Thursday, June 25, 2009

I promised more pics...

Ok, here are some more pictures of the SH meetup...

These cupcakes were so cute. They had elmo's face done in icing. VERY messy!




This was the funniest thing. This ride shoots you up in the air and then free falls down. Kd was LOVING it! Just to clarify, this ride is designed for little kids. It doesn't shoot up fast like the big 50' rides. It only goes up about 4-5 feet. A friend was concerned about Kd going on that. So yes, this ride was safe :)


The little boy there is Cade, Ky's boyfriend :)

Ky looks like she's thinking, um, excuse me, we were talking...

All of us waiting in line for the balloon ride.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Sesame place...







So this last weekend a bunch of friends I have online through iVillage met up at the amusement park Sesame Place. These are people I have been chatting with online since I was just over 6 weeks preggo with the kiddos. We finally all got to meet up. You all know my good friend TJ, the one with the twin boys, well I met her on the same iVillage website. This group of ladies all have kids that were all due in Feb. 2007, some were born in Jan. or in TJs case, Dec. and some were born in March. The majority were born in Feb.
Anyway, there were 6 families that met up, with a total of 7 two year olds. The group of children are in the playgroup called Feb. 07 Sweethearts or SH for short :)
With 7 SH running around, it was very crazy, but they all had a great time. the weather couldn't have been crappier for an amusement park. The rides were mostly shut down, except for about an hour or so when the rain let up. Kd LOVED the rides, and kept going on them with Clint. I don't care for rides anymore, and Ky doesn't really like them either. So we just played with the other SHs. There was one little boy that Ky fell in love with. Now, Ky is not the type to be very affectionate towards strangers. She is very shy when meeting new people. But for some reason, thei little boy she loved! She ran up to him and threw her arms around him and was hugging and trying to kiss him. It was the cutest thing ever.
We got to see Elmo's World Live. The kids all had crazed eyes with the joy of seeing a real life version of Elmo. They weren't so happy with poor Bert and Ernie though :P As seen in the picture.
Our camera isn't water proof, so I only got a few pics with it. More were taken from other members of the group and they will post pictures to me when they get the chance.
The night before we drove up. It was a 5.5 hours drive, but that was just because of traffic. We stayed at a very nice hotel and the kids were loving it. Anyway, we tried doing the water stuff at the amusement park, but it was so cold. All the SHs lips were blue and all of them were shaking. Clint and I decided we would head back to the hotel where they have an indoor heated pool. The kids loved it!
That night those of us in the SH group that were still there, decided to go to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. We had a great time. We didn't even get back to the hotel until around 10:30 pm. The kiddos were exhausted. They hadn't really slept much the night before, and they didn't get a nap that day. Even with that, overall, they were in good moods. Despite the rain and cold.
They were so tired, when we got back, they were pottying in their sleep, we changed their clothes in their sleep, and then put them to bed.
They slept in the next morning until nearly 9! That was very nice. Then we had breakfast and drove home.
For Father's Day, we got Clint a collectors Buffalo Bills helmit so when he is in NY him and his brother can go get autographs on it at the training camp the Bills have.
Bonita is back at her new well, kind of new home. The horse haulers picked her up Friday and she is back in CO. where she started. My good friends wanted her back. At some point they want the horse trailer too.
So that just leaves the camper and truck we need to sell.
Through the whole weekend the kiddos didn't have one potty accident! We are so excited! We have so many more trips this summer, hopefully they will continue to do as good as they are.
In a couple of weeks we are headed to Buffalo and we'll be there about 8 days, then from there we drive all the way down to Myrtle beach with my Dad, Karen, and other siblings. Then we'll get back, and a week later the kids and I fly to UT. After a week or so in UT. we fly down to CA. where Jody and I will head to Disneyland with the kiddos. Plus I'll get to see my darling niece Ella! She was the one just born in Feb. She'll be 6 months old then. I loved that stage with the kiddos!
Then we'll fly back to UT. and stay there another 2 weeks, then fly home.
Busy summer, don't ya think :P

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Some updated pictures...

The above pictures are what happens when kids go swimming and skip their scheduled naps...

Ready for church :)


There's a whole lot going on. We're still working on Kaiden and Kayley's potty training. So that takes up most the time.
Some other things going on.
Kaiden has a new girlfriend. Her name is Jewel and he talks about her ALL the time! He always asks when she's coming over. Funny thing is, when she is here, Kaiden and her fight over everything. LOL....Young love.
Kayley is still cutting teeth. She still has 2 more of her 2 year molars that need to come in. She just got 2 of them over the last couple of weeks.
Today I attempted to bring both kids to church with me so that Clint could take some time to himself. The stress of twin toddlers is really difficult, and even the best of marriages find couples bickering and snapping at each other and the kids. Clint and I are no exception neither are our kids! I wouldn't wish twins on my worst enemy. Don't get me wrong, we love them dearly, but we still ask ourselves, are they too old to drop off at the firestation???
So church basically turned in to me playing with the kids in nursery while I attempted to hear the speakers. Well that didn't happen. The kids were loud and other parents kids were loud. At least we all looked miserable together!
We have sold my horse. I haven't had hardly any time to go out to see her. Plus, we added everything up, and there is no way we can get out at Clints 20 year mark for retirement. That's in 2 years. So Bonita would have to keep traveling with us and I would have less and less time with her.
My good friends in CO. decided they wanted to buy her. Since we won't have a horse, we don't exactly need a horse trailer. So they are buying that as well.
We also have our camper. We never use it. So we don't need it, and it just sits in storage for $55 a month.
So we will be trying to sell that as well.
Then it comes down to the truck. We don't have huge stuff to haul, so we don't need the truck. So we will be selling the truck.
Between what we'll save on board for Bonita, camper, and insurance that covers all that, lets just say that's close to $800 a month in savings. Which will go to savings so when we do get out, we can actually afford to live!
Anyway, sorry that was pretty winded. We have some more fun activities scheduled so I'll update as those things happen!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Some potty talk...

I know my Dad doesn't care for all the potty training talk, so Dad, if you want, you can skip this post...LOL.

2 weeks ago Clint and I were talking about how we are seriously not looking forward to training Kaiden. Kayley is basically done now though. She has accidents very rarely and initiates going on her own now. So we knew it was time for Kaiden. I was chatting with a friend of mine on Facebook. She told me she trained all 4 of her children in a day. I thought, uh, sure. Tell me how, and we'll try it.
She came over a few minutes later with a book. I was willing to try anything. I did not want to spend 7 months training Kaiden like we did with Kayley! The title of the book Toilet Leraning in less than a day. The cover looked very old, and I looked at the copyright, haha, 1974!!! I was like, uh sure. So I read the book. Now, I have tried several times in the past to get Kd started with training, and it only ended up in both of us in tears and frustrated to no end. In the book it said that if one parent has already tried other methods and failed, that the other parent should try this method. It also said that there should be NO distractions. That siblings and the other parent should not be home, all toys removed, no tv, phones, etc. I told Clint all of that, and I thought I saw a hint of "yeah right dear" but he said he would try.
He read the book and wasn't very convinced. We said it was worth a shot, what did we have to lose???
So we planned a weekend (just in case the 1 day thing didn't work) and decided to give it a go.
On my end, I took all of the toys and anything that could be a distraction out of the room where the training would be. Then 7:30 Sat. morning Ky and I headed out for the day.
We went to out to breakfast at IHOP, then to Target where I got her some skates, then we went to a movie. She was amazing during the movie, she was thoroughly enjoying this one on one time. After that we went to get some ice cream for her. At that point I got a call from my very discouraged husband.
Part of the training said no more diapers, from now on underwear during the day and pullups at night.
So I get the call after 4 hours of training. Now, before, Kd would never even acknowledge if he was wet or poopy. He would sit in it all day if we let him. So I asked Clint to tell me about it. He said Kd was having a bunch of accidents, but that he was saying "oh no, wet!!!!" I told Clint, that in itself is quite the accomplishment. At least if nothing else, he would know if he was wet or dry. Clint said he was frustrated and put Kd down for a nap.
I explained that from the reviews online, that the kids would kind of need their brain to take a break, and things would click. In the mean time for him not to be discouraged and to watch a movie on tv while Kd was napping. Later I get a call saying how Kd woke up after just a few minutes in the nap and said he needed to go potty. He was already a little wet, but Clint gave it a shot, and he went! I told Clint that when he got up from his nap to continue what he was going.
Clint knew all of the steps, don't get me wrong. I was just doing what I could to encourage him to not give up. He didn't either!
So Kayley and I went to the National Aquarium for an hour or so and then came back on post and she got to practice with her new skates at the park. I got a call from Clint saying that Kd was initiating going to the potty on his own and wasn't having any accidents. I said we'd give them another hour while Ky and I picked up some dinner. Then we headed home to Kd very proudly showing off his potty training success!
Clint did an amazing job with Kaiden! In 3 days time Kd has surpassed what took 7 months for Kayley! He has been diaper free and going mostly on his own. We have to help with pulling up the pants and stuff. But he mostly takes care of buisness on his own. Since Sat. we have only had one pee accident. All the credit goes to Clint...he's the man! We were talking last night, and he told me he knew he couldn't cut corners or cheat because it would be obvious. LOL.
So now the kids are no longer babies. They sleep in big beds, drink out of regular cups (no more sippy cups), no diapers, are potty trained (mostly), they can feed and dress themselves, they communicate with full sentences. Now they are children, not babies.
Do I feel sad about it...NO WAY!
You know how nice it is not to have to worry about finding a place that will heat bottles, making sure there is a changing table, making sure we bring a diaper bag full of sippy cups, diapers, and wipes.
Now we just throw in a change of clothes in the van and head out.

On a little sad note, today I would have been 23 weeks pregnant. The age of viability. I remember in my 1st pregnancy how I was so relieved to make it to 23 weeks, because there was at least a chance that the babies would survive. So it's a little saddening today. I am just so blessed to have my beautiful healthy children. The more I look at it though, the more relieved I feel. I am done with all the baby stuff. Now we can just have fun! We were at ChuckECheese the other night, and I saw a mom with a toddler as well as a baby that couldn't have been more than 2 weeks old. Just watching her having to stop every few minutes to change, or feed, or soothe the newborn. I can definately say we are done having any more children.
That doesn't mean adoption is out though. As the kids get older, we may consider adopting a (definately potty trained) child. For now though, I am happy with my family and love the stage where we can focus on the fun stuff.
In no way is it all fun though. They still have those lovely temper tantrums, but from my understanding, these will be hanging around for quite some time :P