Canche Chronicles: Happy Birthday Bennett! Love Haley and Emily

Valentine's Day is especially happy for the Canche family because it is also Bennett's Birthday! We were sad to not be in Michigan with everybody but I'm sure we weren't missed too bad! Bennett turned one this year. He is the cousin closest to Haley and Emily on the Canche side, he's a little less than a year younger than Haley and a little over six months older than Emily. Here is our tribute to him:

Haley and Bennett last March

She was pretty impressed

Haley and Bennett this past December

Emily and Bennett this past December

Bennett liked to play with Emily's paci

This morning David woke up early and flew with a student he used to have that just started up flying again. The girls and I got up around eight and started getting ready for the day. We had Bible study at the Caldwell's house at nine so we had to get a move on. Haley did not help us get out the door any faster when she decided to have an accident. It was too bad too because she was wearing a super cute skirt and she got pee pee on it.

David bought Krispy Kreme donuts for Haley and I to have for breakfast. He was in Wichita yesterday and they have a Krispy Kreme there so he bought them and brought them back for us this morning. It was super sweet of him! Amanda had also gone all out for Valentine's day. She made a breakfast casserole with biscuits in the shapes of hearts and had strawberries and string cheese for the kids. Haley had a great time playing with the Caldwell girls. She went pee pee on the potty a couple times. One time she had a big wet spot on her bottom like she had sat in some water or peed while squatting weird or something. I think she may have sat in their little potty with her pants on. I looked for a puddle but I couldn't find one where she had been so I guess that one will go down in the books as a mystery.

After Bible study we came home and picked up David to go to lunch at Panera Bread. David had wanted to try and make a sandwich he had there once but when we looked up the ingredients we realized it would be cheaper to just buy the sandwich at Panera than make it at home. We ordered our sandwiches and then headed towards the back of the restaurant to eat. It ended up being the perfect spot because we were right at the window that was next to the drive-thru. Haley spent almost the entire lunchtime waving at people going through the drive-thru. After lunch we came home and put the girls down for a nap.

While they slept we wrapped Valentine's Day gifts and I started cutting up vegetables for dinner. I was hoping to run to the park or something once the girls woke up but Haley slept the entire afternoon, three hours, and by the time she woke up it was time to start dinner. Every year I make a big Valentine's day dinner. Well, this was really only the second year I've done it but I plan to make it a yearly thing. This year I made Tomato Cream Stuffed Chicken with mashed potatoes and carrots. Here's a picture:

Here is one of the plates

This is the table

Haley did not quite understand the concept of a special Valentine's day dinner. She wanted to eat cheese and pretzels. I guess she's more of an hor'dourves type person. David gave the girls each a rose but they didn't seem to understand that either. Emily slept through dinner and Haley did not understand why David kept trying to give her a rose. She did understand when he gave her a present. He had wrapped a box of heart Little Debbie cakes and Haley was pretty excited when she opened it. David opened the box for her and she ate two right away.

After dinner we put the food in the fridge and headed out. A friend of mine from MOPS and her husband volunteer to watch people's kids every Valentine's Day so we dropped Haley off there and then David and I took Emily out to get dessert. They have three kids of their own and when I dropped Haley off there were probably seven or eight extra already there. I took Haley to the potty and then headed out. We were running late and didn't have much time so we ran to Chilli's to grab a Chocolate Molten Lava Cake. Even Chilli's had a wait but it wasn't too long and we were in and out of there in time to grab Haley before eight. When I got there Haley was playing nicely with three other kids that were left. I asked her if she had fun and she said 'yeah.' The only catch was that she booed in her panties while she was there! When I dropped her off I told Amy that they could put a pull-up on her if they didn't want to bother with the potty but she said it was okay. Apparently Haley did well except when she just decided to boo in her panties. Fortunately she didn't pee in there so it really wasn't too messy, just super gross. Amy just finished potty training her 2 year old not too long ago so she wasn't fazed by it at all. She said Haley kept saying 'poo poo panties yucky!'

When we got home David did the dishes while I fed the girls and put them to bed. Emily ate a lot of squash and finished off the applesauce so hopefully she will sleep well tonight. They went right to sleep and then David and I stayed up and watched 'the Help' which we had gotten at Redbox. We've seen that movie before but it is so good so we decided to rent it again.

Haleyism:
Haley has been regressing with potty training lately. Just when I thought she was completely trained, she had an accident this morning. Tonight when I was feeding Emily she left a nice big piece of boo outside of the bathroom. Then she ran to me and pointed to her deed and said 'yucky' over and over. She definitely understands that we think it is gross!

Emilyism:
Emily is a big eater. Add squash to her growing list of foods. She also eats now at lunch and dinner. I'm going to start her with breakfast tomorrow I think!