i will not tell you how to potty-train.

This past Saturday was a biggie. We decided to really start potty-training Jovie and Lotta. If potty-training twins sounds awesome to you, you're crazy. You're probably one of those nuts I've met at the store who stops me and says something like "You have twins?! Oh, I've always wanted twins! I hope someday I get to have twins!" Don't get me wrong- I wouldn't trade those sweethearts for a thing, but really? I'm gonna be honest, this is my blog and I'm not smiling and nodding at you in Target right now as I say this: twins are hard. And when you meet a mom who has twins, know that she is a hardcore mama.   

don't mess. you don't know what I might do.  

Anyhoo, I'm not one of those moms that tries to potty-train my kids when they're like six months old. And I don't really believe in potty-training in a day. Maybe I'm jaded and sassy today (I have been sitting next to the toilet with two little girls for the past four days), but I like to wait until my kids are ready with some muscle control and verbal skills. I don't want to be trying to rush everyone to the bathroom because someone made what might be a poopy face. Which is why I'm not telling you how to potty-train- I'd be better suited to do a how not to potty-train blog.

Now I've potty-trained one kid before: Caleb. The Big C. Chubs. And let me tell you. Ugh. It took months. I'm not being sarcastic. One day he straight up climbed on top of the coffee table, pulled his cars underwear down, squatted and pooped. Right there. Living room, center stage. Bam. I don't mean to embarass the boy, but Oh.My.Gosh. Again, how not to potty-train.

So I was not excited to try two at a time.

But I've gotten to spend so much quality time with my little girls while they sit on that toilet, and it's been really neat. You don't get a whole lot of one on one time with twins, but since we only have one toilet upstairs only one kid gets to try at a time. So I've gotten to see a new side of my girls. They love to cheer each other on and poke at the Yo Gabba Gabba pictures on their cute (so cute!) little butts. (Okay seriously, how cute is it when your kid starts wearing underwear?) And then Fin runs into the bathroom giggling "poo poo" and tries to shove a truck into the toilet that Lotta's on. And Lotta yells "No Fin!" and falls off the toilet. True story. That girl's a clutz. But she's so pretty.

I had to put my phone away, let the laundry and the dishes pile up, and just hang out with my girls. And watch them, like really watch them. If you've ever tried to get a kid to get their pee in toilet you understand what I mean. I'd forgotten what a great thing it is to just hang out with my kids without trying to multi-task.  

We're four days in, diaper free and loving it. I think Jovie was born potty-trained because she hasn't had one accident. And I'm so proud of those two. They're so different and they love each other so much and now they know all of their ABC's because we sing that dang song about a million times a day.

And it's gotta be so much more fun to wear a cute bikini without your diaper hanging out.

Easters.

I was a little nervous about Easter this year. We still don't have a church that we're really a part of and this is a day that I just love. Like there's a parade in my heart and I don't wanna sit still kind of love.... I'm a Christian and that's our day, you know? For the past five years we've been blessed to be a part of an (I really hate this word, but it's all I'm coming up with) epic Easter celebration with Reality (our church in Carpinteria/Santa Barbara/Ventura). It's like a massive worship Jesus party with all of our friends, and music and food and bouncy houses and I seriously look forward to it all year. It's like a little glimpse of heaven to worship Jesus in such a way, right?

Okay, really quick: Reality friends, you are blessed with a rare kind of fellowship! And you should all give each other hugs, pray with each other and go to In-n-Out together because if you leave you'll miss those times!

Seriously, guys.

All of that to say, Reality is not here in Denver. (Yet. I'm still praying.) And with the exception of one church out here that's quite a drive for us, we're having a really hard time finding our place to worship. I could go on for a while about the lack of passionate preachers and the rock star worship leaders we're finding so much of, but that would be lame- Easter. I'm getting at Easter.

This Easter for us was Awesome.

Through a long series of events, we've ended up with a sweet little crew of prayer people who are kind enough to drive to our house on Sunday nights, eat food and pray with us. Can I tell you how merciful and kind Jesus is to remind us when we're lonely that we aren't alone? He's used our Sunday night times to bring such refreshing fellowship into our lives.... in ways that are new and really exciting to us. I kind of feel like when we moved out here Jesus shook us up and turned us upside down in ways that stirred up our gifts that haven't been stirred up for a while. And  I could also go on and on about this, too. But I won't. Naptime is only so long.

But it's really, really cool.

So for Easter we had a BBQ, a pinata and some really great fellowship with our Sunday night goonie Denver prayer crew. What a blessing, right? Finlee ate her weight in grilled asparagus and we all had an awesome time. It's so good to have people.

A friend of mine (thanks, Amanda) pinned this quote from C.S. Lewis on pinterest and I'm already planning on how we're going to put it up in our new house:

 "There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind."

I love that. It so sums up this last year of ours.

Oh yeah, we bought a house. Easter's gonna be off the hook next year.