Big Week For The Stahls

Especially the boys!!! :)

First...week of Brad's new job!
Finally, finally FINALLY!!! Brad is working from home! Yippie! So far the job is going well. As usual, I like to give it a month before knowing my full opinion, but thankful for a good first week. Hoping and praying this is the opportunity we have been waiting so long for and it makes Brad much happier, therefore the whole family much happier. We are looking forward to family lunches and no commute after work! Right now his manager starts work between 6-7 AM. While Brad is free to start whenever he wants, (flexible schedule!!!) I love that his manager works so early so that it helps Brad work early too!

Also, Guttie (the golf site he does as a side project) is going so well they are needing to put on the breaks to catch up. He has had opportunities to golf the last several weekends (sponsored by Guttie) so he has been able to live out part of his dream of playing on a golf tour, including golfing on the Independent Golf Tour and enjoying some amazing courses that he has only been able to golf on by special invitation. Very excited to see what God has in store with this and would love prayers for him as he struggles to juggle this, the new job, and time with us. (The course pictured on the left is his latest venture to The Dallas National Golf Club.)

And while we are talking about Brad, he has his hernia repair surgery scheduled for March 15th, so we are very ready to get that over-with and have him healthy again. :) And if you think you hear a faint coughing sound in Nebraska/Oklahoma/Canyon/VA Beach...that would still be him. Still has not completely kicked his nasty cough, but overall a bit better.

First...week of Makin being potty trained-ish!
Well...no trip to Chuck E Cheese yet, but we are getting close. We had our "naked weekend" last weekend where Makin ran around in his underwear (or less) for roughly three days in an attempt to get a jump on potty training. He did VERY well with very few accidents. This week he has been in big boy underwear all day and just pull ups when he sleeps. We have had a few minor accidents but overall he is doing very well! Going rather slow on that sticker chart as we only put stickers up about half the time, but hoping that means he will be accident-free by the time we have our big family celebration out. Guessing it will be a week or two though! Proud of our big boy! :)

First...sporting event for the kiddos!
Mary's husband, Patrick, is enjoying his first year as a High School business teacher and JV basketball coach/Assistant varsity coach. We had been planning to go to a game at some point, and since they were in their last couple of weeks of the season we made sure to go this week. The kids were SO pumped. They sat very still for the first 5-10 minutes watching the game before climbing around the stands. Lorelei loved that the mascot on the sidelines waved to her and her friends. :) They also went with Patrick to start the laundry during the girls game and thought that was pretty cool. :)

First...time breaking a sweat at Barnes and Noble!
No pictures as I was too exhausted. :) The kids had been asking to go to B&N for a couple of weeks and since it has been so nice outside we have not really made our usual winter trips. Since they had been asking, we made sure to plan that for Friday. They were both excited to use the escalator in the store up until the point where Lorelei needed to step onto it...then she and I were reminded she is now very scared of escalators!!! She had an escalator incident with Brad at the airport when his hands were full of luggage and now will not step onto one for the life of her. So, as Makin and I started down, she refused to go so I ended up walking up the down escalator carrying Makin to get back up to her. We took the elevator down but then I just picked her up and made her ride back up. Escalator therapy in the near future for that one. :) Then we had multiple dashes to the bathroom a few minutes later with a freshly potty-trained two year old not wanting to leave the train table to take a potty break. :) Not quite as relaxing as I hoped, but still glad we got out of the house and just love that books and coffee smell. :)

First...time taking pictures of extra chores for the munchkins! :) Okay, so it isn't the first week of chores, but maybe second? And that wouldn't really fit in with the rest of this post now would it!? :) P.S. This is their favorite chore...unloading the clean silverware! :)

Anyway, we have had some extra-challenging moments lately that have resulted in me doing some extra reading and trying a few new disciplining techniques. One of which involves more chores. I do want them doing a few chores on a regular basis, but have to work on making some good charts for that soon. These are just "extra" things they normally wouldn't be asked to do. Makin is a stud at chores and now seldom needs to do any, yet will volunteer to help. Lorelei will let her toys that have been taken away sit in the laundry room for over a week and never wants to do chores. Sometimes she still has to if that is the punishment we decide on. She has gotten very close to many toys being donated, so won't be surprised if that happens either. Still trying to work out the kinks and need to have a few notes written handy on the frig, but my blood pressure is lower so am thankful for some of the parenting wisdom I have read lately. :)