Potty Training Fail

We attempted potty training this past week. I kept on thinking, he's almost there, he's almost there, and then there would be an accident (usually in the afternoon once everyone's home from school and there are lots of distractions). But when it came right down to it, he hasn't been able to grasp how it feels right before he needs to go to the bathroom. So, potty training fail... He'll pee on the toilet any time you sit him on it, but he never tells you he needs to go pee. So, even though the girls were trained by his age, he's going to be different. We'll probably approach it again after the summer has come and gone. And hopefully by then he'll be speaking more, which should help!

Rachel as Franny Farmer

The 2nd grade class puts on a musical play every year at our school. The music teacher does an amazing job working with the children. About a month ago a letter was sent home asking what interest (if any) our child had. Rachel didn't want to be a singer or dancer, so she opted for a speaking part. Well, she ended up being one of the lead characters. She had quite a few lines. Once she found out what she had gotten herself into, she wasn't too sure... There were some tears, some discussions, some fear, but luckily she stuck it out. And she did great! It wasn't anything she couldn't do. They first performed the play for the entire school and then tonight all the parents and siblings were invited to a showing. Rachel did an awesome job and I'm so glad she had the courage to go through with it. She was a pretty amazing Franny Farmer in "How Does Your Garden Groove?"!

Our little performer and her sidekick, Freddy Farmer:

 

 

Such a cute farmer!!!

Rachel with her flowers her daddy brought her:

I love chances like these for my kids to do something out of their comfort zone. In addition to learning her lines, she also knew all the songs and sang along in the chorus. The students all worked very hard on preparing for this performance.

Stack of Books

This little boy loves to read books. Last week he kept on wanting more books and more books read to him before his nap. Yes, it's a bit of a stall technique... And then he wanted them all in his crib with him. I listened for a bit and could tell he was in there thumbing through his books. But eventually he stacked them all up, just so, and fell asleep. Love my book-loving boy!

Time for a shave...

I guess since he was wearing big boy underwear, he figured it was time for a shave as well. Such a smart boy! He took Andy's basket from inside the bathroom drawer, brought it out to the living room, plugged everything in correctly, and luckily did not turn anything on... ;) Since this picture was taken though, he has mastered being able to turn Andy's shaver on. It's one of his favorite things to do!

Dancing Away

How does one survive while her hubby works late night after night after night? Well, she just has fun! And luckily she's got 3 kiddos to make life fun. Here are some videos of the kids dancing away after dinner tonight:

Belt Lover

Ian LOVES belts. He still doesn't have one for himself, but he often borrows one from his sisters. And of course, he likes to play with his daddy's belts, even after being tortured like this:

Daddy's Helper

Ian is a worker and he especially LOVES to help his Daddy with projects. Here are a few pictures of him this month working away:

I'm not even sure what they were up to under the desk, but something must have needed to be plugged in or rewired...

Ian LOVES tools, but especially the real deal. Here he is out using the mallet to do who knows what:

Helping his daddy fix the washing machine:

I have to give myself some credit on this one. While I didn't do the actual labor, I was able to figure out via you tube how Andy could fix it. Thank heavens for a friend close by who let me do my laundry while I waited for Andy to have the time to be able to fix it. So glad I've got these two worker bees!

Looks Comfortable???

I came out of my room today and found my girls like this watching TV. Looks comfortable, right???

Silly Kids

Field Trip with Rachel

This was the first school year that I signed up to be a room mom. Rachel loved that I helped with the parties at her school. Another benefit of being room mom was being invited to be a chaperone for the field trip. They were only allowing one parent per class, so I got lucky. In years past it hasn't been that way. But this year they were seeing a play and had limited seating. So, I was glad I was able to go and spend the day with Rachel. I had actually just gotten back the day before from a recruiting trip up to BYU with Andy. We got to escape while my parents came down to watch the kids. It was very nice! It was the first time in a long time that spouses had been invited, so it was fun that we got to take them up on the offer. Anyhow, so my parents stuck around an extra day so they could watch Audrey and Ian while I went on the field trip with Rachel. Everything worked out grand!

We went downtown to the Main Street Theater to watch "A Year with Frog and Toad". I snapped a quick picture of Rachel before the play started. Poor girl, you can see her allergies have now hit. Miserable, puffy eyes...breaks my heart!

The play was pretty good. The students enjoyed it and were well behaved. It was a great field trip to chaperone for because you just had to get the kids into the theater and then back on the bus. Here's the cast:

After the play we headed over to Hermann Park to enjoy a picnic lunch outdoors. The weather was prefect! Here's my girl and I:

The kids then got the chance to get the wiggles out a bit before heading back to school. I grabbed a picture of Rachel with her best buddy at school, Kayla:

Every time I see these girls together I kind of chuckle inside. They are total opposites by appearance, but they are inseparable at school. They adore each other... Kayla pretty much takes it upon herself to "protect" Rachel. It's really sweet. They were in the same class in kindergarten, but not last year. It'll be interesting to see what happens in 3rd grade. I'm grateful for the good friends that Rachel is able to make at school.

Overall, it was a fun day. I feel blessed to be able to participate in little things like this. Some of my best memories as a kid were when my mom or dad went on a field trip with me. You just feel so special and pretty darn proud that your parent took the time to go with you. I'm grateful for this opportunity and one of these days I'm going to get Andy to go on a field trip... :) Dads need that opportunity, too.