Rain Rain Everywhere! (& the TP Lesson)

So, you may have heard that the Dallas area got quite a bit of rain today. Well, Anderson loves all things regarding rain (the rain itself, the thunder, the umbrellas, the windshield wipers, etc.). So, of course he wanted to go play in the rain. When the downpour hit, I stripped him and sent him on out. He enjoyed it and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take some naked toddler pics. ;) I tried to tell him that he could leave his underwear on, but he insisted that he didn't want them to get wet.

So, this is a little shameless bragging on behalf of Anderson. He is a potty-training all-star! He (knock on wood) had not had an accident in a few weeks time. That's including a trip to Grammy & Gramps' house, a road trip to the lake, and starting school. He's done SO incredibly well and the best part is that he's actually pretty independent about the whole deal. He prefers to go "by himself" and only calls us to help when he's finished. However, we are still trying to get him to understand the concept of toilet paper.

Cars, Cars, Cars!

For Anderson's 2nd birthday he was given a Lightning McQueen car that you shake and it drives across the floor. I guess that was the beginning of a 2-year-old's obsession with the Disney movie Cars. We showed him a little bit of the movie and now only a couple of months later, he knows all the characters. He still hasn't even seen the complete movie! The best part is that Anderson's wonderful success with potty training can be attributed to Cars. He loved earning stickers for his Potty Chart and then getting a new car each time the chart was full. Here's Anderson playing with his collection.

Lately, the cars must be in all pictures that are taken!

4 Months!

Wow! Everett's 4 months old! I can't decide if it's been the longest or shortest 4 months! ;) Here are some of the "big" things my chunky boy has been up to lately.

How cute am I?!

Everett on his first day of 'school'!

My first go at using a cup!

Lately

I'm in love with Everett's hair (and the rest of him, of course). From the beginning it's been surprising since we were expecting another light blondie like Anderson. It's dark and has a very soft and fine texture. But, the best part is it's spikiness! I love the way it spikes up on the top of his head. It further cements his nicknames that are related to dinosaurs. ;) He's my little Spike-a-saurus.

Look at my 3 loves. Aren't I the luckiest Mommy in the world? This chair is like a magnet. As soon as I sit in it, here come the troops! I start out with one (whose probably nursing!) and end up with a crowd and lots of cuddles.

So, the big news around here is that Anderson is now a BIG BOY! Yes, I'm fairly confident in saying he's potty trained. We're going on 1 week in big boy underwear! We're still having some accidents here and there, but Anderson is a champ! He's done really well through the entire process! Here he is modeling his new big boy underwear.

Speaking of potty training week, a huge thanks to my mother-n-law, Sharon! She was able to come (at kind-of short notice) to stay with me for 4 days while Reese was in London on business. I'm sure that when she agreed to come and help me with the boys, she didn't realize she was also signing up for duty at Neumann Potty Training Camp. She was an enormous help with encouraging and guiding Anderson all week. I feel awful because I literally only took one picture while she was here (that's a testament to how busy we were). Here's Grammy reading a potty book with partial-birthday-suit Anderson.

Oh!! I have the most hilarious video of Anderson dancing in the bathtub singing his Potty Song. It's absolutely hilarious and he'll be mortally embarrassed someday. We don't want to post it here for the world to see, but if you are interested in seeing the cuteness, email me and I send it to you!

Anderson, Everett & the Trucks

Anderson is such a little boy ~ he is ALL about trucks, cars, trains, ALL the time! From early on, we've casually told Anderson that "When Everett gets bigger, he'll be able to play trucks with you!" Well, here lately Reese and I will comment out loud how big Everett is getting. Anderson quickly chimes in and says "Everett can play trucks!". I have a feeling that as fun as Anderson imagines it to be to have Everett play trucks with him, someday he'll probably feel a little differently when it comes time to share. Here are some pictures of Anderson "playing trucks" with Everett recently.

Everett's finally figured out those hands!

Copycat Anderson ;)

Anderson is telling Everett the name of each truck.

I got it!

Everett in the truck pile

Funny Boy

Yesterday it began raining in the afternoon and Anderson wanted to go outside and play in it. After he had played for a little while, he decided to come inside. I was standing at the doorway with Everett and told him to make sure and wipe his feet really good on the floor mat because they were wet. He promptly stood on the mat, wiggled his feet back and forth to dry them. Then, he bent over and proceeded to rub his head on the mat while saying "Anderson dry head too." :)

Pictures!

Anderson & Everett with his cousins, Carter & Kate, and their PaPaw!

Everett's 3 Months Old!

Everett's figuring out how to work his hands!

Check out my spiky hair!