Happy Mother's Day 2008

Hello All! We have finally joined the world of Bloggers. We are not promising much, but the goal is to post once a week. We will see if that happens! As the saying goes, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch"! Here is a little bit about our lives lately.

Mark is busy as usual with work. Spring is a busy time with research protocols galore, planting, spraying, etc. Now if the weather would dry up a bit we might even find time to finish planting our own garden. Sherman has been very interested in gardening this year and we hope it will be successful. So far we have planted 4 pepper plants and 2 tomato plants. Mark and Sherman also planted quite a few red and white petunias in our front yard and around the mail box. They looked real nice for a few days, but have taken quite a beating in the harsh Nebraska winds and rains. Hopefully they will survive!

Alysson has been busy with the kids as usual. Potty training Sherman has been a main focus since the end of April. He is doing quite well. He loves putting stickers on his daily potty training chart each time he is successful and he of course loves the treats!

A True Bernards

Sherman received the Dinoco Helicopter from the movie "Cars" for his first day without any accidents. He was very excited. His next goal was 3 days without any accidents, for which he received the "Land Before Time" DVD. His current goal is 7 days without any accidents, for which he will get to pick out his own "big boy" underpants at the store. (We are hopeful that he will reach that goal this week!)

Alysson and the kids have spent several days at the Lincoln Children's Zoo (Thanks to Dave and Helen Brooks!) since the warmer weather arrived. Sherman loved watching the Otter swim in circles on opening day, but I think the Pony Ride was his favorite thing.

Sherman and Eliza both love being outdoors! So we have visited several parks around town also. Here are a few pictures.

Sherman and Owen Page - They have a great time together! We sure will miss Owen and his family when they move to Wyoming!

Eliza is growing up so fast. She is now in the 25th percentile for height and weight and almost has 4 teeth. She thinks she's bigger than she is and that she can do everything the big kids can. She walks quite well and is even starting to run. She loves to climb and has no fear - which makes her mother extremely nervous.

Eliza is progressing quite well following her cleft palate repair in November 2007. She eats pureed foods quite well, but is still learning to eat foods with more texture. You can see here though that she loves her teething bisquits.