Dance with Dash

My favorite time of the day is 9:29am every day. PBS has a one minute segment called "Dance with Dash." The kids get up and dance as soon as they hear the intro music. I love it!

P.S. The lack of rhythm comes from both parents. Sorry kids.

July photos

Here are a few of my favorite photos from July...

swim class with Miss Mia (Ali's sister)

I love spaghetti

ready to play

pretty girl

fun with the slip and slide

play date with Chase, Chloe and Ava

sporting the summer look

baa baa

Two (+two) wheelin'

After almost two weeks of earning rewards for going potty, Aubrey completed three full pages of stickers earning her the big reward....her princess bike complete with training wheels! She was so excited when she first saw it. We took it outside, cleaned it and filled the tires with air. Then it was ready to be ridden. So, Aubrey put on her princess helmet and climbed on. She got the concept of pedaling down right away. However, she didn't always remember to continue pedaling to keep moving nor did she remember to steer. The first day was a trial with a lot of error. But, she had a great time!

After some bike riding, it was time for the kids to go to the backyard for to run around, water the plants and act like they liked each other (at least for a picture or two)! :)

Ready for school

Aubrey has her backpack and is ready to start school. She actually has two right now. I bought a Dora backpack for her at Target. Then I found another Dora backpack at a garage sale. Obviously the backpack from the garage sale was much cheaper, so back to Target we go. Here are the kids modeling the new backpacks. Tyler is holding the keeper!

Hidden Oaks

It was a beautiful day out so we decided to take the kids to Hidden Oaks Nature Center. It's part of our park district and is super cool! Inside the building they have all sort of buttons for the kids to push to hear the sounds of nature, a fake tree with animals nestled inside and a small fishing pond. Well, the fishing pond isn't real. It's magnetic, but Aubrey loved it! Outside, they have some playground equipment (made from nature products) and tons of hiking trails. Unfortunately, we went on a Sunday and they don't open until noon, so we didn't have a lot of time before we had to get home again for naps. I'd definitely like to return when we have more time and the kids are a little more interested in taking long walks around the grounds.

Test passed

Aubrey has continued to do extremely well with her potty-training. Since Monday, she has only had 2 accidents. She is even waking us up at night so that she can go potty. I never expected the light to just switch and for her to be fully trained. We couldn't be happier. It is so nice to have half the diapers to change in a day!

In fact, Aubrey proved to me today that she is potty-trained. We were heading out to a garage sale and to Target. In order to avoid having to go potty while we were out, I put her in a pull-up. After about 10 minutes of browsing at the garage sale, Aubrey tells me she needs to go potty. I tell her to just go in her pull-up. She immediately refuses and insists she find a potty to use. I asked the person whose house we were at and she lets us use her bathroom.

Next, we head to Target. We are in the very back of the store and again, she says she needs to go potty. Again, I tell her she needs to just go in her pull-up. She again refuses. So, we trek all the way back to the front of the store to use the restroom.

I know this is a good sign, but I never realized how inconvenient this could be. Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Success!

Apparently the key to Aubrey becoming potty-trained is for me to show no interest and let her do her own thing. The result: today she was 5 for 5. Her reward for each potty or poo poo on the toilet is a sticker. There are 6 stickers per row on her Dora chart. Once she completes a row, she gets to pick a prize. The prizes vary from Littlest Pet Shop pets to Groovy girls to books. We'll see how long this lasts. So far, so good...

Do or Die (sort of) weekend

This past weekend, Jeff headed to Oshkosh, Wisconsin to play in the Waupaca grass tournament with his Minnesota buddies. Since I was home alone with the kiddos for the weekend, I thought it'd be a good time to be tough and make them "change."

For Aubrey, it was time to become potty-trained. She starts preschool at the end of August and must be potty-trained to go. Plus, I'm tired of having two kids in diapers when I know she is fully capable of going on the toilet. She already does occasionally go on her own, but not very consistently and she is just as content to go in her diaper. I thought the best way to achieve this would be to put a potty seat out in the family room, put her in big girl underwear and see how it goes. Needless to say, Saturday, we were not too successful. She had 4 accidents and made it to the toilet/potty seat 2 times. Not at all the results I expected. Sunday, I decided to try again. The morning showed the same results so I gave up and put her back in the diapers. Of course, the first time she was back in her diaper, she pulls it off and goes on the potty seat. Go figure!

For Tyler, I wanted to make him "cry it out" in an effort to get him to sleep through the night. He woke up the first time around 1am and cried for 12 minutes (starting as a light cry quickly escalating to losing his breath, screaming) before I finally gave up and went into his room. Unsuccessful. The second time he woke was around 4am. This time he constantly hollered "Ma-ma, Ma-ma, MAMA" over and over. After a few minutes of this, he started to get mad, so again I gave up and went into his room. I started to let him cry again on Saturday night but then decided it wasn't worth my effort.

Again, not quite the outcomes I expected. But, I assume they will both grow out of it eventually, right?

Slip and slide?

We set up the slip and slide today. The kids didn't quite get the concept of it...even after I demonstrated for them. But they had a blast playing in the sprinkler. By the way, slip and slides are much harder on the body on anyone over the age of 10.

BBQ on the 4th

We wrapped up the fourth of July celebration with a BBQ at Jeff's parents' house. The day was celebrated with food, a jump house, a bags tourney and capped out with fireworks. I am sad to report, there was not three-peat by Uncle Don and I this year in the bags tourney. As usual, fun time had by all!

break time

Aubrey with her sassy cousins, Cecilia and Caitlin

Orion lighted parade

We entered the lighted float parade in Orion for the third year in a row. Dad loves it and is so proud of his grandkids. Let's face, I think we all love it! Here's to many, many more....

the kiddos

our family

Aaron's family

fun before the parade begins

our family (minus Joe and Caleb)

Mom and Dad with the grandkids

sharing a sucker

the older cousins and baby Avery

the truck ready to go

so excited! (this is what it's all about!)

Fun on the farm

Visiting my parents' house means the kids never run out of fun things to do. Tyler loves the pedal tractor, Aubrey loves the kittens and both kids love the swing and pool.

17 already?

Back to Orion yet again. This time we are celebrating Caleb's birthday and participating in Orion's lighted float parade for the 4th of July. It's so hard for me to believe that Caleb is already 17! Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday, he was a toddler that I was carrying on my shoulders and Mom and Dad's house. Now, he is a kind, hard-working, generous young man. I'm so proud of who he has become. I look forward to seeing him grow during his last two years of high school. I can't wait to see him tear up the football field, too! Happy Birthday, Caleb! We love you!

Of course, here are the pictures taken. I had a chance to play around a little bit. I love the one of Tyler with the round bales in the background. I hope to have more free time to continue to learn more about the camera.