She had never done this before and I was very proud of her. She built a little square and put it on wheels. She kept saying, "I did it, I did it!" The next morning when she was playing with it again she knocked over some of the blocks and they fell. She was so concerned about those blocks. She asked them if they were ok?? Then she said, "You want to go see your mommy?" I'm not sure who the mommy is, but apparently all is well with the block family.

The decline of a Kindergartener's standards

As I was working in the garden today, Hunter from across the street was entertaining Winni and keeping her out of the street. I found a really big snail crawling toward my garden and I showed it to Hunter. He thought it was pretty cool so he took it to show to his grandma. He thought she would enjoy having it in her garden. Of course she was against that and let him know. He got very offended and told her that snails are apart of life and we should let them live. He had a pretty good argument and kept telling his grandma that she should let them live in her garden. Well, at the time she was blowtorching the weeds on her sidewalk and decided to have a little fun with him. She cooked that snail, and apparently Hunter forgot his pro-life for snails fight. He then came over to me and said, "Hey, if you find anymore snails, let me know and my grandma will burn them!"

Winni is always trying, and succeeding, at stealing Trae's bottles from him. I then have to get it from her and return it to him. I was cleaning out the car from the days travels and Winni was helping me. She found a bottle with a little bit of formula left and thought she had found a special treat for herself. When I found her she had the most disgusted look and her face as she pulled the 2 day old bottle from her lips. She noticed me watching her and said, "Ewe mommy, spicy!!" Hopefully we've learned not to take Trae's bottles anymoore, but I doubt it.

My Randomly Typical Day

My little boy is growing up! While in the child care center at the gym today, Trae decided he doesn't like being with the babies. So, at 10 months old, he joined the 1 yr olds! As we were driving home from the gym this afternoon, Winni said, "Mom, I had a fun day! Did you have a fun day?" I told her that I had had a fun day. We played, we went grocery shopping, we cleaned the house, we made cookies, went for a walk. It had been a pretty fun day! I thought this question was innocent enough, and very thoughtful of her. Little did I know what she had planned for me.....After dinner I put the kids in the tub. Trae doesn't last very long in the tub so I got him out and got his jammies on. We were waiting for Winni to get done playing in the tub when she realized that when she toots it makes bubbles. She thought this was the greatest and she was doing everything she could to keep tooting. Trae and I left the bathroom for one tiny minute and when we came back, yep you guessed, she said, "Ewe Mommy, poopy in my tubby!" And right there in her hot little hand was a little poop. So I told her it was time to get out and I noticed more poop. I thought she knew that toots lead to poop, but I guess this was the place to test that theory! (However, I'm sure glad I didn't take the extra time to scrub down the tub before putting them in it tonight!) Then it was bedtime, and of course she didn't want to go. I finally gave in and let her lay on my bed because I was on the phone with Walter's dad, Walt! (My life is a dang Walter circus!! :) And I love it!) She got out of bed and came to me. She showed me her hands and it turns out she had gotten into my lotion and covered herself....and my bed! She had quite the productive day! I can't wait til tomorrow. We are getting her 2 yr old pictures done! Who cares if her birthday was in January, I'll just put her in some warm clothes for her picture. It's not like she's grown any!!

Today, of course while the sacrament was being passed, Winni decided that would be a good time to pray outloud! She said, "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this day. Thank you for Cody" (a little boy in nursery with her) She said some other things, too, but I couldn't understand her very well. It was so cute, but once she realized people were starting to turn and look at her, she quickly got shy and really quiet!

Whenever Winni gets a hold of my cell phone she says, "Good Morning Daddy!" It's so cute! No matter what time of day she says the same thing. I guess Trae has picked up on it because he loves the phone, and when he gets it he holds it up to his head and says, "da da da da!" So sweet!

Last night was cooking club. The theme was Pajama Party and we were served breakfast! It was sooo good! I got some great recipes, including pumpkin waffles and buttermilk syrup! I can't wait to make them for my family. I decided to get into the whole pajama party idea and I put my hair in rag curlers! Don't I look great??



So, after wearing these rags all around town, including the airport, I came home and took them out and....





I think maybe next time I'll try tube socks...we'll see how it goes! :)

Winni has been laying on the manners A LOT lately! Which is great! Sometimes it's very sweetly and other times she's a little bossy. In the morning it's, "Mommy, Please COME HERE!" Sometimes it's, "Mommy, could you please wash this? It's yucky." I didn't think I was too anal about the "Please" and "Thank You's", but apparently a little guidance goes a long way with this little girl. She even told the deacon "Thank You" as he passed her the sacrament on sunday. It was so cute! A little loud, but still very cute!

So, there I was, sitting on the wooden box of dress-up clothes in Winni's room. I was trying to get her to go to sleep, but she wasn't falling for it! I had had a little bit of a stomach ache and I felt the gas building up!!! I decided to let it go! To be honest, it was long and loud, but without stink! At that moment Winni sat up in bed and said, "Mommy, excuse you!" Then sweetly, she took the opportunity to teach me when she said, "Mommy, you go poopy in the potty...ok?" It was so funny I had to go and tell Walter! Which, in turn, kept her up longer!

Why is it that my husband can put the kids to bed in 10 minutes and I'm ready to pull my hair out after an hour and no one is asleep!!! I've got 3 nights until he leaves again, I think it's his turn to train the kids! You can find me soaking in the tub with a good book around 7:30 for the next 3 nights! I'm gonna miss him!!

We made some great friends in Monterey, California when we lived there for 1 1/2 years. A lot of our friends are now in Omaha, NE. Our friends, Phil and Micaela Tice came to town for a wedding this week. They brought their cute kids, Ashelyn and Stephen. We hadn't seen them in a year, so they had never met Trae and Winni had grown up quite a bit. I was at the store when they got to the house, so my sister, Julie, let them in. As they were noticing the pictures of our family on the wall, Winni came out to greet them...butt naked!! Apparently she had been working on potty training, by herself! My sister, being a little embarrassed because she wasn't too sure how well we knew these people, acknowledged Winni and her nakedness. At that moment Winni turned around and, with a toilet paper stream hanging from her little bumb crack, shook her bumb and said, "Look at my bumb!" I couldn't be prouder, I just wish I'd been there with a camera! :)

My sister called tonight and invited us to her daughter, Jaxynn's, soccer game. I thought, what a great idea, we'll eat our chicken quesadillas at the park while we watch her game! As I left the house I had 2 bowls of Ranch for dipping and a plate of quesadillas. I was juggling all this on my double stroller and the thought came to me, If I drop anything, I hope its the ranch cause i can eat the quesadillas without ranch. What do you know...I dropped the quesadillas!! So I quickly picked them up and went on my way. As we were going up the hill at the park I hit a bump, and the ranch went flying!! I managed to keep some of the ranch in the bowls, so I went on my way. I got to my nieces game and sat down with my sister and enjoyed my extra crunchy quesadillas!! Winni thought they were fantastic!

I had a Modbe swimsuit party (www.modbeclothing.com) a few weeks ago, and today our suits arrived!! yeah!! I ordered a swim top, bottoms and a skirt. Well, I don't think I'll be invited back to the local pool if I show up with what came in the mail. I got the top and the skirt!! Not sure I'm quite ready to chance that one! I guess I'll keep waiting!!