Progress...

I just wanted to mention how grown up Maxine seems lately. She and I have not always seen eye to eye because we are very similar. But now when I'm getting frustrated with her, she knows when to back off. If Juliet is tugging on my pants while I'm trying to make dinner, she'll grab a book and read to her. She's not perfect but I can tell she wants to be a good kid and she tries hard. Some days, it's just what I need to gain some composure. She's a good kid and I'm lucky she's turning out so well.

Turning point...

15 days ago, I embarked on a journey to potty train Jack. I knew it wasn't going to happen overnight but we had quite the unsuccessful week. One unsuccessful week turned into two. I was starting to doubt whether Jack was ready and possibly considered giving up. On the second week. He went to the bathroom twice. A glimmer of hope sparked. Today, however, was a glorious day!!

Day 15 Score: Read it and weep!

Number of soiled underoos: 0

Number of times gone in the toilet: 4!

We had zero accidents and Jack told me twice that he needed to go sit on the toilet!! Once there, he immediately did his business. Maxine would like me to mention that his overall score is 7 in the toilet. WOW! Jack's playing with his new Gordon from Thomas the Tank Engine: his reward.

To celebrate the triumph, I made Jack's favorite dinner: chicken and corn. We also had ice cream for dessert. Wahoo! Good day!

I also did some painting last night and the new paint matches great!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

El Presidente...

I didn't vote for Barack Obama but felt I should tune to the inauguration this morning. I sat there and felt proud as an American citizen; proud that we elected our first African-American President. He seems like a good father and husband and those are good marks in my book. I felt good that we, as a nation, are this progressive. I remembered learning about the Civil Rights Movement in school and the thought of an African-American President seemed a long way off at the time. I even cried a bit during the ceremonies. So good job America!!

So excited...

Forever ago, I fixed some spots on my interior walls, textured, and primed and pulled out my bucket of touch-up paint to finish the job. As it turns out, the bottom of the can had a crack and the bucket has been leaking dye and thinner in my laundry room cabinet. This was around Thanksgiving. So I kind of let the project slide because I didn't know where to get more paint (the house was painted when I moved in) and it was Christmas time.

So in a fit of ambition, I finally called the design store where we picked out the paint for the walls when our house was being built. She said they only use Kwal or Sherwin-Williams paint. So I called the Kwal store first. Luckily, I knew the paint color name from the lid of the leaky paint can. The guy said it was their color and I could pick up the mixed paint in an hour.

So instead of this...

this...

FINALLY, I'm going to have walls that look like any other walls, hopefully. I'm always a little nervous about paint being mixed later and having it match exactly.

Jack update: Merril promised Jack that if he peed in the toilet 3 times, he would buy him a Gordon train from Thomas the tank engine. Jack completed his mission this afternoon and is playing with Gordon now.

A hint of success...

Well, I took Jack to the store and told him that I hoped he didn't pee on the floor. He was holding it really well and dancing all around. We stopped at a bathroom but nothing happened. We finished at the store and left. We drove home and tried again. Nothing. He played for another 45 minutes and was holding himself. I asked him to try again and he did. He sat for a minute and I poured some warm water on him. Bingo! I've been trying the water thing for a while but I guess he just couldn't hold it today. So I guess I won't give up just yet.

Possibly throwing in the towel...

Well, it's been one week and 5 days. No real signs of improvement as far as potty training Jack. I've noticed he's gotten a lot better at holding it, but still won't go in the toilet. I'm debating putting it off for a couple months and trying again later. We'll probably keep giving it a go through the weekend. I still haven't decided yet.

Do you ever have vertigo?? I'm so dizzy today. When I woke up, the bed was swirling around. It's gotten a little better but I'm still woozy.

On a happier note, it's a beautiful, sunny day outside and we're going to go out and play!

I NEED to go to the grocery store...

This morning Jack asked if he could have some strawberries. I replied, "We don't have any bud."

Jack, "Well how about an apple??"

Me, "We're out of apples too."

Jack, "Can I have a yogurt?"

Me, "Sorry, dude, no yogurts either."

I've neglected going to the store because Jack's still not going to the bathroom in a designated place. I figured I'd just throw a pull-up on him and go. So as I was hurrying to get ready to head to the store this morning, my friend down the street called and asked to borrow the Tahoe. She runs a day care and her Suburban had broken down. I agreed and figured we could make it one more day on a half a block of cheese and a gallon of milk. That's why we have food storage right?? I could try and go this afternoon but Juliet and Jack both take afternoon naps. Like I'm gonna poke that bear. *snicker*

Day 6 Score...

Number of soiled underoos: 5 (Some at Shauna's house. Sorry Shauna.)
Number of times gone in the toilet: 0

After this I'm just going to post when he makes any achievement in the toilet. Posting the scores has lost its comedy for me and has just made potty training depressing. However, we're not giving up just yet.

Day 5 Score...

Number of soiled underoos: 4
Number of times gone in the toilet: 0

At what point do I give up?? 2 weeks?? A month?

Day 4 Score...

Number of soiled underoos: 5
Number of times gone in the toilet: 0

Urg.

Lost tooth and Day 3 Score...

Maxine finally lost her wiggly top tooth. It's been wiggly for over a month and I thought, for sure, it would come out over Christmas vacation. She looks SO OLD missing that top tooth. I can't believe she's old enough. So the tooth fairy visited our house last night.

Day 3 Score:

Number of soiled underoos: 4
Number of times gone in the toilet: 1

Wahoo!! We have one successful attempt!!!!!! Hopefully more to come!

Epiphany and Day Two Score...

The holiday, Epiphany, was yesterday. Epiphany is the twelfth night after Christmas and was (supposedly) the day the 3 kings found the baby Jesus. It kicks off carnival and ends with Mardi Gras. (I think.) Anyhoo, every year I make a King Cake to celebrate. It's basically a large, wreath-shaped cinnamon roll with a plastic baby doll (to represent baby Jesus) hidden inside. The roll is cut into pieces and whoever finds the plastic baby Jesus will have good luck for a year and, per tradition, is supposed to bring the next King Cake the following year. Also, if you host a party with a King Cake, the person who finds the baby Jesus is King or Queen of the party. Maxine got the baby Jesus this year. Epiphany just gives me a holiday to celebrate in January and it helps /Christmas last a little longer around my house.

Day 2 Score:

Number of soiled underoos: 3

Number of times gone in the toilet: 0

Day One Score...

Number of soiled underoos: 6
Number of times gone in the toilet: 0

The dregs of parenting...

Today kicks off my first day of potty training Jack. I despise potty training. I loathe potty training. If there was a boot camp, where I could ship my kid off in diapers and he'd return in 2 weeks with underoos on, I'd totally pay for it! Alas, here I am: up to my ankles in soiled underoos (I know I'm going to call them panties by the end of the day) and Jack has yet to successfully pee or poop in the toilet. I take him to the toilet every hour and have him sit and try. It never happens until I've got him dressed again. He's a good boy, I think he's just totally unaware. He gets an M&M every attempt on the toilet so he's totally game. So this is where I'll be for the next week. Hopefully we'll see some success as the week progresses.

Happy New Year!

Over the last few months, I'd been thinking about parties and how some families throw a party every year around the same time. I know Angie loves to throw Halloween parties and I know a lot of people love to throw parties at Christmas time. I was kind of bummed that Merril and I didn't have a specific party that we liked to throw every year. Then I realized that we've hosted a New Year's Eve party every year for the past 4 years. So I guess that's kind of our party!! And that made me excited. We told friends that they could bring kids, or find a sitter but everyone just brought them because it can be hard to find a sitter on New Year's Eve.

Here's some of the crew.

Here's the kid brigade.

Jack did pretty well until around 10:00 p.m. After that he became unreasonable and by 11:00 p.m., I found him asleep on the office chair like this. He was moved to my bed after that.

Maxine was a trooper and was happy as a lark until midnight. As a reward, she received a fancy glass with sparkling cider.

Merril and I toasted the New Year with sparkling cider as well. (I set the timer on my camera but didn't quite get back to Merril in time. Thus, the goofy look on my face and hunchback.)

Here's the brain trust.

We played pictionary, which was won by the men. Good job men!! We played another little game but mainly just ate food and told stories. Amy Hummel brought a full non-alcoholic bar and made mixed drinks for everyone! THANK YOU AMY!!

NEW YEAR'S DAY:

On New Year's Day, we have a tradition of driving out to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes. We stopped by this hill for lunch. Jared Hummel, Merril's BFF, brought 2 of his kids and a sled.

We played with it all day and it was a ton of fun.

Merril's standing in front of his Uncle McKay's green International Scout. Apparently we're "storing" for McKay. Storing translates to driving it while saving enough money to purchase it because Merril really wants it. I keep saying "basement first" but I don't think it's sinking in.

After lunch, we went back to a big hill called Corral Hill, thus named for the old cow and horse corral at the bottom of the hill. Merril also brought his CR500, which was the equivalent of a squirrely snow blower.

But he made it to the top of the hill! And then got stuck for a minute. :)

Merril put chains on the Scout and was able to drive it up the big hill. Maxine climbed all the way up to cheer him on and congratulate him.
The rest of the day was spent messing around on the hill. The rest of the dunes were too snowy to get anywhere. So we tubed, rode the sled, got stuck, got un-stuck, and Jared blew the Wuss Whistle at us. (Jared had a bunch of little plastic whistles in his Jeep and anytime anyone got stuck or did something dumb, Jared would blow the Wuss Whistle. I kept waiting for it to get not funny any more, but I laughed every single time. You might have had to be there.) Anyhoo, here's Jared tubing with Katelyn. The look on her face is one of happiness. She was laughing all the way down.

Maxine and Jack played in the snow the entire time. We hiked up and down the hill with the tube all afternoon. It was fantastic! We usually just drive around on the snowy dunes but we had the best time just playing on the hill! We left tired but with big smiles on our faces. This year at the Coral Pinks marks the 9th annual year for Merril and me. We'd met in December of 1999 so it was one of our first dates and we've done it ever since. I can't believe I've been with him for 9 years. It's been fun, to say the least.

As far as the new year goes, my only resolution so far is to potty train Jack. This commences Monday. Yikes! I would also like to finish part of the basement. Happy New Year!!

And so this is Christmas...

We opened some presents and had a good time. Jack got a bike and a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. Maxine got a bike and some lip gloss, slippers and some other stuff.

Then we ate a big breakfast, complete with Christmas Carol Roll (a tradition from Merril's family.) It's the huge cinnamon roll in the corner.

On Saturday, we went tubing with some friends. There was so much snow and the plow hadn't been up yet. It took a little longer than we'd hoped to get there but the kids played in the snow drifts while we waited for the plow.

Maxine and Jack liked to slide down the hill on their rear ends. I slid down on my rear end with Juliet a couple of times. It helps keep from going too fast. But we took the kids down on tubes as well.

We also brought a tube, a knee board and a snow board. All provided great entertainment to the people who were watching. Here's Merril going off a jump on the tube.

Maxine liked going down the hill. However, she didn't like climbing back up the hill.

Here's my shot of the day. Juliet and I were sitting on the knee board, watching people biff it in the snow.

Christmas Eve...

We celebrated our Christmas Eve with going out to dinner. Hee hee. I'd been cooking, wrapping and buying for weeks and I didn't want to make dinner. So we went out, looked at some Christmas lights, and came home to perform our nativity.

Maxine was Mary, Jack was Joseph, and Juliet was an angel. I made costumes this year and was please at how they turned out. Maxine insisted that the Mary costume be blue.

Merril was the donkey. ;)

I got to be the narrator but at some point, Juliet stole the baby Jesus, the manger was knocked over and we were all laughing so hard that the wise men, also played by Merril, showed up and just started handing out pajamas to open.

But we had fun and really enjoyed our Christmas. I would post about Christmas, but I need to go finish my Mom's cake because it's her birthday today! Can you believe 2009 is right around the corner????

Hey, I found my camera...

I like to take a picture of the kids in front of the Christmas tree every year. I might have missed a year or two but this morning was the time for the tree picture. I was using the tree in my bedroom so I was trying to get enough light. So lighting was an issue but I actually got 3 or 4 good ones. Including this one of Juliet and Maxine. Juliet's a little soft. They were goofing off while I wrangled Jack into the frame. Ummm...what's the deal with the open mouths, girls? Maybe they were saying, "Santaaaaa!"

Merry Christmas!!

2 things...

I just finished a huge sewing project last night for Christmas! Whoosh! I can't post pictures yet in case the intendee might read but I'll post after Christmas. My sewing machine is on the fritz too but Merril and I finally worked something out and it sewed the last half of the project like a dream.

I was going to post some pictures but I can't remember where my camera is.

Anyway, a few days ago, I was awakened at 5:30 a.m. to what sounded like a child whining. After stirring out of my slumber a bit, I listened more and realized it wasn't one of my children at all, it was a cat meowing/whining. So I settled back into bed and tried to ignore the cat. The cat won't be quiet and I start wondering, "Where is that cat?? It's really loud." Then I start to realize that the sound is coming from the garage. I open the door and look in the garage and there's a cat meowing in my garage. I don't have a cat so I open the garage door and he runs out. Silly neighbor cat. I just hope he wasn't stuck in there for very long. We'd come home late from Salt Lake and I'm guessing he was only in there since 1:00 a.m. or so. Merry Christmas!!

Snow Day!!

We don't get much snow in our fair town but it's been snowing all day long! It's even sticking! So after Maxine finished school, we put Juliet down for a nap and bundled up.

Kids! Don't eat the snow!

Seriously, don't eat the snow!!! Like they're listening....

And we made a snowman!

The snow has really made it feel like Christmas and I'm glad we have it. Wahoo! However, I'm glad it only snows once in a while! Oh, I went to kickboxing this morning and I feel whooped.

I feel productive...

I've been really trying to get things done after the kids go to bed instead of just watching TV. One of my goals for this holiday season was to finish a ceramic tree that I inherited when my Great Aunt Jan died. One of her talents was painting Christmas village houses and other things of a ceramic nature. For my wedding, she gave me a Christmas village that she'd painted by hand. She gave one to almost every niece and great-niece before she died. (Which thinking about now, I should've written a longer 'thank you' letter because they take a ton of work!!) I've painted a couple of houses, in her style, to add to my village, and this year the ceramic tree was on my list!!

It stands about a 1 1/2 feet tall and is fitted with little plastic pegs. A light is inserted inside and causes the plastic pegs to illuminate. Anyway, I finished with the pegs and the light base this evening and here it is!

It doesn't normally lean so much to the left. I didn't quite sit the tree on the red base correctly before I took the pictures. The base has circles molded into it so I painted a candy cane, a snowflake, a wrapped present and a snowman in each of the 4 ovals. And here it is in the dark.
My Great Aunt made one for my Mom a LONG time ago so it's been kind of fun to make something that reminds me of Christmas as a kid. Thanks Aunt Jan!

Up, Up and...

Today at lunch, Jack was playing with a car and said, "Up, up to the way!!"

Listening in, I said, "Jack, the phrase is 'Up, up and away.'"

He paused for a second, smiled and said, "No. It's up, up to the way! To the milky way!!"

Pausing myself for a second, I thought, 'Well, at least he's thought about it and his rational does make sense.' Good job Jack!

And to show a little OCD, we got a book today called "How Big is a Million?" A penguin sees 10 fish, a group of 100 penguins, 1,000 snowflakes and 1 billion stars. Anyway, on the snowflake page, the seal says to the penguin, "but I'm sure there are a thousand. (And there really were!)" So wondering if the book was telling the truth, I copied the pages and marked off snowflakes as I counted. I actually counted 1,005 snowflakes but I'll account for a margin of error. (But I'm not counting the page with a billion stars...I'll just take their word for it.)

Yummy chocolate...

My sister-in-law, Megan, is on a mission for our church in Sweden. My mother-in-law gets the weekly letter and then forwards it onto the rest of us. Maxine likes to send pictures and I try to write letters. (I should write more, sorry Megs!!) So anyway, Syster(that's how you spell Sister in Swedish) Megan sent me a package today with a HUGE bar of CHOCOLATE! The kids and I already opened and ate some of it! It's soooo smooth and has crispy, crunchies in it!

But anyway, that's not the point of my post. The part that cracked me up the most is how she sent it!! It came in, what I can only guess because I don't know Swedish, a milk carton. I was able to discern 1.5 liters and that it's 1.5 %. I can't think of any other liquid that comes in percentages. And there's some little cows on it. So thanks Megan!! It's been one of the highlights of my week!! We love you!

Say what??

In the last couple of weeks, Juliet's started saying a bunch of new words. Last weekend she learned peanut butter, pillow and Santa. Santa is my favorite. Our yard decorations include an inflatable Santa and when I pulled it out, Maxine and Jack ran over to it and gave it a big hug yelling, "Santa, Santa!!" When we're outside, Juliet walks over to it and says "Santa!"

I'm just amazed at how many words are coming along!! At Wal-Mart, she had some Skittles in her hand and to make conversation and pass the time, I asked her, "How are your Skittles??" She said, "Good!" I just laughed. Kids are funny. FYI, this isn't a fall, she just likes to be like this.

Oh one more thing, I was teaching on Sunday to the Young Women about the The Family: Proclamation to the World. I said that the very first commandment given on the earth was to multiply and replenish the earth, which means to have kids. One of the girls said, "Are you serious?? It's a commandment??!!" She isn't into the whole kid thing yet. I'm still working on it too.

Trimming the tree...

Well, we decorated the Christmas trees without a single ornament being broken. However, some candy canes found their way into little mouths. Do candy canes go bad?? I've used the same ones on my tree for several years.

First, the living room tree!! The ornaments that are breakable have been moved a bit higher, due to the fact that Juliet is very curious. I took this from the side because I could lean on the table for a steady hand. It looks better from the front. Anyhoo, you get the idea.

Maxine and Jack's tree is pieced together branches leftover from the stump. I used about 10 zip ties and voila!! Maxine was skeptical that it could look good until I broke out the icicles. Half a box later, she kept gooing at how beautiful her tree was!!

Hee hee. I think it kind of looks like a star fish. We went to family dollar and got some cheap, plastic balls and star ornaments to hang (not pictured.) I think it works well. They seem to think it's fun too!!