Potty Time Celebration!

Ok So we have been trying to potty train Shaylyn for many months and everytime we started we quit after a day or two because I just did not feel she was ready. I would ask her if she had to go and she would say yes and then sit and sit and nothing!Then Cr had the idea that maybe if we got a toddler potty I could just let her run around in the buff all day with her being able to use the potty as a chair when watching cartoons etc. I thought I would try it couldn't hurt. The whole point was that she would sit and eventually we would catch her going potty on it and we would praise her and maybe she would understand.Well that did not work...she would sit and sit on the potty all the time and then she would stand up to go potty on the carpet and then sit back down to continue watching her cartoon. Hilarious I know( although at the time of clean up it wasn't). Anyway today was the day!!I ran out of diapers and thought maybe it was a sign to try again and I figured if it did not work I would just go to the store and get more diapers.Well I asked her this morning if she wanted to wear big girl undies and go to the potty. She said yes and I thought "there's nothing new" but we went anyway and HALLELUJAH!!!!!She went!!!!I went nuts and got all excited, we even called dad at work( the bank) who got very excited but could not go into detail praising her on the phone because he did not want the bank members to hear.I thought that was funny...I am calling my husband at work to tell him his daughter went pee and we are having a celebration.Gees the things parents cherish!The best part of all was I was still a little unsure that maybe we had just gotten lucky this morning but when we went before nap she did it again.HALLELUJAH..it wasn't a fluke!I am sure we are going to have many accidents and frustrating times but I know we are on our way. The funny thing is I am not so sure I am that excited about it. As a mom I want my kids to grow up and see all the new things they can do but at the same time I had a thought earlier that when she doesn't wear diapers anymore she wont be my baby anymore.I almost cried.How hard it is to not only let go of my baby but also my only baby girl.It reminds me to remember to love her and cherish her and not to waste any time with her or my boys either for that matter.They will never be the age they are again. I just wanted to remind everyone of that.Enjoy your life, your days and your family for they are the true meaning of who we are and they are the accomplishment we should use to judge how fullfilling our lives have been..not other things. With love to all.
Missy

Easter Carnival

Well we decided that we needed to get out of the house on Saturday and find something to do. For once Cr actually had a saturday off and we did not want to sit around and waste it. We were afraid it might rain but we decided to venture out and participate in the Kissimmee Easter Eggstravaganza. We had a great time. Thekids got to hunt for eggs and no matter how many they found everyone got the same goodie bag in the end so it made it nice that none of the kids were fighting over eggs.They had a craft table set up for the kids to make things. They had bouncy houses and they had a section set up for little carnival games for the kids. They also ofcourse had the easterbunny come and we were able to get a few pictures with him. Shaylyn wanted to pull on his whiskers. I thought that was cute. Anyway all in all it was a great family fun day. After the Eggstravaganza we rented a movie and watched it together. It reminded me of why I hate Cr's job because he hardly ever has Saturday's off and it is the one day the kids have off school that we can go out and do things together as a family. anyway...Daddy we loved having you home. Happy Easter Everyone.

Easter Basket Drama

So I have to write about easter. What a wonderful holiday.I try to think of the reason for the season and teach my kids that it is not all about the bunny and the easter eggs.I think they understand as best that they can for their age but they still of course want to participate in the easter festivities and look forward to the easter bunny's arrival.This year was a lot of fun. The easter bunny decided to hide Chace and Makai's baskets and leave a easter egg treasure hunt for them to find them. So the night before we put out our baskets on the table as usual but at 4:30 am I have a hysterically crying Chace and Makai burst into my bedroom saying that someone stole their easter baskets. Did I mention it was 4:30 am!!!anyway obviously it was too dark for them to see the 2 eggs on the table with their names on them!So I gently( well maybe not so gently, I was a bit mad at the hour) put them back in bed and told them to trust the easter bunny and to go back to sleep and under penalty of death not to get out of bed again until after 7am. At 7:01 chace comes running into my room complaining that all he got was an egg. I proceeded to ask him if he actually opened the egg. He said No and I said GO OPEN THE EGG! He did and a hunt started and ended with he and Makai finally finding their baskets.Phew!!Remind me to tell the easter bunny next year to just leave the basket on the table.Anyway after that drama played out we watched the children's easter videos while getting ready for church.we had a great day at church and I loved being able to celebrate easter.

Thanks

I just wanted to say thanks to Jess and Jamie for the new website for blog templates. I love that you can change it so easily and whenever you feel like something new it is so simple to do! Hey I made a rhyme. Anyway I hope you like the new look. Nothing really new this week..same old stuff! Wishing everyone well=)

Missy

Puppy Camp

Wow have we been busy this last week. This weekend our beloved Guide dog puppy Sabrina went to puppy camp and in her place we got Maven. Can I say bundle of energy. She is like nonstop wanting to play. It is so funny to see the kids with her. So in case you are wondering what the heck puppy camp is...It is when a dog goes and visits another puppy raisers home for 3 weeks. Basically we trade dogs. The reason for this is that Guide dogs have to be comfortable with all kinds of different living arrangements and things. So by doing puppy camps like this it gives them a chance to know that no matter where they go the rules are the same and they are loved and taken care of. Maven is great. She lives in a home with other pets but not children so although in public she is ok with kids she has never had to be around them 24/7. The first time shaylyn threw a screaming fit she was totally beside herself. She had no idea what to do. Not to mention her absolute fear of the dreaded doll stroller=) It is so funny to see this big black dog go running full strength when shaylyn starts pushing the stroller. She also has not gotten used to shaylyn trying to use her as a pillow to use while watching cartoons. Sabrina knows how to play the couch potato/pillow well. Hopefully sometime before the 3 weeks is up Maven will learn how to be the perfect pillow for shaylyn.Anyway we are enjoying having her and we hope she enjoys us as well. To everyone reading this..in case I don't have a chance to post tommorrow HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!!! Don't forget to wear green or you just might get pinched!!

Missy

" Curby" the talking trash can

Curby came to scouts last night. He was so cool. The kids are learning about recycling in scouts this month and I was trying to think of something fun we could do to learn about recycling. Well I had remebered going to the library with Shaylyn and Curby had come that day for storytime and I thought he would be perfect to help me teach the kids about recycling. So now I had the problem of figuring out who in the world to call to get curby to come. I called the county and they knew exactly who to talk to. I was so excited. The boys were taken by surprise. Curby was under a sheet hidden in the corner of the room and I was in the front playing a recycle trivia game with them. Then all of a sudden out of nowhere you here this voice saying " Hello", "hello" it's dark in here. The boys started freaking out and screaming they were so excited. I went over to the sheet and out pops Curby. Curby is a walking , talking robot. The boys don't notice but in the back of the room there is a man who talks for Curby. He was so funny playing with the boys. It was very educational and the boys had a blast. Thank you Osceola for having such a great educational program for the kids. For all you home schooling babes ( Jamie) call your county and see what kinds of educational programs they have available to you. Get a group of home schoolers together and have a program. Anyway it was a BLAST!!! One of the best scouting meetings I have ever been to.

Chace got to Shake Curby's hand.

The Weekend!

Ok so I have really great news this week. I just found out that I am being called as the Young Womens Camp Director for Church. Yeah. Those of you that know me well know this is a dream calling for me. I love camping and anything outdoorsie. I also love the young women and going to girls camp to me is better than going to a spa. It is my couple days off to do something I absolutely love to do.I am so excited. Other than that exciting news, this weekend was a slow one. We just hung out as a family. My brothers came to the park with my boys and played baseball with them which of course the boys loved that. We also played a really cool game my brothers got called Rock band. It was so funny to watch the boys play and sing. It is going to be really sad when we move away from my brothers but at the same time it will be nice to be on our own again. We all benefitted from being together in so many ways but now it is time for us to part ways. We will miss them. Well I hope everyone else had a great weekend. I will post tommorow after Curby the talking trash can comes to scouts tonight. I will post some pictures so you can see what I am talking about.