A weekend of firsts...

Hatcher's first poo-poo on the potty!
So this weekend has been devoted entirely to going cold turkey on the diapers for Hatcher. A weekend dedicated to potty training and therefore pee-pee on the floor and many, many loads of laundry. Today marked the completion of day 2 with no diapers during the waking hours and we have had TWO, yes 2, successful poos in the potty. He is just not so good with the pee-pee part yet. I always heard the reverse was standard...but again we are talking about us here - and when it comes to odds...well - lets just leave that one alone for now. Hatcher is doing good. I think he is starting to get that when he gets the urge he should tell us, it is just we aren't making it there in time. And yes, for those of you asking, we are taking the timer approach and just proactively going to the potty every 20-30 mins. (Don't you wish you were here?)





Aidan's first steps...
On a much cooler note, Aidan has really started to walk this weekend. He went nearly 15 good feet on his own, holding on to nothing and next to no one. he just wanted to go and play in the play room, so he let go and headed on in there. Of course when we tried to "replicate" the amazing feat, he just wasn't ready to put on the show. And as expected subsequent to putting the camera away, he did it again. I give up. Cuter and sweeter each and every day, I could nearly eat him with a spoon. We are so blessed with our boys. They love each other so very much! That said. below are the pictures/video I could gather.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Oh - and one of these is of Hatcher dancing. Derek has been playing music all weekend from his iPod and the rap song "Walk it Out" has come on a couple of times. Hatcher loves it...and occasionally will just shout - walk it out, walk it out Mommy! HA! I love that guy!

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Mom's 60th Birthday Party

It was finally time to celebrate Mom's 60th birthday party. It took some planning but Tom whipped it together and the turnout was great. We (Ben, Me, Derek and kids) made Mom a book that detailed 60 reasons why we loved her. We went back through all our photos, picked our our favorites of her and scanned them in to create this unique and special treasure. She loved it! (I have to give big props to my good friend Karen who gave me the idea!) Mom even took the book to work this week to show everyone. I created it on Shutterfly and was hoping to add a link to it here so folks could view it in preview mode, but I can't seem to get it working. But for those family members who want to see it, send me an email and I can share it with you that way...we know that works!

Happy Birthday Mom...Grandma! We love you! I didn't get as many good pictures as I had hoped, but here are some of the not so terrible ones.

A visit with the Kemmerlin cousins

We hosted the extended Kemmerlin family at our house this past weekend. Hatcher had so much fun hanging out with his cousins and most of all Zachary, who is 4 1/2. They played together well for the most part. We made a big family journey to Stone Mountain Park on Friday. I haven't been there since I was pregnant with Hatcher. The weather was nice and we all had a lovely afternoon. We had so much fun and took so many photos, that I created the montage below. Hope you enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Hatcher loves to talk...

Lately Hatcher has been having some very "toddler-intelligent" animated conversations. It is so much fun just to listen to him talk. Late last week while getting the kids into the car to go to school, Hatcher noticed some mud on the back lower half of my car. I have mentioned to him that we need to get it washed. So tonight while putting him to bed, he told me that I didn't need to worry anymore about getting my car washed. He said it was okay that I drove my car through the dirt and that he would get the keys from Daddy and drive it himself to the car cleaners and have the car's butt washed. Then he would make the car cleaner's blowers blow the soap off so he could drive it back home. He even told me that I was to stay at home! LOL...I could just eat him up.



Here are two more from school just this week. Yesterday, his teacher Ms Nicole (Ms Cole as he calls her) wrote a note on his daily sheet and told me that Hatcher tried to insist that the class have a picnic lunch again yesterday. See...I sent a sandwich with him on Friday of last week for lunch (instead of the usual) as I knew the teachers had prepared a special picnic lunch day. I am still not sure if Hatcher really loved the sandwich or the special movie they got to watch...because on Monday morning he asked me to pack him another sandwich that day. So I did...only to find out that he probably had a very serious conversation with Ms Nicole about having another picnic lunch since he had his sandwich. All went fine...but yes, he asked for sandwich again today. I sent chicken nuggets instead. HA!

And finally today i picked up Hatcher from school and Ms Nicole wrote a note on his daily sheet again. it said that Hatcher had told her about Daddy's iPod and went on to tell her, "I can't use it" even though he wants too. He also told her that he didn't like her new purse and that she should take it back! LOL! Who is this kid?

Cousins in town...everyone to Marma and P'bo's house

Derek's brother Chad and family came down for a week for a high school reunion. Cathy and the kids took advantage and came down for a nice visit as well before school starts. Hatcher and Aidan were excited to see their cousins again. It has been a while since they were all together and we knew that everyone would have fun. Derek and I took the kids over to Marma's early so we could get in a swim. Hatcher didn't want to get out at all! Aidan loves the water too...and always wants to stick his face in it! When Uncle Chad, Aunt Cathy, Aspen, Morgan and Zach all arrived, we sat down for a nice southern meal of bbq chicken, corn, potato salad, bread and more. The food was great but having all the kids together was the best. Morgan and especially Aspen are getting so tall, both taller than me now! It was a nice afternoon sa there was something for everyone. Uncle Chad, Aunt Cathy and the cousins all brought Aidan a birthday present...a sit and learn chair. It is too perfect as his new thing is climbing into chairs. We even all took turns on the 4-wheelers that Jared keeps at P'bo's in the racing trailer. You can see the picture below with the kids all waiting their turns. Somehow I didn't get a good picture of Zach or Cathy, but they are coming over later this week so I will have to make sure we get one then.

Chase turns 1!

Last year was the year of the baby. Well, as far as our friends are concerned...it seemed a good many of them, as well as us, had babies last summer. A couple of my good girl friends all had babies within a couple of weeks of Aidan, as was the arrival of Chase. So...with it being nearly a year...Nicole and Hunter hosted a summer bbq and celebrated Chase's first birthday. With their oldest, Declan (second photo down), just a year older than Hatcher, and about 15 other kids in attendance ranging in age from newborn to 5, there was plenty of fun to be had for both Aidan and Hatcher. We had a wonderful time and wanted to share some of our favorite pictures. Happy Birthday Chase! BTW -- that is the beer tub that Aidan and Chase are holding onto!

Welcome Jackson Patrick Franke

Congratulations Michelle and Ryan! He is no doubt a Franke...look at him! Late last week I went and visited with Michelle, sans the kids and Derek, and took her some lunch. We visited for a bit and I got to meet and cuddle with Baby Jack. How precious is he! Michelle and Ryan seem to be adjusting well and we wish them luck...it will only get better and more rewarding.

My favorite Things!

When Derek was in Florida (not this week's trip but the previous one) he bought the boys these shirts at Universal Studios and I kept forgetting we had them. We pulled them out this past weekend and dressed our "favorite things." Too cute!

Hatcher is getting so smart and is learning how to use Aidan as pawn. The other morning, Aidan was playing on a toy that Hatcher wanted to play with and we told Hatcher that it would be his turn shortly. That wasn't cutting it for him and so he crafted this plan...he told Derek that "Aidan was crying for Daddy because he probably wanted Daddy to hold him...yeah yeah!" Derek looked at me and said, you know, I think Hatcher justs wants to play with that toy. No...I foolishly thought to myself. I mean after all, Aidan was sort of whimpering. Well, the minute that Derek picked up Aidan, Hatcher runs to the toy and yells, "MY TURN!" HA - kids say the darndest things!