BIG GIRL!

It's official!

Natalie is a big girl, no more diapers!!!


A few months ago I picked May 1st as my "official" start date of potty training Natalie. So last Monday we started off on the "fun" journey of potty training together. Natalie was a breeze... (Sorry Kierstin) she LOVES it and loves getting all the treats. The first day I bought some Pringles and Hawaiian Punch to eat and drink and boy was she in heaven. She almost ate an entire Pringle container herself. We sang, danced, had potty treats, stickers, ate chips, drank punch, and helped her baby go potty too. By the end of the day it was a relief to put her to bed, being on HIGH ALERT at all times is tiring. It has been five days without an accident. HOORAY FOR NATALIE!


Mouth full of M&Ms



In other big news, Natalie got a new bed! No more crib. I found a used one on Craig's List for $20 and the person lived only 5 minutes from my house. Not bad...
I promised Mitch that I wouldn't cry when the crib was taken down because we hope that it will only be temporary and that it will be back up sooner than later. That made the transition a little easier for me.



She loves her bed and wants to show everyone who comes over to see it. She has been SO easy to transition into a bed, no getting out of bed or anything. I think she doesn't even realize she could if she wanted too. In the morning I will hear her playing in her bed and I will come in and let her out. I was reflecting on the 6 months plus that it took to get Cameron to sleep in a big boy bed when he was that age and count my blessings this time around!!

Happy Mother's Day!

A Rant and a MAJOR Whine

Que the violins for my whine....


For the record:
Cameron's t-ball coach is the WORST!
Putting that out there for the world to read I feel much better.

Mitch and I were really on the fence about signing Cameron up for t-ball this year. We were back and forth if it was something that we wanted to do. After making the decision to let him play I wish I could take it back. It has been a bad experience or maybe I should say NO experience. The woman cancels every game and practice if she thinks it is going to MIST. HELLO WE LIVE IN SEATTLE, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GET WET DON'T SIGN UP FOR T-BALL IN THE SPRING!!!! After busting my chops to get him to practice tonight and her canceling because of the weather, I felt rage that I haven't felt in a long time. I think the City of Maple Valley Parks Department is going to get a strongly worded letter about their terrible volunteer coach of the Blue Hornets. Seriously it is bad. I am sure that I will now be struck by lighting because of the evil person that I am but...ahhh I feel so much better now.

Un-que the violins

Cameron and his Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I love when Cameron gets off the bus each day. In a split second I can tell what kind of day he had by the look on his face.



Yesterday was a rough one, I knew the second I saw him that he was not a happy camper. The first thing he said to me after getting off the bus was "show and tell was horrible!" I was sort of alarmed because Cam doesn't like to bring things for show and tell, it takes a lot of convincing for him to bring something so having it go bad is not a good sign. Grandpa Stuard gave him a pencil shaped like a cactus that he got in Arizona. Cam was excited about it and wanted to take it for show and tell. I was thrilled. Apparently Baileigh (a very bad girl in Cam's opinion) snapped the pencil in half when it was going around the room for everyone to look at. It was an accident of course-- but still broken.

Later during their timed math tests the same girl started talking to him, asking a question about some of her math problems and slowed Cameron down. He didn't pass his test and had four problems left when the timer ran out.

At the second recess he fell and hurt his hand. At the third recess he wasn't looking where he was running and bonked heads with someone.

His mom forgot to fill up his water bottle and put it in his backpack and was out of his favorite oatmeal cream pies for his lunch treat and all she had was a fruit snack instead.

I told Cameron that it sounded like he had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day and maybe we should have spaghetti for dinner to cheer him up. That seemed to help.

A few years ago we bought the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day. We think it is pretty funny and very relevant. I asked Cameron if maybe he should move to Australia after his bad day. That got a smile. Hopefully next week will be a little better!

I love hugging him and giving him kisses. He told me "you love me the most." I am glad that he feels loved enough that he thinks that.

Animals Dressed Like Humans

While Julia was at preschool, I went into her room and found this:

Another Year Older

A bit of a downer the night before my birthday when I realized that I was actually turning 32 not 31. For some reason I thought I was going to be 31. Not that big of a difference, I know...maybe showing my age that I can't remember how old I am getting though!



I had a quiet day at home, I even got a nap! It was raining cats and dogs and the kids couldn't help but go outside and enjoy the rain. Thanks for all the birthday wishes!! I got some cute plates for my birthday. Come on over for lunch and I will have an excuse to use them!



Just for a good laugh I put this picture up.
(Hey if you pose for a picture like this-- it is your own fault!)

Dora the Explorer Overload

Natalie is definitely two. We spend a lot of the day in a power struggle she and I. There is a lot of whining, crying, and being bossy and that is just me. As to keep me sane, Natalie enjoys watching Dora-a lot. That is when she is the happiest. The other day when I put her lunch in front of her she said, "Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. Delicioso!" This is might be a sign that we are watching a little too much TV these days.

Conversations

Conversation I had with Cameron this morning:

Cameron: Mom, do you have any steaks?
Mom: What? I don't have steak....what?
Cameron: You know...do we have some meat?
Mom: Meat to eat? I'm not sure why you need meat.
Cameron: I’m really just looking for some meat or beef or something because I love A1. Can we get some for dinner?

Mitch was dying....as you can tell I was a great conversationalist this morning.
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A couple of days ago Cameron told me this while he was mad at me: "Your a strange, bad, little person, mom."
Uhh.....okay...where does he hear/come up with this?
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Conversations with Natalie this week:

Mom: Natalie you're silly.
Natalie: I not silly, I Nat-a-ee!

Later-

Mom: Nat you're crazy.
Natalie: I not crazy, I Nat-a-ee Jane!

Even Later-

Julia: Natalie you're being a beast
Natalie: I not a beast, I Nat-a-ee!

Later-

Mom- You're a nut
Natalie- I not a nut, I Nat-a-ee.

I think you get the picture. Natalie has probably told me this about 10 times a day everyday this whole week. It is funny. I fall for it every time and it makes me laugh every time.

Easter Dresses

I thought I would take a picture of my kids in their cute Easter dresses. Yeah right. All three of them cooperating at once? No way... This was the best that I got.





Mitch despises ruffly socks, so I can't help myself!



Got to love this look!

I know you probably can't believe that I don't have the girls in matching dresses, me either!There were so many cute dresses that I let them pick out different ones. No worries....Mitch's niece got married last week and we spent time going to the temple and the reception (It was really nice. I didn't bring my camera with me but when I get some pictures I will have to post them.) Mitch's sister made the girls matching dresses for the wedding and they turned out really cute.



(Picture courtesy of Megan's blog. Thanks!)

Tulip Festival

Kierstin and Sterling invited us to go with them to the tulip festival in Mt. Vernon. We had never been so thought it would be a lot of fun. The flowers were beautiful and very pretty to see BUT the crowds and traffic were horrific. The small town that the flowers are in are not equipped to have so many visitors at once. We left at 1:30 to go up there and got back at 9:30 at night. We sat in traffic for a long time. Good thing we brought the the DVD players for the kids. They did really good but by the time we got home it had been a long day.

Cousins!

Things got a little crazy in the car after being in there so long!

Natalie was cracking us up with her serious look as she watched her show. We stopped at an ice cream shop and she got chocolate ice cream on everything. I had to strip her down for the ride home.

Cameron and Julia got the giggles. Cam was laughing so hard that he was crying! I think Laura was glad to get out of the car by the time we got home. Not sure if she would want to take a long road trip with us anytime soon. :)

Spring Break: Part 2

On Friday I took Cameron to an ear, nose and throat doctor to see if there is anything seriously wrong with his voice. He has been hoarse for about 6 months and nothing seems to help. The doctor needed to look at his vocal cords so he had a camera go up through his nose to have a look. Cam was very calm and not too worried. I was really proud of him. He has a bump on his vocal cord that is causing the hoarseness. Nothing seriously but definitely annoying. In order for it to heal he needs to talk quietly and use his voice less....hmmm.....any suggestions on how in the world I am supposed to do that would be welcome!

Last week we found on Craig's List an adjustable basketball hoop for free. When the weather has permitted it we have been enjoying ourselves outside. Cameron loves being able to shoot on a lower hoop. We taught him to play HORSE and Bump...so fun.



Tonight we went for a family bike ride. Natalie was SO tired with no nap today because of church and fell asleep on the ride. I told Mitch that this summer we found the secret to surviving 1 pm church!

Spring Break: Part 1

Bouncy Place


In hopes of finding something fun to do on a wet, wet week we went to the bouncy place. It is a room of 15 or so inflatable bouncy houses and slides. The kids had a fun time and it is a work out! Natalie has no fear going down some of the tall slides.






Maddie's Birthday




Julia's cat had a birthday this week. It entailed another party with decorations and a room full of party guests. (I might need to start a pet party business--it is very lucrative business here in Maple Valley) Julia has been taking care of her cat for weeks, feeding it, putting it down for naps, brushing it, taking it for walks, bike rides (the cat rides in the basket), she even packed a bag for Maddie for church. She makes sure that I say good morning to it every day and good night every night. I can't imagine what she might do if she actually had a pet that was alive.

Easter

We had a nice Easter. The Easter Bunny came and brought lots of Easter treats. He even hide the chocolate bunnies and had a scavenger hunt to find them (the silly bunny hid them in the dryer.) Cameron was so excited that the Easter Bunny knew his name. Amazing. Julia made sure to leave some carrots out because the bunny had a lot of hopping to do that night. Unfortunately for us, we love to dye the eggs but don't like to eat them. I now have a fridge full of hard boiled eggs that no one wants to eat.

Sugar High

It is the day after Easter, Spring Break (no school all week), and raining like a monsoon. What else is there to do but eat chocolate until you are ill?



Yesterday morning



This afternoon.

What can I say other than we are bouncing off the walls.

April Fool's Day

Cameron came home today telling me that he had the BEST day ever. First grade is all about April Fool's Day. In my lame attempt to tease the kids I told them that I saw a giraffe walking down the street, I maybe convinced Natalie. Cam told me that he played a joke on his teacher. This is what he said to me, "I told Mrs. Lagerquist to quick look at the clock, it was 2:12 but it was really 2:11. I fooled her and told her April Fool's." If you can imagine Cameron's toothy grin laughing and laughing at his own joke, it cracked me up. In his last report card one of his teacher's comments was how Cameron's sense of humor makes her smile. He is a funny guy.




(This stupid look Cameron is doing was taught by a (crap head) kid at school. I would like to personally thank the kid for teaching him that.)

Tonight we dyed Easter Eggs. The kids were pumped!