Potty Training….

 These pictures were taken on the first day of school for the kids.  Aug 13th.  Aug, 14th we started Potty training.  I knew I had to do it now, or it wouldn't get done, because of all the craziness fall brings.  All the fall sports, and our weekends are shot.  So I had one weekend before soccer started so I jumped on it.  He is actually my oldest child to be potty trained.  All my kids were right at 2.  Being my baby I guess, and that and learning from Preston, I felt I needed to wait.  So he is only 3 months over 2, and we started.  We did a potty training in 3 days approach, and didn't leave the house for the first 3 days.  It was nice the first day, not so much the rest of the time.  The first day was pretty normal.  I would set my timer for every 10-15 minutes and just watch him all day.  We had a little wet bar set up where he just drank all day long.  So he could start to understand how you drink tons, you pee tons, and I wanted him to have that feeling a lot.  We peed like 40 times that first day, and had about 5 accidents.  3 of which were when the kids got home and my attention was taken away from him.  The second day we only had one accident, he was getting better, but I still had to set the timer and take him every 10-15 minutes.  He also went poo this day, which was a big deal.  He did not want to go poo on the potty, so he got a sucker and balloon, and also some play dough.  By the third day he was telling me he had to pee, and we started tapering off on the water.  He also went poo again, and so he got more prizes.  We haven't had an accident since that second day with pee.  Somewhere along the way though he decided he didn't want to poop on the potty,  so I had to watch him like a hawk.  after about 2 weeks he seems to be just fine with pooping as well, and actually tires to go all the time.  Yay for him. I didn't know how it would go with this one, but he exceeded my expectations.  He is a great little  guy.  He is very smart, and has known his shapes and colors, before he turned 2.  He is leaning his alphabet now, and numbers.  He can count to 10, and loves to put things in rows, and stack things.  He won't play with his toys.  He loves to lay them out one by one, and make trails.  He loves doing this with everything.  He talks a lot, but it's hard for other's to understand, but I get most of it.   Since he had to be home for so long while he was potty training, I took him to the park, and splash pad while the kids were in school.  He had so much fun, and loved every minute of it.  We enjoy going to the library story time, and he is obsessed with BALLOONS.  He can't get enough of them.  We get books with balloons, papers, groceries, anything with a balloon on it he wants it.  I love this little guy so much.  He is getting to be such a good little guy.

Happy Birthday Shaylee…10 years old.

Shaylee turned 10 this year.  She is such a great kid.  She loves to clean, and organize, and I'll find her in her room cleaning out her and her sisters drawers and closet.  She is a perfectionist.  She loves Soccer, and really any sport.  She is a great Soccer player.  She is a great helper.  He favorite colors are Turquoise, grey, and orange.  She loves to read, and I find her up in her room with a book in the evenings more often then not.  She has started to love to cook, and help out in the kitchen.  She is a lot like her mom in many ways (don't know if that's a good thing or not).  She loves painting her fingernails, and toes.  She loves art, and can draw for hours.  She is always willing to help out and often helps without being asked.  We love her so much and are glad she is part of our family.
The day before her birthday we had a little cake and Ice-cream to celebrate.   Then she woke up and we celebrated with Donuts (her request).   As we opened presents I could not get Brecken away from Shaylee he kept saying Happy Birthday Shaylee, and wanted to help her with every present.  Sheyalee was great and let him help with everything.  Brecken and I then took her treats to school for her class, and brought her Dairy Queen and ate lunch with her.  She does not like to eat out for her birthday…because she has a BIG phobia of being put on the spot, and being sung too.  Poor girl.  So, she requested hard shell tacos (her favorite).  We then went out for ice-cream for her birthday, but she wanted a snow cone…so that's what she got.  Friday we had a party for her.  She had 19 girls, all her friends, plus the soccer team.  So it was a little hectic, but a lot of fun.  I love parties where they entertain themselves.  Over all I think she had a great birthday, and was really spoiled by everyone.