Potty Training

Here we go again. I'm sure I'm making all of you jealous of the fun that's about to take place in our house. The sad part is Mace was fully trained 4 months ago, in undies, doing all of it. Sometime after Disneyland and spending a week in pull-ups so we wouldn't have to leave long lines for him to relieve himself we went through relapse. It started out slow, a few accidents here or there until eventually there was poop in his pants daily. After a few weeks with my pregnant brain I accepted that he was no longer trained. He was so easy that I never had to bribe him, reward him, punish him, any of it, at first. When he started having accidents, I knew I had to give him treats to intice him to never have an accident again. He really got clever when he'd poop in his undies, dump it in the potty and say "look mom, poop in the potty, can I have a cookie??" What a tricker. Tomorrow I'm committed 100%, with a bucket full of prizes and all - here we go!

Happy late 4th! (but it's still July so it kind of counts)

I love that picture of my four favorite people. blue faces, teeth and all. I just have to express that I'm proud to be an American and there's no place else I know of that I'd rather be or live. Every time I see fireworks and hear patriotic music I'm filled with emotion and grattitude for the opportunity of being born in this country and for all of the service men both in the past and in the present that have sacrificed oh so much!! I'm so glad my kiddos were born here, into a life of prosperity, freedom and opportunity. This will conclude my soapbox for the month of July.

A visit to my past

We just back from Utah/Idaho for Chris's family reunion. I always get excited landing in SLC and being surrounded by the mountains. My kids are starting to appreciate them as well. I feel like the west is so much a part of who I am and that no matter how long I'm here, Utah and Idaho will always feel like home.
We took the kids to Provo and showed them our old stomping grounds. We went to the hospital where Charlotte was born, found our old apartments, found all of our favorite places to eat, shop, go to the movies and walked around campus. I really was emotional - I love Provo, oh so many memories. Charlotte has a favorite picture of her on Chris's shoulders cheering while I'm kissing him behind our old apartment before she turned one. We went to recapture the moment - it didn't turn out so great because Rozlyn was our only photographer available and I couldn't get the timer to work. When I scan in the old one I'll post the before and after.
We visited Chris's sisters over the weekend in Utah and stayed a few nights with my sister in Idaho Falls.
Chris's reunion was great. The kids LOVE their cousins and played so well, nonstop. I don't think anyone was ever asleep before midnight (including Mason) and we all took our sweet time waking up and getting ready each morning. True vacation.
In Rexburg we ate at both restaurants we used to work at, Frontier Pies and Gringos. Did I mention we revisited our past?? We took the kids to BYU-I, showed them Grandpa's old office, ate doughnuts, and saw where dad asked me to marry him. There was also Heise, Civil Defense Caves, ice-blocking, sand dunes, four-wheeling, the Rexburg temple and eating snow shacks once a day.
Now we're home, all spread out around the house, suitcases filled with laundry and it seems so quiet. I really wish we didn't live so far away from everyone and that every memory wasn't crammed into a 7-day period once or twice a year. So today I'm feeling homesick with a list a mile long of things to do. I better get on that before quiet times over. Here are a few cute pictures.
Mason rocking out on his "guitar" in the caves.

The gardens at the college.

Mason's new best friend, Teddy. They played nonstop the whole week!

Our rental car that had the kids waayyyy to close to each other - we're so happy to be back in the mini-van where no one is touching.

With all good intentions

So Charlotte has turned into quite the writer. She loves writing letters, addressing them and putting them in the mailbox. We have a new rule that I have to approve before giving her a stamp because she was using them all up on sealed letters and who knew what the contents were. When the mail comes each day all the kids rush to the pile to see if any of them got any letters. Grandma Cheryl is the best at always sending Charlotte mail and the two of them have become quite the pen-pals.
At the begining of the summer we got some chain letter about a sticker club. You know how it goes, send this to six people, make two copies, send a sticker to the name on the top, don't break the chain or your family will be cursed and in two weeks you'll get 36 new packets of stickers!!
I remember getting some of these when I was a kid but never participated, it's really not my thing and apparantley my mom was wiser then me to never fall for it. Thinking of the joy in her eyes as letter after letter poured in for her was a risk I had to take. There were only two spots for names, #1 & #2 so it only had to go through two people, one out of the six had to respond and one out of thier six had to as well - so I made my debut journey as a chain letter participant. I really thought I was the only one who had never done it - not true. It's probably been a month and no stickers in the mail. Don't think she hasn't forgotten about it either - she keeps asking when will my stickers come?
I feel like making up some fake names, putting some stickers in and sending them to her myself but I guess it's just best that she learns the lesson early on in life, 22years sooner then I did. It also reminds me of a time when I was down about something in high school and I received balloons, flowers & a card signed "from your secret admirer" - my lucky day!! Who could it be - I felt like being admired, he probably was hot & it really killed me to not know. I decided to be Nancy Drew and call the flower shop. Somehow I asked who had paid on the last order to which some dumb employee looked up the record and gave me my own Mom's name. It really was devastating. It still makes me laugh when I think back on it. The things we do for our kids and always with the best intentions.
So if anyone else has a small one as obsessed with letter writing as I do let me know and they'll have a pen-pal for life!!
(and I'm sorry to any of you we sent this to and made feel guilty - you're all wiser then me!)