Sunday, September 26, 2010

Dancing in the rain!

It has been raining like crazy lately here so the kids and I took advantage of the opportunity to go out and play in the rain! We brought out the umbrellas and ran around. Addy had enough after a few minutes and JT didn't want to come in!
Hair night brought us back to basics... Addy's signature look the Senglanese Twists! I haven't done her whole head in twist for quite a while and she is just adorable in them. Look how long they are getting!
A real smile!
Meena forgot her glasses at our house so when AJ found them, she had to try them on!
What an adorable little boy (minus the snotty nose)...
We got wind of an amazing sale from a friend... 40$ desks for 15$.... so we got each kid one... now we have a fun crafty corner! We took out our big rubbermaid full of arts and crafts and put them all into a big three drawer wheely cart. We found out rather quickly that the cart will need to stay in the closet or laundry room as Tyler thought the wheels were great and pushed it all over!

Our first project at our new desk! Presents for daddy's birthday!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Maybe it wasn't a unicorn after all....

This weekend Jared, Ty and I went to visit some friends while AJ went and spent the weekend with Meena. While we were away, we stopped at Walmart to look to see if their walmart had the infamous unicorn backpack.... No luck but I found a super fun pony lunch bag so I thought maybe that would be a good replacement. Now mind you, when she saw the first back pack, I didnt really pay attention to what the unicorn looked like. She said it was a unicorn backpack, I glanced and saw it was a white unicorn with a rainbow mane. Regardless, I bought the lunch bag thinking it would make her happy either way.
So after we got home I told her I got something and if she stayed dry at daycare she could have her special present (I figured since the unicorn backpack was for pottying that it would only be fitting that this would be too). So today she came home with her potty certificate from daycare so I asked if she wanted her special present.....

The joy that poured out of her was amazing! She shouted, "My unicorn packpack!" and then wanted to open it up etc. I told her it was a lunch bag and that we could put snacks etc in it. She wore it all over the house and kept telling me that she loved her unicorn lunch packpack.

And so it goes, cutie petutie with her unicorn lunch packpack. Cheers of excitement!
Guess it must have been a hornless unicorn packpack to begin with.... So if anyone sees a backpack that looks similar to our lunch bag, let me know!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Disappearing Unicorns....

This post may be graphic, if you do not wish to read about butts, stop here!

The great potty training escapade had taken a turn for the worse. AJ was doing pretty well, staying dry at daycare, doing well with undies at home, telling us when she had to go potty... and then it stopped. After two weeks of broken down open butt again, AJ had regressed back to hardly using the potty at all. And really who could blame her. Sore butt, crying in fear that it would hurt every time she had to be changed. Holding things in because she didnt want it to hurt. After some butt meds, her butt healed and she started working back to going on the potty here and there kind of off and on but not as well as she had been and sometimes intentionally wouldnt go on the potty. Then we went out of town and for some reason she turned the other direction and didnt poop for a week which also set her back and all of her potty training went to pot. No pottying on the potty, refusal to attempt to poop, and backed up! So miralax, two suppositories, an x-ray, and an enema later she finally started pooping again. We were at the point where we needed to decide to give her a break and not work on potty training or keep going and hope she got back on the right track. I was leaning toward giving her a few week break and just letting her lead (vs asking her to go on the potty or asking if she had to go). Then in the evening she pottied a bunch of times. So forward we went.

We happend to be at Walmart yesterday and she saw this 5$ unicorn backpack that she instantly fell in love with (more than any other random thing she thinks she may need). So I told her if she stayed dry a whole day at daycare and at home that she could get the unicorn backpack. Well she obviously really wanted it! Today she stayed dry at daycare, came home, put undies on and stayed dry all evening. I told her when she came home that if she stayed dry till Ty went to bed that we would go get her backpack. She did it! She was great! So off to Walmart we went (wearing undies even).

Now remember we were just there YESTERDAY! So we went right to the area where they were and WHAT, they weren't there! UGH (insert teary toddler here). So we asked an employee who was less than helpful. We scoured the store looking at the other backpacks that were still hung in their spot; none there. Looked by purses, shoes, searched the clearance isles, checked the sporting area, the toy area, the office supply area...... nothing. Talked to two other store employees who were a bit more helpful but nothing. (Insert very sad toddler here.) Went back to the little girls area where she saw Ariel PJ's so I told her we could get the PJ's and order the backpack. How are you supposed to reward something without an instant gratification (not that we are going to buy her something every time she stays dry but thought it might be incentive enough to jump start her back on the right track). So we got the PJ's an she was still very sad. We called the other walmart in town, nope no unicorn backpacks. So we looked online and do you think I could find a cheap (under 20$) unicorn backpack (you know plasticy cheap, white giant unicorn on the front).... nope! Couldn't find one anywhere. So I told her we could go to Target and see if they had a different one.

So off to target, while wearing said new Ariel PJs, looked at their clearance back to school backpacks.... nothing good enough... went to luggage...nope... and then on the end of an isle with a few little kid backpacks it happened. Kai Lan! Not a white unicorn but she liked it better than all the princess ones, fairy ones, and other random ones we saw along the way. And so we gave in. Spent 3 time what we would have (granted 15 isnt the end of the world but not what I was planning for a cheapo potty gift) and left with a substitute Kai Lan red sparkly glitter backpack. She knows that we probably wont find that perfect white unicorn backpack and I can tell she is sad although enjoying her new backpack. So if anyone sees a random white unicorn backpack, text me immediately and I'll go buy it for her!

It seems trivial but there isn't much that she gets SO super excited for and this silly little backpack was something that was going to completely make her day and it was so sad watching her try to process how they possibly couldn't have one when we just saw it there yesterday.

Hopefully she continues on her potty journey, although next time she is promised something I will have already bought it and have it in the house before offering it!

Boy oh Boy!

Look at this little man! All of the sudden, my little baby is gone and I have this little man on my hands! He's hysterical, feisty, snuggly, demanding, and sweet all at the same time! He has these little faces that just make you smile and give in to his every demand! He's everywhere and is playing like a big boy, running with the girls, helping pick up his toys, eating big boy food, and a little mischievious! He and sissy play really well together and love eachother lots. It's super cute to watch now. They share snacks (although AJ is typically the one controlling the flow of food), play with the drums and instruments together, and push eachother down the slide outside.
This past weekend we did a 5K for adoption. The kids all wore matching chosen one shirts. Although I feel like I was the one who should be wearing the shirt. I feel like the honored one who has been given the amazing opportunity to raise these two amazing kids. I feel like the chosen one, the one who has the incredible gift of motherhood, the one who has the fantastic job of watching these two grow, the one chosen by their birthmoms to parent.
Both kids got to "fish" although I didnt get a picture of JT since he ran over and fished before I got a chance to get the camera out!
AJ and Sophia "skate" on boards....

AJ proudly wore our number.... at least for part of the race. Both kids were super good for the whole evening! Unfortunately our little friend Miles got sick so we didnt get a big group picture!
More from the little man....
Look, his legs are finally long enough to reach to the ground so he is able to ride the airplanes and the princess car!
Peek!
JT has also figured out how to get up into his Diego chair. It takes him a while but he makes it up and the relaxes in it!
He's turned into a climber...
Last night we went and rode our little bike!
One of our neighbors saw us outside and dug out his daughters old scooter and said we could borrow it all the time and found a spot outside to keep it so that we could use it anytime! (granted what AJ doesn't know is that a large jolly bearded man wearing red will be bringing both kids a scooter in a few months!)

Monday, September 6, 2010

3 nights + 362 pictures + 1420 tickets = lots of happy memories!

What a weekend! We went to Duluth for the long weekend and it was a blast! Granted there were some challenging moments traveling with two toddlers but overall was super fun!

We knew it was going to be a good time when we checked in and were informed that we got a free upgrade to the main building (we were originally supposed to be a block away across the street) and to a big room (king bed, two sets of bunk beds) right next to the arcade, pool, and food! As you can see, we took tons of pictures so here is just a few of the random shots of different things we did (I obviously havent had a chance to photo shop yet)!

Addy was ecstatic to find out that she could pick her own bed!
After swimming that evening, JT was a little sleepy....
And a little mischievous... remember this picture for later!
Excited to go see the water!
We went to canal park to see the big ships and climb on the rocks.

Addy did have a few fits while we were on our trip, at least most of them were quite and pouting instead of loud and flailing... This one, she got mad (over who knows what) and went and layed in the grass....
We went to the aquarium where AJ got to fish out of a boat...
And learn about camoflage!
Unfortunately JT slept through the whole museum! That afternoon we decided to head to Gooseberry Falls, and though a little further than we thought and a few detours later...
Ty had the best view!
Just beautiful there!
This sign saved my life.... or saved Addys! I told her that the sign said that all kids had to hold hands so the whole way on the scarry little path she kept telling me that the sign said she had to hold hands!

AJ loved climbing on the rocks and putting her toes in the water!
What a view!
Side note.... I love a good picture. I love finding fun ways to take a random picture to make it less "posey" and more abstract to frame. However... I will NEVER have my kids climb atop a giant waterfall with tons of sharp hard rocks below.... Note the children below are around 12/14 and their mom is at the bottom taking their picture, when the girl stood up she stepped on a little edge near where her feet were, gave me a heart attack, I thought she was going to fall....
This is about as risky as I let it get... this is only about 12 feet high!
Wait up Sissy!
After our trip to the Dells, I realized that the pictures in the waterpark didnt turn out wonderful so this time I just took a few and left the camera in the room!
AJ and Daddy spent quite a bit of time in a double tube going down a big tube slide and JT and I floated together on the lazy river. All of us enjoyed the kids area and littler slides together!
Since the kids had fun at Gooseberry and we didnt have them dressed appropriately to go into the water and play more, we went back to the lift bridge at Canal Park to let them play in the water, throw stones into the lake, and just goof around.
This may be my favorite picture of the trip!

Family shot with the auto timer!
JT was obsessed with holes. He found these on his own and was filling them with rocks at which point sissy thought it looked like fun so came and joined him!

Cutie Petuties!
We headed to the zoo one morning which by the way was a gorgeous zoo. Slightly small cages, but pretty nice, not busy, beautiful.
It's official... Jared is an orangatan!
I'm a sucker for those stupid plastic animals that they have at all the zoos...
We thought we would take the kids free mini-golfing at the hotel.... JT had his own idea... Pick the ball up, stick it in the hole!
Note the small child in the background attempting to crawl through the bridge!
Addy did hit the ball a few times and then started to kick it from the tee instead!
JT did enjoy himself though!
The arcade was right across from our room so Addy kept wanting to go so Jared decided we'd go and spend 20$. So we got a bunch of tokens and Jared and AJ went one direction and JT and I went another. I decided I would play for tickets to get the kids something while AJ and JAred played fun games. When I told Jared that I was winning tickets he tried a different game and hit the jackpot.... TWICE! So as the tickets were pouring out, he and AJ played a few other games... so 20$ got us 1420 tickets! WOWZA! So we spent them.... 1 mermaid barbie, 1 my little pony, 1 fuzzy basketball, 1 purple sparkly ball, and a tiny plastic fish (aka choking hazard) later, we were on our way!
Remember that picture at the begining... he was scheming! This time the lotion was open and everywhere!
On the way out of town we stopped at the rose garden to give the kids a chance to run around prior to heading home!
My little man!
Our signature backwards picture... not a great pic, but hopefully I can photoshop it to be able to add to our big frame of all of our backwards pics!
We had a very memorable trip. The way home ty exploded in the car... seriously exploded! AJ leaked through as well so we stopped and got everyone cleaned up! Poor little kids! Both are exhausted tonight, as are we!
Now, where should we go next year.....