Potty Training 301

This one is interesting.

An entire day of potty training yielded NO accidents!

But also NO successes.

Figure that one out!

We swam in the lake for awhile, so I'm assuming he went then, but other than that, from 10 am this morning, until bedtime the boy didn't go potty AT ALL. We tried several times, but nothing happened. He even stayed dry through a two hour nap.

Hmmmm.....

Laney!

We LOVE our cousin Lane, and are SO excited for her to stay with us this Summer! A couple of years ago Lane lived with us for the Summer and worked at White Water, and we loved having her.  Now Laney's husband Josh is in the Navy, and while he's deployed for several months, Lane gets to hang out with us again! She's working at White Water, hanging with us, taking each of the kids for special days with her...Awesome!

We have ARRIVED!

No, he's still not potty trained.

He hit his sister with a toy truck today.

He told me to "sut up!"

He didn't take a nap.

He woke up early and screamed like crazy because he knows I'll come get him so he won't wake up his sisters.

BUT...

He sat through an entire movie at the theatre and was P.E.R.F.E.C.T!

We have been waiting awhile for this day. 2 summers ago we went to see a movie with friends. Austin was 1 1/2, and up until that point, had sat nicely in his stroller through movies. That day however, things changed.

15 minutes into that movie he was out of his stroller. I held him, walked him, took him out, then back inside. Thankfully I had a friend with me to help with the girls who were 3 and 5 at the time. Towards the end of the movie Austin wiggled away from me, and in a flash was down the aisle, up the steps, and in front of the giant movie screen. I snatched him up as fast as I could, and took him out to the car...I was mortified. The girls were always good movie watchers.

Austin, not so much.

So here we are, two years later. When I heard Toy Story 3 was coming out I thought...Do we dare?

He loves the first two Toy Story movies, he's familiar with the characters, so I thought it would be a good one to test him on. And I was right!

Did you get that? I WAS RIGHT! Hold on, I gotta let that sink in some more...Mercy that feels good!

What a great movie. Annie melted down right as the ending credits rolled, she had a headache and was exhausted, and I'm sure wondering why we weren't stressed out with her brother, so she decided to fill in for him. :) We can never be completely drama free! But all in all, a Great Night!

I feel like we've ARRIVED. I feel like we just sailed over a major hurdle. I feel like some door opened and we got to walk through to the other side, the glorious glowing "people who can take all their kids to the movies and not go nuts" side! Maybe I am overreacting, but it's been a long road! And there's hope people!

Hope that someday we will pass through the valley of the shadow of the toddler/preschool years...and live to tell about it.

Hallelujah!

He needed to hang out with a boy!

Poor Austin is surrounded by girls most of the time. No brothers, no boy cousins close by, only daddy to rough house with.  So he was THRILLED to hang out with some boy cousins from Texas for an afternoon at Aunt Denise and Uncle Deans house! Canyon is just 4 months older than Austin, so they were a perfect match. They rode our Razor, sword fighted, wrestled and just had a blast!

Summertime!

Summer. I love Summer. I love the lazy mornings at home, the swim suits and towels draped over dining room chairs, the sound of my children spraying each other with the hose in the backyard, the smell of freshly cut grass...I love it all.

As a child I was a fish. My favorite place to be in the summer was in the water. Lake, pool, sprinkler...as long as there was water, I was a happy girl!

Our kids have taken swimming lessons from a young age, and love the water as much as I do. We hope to put a pool in our backyard in a couple more years, and I can't wait! I know it will bring us years of enjoyment, and tons of great memories. In the meantime though, we love our town pool, and visit at least 2 or 3 times a week. Ellie joined the swim team this year, and is loving it, even with the early morning practices!


Austin is loving the water as much as his sisters this year. And I love the fact that after an afternoon at the pool, he takes a really good nap! :-)


Annie is learning to swim in the deep end this year. She also taught herself to do a front flip!


AND...She jumped off the diving board for the first time! Go Annie!


Spending time with friends is a favorite part of our Summer. The kids love having friends to play with, and I do too! Here are Annie and AJ doing the "We jumped off the diving board hug!"


And little Wing Man getting lots of help with the slide from his big sis and Annie!


Not to be outdone by her sister, (we couldn't have that! ) Ellie bravely went down the (scary) tunnel slide! She didn't care for it, but I was proud that she finally tried it, and conquered her fear.


I have to say, I still love the water. I know most mommies enjoy lying on a chair, soaking up the sun, and someday I'm sure it will be nice to do that! However I am still a fish at heart! I love to swim and dive. And I still love a good game of Marco Polo!


I love this picture of Ellie and Lane. Lane is my sweet cousin, and she gets to stay with us a lot this summer! Her husband is deployed with the Navy right now, and we get the pleasure of keeping her company while he is gone. She is a great help with the kids, and a blast to have around!


Summer. Days in our swim suits, cooking on the grill, late bedtimes and sleeping in. Ah Summer, I am glad you are here!

Blueberry Time

Another year, Another trip to the berry farm! We love this tradition! :)

Camping at Razor Ridge

My sister-in-law Michelle and I are very similar in many ways. We enjoy air conditioning, shopping, nice hotels, a good "Real Housewives" show, computer time, and talking on the phone. So part of me is still trying to figure out why we both agreed to take our families camping! I wonder what our husbands thought. They probably thought we'd temporarily lost our minds! And honestly, as we prepared to go, I started wondering the same thing.

Bags of camping equipment filled our kitchen, trailers were loaded, menus were made, coolers were loaded, and away we went!

In my head I pictured lots of free time, kids running happily, parents hanging out playing cards...Not exactly! Reality was a couple of hours of set-up, parents sweating, a group effort to keep Austin from getting into everything, kids enjoying each other, and rarely a moment to sit down! It was fun though! The kids had a blast playing in the creek, fishing, four-wheeling, sitting around the campsite, making smores, and enjoying each other. Things settled down after awhile, and even the parents got to sit and enjoy the campfire!

All in all it was a great trip. Our kids first camping experience was a good one, and I think they'll always remember it. We went the weekend after school let out for summer, so it was a great way to kick things off!

Here are some of my favorite pictures...

Our niece Olivia!

Ellie!

Our niece Elaina!

Annie!

Austin!

Welcome Summer!!!

Sweet Sister Moment!

They don't always like each other, but every now and then they surprise me and act like best friends. I brought Annie along for Ellie's field day this year, and Ellie LOVED having her there! They were inseparable!

 Ellie actually enjoyed field day for once...very unusual for her! I think she loved showing off for Annie!

 Tug of war!

 What an unexpectedly fun day!

Dance Recital, 2010!

Both my girls took clogging this year from Miss Ami! They were quite excited to get all dressed up for their BIG recital! Grammie did their makeup and I did their hair!

 They did a great job. Sweet Annie LOVES the stage! :)  Ellie loves clogging, but hated her costume, and had a hard time handling how it felt. You just never know what things will feel like to her, and it changes daily.  We made it though! Love that my girls get to learn dance from my sweet friend!