Trail of Lights

A few nights ago we went to the Trail of Lights in Zilker Park. The kids (and the adults) really enjoyed checking out all the light displays. This year there was even a ferris wheel to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Trail of Lights.

The Zilker Christmas Tree with the ferris wheel
lit up in the background

Abuelita, Daphne, and Michael on the ferris wheel

Renee, Tyler, and Abuelito on the ferris wheel

In the first tunnel of lights along the trail

Tyler was excited to see that the X
Games are coming back to Austin in 2015

Proof that Texas is the center of the universe

Family photo with Santa and Mrs. Claus

My little sugar queen was excited about Candyland

Potty Progress

After the few first really messy days, our big girl is now a potty pro! On Tuesday thru Friday she had maybe one accident per day and yesterday she was accident free. We are really surprised by how fast she has gotten the hang of it because Tyler took forever. We got tired of shuttling our potty seat between upstairs and downstairs and so Daphne and I bought a new potty seat for downstairs. I let her pick out the seat and she chose teenage mutant ninja turtles over princesses, Sesame Street, and Mickey and Minnie. She has been wearing training underwear that are thicker in the middle to absorb accidents. Daphne and I picked out big girl underwear for when she has been accident free for a few weeks. She picked out My Little Pony underwear and Jake the Pirate underwear. Technically the Jake underwear are boy underwear complete with the flap but Daphne really likes them.

Daphne wearing a teenage mutant ninja turtle mask
while sitting on her ninja turtle potty seat

Potty Training

Daphne's preschool teacher got us all pumped up to start potty training. I told Daphne a while ago that she's not a big girl until she is potty trained. Recently when Michael's dad told Daphne that she is such a big girl she told him that she is still a little girl because she is not yet potty trained. Daphne also knows the difference between her daytime and nighttime diapers. I think she is ready.

We took the plunge on Saturday with the hard core diaper-free approach (except for naps and nighttime). Let's just say that I did a lot of laundry this weekend and I'm not yet optimistic about potty success. Although Daphne does like rewards mini marshmallows. And Tyler can be bribed with marshmallows to keep Daphne company while she sits on the potty and to sing to her. Daphne did really well at school yesterday and today and only had 2 accidents each day while at school. Yesterday after school Daphne told me, "I'm a big girl now!"

Daphne waddled up to me at Lowe's on
Saturday with her pants all wet and said, "I need
to go potty." I made her pose in their bathroom.

Elf on the Shelf

We adopted one of Santa's elf scouts this year. Tyler named our elf Tree skirt after the elf on Prep & Landing that Tyler thinks is hilarious. Santa's elf scouts go to the North Pole each night while the kids are sleeping to report back to Santa as to whether Tyler and Daphne have been naughty or nice. They return each day and we often find Tree Skirt up to mischief.

Monday, December 8: Parachuting

Tuesday, December 9: The Grinch looks much happier after a back rub.

Wednesday, December 10: TPing the
stairs. I wonder if he rolled from the top?

Thursday, December 11: The chalkboard is
hard to read but says, "Tyler & Daphne:
NAUGHTY or NICE?"

Friday, December 12: Tree Skirt hung Aggie lights
in Tyler's room. Tyler said this was "Not funny!"
since he now pulls for the Longhorns.

You can see the Aggie logo better when the lights are off.

Saturday, December 13: Ready for takeoff

Tree Skirt looks pretty comfy in the Fischer Price plane! This
was the kids' favorite day so far because they got to eat the
marshmallows. See video below of Tyler dancing and singing
about marshmallows.

 

Sunday, December 14: Locked outside

Santa, Elves, and Reindeer

We came across these cute cut-outs while shopping for Christmas trees.

The Bullock

Last weekend we checked out The Bullock Texas State History Museum during DeSTEMber fest. They had a ton of kids' activities in the lobby to get the kids excited about science, technology, engineering, and math.

Tyler made an igloo out of
toothpicks and marshmallows.

Checking out chain mail

Tyler and Jackson

Playing tag in front of the museum

Daphne ran around too!

Hard at Work

The leaves have been falling and there are still many more to come! The kids, especially Tyler, helped Michael pick up piles of leaves after Michael used the leaf blower to get them into piles.