The courage to CTR

I got this idea from my friend Kristine... who got it from our friend Amy. :)

I love to find great mothers and then pester them with questions about their parenting ideas and of course copy them!

I ain't no dummy.

I've been trying to encourage the kids to do things that challenge them and might even be a little scary. I feel like it is getting harder and harder for our kids to do what is right and often they stand out because of it and sometimes even get teased for it.

So this is our "courage jar".

When any of us (including Trevor and I) do anything courageous we get to decide how many fuzzies we think we deserve to put in the jar (up to 5 for each act).

It can be anything and is different for each of us.

For example Megan gave herself 5 fuzzies for pulling out her tooth and she deserved every one of those fuzzies... she was terrified but she did it.

Hallie gave herself 3 fuzzies for asking a boy to stop saying a bad word.

I added some fuzzies to the jar for doing a little missionary work.

Campbell got some fuzzies for working on some of his potty training goals (I'll leave it at that).

etc.

When the jar is full (150 fuzzies) we are going either here or here for an over-nighter and a little family fun.

Anyway, it has been working great so I thought I'd pass the idea along.

Thanks Kristine and Amy.

Randomness... in pictures

Heart Potatoes
We've had crazy amounts of snow in Kentucky this winter. School has been cancelled several times this month (stop laughing Utahns). ;)
Lots of snow means drinking lots of hot cocoa and I'm seriously missing Stephens Gourmet Mint Truffle. Not too many hot chocolate options out here.
I took this picture of the kids watching daddy snow blow the driveway (thanks for sharing with us Brett).

I was sick last Monday and so Trev was in charge. He put up a HUGE 3-room tent in our family room. The kids were in heaven.

I caught Davis like this the other day. He pulled down the couch cushions and then swiped a cookie to enjoy while he lounged on top of them.
A little tub time for Davis and Campbell. Check out Davis' eyelashes... I'm jealous.
Davis thinks everything is a phone.

Freshly bathed and ready to wrestle with Daddy.

A Day of LOVE

(Heart-attacking our house)

Trevor is not a romantic and quite frankly neither am I so Valentine's Day has never been a big holiday for us.
This year (and from now on) I decided I wanted to focus on the LOVE part of Valentines and on doing things for our family to help everyone feel how much they are loved. I got a great idea from my friend Lacey and I had the girls help me cut out tons of hearts and write things we love about each member of our family on the hearts. Valentines morning we hung the hearts up all over the house for everyone to read. It was so fun to read some of the things they wrote like Hallie's heart that said "I love playing Up high, Down low, on the side, too slow with Dad." and Megan's heart that said, " I love Davis' chubby hugs."
This will definitely be a new tradition for us. Thanks Lacey.

A traditional we have had since Trev and I were first married is a Valentine's Treasure Hunt. The kids love this and it's fun for me to come up with the clues and of course the treasure.





After running up and down the stairs about 5 times ( I like to wear them out) in search of clues they finally found their treasures in our closet.
Love letters, treats, and a toy. Hallie and Megan got some more "littlest pet shop" animals. I love to give these to the girls because it is one thing they love to play with together.

As soon as they found the new toys they were off to their room to play happily together ... love that. I came up about an hour later and had to take some pictures of how they set them up.
This is the other reason I love to give them these little animals... so cute.

(love how they put all the fish and frogs in the bathtub)






I cooked a nice dinner... made with lots of love and then we thought it would be good to spend a little time at the local Nursing Home and share a little love with those folks. So, the girls made some Valentine cards to pass out and we went with our good friends to the Friendship Manor.





HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Hope you felt loved. :)

Campbell through the years... all 3 of them

This kid is fun, fun, fun! I can honestly say he makes me laugh every single day.

He loves to put on his "super Campbell" cape and run around the house announcing, "To the rescue!"

If he spills something he is quick to say, "I'n so sorry Mommy, I'n so sorry."

He has a bad habit of wiping his nose on his sleeve and we were discussing this the other day. I told him he needed to use a Kleenex and Hallie said, "I hope he isn't still doing that when he dates!" Megan added, "Yeah, or if he gives her a hug and wipes his nose on her shoulder! Ewww!" lol

Campbell eats and eats and is still hungry. He tells me "I need somefin for my mouff."

As I am typing this he is telling me, "Megan pushed me... she need to go to time out!"

We just love this little guy. He brings so much sunshine and yes, a little craziness into our home.

We love him for it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMPBELL!!

Campbell turns 3!

Saturday, Feb 13th was Campbell's 3rd birthday.

It was full of presents, yummy food, and friends.

This kid keeps us laughing.

He thought Hallie's glasses needed a little welding.

Thank you hugs for Meg and Daddy.

Enjoying his new crazy straws.

Water tastes so much better when you drink it from a crazy straw... just ask Cam.

Ice cream and cake with friends.

Blowing out the candles is harder than it looks!
What a fun day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMPBELL-MAN!!!