January in a Nutshell

Since I was a little slack this month, I decided to just lump most of our January happenings into one post.
We started off the month with Allyson's "friend" party for her birthday. 12 screaming 12 year olds in the house with just me holding down the fort. We sent Ron and Patrick to Chuck E Cheese since it was a "Girl's Only" party. We did a Hollywood themed party with a red carpet down the driveway complete with a spotlight; stars, stars, and more stars all over the house. Gold and silver fringe everywhere, and of course, star-shaped balloons and cupcakes. We had plastic wine glasses and food for a Hollywood cocktail party. The girls had fun playing pictionary, guess your celebrity, and decorating their own pocketbooks. As well as singing loudly to all the songs I had never heard. The big excitement of the night seemed to be our earth-friendly toilet that has a push button instead of a handle to flush. They all gathered in there to admire it. Thankfully 10pm came rather quickly.

Basketball season is just about over. The last game is Saturday. And even though this was a hand-picked team that she had to try out for, they were not coached very well and ended the season with 2 wins. (out of a lot of games) Allyson played hard. I found myself getting excited when they would call a foul on her. Finally seeing her put all of herself into the game and getting more hands-on was great! And hey, if she threw a girl or 2 down to the ground in the process...well, that was just a bonus. She really has the ability to be a great basketball player, so we are looking forward to the next season and we're hoping for a new coach (hopefully it will be Ron). I posted some basketball pics below; including one of Patrick helping out during the warm up. He loves the ladies)

January also brought the beginning of potty training with Patrick. He seemed like he was really into it and all he kept saying was "I get a biiiiiiig prize." (Yes, we started off with bribery. Why even waste time with other tactics. We know our son. Bribe him with big gifts...he'll do it. So we are hoping that perhaps February...or March will bring the big day. (as well as the expensive trip to Toys R Us that will follow)We just bought the Peter Potty urinal that is absolutely hysterical. I think it just might do the trick. He's really into it! He hasn't actually gone yet, but he's trying. Fingers crossed everybody!

Ron and I have nothing really exciting to report. We got a new car (Honda Pilot)...got 2 nice date nights out of the month, and still share our bi-weekly grocery shopping date since Allyson would rather make $10 by staying home and watching Patrick then step foot in the grocery store with us. We also got Rock Band for the Wii and I will admit...I'm addicted. I have truly started to believe that I could actually be a real drummer.