Potty Training

 Those words are swear words, so I'm sorry for swearing in my title.  I just had to let you know what we've been up to lately.  Jason started peeing in the toilet in June, but I didn't want to start potty training him in June, so I put it off.  July came and he was still wanting to pee in the toilet every now and then and wanted his own unders...so we gave it a whirl.

We got some new Paw Patrol unders and got everyone all excited about the stickers and prizes.  We put Grave Digger, Blaze, and Pickle on the top of the fridge and told him how he could earn them...but my heart wasn't into it.  A few wet unders were enough for me to talk him into wearing a diaper.  Allie didn't want to give up though, and when she noticed that he was doing his usual pooping routine, (finding a place to hide and holding out his hand to say "no, weave me awone! go away!") we rushed him into the bathroom and he earned Pickle.  He was pretty excited about that.

You would think that this all sounds easy and I'm just being a brat about it.  The problem with potty training, for me, is that Jake is the only one of our kids that is a once a day pooper.  The other 3 are at least 2 a day poopers.  At the risk of TMI, I'll tell you that these kids "pooped in unders" are never something that can just be easily removed and cleaned up.  This is disaster type of poop that requires scissors, a lot of wipes, and a hazmat suit.  So, you can see why I don't love potty training.
This time around, I decided to use Pull ups so we don't have to go through so many unders.  We had some hand me down princess pull ups and we've used those for a week or two.  Jason is pretty good at not peeing on Cinderella's head, but he doesn't mind if she gets pooped on.  So, Blaze and Grave Digger sit on top of the fridge and I try to catch Jason doing his business every single day...several times a day.  Did I mention that I am not a fan of potty training?  Wish us luck over the next few weeks...

First Day For Nate

Nate asked me when Sam's birthday was going to be several times a minute for weeks.  I had told him early in the summer that he would start pre-school on Sam's birthday.  It was something for him to look forward to for sure.  The day finally came and he was so excited about it.

Allie and Jake missed the bus that day, so they got to get in on the first day of school pictures...

I dropped this cute boy off and was so happy for him.  I can't believe my cute Nater Tot is old enough to walk down those stairs all by himself into a world that I am not a part of.  Every other bit of his life, I am there.  Now, for 2 hours a day, three days a week, he gets to know kids that I don't know and spends time with someone else.  It's bitter sweet for me.

Jason didn't understand why his "best brudder" was going to be gone for so long, so he was super happy to have him get back in the car.

He had a great time at school and loves it so far.  He especially likes that "teacher" lets him cut with scissors.  Every piece of his school work is covered in green.  He finds every shade of green crayon, or every green sticker and fills up the page.

I love you Nate!  I am so glad you get to enjoy a life away from me for a few hours.  I love you and am happy for you.  Just stay my little buddy for the hours that you are home, okay?

Labor Day

We feel like we haven't gotten out nearly enough in the motorhome this year, so our Labor Day camping trip was a lot of fun.  We just went up Blacksmith Fork to a place called Sheep Creek with a bunch of our neighbors.  We had to scoop a few cow pies from our camp site, but other than that, it was beautiful.

 The kids fished in the pond and had a great time playing there.  Jake caught a big fish on one of his first casts.  Nate got to reel one in too.  Allie fished for hours and didn't come up with much.  She still likes it though.  We saw a huge white pelican on the last day that we were there and watched it dive down to the water a few times.

We brought our kayaks, but forgot the life jackets, so they didn't play in them much.

Nate and Jason were really good on this trip. There were lots of things for them to do.  They played in the shallow stream and found sticks to throw.  Nate went around cutting things with scissors and Jason rolled his monster trucks on any surface he could find.

They also did a whole lot of this...

 Jake and his friends made a track and went round and round until I thought I'd go a bit crazy.

I got to go on a few rides up in the hills too.  It was so much fun to go up and up and then find yourself on the top of the hills with a beautiful overlook.  We saw a moose enjoying some dinner and we stayed to watch for a while.
We went with some new neighbors and they brought their outdoor movie projector.  It had such a great sound system that we felt like we were in the theater.  The nights were super cold and that's how I like to sleep, so it was perfect.  The kids all slept well...I think we have left the days of Jason screaming through the night in the motorhome behind.  I won't miss those days.
I didn't take many pictures, but we did have a great time.  We laughed a lot and the kids had adventures.  I still love our motorhome!

Best Girl

Sometimes Jason and I have a rough day.  Like when he is trying to figure out the whole toilet thing and he pees on the floor and waits till I put a pull up on him for a nap or bed time to poop.  Or when we go for a hike for scouts and he runs away to hide so many times I am forced to threaten him with leaving him to the bears before he'll come back to stay.  Then there are times when he gets mad and insists on taking off most of his clothes and sitting on the front porch, crying, for all the neighbors to see and speculate on my parenting skills.  There are hard days like that almost every day.  But most of those days end with me and Jason snuggling up before bed.  When we are alone together, he always rubs my cheek and tells me "you my best girl" and all the frustration melts away.  He pats my arm and says "I wuv you.  You are my heart" and it's okay that he has made me slightly insane.  I love that I'm his best girl.  I hope I am always in his heart, because he is my best little Jason boy and he is my heart too.

Best Friends

When Jason was born, I remember being told that he was a boy and I was so sad for Allie.  I wanted so much for her to have a sister.  I am still sad that I can't give her a sister, but I am so happy that Nate has Jason for a little brother.  They are the best of friends (and the worst of enemies).  As much as they fight over every little thing, they need each other in their lives.  Nate misses Jason when he is napping, and Jason misses Nate when he goes off to school.  Just today, when Nate got out of the car for school, we drove away and Jason said "aw, I miss my Nate.  He's my best friend."  I told him that he'd be home soon and in a sad and dejected voice he said, "but he's my best guy.  He's my hero.  I miss him.  He is a winja with big winja kicks and he kicks the bad guys with his big winja kicks."  

I hope that they can continue to love each other through the years.  I hope they can get along in spite of the toys that are hard to share.  I hope they will always be "hero's" for each other with their big ninja kicks.

Wardrobe Choices

By the time Allie was Nate's age, she had mastered clothing.  She was putting outfits together that "matched" (stripes with stripes, plaid with plaid) and changing into princess dresses and tutus at all hours of the day.  None of my boys have been able to dress themselves for a long time.  I am still getting Nate dressed every day and that's okay because then I decide what he wears.  Now that he is an avid 4-wheeler enthusiast, he has taken to wearing his helmet around everywhere.  He can put it on himself, so he thinks he's pretty cool.  Then, when he found these boots that he could also put on by himself, he thought he was pretty amazing.  He makes me smile.

Lucky Duck

I am the luckiest girl around.  A few weeks ago, my friend Natalie called and said she wanted to go to California for her birthday.  She and her neighbor share a birthday week and they usually go out to dinner together.  This year, they saw cheap plane tickets to San Francisco and decided a trip is more fun than dinner.  They called to see if anyone else wanted to go and pretty soon, several of the ladies in our book club were on board.  Then, the price of the tickets went up.  We were all still looking into things in other parts of California when I asked if they were set on Cali or if we could look around at other places.  I got online and found out that Orlando was pretty cheap this time of year and the next thing you know, our entire book club is going to Harry Potter World for less money than we were planning on spending on the California trip!
I can hardly wait to go!  I am really excited to see their faces when we walk through the bricks at Diagon Alley.  They are all super fans too, so it's going to be awesome.  Harry Potter world here I come!

No Stopping Him

This boy can roar his 4 wheeler like a 4 year old pro now.  It's so stinking cute.  He has a good mix of wild and crazy, and caution.  I know it sounds odd, but it's true.  He likes to roar fast, but he guns it and then lets off so he isn't just going super fast recklessly.  He likes to go over "jumps" and he talks to himself as he drives.  It is just one of the cutest things ever.  I know Jake and Allie did this when they were this young, but they did not love it as much as Nate does.  We went camping over Labor Day weekend and he wanted to be on it non-stop.  We had to hide the key every once in a while to give it a rest.  We had to get pretty stern with him a few times because he would go past his boundaries, but he was so afraid of getting grounded from the wheeler that it wasn't that often.  He did get stuck in a ditch a few times because he followed the bigger kids into places that he didn't have clearance for, but we always sorted it out.  It was just a fun weekend for him and the wheeler.  Mike has said before that he doesn't know where Jake comes from.  He rides the motorcycles, but doesn't have the drive to stay on all day every day and do crazy stunts.  He is always baffled when he sees Jake reading a book instead of begging to ride motorized vehicles.  I guess if reading a book is foreign to Mike, I'll claim Jake as mine and Mike can claim Nate as his. :)

 He was always offering his brother a ride.  He was super safe with Jason on there and went slow and drove responsibly.  What a good brother.

Conversation at the Changing Table...

Me:  Jason, hurry up here.  We better change that diaper...it is so saggy I can see your bum crack!

Jason: (turning around and around trying to look over his shoulder at his bum) I have a prack in my bum!  I don't see it!  I don't want to have a prack in my bum!

Me:  You've always had a crack...everyone does.  It's not a hurt.  It's normal to have a crack.

Jason:  Ouch!  (still turning around in circles trying to see his bum in a state of near panic)  I have a prack!

Me:  Look, Jason (showing him Nate's bum) Nate has one too.  Everyone has a crack.

Jason:  Oh.  Okay.  I have a prack in my wiener too?

Me:...Uh, no.  Just the bum...come on let's get you dressed.

Nate's Date

We have still been keeping up with our date nights with the kids.  It has been fun and totally worth the hassle that it sometimes is on a busy night.  I took this picture of Mike and Nate reading on their date night.  I thought it was pretty cute.  I think Nate is the most excited about dates.  He always wants to share other siblings dates.  It's hard to wait 4 weeks for it to be your turn again when you are only 4.  :)

Face Paint

A few weeks ago on a Saturday, Allie asked if she could get out the face paint and have a face painting party.  I have been saying no all summer, but on that day, I decided "why not?"

Lily is a bunny...can't you tell?  Those are her white teeth at the bottom.  :)

Sam's birthday was a great day.  I was able to do some Sealings in the temple (thanks to my friend Nat for watching the boys!) and I got to go to the park and zoo with the littles (thanks again Nat!).  It was Nate's first day of pre-school (I'm going to dedicate another post to that).   Jason and Nate had a great time at the zoo.

They chased this peacock for a bit.

And fed some reindeer.  Their giggles were the cutest thing ever.

They really like Callie.  We'll have to hang out with her more often.  It was super fun.
We came home and let Jason have a snooze.  When the olders got out of school, we blew up some balloons and played with them for a while.

I tied Jason's balloon to his shorts and he kept telling me that it was his tail.  Did you know that red and pink balloons show color in their shadows?  Jason thought it was pretty awesome that his balloon was still colored in his shadow.  It was so much better than the other kids balloons.  :)

There aren't many things cuter than a little kid in bowling shoes.  We have promised the kids a bowling adventure for a really long time.  I think the idea is so appealing to Nate and Jason because they couldn't go when the others went for their birthday parties.  I don't think the experience disappointed any of the kids.
Jake and Allie did really well bowling on their own.

Nate did funny dances when the pins got knocked down.

Jason would let his ball go way too early and Jake had to solve the problem a few times...

He'd have to go down the center to rescue the ball.

Allie was a great little helper.

They were just all so cute.

It was a really fun night and then we got to come home to some gifts from my neighbor friends.  Heidi gave us a book and donuts and that disguised the fact that I didn't have time to make a birthday cake.  Karen's family gave us a huge box of "noot nacks" (fruit snacks) that I was able to use as the reward for sleeping in bed all night...I may have that box forever.

We blew out a candle on the donut cake and let Jason open our book.  It's a cute one called "The Little Blue Truck".  We've already read it several times.  Cute stuff.

After dessert, we gave our balloons hugs and kisses and sent them up to heaven.

Allie is the best sister ever.  She wanted to write a note to Sam too.  All the balloons were gone, but we'll hang it on the fridge and think of Sam even more.
I am so grateful to be his mom.  Happy Birthday Sam!