YAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I'm only home from vacation for a few minutes, but I cannot let another day pass without posting this exciting news:

AHREN PASSED HIS CFA III EXAM!!! He has now fulfilled all of the requirements to earn his CFA, so we are just waiting for the big honkin' certificate to arrive so that we can display it proudly over our front door. :)

Of course, we all knew he could do it, but it was extremely hard work and he put many, many hours into studying for this exam. Anyone who knows Ahren knows that he always gets what he sets his mind to, and while this was certainly no easy feat, there was never a doubt he would be successful.

The other exciting news: DEVAN AND JEN ARE ENGAGED!!! Devan finally proposed yesterday, on Jen's birthday. We are all very excited, and I am thrilled to be getting yet another fantastic sister-in-law!! We've been hoping for this for a long time, so we're thrilled that they've decided to take this step.

So, great news is coming from all over this week, and we couldn't be happier. Now, I have to get back to the beach. It's way to nice to be sitting at home today! :)

Our Garden

This year, for the first time, we decided to plant a very small vegetable garden. Granted, the year that we werehaving major construction done, and I was pregnant may not have been the best year to try, but I was feeling motivated and Lexi was old enough to help and enjoy it, so we went for it. It is by no means the most successful garden ever planted, but we have gotten a few cukes and tomatoes out of it, and one summer squash. So, it was certainly worth it, but next year we'll work harder to make it bigger and better.

Here is Lexi with our very first garden veggies. It was an exciting night!

Lexi On Belts...

"Hey Daddy, why are you wearing this pants bracelet?"

Lexi Helping Daddy

Lexi helping Daddy put some tree limbs in our dumpster (making room for her new swingset):

"Daddy, can you lift me up so I can throw these in? I'm not very tall, you know."

Well...It's August...

...And I have to say that Operation: "bye bye pull-ups" has been going exceptionally well. On Saturday morning she woke up with her last dry pull-up. She cried, no, sobbed when I took it off, begging me not to take her pull-up off. But I calmly explained that it was August, and time to get rid of all the diapers and pull-ups, and when that didn't calm her down, I plopped her in front of Caillou and she forgot what she was so upset about. Since then, her pee has made it into the potty every single time. The only exception was the first night when she woke up with dry, yet pee smelling sheets. This does not count as an accident, and we didn't even tell her (since she didn't wake up) because I am really asking a lot expecting her to stay dry at night too. But, I don't want to confuse the whole "there are no more diapers or pull-ups" with odd exceptions like, "well, except for when we go to bed." So, out of almost three full days and two nights, she had one wet bed...not bad at all in my book!
The only real problem we had was with the poop. Now, I've read lots of stories of people potty training their children (it's amazing what we find to be interesting reading as parents), and I know that poop is a common problem. The kids just don't seem to want to "let go". But Lexi had pooped many times in the potty, so I was feeling relatively confident that she would be fine...except for the small concern about her recent hiding when she poops...she must always hide either on the stairs or behind her bed to poop. So, Day 1: No poop at all. Day 2: I gave her prunes and crossed my fingers. After lunch I suggested she watch an entire episode of Caillou on the potty, hoping that she would relax and poop...nope. No dice. She did, however, wake up from her nap in a panic, get her clothes off, run around her room a bit, and poop in the corner. That was upsetting to her, though we were happy that she at least got it out! Day 3: Problems began. I could tell that she needed to poop, no three year old paces and cries that much if they do not have to poop, but she refused to try and continued to deny her need to go. After an entire morning and early afternoon of pacing (hers) and worrying (mine) she suggested that using the potty and Gigi and Poppy's would be fun. So, we dashed over there and hung out for about an hour while she and Poppy played on the porch. I don't know exactly what it is that Poppy said to her (or made the dolly say to her) but after almost an hour she agreed to try to poop on the potty if Poppy would come in with her dolly. After ten minutes she came out proudly and said to me, "So Mama, what's the big idea??" I replied, "I don't know. Did you poop?" To which she replied, "Yup" as though she's been doing this for months. I was beyond thrilled. I should have known Poppy was the key to success. Ever since she was an infant Poppy has always seemed to make her poop.
I'm sure the saga will continue, but this is such amazing progress for three days of potty training. I guess it's true what they say - "When they're ready, they're ready!"

Construction - End Of Week 8

Well, here we are at the end of week 8. We were told this would take about 8 weeks, and we're not quite there yet...but am I frustrated? No. Am I annoyed? No. Am I lying? Yes.

However, today's progress made me a little bit happier because we now have WALLS!!! And almost better than that is that the gaping walls that were in our bedroom have now been covered by dry wall. Today was dusty, but it's a good day.

Here are some pictures from last week, right before they installed the insulation:

And here are the pictures from today!

And what our room looks like right now...this is one of the reasons why it's hard to deal with...not to mention that everything that came out of our two current bedrooms is currently being stored in the bathroom, which makes it very tight in there!

And finally, some almost complete pictures of the outside. I am not thrilled with the way the siding went on (though you can't really tell in the picture), but we are planning to look at the with the builder tomorrow.

Right Now...

I am listening to Ahren sing bedtime songs to Lexi over the monitor. She has insisted that he sing "You Are My Sunshine", but he does not know all the words. She knows that what he is singing is wrong, but when she sings the words for him she sings, "but when I woke up, I was stinkin', so I hung my head and cried." He knows that stinkin' isn't right so he keeps trying to sing something different, and she yells, "NOOO, Daddy, those aren't the words!!" No matter how many times he insists that he doesn't know the words, she keeps making him try. It's quite hysterical. :)