Our Busy Summer

Blogging just doesn't happen anymore.  This is for a few reasons.

1.  The weather.  It's finally been nice and we have been spending a lot of time at the pool (don't expect any pictures, however --- that would require me to take them.)

2.  My internet.  Let's just say that is leaves much to be desired.  I just waited 10 minutes to upload these photos.  Lame.  Makes me think.... how did I ever do dial up AND "Qwest, these are NOT lightning fast speeds."

3.  Time.  Just don't have it.  My own fault though.  I bring it all on myself so no one should feel bad.

So, it's been two weeks since my last post.  Here's what we were up to:

We all went to the dentist (with the exception of Mitch - apparently he is exempt).  The boys did great and loved it.  My experience wasn't quite as delightful, but I no longer have to take IB profin every time I eat, so that's a plus.

After going to the dentist, we of course had to get a snow cone.

Just kidding all you dental friends.  We didn't get the snow cone right after.  We listened to our dentist and we didn't eat for a half hour as instructed.  This was a few hours after.

Easton ate a purple marker and had a really cool mustache.

 Mitch and I did Ragnar and we had SO much fun.  We can't wait for next year.

We decided at the last minute to head up to the Manti pageant.  Never had been and thought we would experience it.  Thoughts?  Super glad we brought mosquito repellent, could have been an hour shorter, should have brought more caffeine for the drive home, but all and all we were glad we went.

 Creighton enjoyed dancing for everyone before the show started.

 A few days ago a butterfly flew into my parents house.  The boys spent an hour trying to capture it while I was helping my mom with something.  When I came out of the "dungeon" to check on them, I found they had torn up leaves and spread them through the entire house to try and lure the butterfly out.

 I think my mom really enjoys when we come to visit.
We never did find the butterfly.

Easton got a black eye.  No clue where it came from.  We are awesome parents.

Last night Mitch and I attended our 10 year reunion.  Has it really been that long?  Crazy!  We got the runner up award for being married the longest at 9 1/2 years.

This week is a special week.  The Jack Attack is turning 6.  Crazy how time flies.

Oh, and as for potty training:  E has been amazing.  Besides the few accidents when I am not in the house when he has to go - so that means go dump it in various places through the house (why not just one, I am not sure) - he has been perfect.  Now I am trying to teach my older boys that just because there is a little potty in the garage that I will sometimes take on car rides, you do not need to urinate in it.  Apparently, they really had to go though and the short walk inside was just too far.  Oh boys.  Still love you, but sometimes I have to ask myself "why?"

The Weekly Report

To recap the week:

- Jackson graduated from Kindergarten on Tuesday.  Can we say hallelujah??!  Hallelujah! Seriously, he went to more school in Omaha the year before for Pre-K than he has been going for Kindergarten AND it didn't start at 8:00 a.m. AND it was closer AND I had an awesome car pool.  This 3 hour thing with 1/2 day Fridays has been a joke.  I couldn't be more excited for summer.  (Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest.)

- Easton is fully potty trained.  He has been awesome.  He has one or two accidents each day since the kick-off day on Monday, but the last 2 days have been completely accident free and he's doing great.  Our only problem now....as soon as he feels the urge, he takes his pants off.  Not so cool when you're in sacrament meeting.  Oh, one other side note too.....Easton sits on the big potty to go number 1!!!  This is awesome.  However, with getting my urinal installed next week, I'm kind of wishing I wasn't getting one because I want him to sit down forever (at least while living in my house).

- Creighton has moved on from eating his clothes, pictures, paper, etc. and actually started eating his finger.  NO JOKE!  It's so sad, but the whole top of it is red where a layer of skin has been peeled off.  It really hurts him though so I'm hoping it taught him a lesson:  eating things other than food is bad.

- I ran the UV Marathon yesterday.  Jacked my knee up at about mile 13.  Lame.  Same thing I did it to it about a year ago.  Hoping to get a cortizone shot in the next 2 days so I can still run Ragnar.  Hoping. 

- We went to a big shin-dig at my next door neighbors house to celebrate her last day of Chemo.  She has three little boys too and was diagnosed with breast cancer just over a year ago.  Really makes me think.  Really makes me grateful.

-Can you believe I don't have any kids in diapers?  This is huge for me.  It's been 6 years straight with no breaks in between.  Whoa.  Will I ever be able to go back?  It questionable.  Very questionable at this point. :)

That's about it.  We did lots of other super adventurous stuff like going to Sams Club, scrubbing the toilets, running through sprinkers and watching movies, but we'll save those stories for another time. 

Relatives

Jackson announced today that he is related to captain jack sparrow because they have the same name.

About 10 minutes later......after silence in the car, creighton pipes up: "I'm related to Captain crunch because we both start with C."

See the resemblence:

 

Oh brother

So Easton did great today. Only 2 small accidents. However, his brothers made it seem like he had a lot more. They kept telling me, "mom, Easton pooped his pants." I would come over and do the little bottom tap to check, and sure enough there was something inside. It was a Lego. Poor kid, his brothers kept putting legos down his underwear all day and EVERY time they thought it was so hilarious. Poor little guy.

Potty Training.....done....maybe

So, it turns out Easton was ready to be potty trained.

For the record, Easton is not even two and a half.

I say this on the record, because quite frankly, I believe it to be a miracle.

Jackson was trained on his 3rd birthday and I don't even want to discuss Creighton (there were too many dates that I thought he was "trained").  I pretty much have told everyone, "Oh, just wait until they are three."  Well, I have proved myself wrong.  It can be done.  However, I still stand firm that every kid is so different.  Holy hannah, do I know that to be true.

Easton has been awesome.  I can't say that he is 100% potty trained, but we have hit some milestones.

My mother-in-law took him all day on Monday.  She said he had three accidents right off the bat and she admitted that she just about drove to Wal-Mart to buy some pull-ups.  She hung in there (which I have to say she is much more patient than I would have been....I think I would have given up after the first) and after that he went three times in the potty (2 numbers ones and 1 number two).  The trick:  Gum.  He LOVES gum and now everytime he goes he just says, "Gum" right after.  Once he got back to our house though, he had an accident and I pretty much thought that I was cursed and it was just my mother in law that could do it.  However, a little while after that, he told me he had to go, and he did.  Fabulous.

We had a wet night in a pull-up, and accident to begin day 2, but then he was great the entire day.  Especially considering that I gave him little to no attention the entire day (I was out side moving an humongous pile of dirt into a dumpster.  Oh so fun.).  I would come in to find him naked, with his short and underwear off outside the bathroom door and pee all over the bathroom floor.  I finally now realized that he was probably actually sitting on the little training potty, but that he didn't "push the pee-pee down" which formed a fountain on my floor.  Still though, I deemed it a successful day because without supervision he was going in the bathroom, taking his clothes off, and going.  Quite proud.

We had a special accident at the baseball game last night in the really nasty public park restroom that we prefer not to talk about, but other than that, he was perfect.  Again, a proud mommy.

As for day 3, it's been close to perfect.  He was dry through the night.  Pooped in the morning in the potty.  However, diarrhea with potty training is not cool.   He got that this afternoon and it's been a little bit harder but I still think he's made it on 75% of the time which I consider good odds for a little guy.

So, I won't say it's over (made that mistake with Creighton) but I will say that I am cautiously optimistic.  Also, it wasn't that bad.  In fact, it's been quite easy.  Maybe the Lord went easier on me this time because he knows that I might snap.  They say you are only given what you can handle, right?  Anyway, tomorrow's another day.  We'll see how it goes.

I can't believe in 2 weeks time my baby had his binky and diapers thrown away.  Still though, he's my baby.



My baby boy...in undies.



Mitch's parents gave the boys these awesome Spiderman glasses as a reward.
They look super cool in them.
Especially when they are flashing.
Mitch has a pair too, but he scared the kids so we made him take them off.

Yay Easton!!!  So proud of you baby doll.

End of the Season

T-Ball Season is over.....finally.  I swear, it felt like it was never-ending.  What am I going to do when my kids are playing/practicing daily?  Still, hopefully then the kids will actually know what they are doing.  I feel like they took it a little too seriously here for 4 year olds.  Way too many games and twice a week did me in.  I think it did Creighton in too...this was him during the last game:

 It was fun to see the boys hit, fun, and tackle one another for the ball though.  Oh, the memories.

Creighton batting

My cute ball player, Jackson

Good thing they had the best coach ever, aka Dad.  I hope to get a team picture back soon and I will upload it. 

We have grass!

It has been a long couple weeks, but I am happy thrilled to announce that we finally have grass.  I think it's safe to say that all our neighbors are quite thrilled about this as well.  They now no longer no how to describe where they live.  They used to just say, "We live right next to the house with the dead yard."  Yay!!! 

We had so many people help and we were so grateful since we had no idea what we were doing.  It was a long day and I could barely move when I woke up this morning, but when I look outside....it was all worth it.

The prep work has been going on for a few weeks.  Almost "Uncle Matt" has been a good sport and takes the kids on Wheel barrow rides.
                                                    
 My mom has done an amazing job helping me pick stuff to plant in the beds.

 She even designed a new bed on the side of the house that wasn't there before.  It looks great!  I am so glad she has this talent to make up for my lack of talent in this area.

Then yesterday, the grass was delivered....layed.....and then.....

Wah la!!

FINALLY!!!  Hip hip hooray!

Fun with Friends

We had more friends come to visit.  Yay!!  So, where did we go...you guessed it...Papa's place.  That's pretty much all we do for entertainment, because, well, it's free and since we are blessed enough to have it be, we take advantage of it quite frequently.  I actually remembered my camera and took a few pictures of the kids. 

I think Jonathan had more fun that the kids.

Easton has some awesome new smiles.

Cute Olivia.  We miss her and her family so much.

She's already promised to someone else (according to her mom's blog),
but if it doesn't work out....think how cute their blonde kids would be.

Yes, but hopefully Easton won't pass on that smile to his children.
That's a special one.

Thanks Tiffeny, Jonathan, Olivia, and Baby Harrison for coming to visit!  I hope we see you again soon!

Memorial Day 2011 - "Day to Celebrate the Dead"

 Memorial Day has become a special day for our family.  Before we would go visit the graves, but now that it's my little brother, it means something more.  We sent bubbles up to heaven.  We know Que wants us to be happy and what wouldn't make him happier than all the little boys with bubble guns. :)

The title of my post is a little bit of an inside joke.  After the cemetery, we went to my parent's house for a BBQ and swimming (in 50 degree weather).  During the prayer, my sweet little sister thanked that we could celebrate the dead.  After the prayer we all started busting up laughing.  However, I think we do celebrate the dead.  We celebrated Que's life and what a great kid he was.  We celebrated his return to live with our Father in Heaven.  And we celebrated that we know that we will see him again.

That night, Jackson prayed and thanked Heavenly Father we could celebrate the dead.

He obviously was listening to Aunt Lindsey's prayer. :)

Creighton was the most daring.  He had fun in the freezing pool.

Everyone else stayed in the hot tub.

Such a good day.

I think it's time

Easton has successfully gone potty on the big boy potty a few times.  However, because of my lack of patience and desire to go through the torture of potty training (I still have nightmares from the Creighton potty training adventure.), I fail as a mother and clap excitedly when it happens and then quickly put the diaper back on. 

He is ready.

I am not.

However, after tonight I think it is time.  Tonight, he took off his poopy diaper.  He came into the kitchen where my in-laws and I were seated eating dinner and he was naked and he came and brought us underwear to put on him.  I chuckled until he turned around and a gasped.  There was brown all over his behind.  Mitch and I looked at eachother and dared the other to go in and see what had happened in the room.  After much hesitation over not wanting to even know, I went in.  The diaper was on the floor, no sign of poop anywhere else.  I immediately noticed a dirty wet wipe in the diaper and laughed to Mitch that he tried to wipe himself.  Looking for the more wet wipe, I opened the designated "wet wipe drawer" and inside there were about 10 more used poopy wipes.  Along with that, I noticed there was poop on his shirt and on his foot (which he had tracked all over the carpet). Lovely.  Loss of appetite, yes.

So, I'm thinking that when your kid takes their diaper off, finds the wet wipes, and wipes himself.....maybe he is ready to be potty trained.  Dang!  I guess I better do it.

I think potty training, along with many other things in motherhood, suck while you are going through it but the reward is great.  Examples:  getting your kid to sleep through the night, or getting rid of the binky....which I must mention happened this week.  Yipee!  Oh, and for those that are judging....yes, my kid is 2 1/2, but he is my baby, so lay off. :)
Now I have the BEST news to report.  My mother-in-law, aka the angel, has graciously offered to potty train Easton for me.  I have accepted!!  She is the potty training pro.  She hates diapers, so started putting her kids on the potty as soon as they were old enough to even sit up.  Also, when she babysat some kids while their mom went to girls camp on year, she potty trained their kid.  Can you believe that?  Coolest thing ever!!!  So, Monday and Tuesday Easton is hanging out with his Grandma day in and day out while she potty trains him.  Now, I just have to hope I don't screw him up after he returns to me in underwear.

I have good kids

So, I think it's about time that I write this post.  Whenever I see friends or family that I haven't seen a while, they will sometimes comment about my blog.  Then later, when I start to say something about my boys, they get this, "Oh my heck, I am so glad they are not my kids look in their eyes."  As you may or may not be able to tell, I am writing this blog for my boys.  I am planning to make it into a book for them (who knows if I will ever actually do it, but hey it's the thought that counts right) and I would hate for them to think that the only things I write about or remember about them are the naughty things they do.  Granted, they sometimes seem engrained in my memory.  However, they really are good kids.  So, this post it to tell them that.  It's not to brag to all of you about their awesomeness, it's purely to let the 3 most special little beings in the entire world know how super cool I think they really are.  Boys, to tell you that you are good, I will point out some facts. 

#1 - When we moved to the new house, we used reverse phsycology and got you to make up rules.  You thought this was the coolest thing ever.  The rules you made up were awesome.  The rules were:  1- Take shoes off inside. You guys have been amazing!  You always remember and it's such a habit that you do it the second you walk into anyone's house.  So cool.  2- No urinating on the carpet. If it wasn't for this afternoon (no names given), I would say that no one had broken this rule.  So proud.  3- No standing or climbing on the couch. Except for Easton (which let's face it....he's not doing the greatest at some of these rules, but I don't think he has quite grasped it all) it has never been done.  4- No peeing all over the bathroom. This probably wasn't a fair rule, because let's face it.  It's hard (at least your dad tells me that).  But....there is a pack of anti-bacterial wipes and I noticed Jackson cleaning up after he was done.  Good job Jack!  5- No food or drink on the carpet.  So good at this (except Easton once again).  Jack even told my mom today that he couldn't eat the fruit snack she brought in for the boys to eat while they were watching a movie.  He told her, "I don't want to break the rule."  6- Don't pick your nose.  We're working on it.  We'll say that much.  7-Ask mom and dad before going outside. Kind of forgot about this rule.  I'll start enforcing.  8- No bad words.  Yee hah!  Since leaving Grandma's, Creigh, you have been doing great.

#2 - At both Jack and Creigh's Parent Teacher conferences they told me that they were one of the best in the class and they received the highest marks in just about everything!  I asked about Creighton's behavior and they told me he was really really good and probably the funniest kid in the class.  Oh, so proud.  Not only your teachers at school think your awesome, btw, but your teachers at church think you are too.  I still remember a nursery leader whispering to me last year, "Creighton is my favorite."  It made me smile.

#3 - We've instigated quiet time again (Oh, how I have missed you Quiet Time) and the boys are quiet.  So. Fabulous.

#4- They love to help.  Please say this lasts forever.  Ok, I know I am dreaming.  Loving it right now.

#5 - Lastly, and most importantly, they love eachother.  When I drop Jack off at school each morning.  He goes and gives each of his brothers a kiss and tells us each that he loves us.  Then, after exiting the car, in front of the other kids, he uses both hands to blow a TON of kisses to us (and we of course do it back.)  You can't tell me that's not a good kid. 

So boys.  There you have it.  You were good boys back in the day.  You weren't just little terrors.  You made your mommy proud, many, many times.  Love you.