1st and 3rd

Wednesday was Thomas and Taylor's first day of school.  Another year and another new school, but absolutely NO NERVES!!  As I pulled up to the school I started to second guess my decision to drop them curbside...was I a horrible mom for acting like it was just another day??  They quickly jumped out of the car and I was waved on by an orange vested lady.  I could only see them in my rear view mirror, but walked off with their heads up and I knew they were going to have a great day!!  

And I was right!!!  Kids are so much more resilient than adults!!  After the mornings drop and run I decided to redeem myself by parking and walking to where they would be released.  They both had huge smiles on their faces and couldn't wait to tell me about their day.  Thomas already had friends and knew everyone's names.  Taylor loved being at school all day, but thought 3 recesses was a little much.  I was so glad that they had a great first day!  Hopefully their year will be filled with lots of fun stories to tell!!

Sisters

Tatum is finally to the age she can play pretty good with Taylor.  They play baby dolls, dress-up and kitchen almost every day.  I love it and can only hope that they have the relationship my sis and I have when they are older.   For our "last day of summer" we decided to go to the water park...and just like at home...they had fun together.  For a short moment I even got to sit back in my lounge chair and watch from a distance.

Can't you just imagine what they are talking about?!  Probably nothing at all, but it's fun for me to imagine!!

How She Rolls

She has a hard time choosing between her scooter and her quad.  Both have limited turning capability, so she does a lot of stopping, picking up and turning.  She's looking forward to the day she can ride off with the rest of the neighborhood gang!

Neighborhood Gang

I wonder if they would let me ride with them?

Probably not!!

A Room Fit For A Boy

Pardon the low quality pics, but the lighting is the one thing that sucks in Thomas' room.  When we bought the house his room was painted floor to ceiling dark blue with glow in the dark paint mixed in.  IT HAD TO GO!!

 

Against Thomas' request I went with a nice gray!  As a surprise though I removed the doors and painted the inside of the closet Seahawk green!!  Who knew that Home Depot was able to make an exact match to any team color!!!  It's bright, but he loves it!  I love how it turned out too and best of all his closet won't become a trashy mess because there are no doors to hide it.

 



He finally has wall space to hang his gifts from Santa last Christmas.  I love these prints!!!!

 

Thomas is lucky enough to have his own bathroom IN his room.

 

 

iPhone Photo Dump

1.  Waiting for Thomas, Taylor, Nana and Papa to get here!  I'm not sure she really missed them, but I sure did!!

2.  We went to the Wildlife Experience and it was pretty cool, but I prefer the real animals at the zoo!

3.  Papa and Tatum waiting for their turn to bowl!

4.  If you can read my blurry picture you'll see who was showing off...Papa!!  247 with crappy shoes and a house ball!

5.  Do you love my puzzle??  Well so do I except I would love it more if I wasn't missing ONE piece!

6.  Raspberries from MY yard and they're delicious!!

7.  My sweet Taylor and her friends took care of two lost dogs yesterday while they tried to contact the owners...the owners were very grateful that the kids took care of them!

8.  Sunday funday goofing off!  Breaking out our Seahawks clothes for the official preseason start today!

9.  This is how I'm finishing my weekend...a yummy dinner and a few glasses of wine!

For My Aunties

These pics are long overdue!!

Here she is...My hubby's pride and joy...our dining table!  One of a kind and built entirely by him!

As you can see the light fixture above the table still has not been replaced.  I have picked out the one that I want, but wouldn't you know it is the most expensive one at Lowes and not quite in the budget yet.  I still have a few things I want to tackle in the family room (that stupid dog kennel and those unnecessary shelves next to the fireplace, but for the most part the main floor is complete. 

If you can't tell the table is MASSIVE, so I would like 2 more chairs.  With 8 chairs and 4 bar stools, I finally have enough seating that no one needs a TV tray or their lap to eat over at our house.

iPhone Photo Dump

Her brother and sister were gone for 11 days...it was just me and her most of the time.  We focused 99% of our time on potty training and the other 1% on fun stuff.  Wink!! Wink!!

 

 

1.  She ate her cereal in her undies almost everyday!!

2.  This was one of many fits, but the only one I caught on camera.

3.  An intense game of fishing for Dora gems...again in her undies!!

4.  Playing dress-up is her second favorite thing to do these days!  (See #9 for the 1st thing)

5.  This was our first day out on the town in undies...she did great!!!

6.  Potty training is a great excuse to shower whenever you want!

7.  We cleaned...and guess who found the play-doh? 

8.  A trip to Costco and because potty training has been a big success so far...a smoothie!

9.  Her FIRST favorite thing to do these days!! 

 

It was a fun 11 days, but we are glad our brother and sister are back!!

Tough Love

Guess who's potty training again?!

Yup...and I am happy to report all things considered she is doing really great.

BUT...and it's a BIG BUT...

Yesterday I had to abandon nice mommy and turn into TOUGH LOVE mommy!  Potty training can be simply summed up as a battle of who gives in first.  It is one of the things that truly requires more from the parent than the kid.  Potty training requires 100% patience and 100% attention and the cleaning of any and ALL accidents.  EXCEPT...when you turn the tables and make the kid do the cleaning!!

And that's what happened yesterday.  It actually started on Wednesday.  After already successfully going #2 in the potty and earning a toy from Target, she decided she wasn't going to continue the success and when she came to me with a mess to clean up...I told her she had to do it.  I wish I had captured the look on her face.  She turned right around and ran.  Apparently she didn't like the idea of cleaning it up.  She ended up doing it though, but was NOT happy about it. 

So yesterday she came running to me..."Mommy, I have to go poop!"

I was so excited!!  Only a parent can understand the excitement those words bring.  I ran in the bathroom with her and when she turned around I realized she had already gone.

23min later...she finally gave in and took her underwear off.  I'll spare you the remaining details, but let's just say she may have been traumatized for life and was still saying she was sorry last night.

I'm not positive, but if I were to guess I'd say she now knows who can outlast who!

Hard Knock Life

Yup...this ones got it rough!

When you don't get your way...bury your head in your blanket and scream! 

To The Zoo Again

We love the zoo, what more can I say! 

This guy was taking a mud bath!

This guy is just a dork!

My favorite dork, but still a dork!

Elephant show was awesome!

Thomas and Aunt KiKi!

Pretty sure the smoothies was their favorite part!

 This guy looked pretty hungry!

Sisters...being good sisters!

Adventures With Aunt KiKi

Seriously...I'm not sure these pictures quite convey the hysterics of our Saturday adventure, but they will probably make you laugh a little.

I'm not sure why they require helmets...our speed never reached over 1mph!!

We paid for an hour, but probably only used  30 minutes.  Either it's super hard or I'm completely out of shape (probably the latter).

We ate a picnic lunch and then the kids played at the park!

It was a fun day!! 

iPhone Photo Dump

Today this is as good as it gets.  My only excuse for the lack of blogging...A FUN SUMMER...and I'm not even going to apologize for that!

 

 

 

1.  We finally went and bought a new computer last weekend...from Costco of course!!

2.  She is getting so INDEPENDENT!!

3.  Taylor with her good friend Ashley...water park fun!

4.  I have been on a puzzle kick the last week...I absolutely loved this 1000 pc one...only problem...7 missing pieces...enter sad face!  I really was hoping to frame it!

5.  This is the only proof my kids were dressed patriotic for the 4th of July!

6.  I went and bought a fire pit for the backyard just so we could eat SMORES!!

7.  I can officially park my car in the garage...AND I couldn't be happier!

8.  Back to the water park to start our week!

9.  That little tiny person in the upper right corner...TATUM.