La Famille Armstrong

"Just a click here..."

Okay, Asher is officially being potty trained. We started on Tuesday, mid-morning after his bath. He did AWESOME!!! No accidents AT ALL until 7pm when we left him in his high chair a bit long while drinking his chocolate milk :) We have a 3 strikes policy though, and Wednesday morning he hit that limit. After going 2 times after waking up, he wet himself while standing over my brand new shoes after having gone only 20 minutes before. Then, the whole pooping in the potty thing did not happen. Then, another poop and pee... all within an hour or so. I was a bit hesitant about today thinking "Man, maybe it was fluke. Maybe he just can't hold it." But, only 1 accident again today! And this was after 6:30pm after a lot of water and (ashamedly) soda :)

Today, we drove out to Tracy's apartment to pick up Shannon, then out to NE Portland to drop off a check and Asher did AMAZING! We made it almost 50 minutes (part of that sleeping) on our way to Tracy's and he stayed dry the entire time! I'm so proud, and relieved!!! On the way home he slept for almost an hour and did wet then, but that's to be expected. I was super nervous about potty training but Asher seems to be understanding the concept. If he has to go and I'm not taking him, he just start to pull down his undies and say "underwear off!" until I help rush him to the bathroom. Also, he LOVES his "Cars" underwear so that motivates him to stay dry too.

Anyway, that's what I've been busy with - that, and editing, feeding, still changing boy #2's diapers, bottles, meals and everything else in-between. Tomorrow, Shannon and I are going to go out SUPER early and take a bunch of dance photos for stock stuff. Should be FUN! Not the early part, but the rest :) Stay tuned for those photos. I'll post a couple teaser wedding shots from Derek and Sarah's big day for your viewing pleasure. Thanks!

This weekend, 2 good friends got married! Derek and Sarah are so amazing and I was so blessed that they chose to hire me as their photographer!! It was a beautiful wedding, so sincere and Christ centered... and there was so much crazy dancing at the end... cracked me up!

So, my Saturday (and Tracy's) was filled with wedding stuff as we documented their day in photos. I realized early on in the day that I had misplaced my keys. I thought I had left them in my purse, then locked my purse in the car. I had to call Mark from the ranch where the wedding was at - where most of us had no cell service - which left the caller ID as "blocked" so Mark didn't answer and was not able to call me back. I told him I was locked out of the car, and if he could get our other set of keys from Paul (another long story) and bring them to the wedding when he arrived (he was planning on coming anyway, since they are dear friends). He handed me the keys and I thanked him heartily... I felt like such a dork!

After the wedding, Tracy and I headed to the car, looked in the purse... nope, no keys!! We looked EVERYWHERE! Luckily, we had only gone a few places between leaving the car initially and realizing my keys were lost so we didn't have too much ground to cover. Nothing! No one turned them in, not anywhere on the grounds and not anywhere in the car. We drove home at 10pm and I was feeling dreadful. All of Mark's other keys were on that key ring. Was he going to be upset? Would he just shrug it off? I was nervous to say the least, while praying that God would miraculously make the keys appear in the car before we got home.

After a few hellos, how are yous, tired replies, and saying hi to my family (who is visiting), I admitted that I could not find his keys anywhere. He said "What are you talking about? I have my keys." I go "Huh?" He goes "I got them out of your purse before I gave you yours. How did you think I drove home?" Oh my goodness!!! I was just so glad that Tracy and I didn't look longer! And so relieved! I didn't even think "I have my van key, so Mark must have the other key to drive the van home." Ha! It was a great ending after all :)

I'll give you more details about the amazing wedding later... just thought you'd get a kick out of that story. A few boy updates: Asher threw up (again) on the way home from the wedding with Mark. It was strange though b/c it was MILES after all the turns, on a very straight road. Asher said "Tummy hurt." Mark said "Does your tummy hurt b/c you are hungry?" Asher "No. Bleh!!!!!" You just have to laugh. Luckily, most of it was contained to the car seat. I felt bad b/c Mark had to clean it up while taking care of both boys. They ended up in the bath, which was convenient since it was "bath day" and I had forgotten to mention that to Mark :) Cole was getting cranky at the wedding so Mark fixed him a bottle and let him hold it in the car on the way home. He's been doing really well with holding it himself! He sucked it dry and then tossed it overboard - so sweet. They are getting cuter every day.

Since Asher got his sandals all pukey and since they have not yet been run through the wash, we decided this morning that he need another pair of sandals. So Mark took Ash to wal-mart before church. While there, Asher picked out a really cool pair of flip-flops (that we walks surprisingly well in) and Mark found a little UV protective shirt on sale for $3. Looks like the kid is starting to really grow attached to things he likes... he wore those flip-flops ALL DAY -indoors and outside! And he cried crocodile tears when I took his shirt off for bedtime. I thought about letting him sleep in it, but I figure the sooner he knows limits on being attached to objects, the better. After all, we aren't supposed to be attached to the things of the world, might as well get that message clearly stated to him at a young age. After a little crying, he calmed down and thoroughly enjoyed reading his trucks book before bed. Gotta love it!

So, here's a cute image of the entry way at the wedding where the couple had signs posted. The wedding was at 5 Rock Ranch in Yamhill, OR. Actually, it's more like in the middle of the hillsides, miles and miles outside of Yamhill ;) It's gorgeous out there! And the staff (especially the coordinator Kelsey) was amazing!!! More pics to come, week by week!