The Potty

We have been talking, reading books, and watching videos all about using the potty forever now. We started before Emily turned two...needless to say she still has not used the potty. I know she will in her own time. Emily knows completely understands the concept of the potty and all that business. Lately, she has become more interested. Last night, she sat on the potty three times after bath. Of course, she mainly likes to wipe her bottom with toilet paper. By sitting on the potty...I mean she simply sat on it and did nothing else. After the third time, I followed Emily into her bedroom to put on her diaper and pajamas. I was seriously two second behind her, which was not fast enough. Emily had climbed onto her rocking chair and was in mid stream. I guess I should have been upset, but I was laughing too hard. I am glad that she did realize she needed to go potty, but just did it in the wrong spot.

Emily has sat on the potty like 20 times today. Hopefully, she will actually do something in the potty soon. I would love anyone's advice or tips on potty training. I am trying really hard not to compare Emily's potty training to other kids, but it is hard. I have to remember not to stick my tongue out at other parents telling me their child is potty trained and younger than Emily. ;)

Valentine's Weekend

Valentine's weekend has been great for us. On Saturday, we planned to go to the pound movie in Bury. I just heard about the pound movie. Bury's theater shows three family movies around 10:00 for just a pound. We were going to take Emily to see Planet 51. I slept a few extra minutes (the bed was so warm). We showed up 10 minutes before the start of the movie, and it was already sold out. I guess we were the last people in the area to hear about the pound movie. So, we saw Up instead. Afterwards, we went to eat at Zen noodle bar which was fantastic. Today, we went with one of Emily's favorite friends to Fun2Play in Thetford. Fun2Play is this large indoor play area. Emily just loves Nicole, our neighbor. Nicole is six and always so sweet to Emily. Emily loves saying "Cole" in her high pitched voice. Jason bought me a large wall clock from the Myraid for Valentine's. I have wanted one of these clocks for about 3 1/2 years, so he decided to get it before we leave. I love it! I can't wait to hang it up when we get to FL. It will remain safely in the box until then. I am sad to see the weekend come to a close, but excited to have no school this upcoming week. Emily and I can have some serious fun.

Wii or Not to Wii

After two years of discussing whether to get a Wii, I bought one for Jason's birthday as a surprise. We are not big video game people, but love playing it when going over to other people's houses. Well, the gift is a huge success. I about died laughing watching Jason try to hula-hoop. I could tell he didn't spend hours hula-hooping as a child like I did. Oh man, how I used to LOVE to hula-hoop. We just have to keep our video playing time in check.

Today is Jason's 36th birthday. We had a wonderful day. Jason and I found a Mexican chain restaurant in Cambridge called Chiquito's. (3 1/2 years after getting to England) I made Jason's favorite for dinner...ribs! We ended the day with a chocolate cake. I felt like I ate the entire day! On top of that, Emily was an absolute jewel today. She was giving Jason tons of hugs, kisses, and loving. Sometimes, she can be only about mommy. Jason loved every minute of it. We have come to realize just how good of a little girl we have. She is just so sweet and kind. Emily does have her crazy toddler moments, but the majority of the time she is wonderful.

Have a great weekend all!

Fun in the Sun

By now, I am sure everyone has heard me shouting from the top of Big Ben that we are moving to FL this summer. Jason can hardly sleep at night with his excitement. He said he doesn't know where he wants to take Emily and I first. He keeps telling me all about his favorite old spots. Jason lived in FL about seven years ago and LOVED every minute of it. I have always been surprised that he loves FL, since he is not the a big fan of the ocean. I guess he really doesn't like the sand, but loves the scenery.

Many of you don't know this, but we were first told we were going to Clovis, NM. It is a small town in the middle of nowhere in NM. Jason and I were both hugely dissappointed. Plus, the job was not a good move for Jason. Luckily, the information was a mistake...long story. The closest Target was one-two hours away...do I need to say anymore?

We are probably going to slow our traveling down, since we want to save money. I feel like we should be doing the opposite and traveling like crazy. We are going to Edelweiss in April or May timeframe. So, we will take one large trip before coming back to the states.

I hope to start working back in the classroom, when we get to FL. I will miss spending so much time with Emily. It actually makes me want to cry thinking about it, but I miss the classroom so much. It is a little selfish decision. Plus, we are hoping to find the best nursery/daycare facility for Emily. Who knows? I am change my mind when we get to FL. Emily and I could spend all of our days on the beach. ;)

Well, I am off to write a paper. Cheers!

The Singing Princess

Emily has worn her "rella" dress for three days in a row. She loves her Cinderella dress, tiara, and heels. In addition to her princess outfit, she has begun singing like Celine Dion. Emily sings with such emotion that it just Jason and I smile and laugh. She loves to do arm movements and twirls while singing. Emily usually ends each performance with a bow. Recently, she has begun closing her eyes too. We have a star. Here are a view action photos of Emily singing her heart out. I hope to learn how to upload a video of her singing.

Happy New Year!

Our Very Merry Christmas

Christmas was amazing this year. Last year, we traveled back home and enjoyed the holidays with our family. This year we choose to stay and celebrate Christmas in England with just the three of us. Although we missed our family, we had lots of great fun here. It was so relaxing just to stay home and enjoy our small family together. We wanted to start some new traditions this year of playing a family board game on Christmas Eve, having our traditional Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, and a big brunch on Christmas morning. I wanted to read Twas the Night Before Christmas, but we totally forgot. So, we will try to do that next year.

We started opening gifts on Christmas morning at around 8:30 and that lasted until about 1pm when Emily went down for a nap. Emily would take 30 minutes to open one gift since she would want to immediately play with the gift she opened. We went to our neighbor's house on Christmas evening for dessert. By the time we got home, Emily still had five gifts to open under the tree. Christmas weekend was fantastic for us. We hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday.

Snow Day Pictures

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the snow in England.