Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Can Their Tummy's Feel?...

So we are trying to teach the kids that if they see someone with purple hair or nose rings or whatever might be "different" that it is okay to talk about it and ask questions about it but they should wait until we are alone to ask Jed or me about it so that we don't hurt someones feelings (okay, if they have a nose ring or purple hair they are asking for attention but if the person talks different or something that they cannot help then we don't want to hurt their feelings). So, today the girls and I are in the car and we drive by a dairy farm.

Kyra: "Mom, do cows tummys feel?"
Me: "Do cows tummys feel what?"
Kyra: "Do they feel their feelings getting hurt if we say something about them and they hear us?"
Me: "Well I don't think so, cows don't really understand what we are saying, they don't talk people talk."
Kyra, "Oh, that's good, because they stink."

Oh, I love how her mind works!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Potty Training!

First of all - yeah Carley! She finally decided it was time to start going potty like a big girl. We have been pushing her on this for a while even tough she is still a little younger than Kyra and Gavin were when they got it figured out, but she was just not interested enough. Well, on Thursday I happened to just time it right and we finally got her to go pee on the potty! When Grandma dropped Gavin off after school Carley had to tell her about it and Grandma told her that when she could go a whole day without an accident then she'd take her to get some ice cream as her reward (yes bribery is completely fine when trying to potty train). So, on Friday, we put on the underwear and tried it out...9 hours later Grandma dropped Gavin off after school and she and Carley made a trip to Dairy Queen for some ice cream! She did it! So, I figured that would be the end of it for a while, she got her ice cream, she was done with this potty thing, but she has kept it up every since and is doing wonderful - no pee accidents! But she was only going #1 in the potty not #2. So this morning she went into the bathroom and came out a couple of minutes later and said, "Mom come here." (She always feels the need to show me, which is fine for now - whatever positive reinforcement she needs). She I went it and she said, "Look, I went poop. And Mom look there is a baby poop and a Mommy poop." And sure enough there in the toilet was a tiny little piece and a big piece...Oh the things kids say. So, of course I had to e-mail Jed and tell him this story and he response was, "I am glad there wasn't a Daddy poop." I promptly responded back, "No, she is waiting for the really big s**t to call that one Daddy."

Just kidding dear! :-)

Friday, April 16, 2010

It's Beginning Already...

With three daughters in the house we knew this time would come, but it's come at the age of FOUR! We were eating lunch today and Kyra was telling Gavin about her new best friend, Ella, who she met at the church where I work. She told Gavin, "Ella is my new best friend and Jagger from my school is my new boy. I think he is the cutest boy in the whole wide world." Start cleaning your gun Jed...your daughter is on the prowl! In Kyra's defense, Jagger is one of the cuttest little boys I have met. Red, curly hair and dresses like a little Gap boy!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Almost at Our Goal!!!


Thank you to everyone who has donated to the Big Brothers Big Sisters Organization and supported us in the Bowl for Kids Sake fundraiser. We have 3 days left to raise our last $65 (of course we could be persuaded to raise more than our goal to help the organization out even more)! If you would still like to donate, you can go to the link below. Donations can be made through Friday with the fundraising event being Saturday. Thanks again to everyone who has supported this great cause!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Helpful Big Sister

This morning Reagan was in her highchair eating a snack and I looked over and Carley is sitting right next to her chewing something of her own. Pretty much knowing that she was stealing her sister's snack I asked, "What are you doing." Carley replied like I should already know that answer, "I am chewing Reagan's food for her." Really?!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Kids say the darndest Things...

Yesterday we were in the van and Kyra sneezed. Then she said, "Mom you want to know something funny?" Sure, what? "When I sneeze I fart at the same time." What do you say to that? I didn't say anything, but I did laugh - it just couldn't be helped.

A couple of days ago Gavin and Grandma were reading a book and they started talking about something and Gavin said, "...I blunked". It took us a couple of seconds but we figured out he meant blinked. He had us all laughing at that one.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Lots of Pics...

We have had a busy couple of weeks....lots of pics!



Carley turned 3 years old on Easter day! We are having her party in a couple of weeks but Nana and Papa sent her some birthday gifts along with Easter goodies so we let her open her birthday presents from them. She loved her Dora dancing dress.


We would love to know what she was thinking - she was watching her older siblings tear into birthday and Easter gifts from Nana and Papa!


Decorating Easter cookies.


...and Easter Eggs.




Playing with Abby's 5 little puppies!



Indulging Mom with family photo time on Easter morning...

Let the Easter Egg hunt begin!


We spent the whole afternoon on the patio and enjoyed our first mild sunburns - that never seems to happen on Easter in Minnesota!



#1 - Jed in control...


#2 - Jed TRYING to stay in control... #3 - Jed NOT in control...Kite in control... :-)

More puppy time and note to Britton & Lacy: While you are off frolicing in St. Marten, rest assured, Kyra is spoiling your puppy rotten!


















We couldn't completely go through the day without a little Birthday fun! Happy Birthday Carley!





Monday, April 5, 2010

3 Vans in 2 Days

Jed picked the title for this post, he found it funnier than me!...

Two weeks ago I dropped the girls off with my Dad for the morning and I took Gavin to school and stayed in the classroom to help out with a special program that they were doing that morning. At about 9:15 I was "called down to the office" (even at 31 years old I am being called to the office)! :-) So, I walk all the way down the office and as I enter I see this HUGE cop standing in the office and I could just tell he was "looking" for me. You can't possibly imagine how many thoughts can run through your head in a matter of LESS than one second. Since I had just left Gavin and I knew where the girls were and my cell phone had not rung, my first thought was that I forget that Jed had a business trip today and did they get in a car accident on there way to someplace. So I was relieved when the cop said, "Mrs. DeWitz, I'm Officer *** (I can't remember), your van was hit by someone in the parking lot, it has substantial damage, I am going to need you to come with me." The kids were safe, Jed was safe. So, I asked the cop if the person who hit it was okay and he said that he was but the damage was well over $1,000 so an accident report needed to be filed. So, I had to walk all the way back down to the classroom, get my coat and purse and explain to Gavin's teacher why I was leaving. Walked all the way back down to where the van was parked and sure enough, big dent in the back door/gate, dent in bumper, rear light popped out and back window shattered. So, we filled out our forms, traded insurance info, made sure the guy was okay once again (he was fine, just shaky from the accident) and everyone went on their way. I called my brother - my insurance man, and got the scoop on filing a claim with the other guys insurance and rental vehicles etc. Tried to call Jed but of course he didn't answer his phone. So, I headed back into school and finished my morning with Gavin. After I was done in the classroom I headed back out to figure out what my next move was. Ended up taking it to the Ford dealer and working with their body repair manager but there wasn't much we could do at that point because the claim had not gone through the other guys insurance yet, so I called my Mom, she came to pick me up and we moved all of the car seats and "stuff" that we might need from the van (minus the stroller that I LOVE that was in the back covered with what looked like glitter but was really tiny shards of glass). I drove my Mom back to work and them headed home with her care (3 hours later than originally planned). Once I got home I called my brother to see if I could borrow their van because in 2 hours I had to go back to Owatonna and pick up my Mom and Gavin and we weren't all fitting into the car. So, I went to Brandon and Stacy's (they were out of town with the pickup - thank goodness - for a few days) transferred 4 car seats to the van. The rest of the day...pretty uneventful other than many phone calls to Bryon, the other guys insurance and the guy at the Ford dealer. So, Tuesday morning (yes it's only Tuesday) we continued to use Brandon and Stacy's van until the guys insurance okayed a rental for us. So, I drove Gavin to school, we stopped at the grocery and then headed to the library for story hour like we do every Tuesday morning. After we were done at story hour I headed to the local rental dealer to "reserve" a van for whenever I got the okay from the insurance company. Of course we are headed into spring break week and there are no vans available because everyone going on a trip wants a van and not a car. Well, luckily the guy there made some calls and found a van that they could have there later that day. So, I head back to Brandon and Stacy's van and as I am getting in I notice something on the windshield that I hadn't noticed before. So, I get back out and get it and it says "Please call me at the Law Enforcement Center regarding a vehicle I saw back into yours." And then it had a name, number and date/time on it. In my mind I am thinking "how did someone who saw the accident yesterday know what I was driving today - I didn't even know what I would be driving today." So, I am trying to figure this out and trying to decide which of my brothers thought this would be a funny prank (which it was not). But the note was written on the back of a parking ticket form that looks pretty legit, so I call the number and ask for the officer. She informed me that she was in the library parking lot writing a ticket for someone and noticed a woman back out of her parking spot and hit my van (which wasn't my van at all but my brother and sister-in-laws van - she had tried to page Brandon or Stacy Wolf at the library but we were in a special room for the story hour so I had not heard it). The poor little old lady didn't even know she had hit the car (which might be a sign that it's time to let someone else help out in the driving department) and had driven home only to have a cop show up at her door a couple of hours later to "retrieve" insurance information. Anyway, yes, the back bumper/back side of the van had scuffing and scratches on it. Granted there was still a back window in it that was not shattered but seriously, how can this possibly happen two days in a row to the same person? So, I had to go to the law enforcement center, which they now know me on a first name basis, and fill out the paperwork, which I could fill out WAY to easily/quickly this time around - no one other than a cop should be that familiar with those accident reports to be able to fly through it the way I could on that accident report. So, I finished up there, now I have again spent another 2 hours longer in Owatonna than I had planned. The girls were so good but it's now 1:00 and they are tired and hungry and have been sitting in the car or in the police station for a good 2 1/2 hours now and have about a 1000 questions because they find this whole "adventure" kind of fun, they got to meet two nice cops! So, we head home and I begin with the phone calls all over again today - to Brandon and Stacy (wanted to tell them what happened before the cop called with the ladies insurance information and they had NO idea what the cop was talking about), to Bryon to once again figure out insurance and to the ladies insurance (who just happens to also have the same insurance agent as the guy from yesterday - so they too also now know me on a first name basis. Ahhh....)

Anyway, so yes, it is VERY possible to waste 3 FULL days on phone calls trying to figure out how to fix vans, get insurance from someone elses insurance, find a rental van, get compensated for the stroller and "stuff" in the back of the van that you can no longer use for fear of cutting your child and calling your husband and trying to convince him that yes in fact it is possible to have two people run into the back of two different vans in two consecutive days and yes I DID go through THREE vans in TWO days.

But, on a positive note and in all seriousness, I thank God daily that the kids and I we were not in either of the vans when they got hit, no one was injured, it just happened to work out that in both cases we were able to find out who hit the vans so their insurance could take care of repairs and the repairs were all fixable. So, at the time it was time consuming, annoying, stressful and unbelievable (okay, well it's still a little unbelievable that it could happen two days in a row). But, it all worked out in the end and of course it could have been so much worse, so we are very thankful for that.

Anyway, most people (other than me) that hear this story get a chuckle out of it, so thought I would share! :-)

Friday, April 2, 2010

Reagan - 10 Months Old

I cannot believe my baby is 10 months old! It's been a pretty uneventful month - she has been healthy, continues to crawl all over the place, trys to sneak of the stairs now and then, and she is sleeping SOOOO good - she sleeps through the night and the past couple of weeks has been taking about a 3-4 hour nap in the morning and a 2 -3 hour nap in the afternoon that I wake her up from so that she will sleep at night - she must be growing! She walks with his holding her hands but still prefers to crawl. Her favorite thing to do is find any pile of clothing and "sort" through it - folded or unfolded, clean or dirty. She has started to play peek a boo WHENEVER she gets the chance - it is so darn cute and she finds herself hilarious when she does that. She is working on her top two teeth and we will ALL be glad when those darn things come through - they tend to make her crabby. But, other than the teeth she is doing GREAT! Enjoy the pics.