Cookout Fun

Yesterday, we went to a fun summertime kickoff cookout hosted by the Elswicks. The picture below is of Jordi with Harley, The World's Friendliest Dog. Jordi was a bit apprehensive with him at first, but she really wanted to be friends with him, and eventually his sweet nature won her over.

Of course, what's a cookout with out food? Carson grilled lots of burgers & dogs, and here was a lot of great sides, too. As you can see, for Caroline, it's all about the corn cob!

Caro Pulls Up

Jordi is not the only kid around her growing up! This is a picture of what Chris & I have been seeing lately when going to get Caroline up in the morning or from a nap. As you can see, standing up makes her feel quite pleased with herself! (However, getting down again doesn't happen consistently yet, which can be a problem, as it was this morning at about 6 a.m.!)

Jordi's BIG DAY

This past weekend, the Pullem Family tackled a seemingly monumental task: potty training! We started Friday morning, and that first day had about as many successes as failures. But Saturday was better, and by Sunday (yesterday), I'm so proud to be able to announce that Jordi had NO ACCIDENTS whatsoever! I took this picture just before bedtime last night to commemorate her achievement. She holding her "potty chart," and as you can see, there are only smiley-face stickers (one for each successful trip to the potty) and not one frowny-face (used to record accidents)! She's also wearing a brand new Backyardigans nightgown. The Backyardigans are very popular with Jordi right now, and she really wanted to wear that nightgown as soon as I showed it to her on Friday. However, the deal was that she could only wear the nightgown after she had a whole day with no potty accidents. Well, she was completely thrilled & very proud of herself to be able to put that on last night! Believe me, this is a big deal... we're all so proud of her! (And, by the way, this morning, not only was her diaper totally dry, but she promptly sat on the potty and went, like it was no big deal! Awesome!)

Happy Mother's Day!

I took this picture while we were out to dinner on Mother's Day, so maybe that's what they're thinking! Cute!

Planting Flowers

One of my favorite springtime activities is gardening, and I was really looking forward to introducing Jordi to the joy of playing in the dirt this year. Not surprisingly, she took to it right away! Last week, we had a wonderful time planting our two containers with Impatiens. Jordi came with me to Wal-Mart to buy the plants; I picked the type and she selected the colors, pink & orange. As you can see in the above picture, she even has her own kid-sized tools and gloves! But her favorite part was definitely the digging; she seemed disappointed to learn that once the flowers were planted, that meant no more digging with her shovel! The picture below was taken after we cleaned up everything (including ourselves, hence Jordi's change of clothes!) Jordi's holding her new favorite "toy": a pretty spray bottle with flowers on it of her very own! (If you can't dig in the plants anymore, at least you can spray water on them!)

Caroline Says Hello

Here is a picture of a cute habit Caroline has picked up in the last few days. If a phone (or any other object that can be held up to one's ear) is within her reach, and you speak to her as if you're answering the phone, ("Hello? Hello?") Caroline will pick up the phone (or foam banana cell phone holder, pictured here) and mimick what you're saying to her. Of course, what she says comes out more like "Yaw-whoa! Yaw-whoa!", but we know what she means!

"Ladies, Please..."

Jordi put this ensemble together all by herself the other evening. As I may have mentioned before, Jordi's current favorite prime-time TV show is "Deal or No Deal." Something about the suitcases, numbers, ladies in fancy dresses, and overall sense of excitement appeals to her, and she looks forward to watching it each night it's on. When she presented herself to Chris & me as we watched TV the other night (not a D.O.N.D. night, by the way!), she seemed very pleased with herself to have come up with this idea. Chris knew instantly that she intended to be a Case Lady, so he assumed the Howie Mandel role by saying, "Ladies, please..." and then humming their introduction music while she strutted forward from the closed curtains. She would then hand me the "case," and we would play our our own home version of D.O.N.D. We must have repeated this scene a dozen times that night! She loved it! (and, really, so did we!)

"Toy School"

Here is a picture of Jordi in front of her locker at daycare. I usually refer to it as "going to school," and Jordi always calls it her "toy school." I take her once or twice a week, from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. She likes her teachers, especially Miss Robin, and they do the type of activities, like painting or crayon rubbings, that we don't do at home. Not only that, but she gets to bring her lunch money (that's what she's holding in the envelope in the picture) and eat a genuine school lunch!

Jordi Discovers the Spray Bottle

I took this picture last Saturday. I don't remember exactly how it got started, but Jordi got ahold of the spray bottle, and was thrilled to discover that she could make it work all by herself! So, we spent a good deal of the rest of the day outside, spraying anything and everything. As she began spraying these flowers, I overheard her asking each one, "Hi, flower! Do you need a drink?"

Libby, We Miss You Already!

Last Friday was the last day that the cousins got to spend together before Sarah & Libby had to travel back home on Saturday. We made the most of it by first going to the mall playground & lunch...

...and then meeting again post-nap at the Ford's house for one last jump session on the trampoline. Don't those two cuties look like good buddies?

No one was keen on saying goodbye, so we lingered awhile in the driveway. Here is a picture of Emily helping Libby to say g'bye to Jordi one more time...

Caroline Crawls!

Halleluja! As of Friday, 28 April 2006, Caroline can officially be categorized as crawling. We knew it was coming soon as she had crawled a little bit each day last week. But it wasn't until Friday that she got up on all fours and kept on going! She is ten and a half months old, exactly the same age Jordi was when she started to crawl. We are thrilled!

Highlands Museum

Last Thursday, we took the girls to the Highlands Museum and Discovery Center in downtown Ashland. I liked it so much that I bought an annual membership, so we'll definitely be back! Here are a few pictures:

This is Jordi's cousin, Emily, standing next to her artwork (pink, center). She's in the 3rd grade, and her piece was one of only 30 chosen out of hundreds entered for display in their student art show, "Talavera Tile: Color and Symmetry." That is quite an achievement, and we are very proud of her!


The next few pictures were taken downstairs in the Discovery Center:

Here's Libby trying her hand at fishing in the "Riverbank" area. It's for kids 5 and younger, and they can also take a trip through a coal mine, dress up and pretend to be a builder, and more. It's all hands-on and really fun!


There is even a walled area for pre-toddlers like Caroline to enjoy. It's made of all soft materials with large soft shapes for them to play with. She was loving it, and I was loving not having to carry her around or keep her strapped in the stroller!


Here's a picture of Jordi "driving" a baggage cart (the kind that brings luggage to and from an airplane). This "Life on the River" portion demonstrates how people live and the jobs they do along the Ohio River. Kids can also pretend to be a banker, an EMT, and many others!