Small Town Fun

We just had our town days and as always it was so much fun!  To me it is quintessential small town America.  I love it. 

I know Noni got a bunch of pictures, but I don’t have them so mine will have to do.  The first hour I played the piano with our worship team at the gazebo at the town square while the Saturday morning farmer’s market swirled around us.  The girls had a ton of fun running around to the different booths.  Noni bought some carrots and other vegetables but within 20 minutes the girls had eaten all her carrots. :)  We did get some farm fresh honey that made it all the way home, but the honey sticks were devoured in seconds.

After we were done playing music it was time for the parade.  Daddy had secured a spot earlier that morning so we had prime seats and the back of the pickup for Peanut to run around in while watching things go by.

Love this pic. Old fire truck. Flags flying.

We had a bunch of friends in the parade and had fun waving to them as they went by.

Bug and Boo watched the parade with two of their friends from church.

This was a float we hadn’t seen before.  I thought it was really cute.

Peanut LOVED the horses the best and kept yelling, right in my ear, “HOR-SEEEY!!!  Yook!  Yook!  Coming!  Hor-seeeey!”

After the parade we went back over to the farmer’s market where Noni and her missions group had a booth set up.  This picture is kind of hard to see but this winter I have been crocheting up a storm and now we are selling the hats, headbands, and flower clips to raise money for their mission trip.  The hats actually sold a lot better than I even hoped for!  I need to get busy making some more!

Here are Peanut and Boo checking out the newest member of the church who was sitting with her Grandma.  Such a cutie pie!  You forget how tiny newborns are! 

The girls wanted glitter tattoos and since they weren’t too expensive I let them have one.  It took a long time to get them done but they stayed for over a week!

I honestly did not think Peanut would be up for a stranger putting something on her but she walked right up and stuck her arm out.

And then stood perfectly still and allowed him to paint the glue and glitter on.

She was so proud and for days would stick her arm up to anyone and everyone and say, “Buh-fy!”

Buggy got two dolphins.

And Boo got a “scroll heart”.

We walked around the booths for a bit and then got some deliciously unhealthy fried foods. :) I took Peanut back for a nap while T and the girls checked out the car show.  Later K told me, “Mom.  I got car sick.  I looked at so many cars I thought I was going to turn INTO one.”  Haha :)

What a fun celebration.  Makes me excited for the fair next month!

Wednesday

Well, my “wordless” Wednesday’s haven’t been very wordless.  Here is what happens if you turn your back on an almost-two-year-old child dipping a breadstick in marinara.  They just might choose to “wass hans!” in said substance. :P

Group BBQ

Our “young marrieds” bible study group broke for summer a couple of months ago and with crazy summer schedules I felt like we’d hardly seen anyone so we planned a BBQ at the lake and all met at one of the bays after people got off work.  We had most of our people show up so we had a big group and we all had so much fun!  Almost everyone went swimming and the kids had fun digging in the sand, although after Florida this feels more like tiny rocks than sand! :)

Ironically, though Peanut adamantly refuses to wear her own lifejacket, she was happy to wear her sister’s (backwards) around when K left it on the shoreline.

There weren’t many people at the lake so we got a big stretch of “beach” all to ourselves.  You can see the reason why there weren’t many people there.  We have had a horrible string of fires in the PNW and the smoke was very thick. 

The constant smoke for nearly a week was a good reminder to pray for the towns affected, and all the firefighters.  There were MANY houses, buildings, churches, and businesses that were lost.  So sad. :(

Despite the smoke that day we were able to enjoy ourselves and have a great time.

After an hour of swimming we ate our potluck BBQ.  Yum!

I love that our group has so many kids in it!  They all have a great time!

Here’s Peanut with her little friend who is only a few months older than her.  They are both 3rd children and have the EXACT same Mommy-they’re-taking-my-things-and-not-doing-what-I-want-them-to-do little sister cry/yell.  So funny.

At least they’ve got each other.  Which is pretty much the unwritten motto of our group.  We joke that it is our parenting/marriage support group.  Yes, we study the bible and learn, but I think the main thing most of us get out of it is that we’re not alone and our friends are all going through the same struggles and issues in parenting and marriage that we are.   Yep, “at least we’ve got each other”.  Maybe I’ll get some t-shirts printed up.  Haha :)

Potty Time!

Yep!  We did it!  Peanut is officially potty trained!  No more “baby dia-pahs” only “big gull pups (pull ups) and big gull unnies!”

For some reason she seems so little to be potty trained, but she is actually older than either of the other two were!  I potty trained K at 20 months (and consequently she was the hardest) and S at 22 months.  Peanut turned 23 months on our 2nd day of training.  She did awesome! I was so proud of her! 

Of course I had to stock up: m&m’s (most important), suckers, “unnies”, chips, crackers, and “pups”.  I knew I needed salty snacks to get her drinking a lot and this kid could eat chips all day so that wasn’t a problem. I got the crackers to make it a little more healthy.  Haha :)  She was most excited about the Minnie undies.  She LOVES them!

Here she is on our first morning. 

We followed the Pottywise method, and Noni took K&S so we could give our undivided attention to the potty.  Peanut and I pretty much lived in the bathroom the first two days. :)  I explained the process the night before and we went through the motions with a baby doll who kindly “shared” her treats with Peanut. :)  Then in the morning when she woke up I got her up right away and put her on the potty.  She loves the potty and is always asking to sit on it like her sisters so she was happy to comply.  She actually went pee pee right away and was so happy to put on the big girl undies.

The first day I set my phone timer for every ten minutes and every time it would go off she would yell, “POTTY TIME!”  The second day we moved up to 15 min. and increased every day after.  Now she goes between 45-60 minutes, but I don’t have to set a timer.  She tells me when she needs to go.  It’s so funny, she says, “Hu-wee!  Hu-wee! Ma-ma! Pee-pee potty!”

Warning: potty picture.

We have one of those “family seats” with the kid-sized seat built in which I like SO much better than a potty seat.  I figure I might as well start them right away on the real thing. 

With Boo I learned that an m&m was not a sufficient reward for #2 so I started suckers right away for Peanut.  So her rewards were:

Clean and dry undies – 1 m&m

Pee pee – 1 m&m

Poopy – 1 sucker

The other two girls took a day or two to understand #2, but Peanut did it right away.  Within two hours of starting her training she was already enjoying a sucker!  Although you can see she’s in mismatched clothes from a previous accident. :)

One thing I was worried about was that Peanut has a dirty (not just wet) diaper 4-6 times a day, but now that we’re officially in the groove she is only going poopy 2-3 times a day.

1st day stats:

4 poppy successes

0 poopy accidents

13 pee pee successes

5 pee pee accidents

Yes she peed 18 times in one day!  Guess those salty snacks worked!

2nd day stats:

3 poppy successes

1 poopy accidents

10 pee pee successes

1 pee pee accidents

On the morning of the 3rd day I had to run out and get my glasses fixed and she had a pee pee accident, but then no more pee pee accidents for the rest of the week.  She did struggle a bit with the poopy accidents.  Part of the problem is that she does go poopy A LOT, and the other part is that it’s summer and we eat LOTS of fresh fruit which makes her poopy a little….loose (sorry, TMI).  So as T’s family says, she “bet on a fart and lost” a lot.  Haha :) 

It’s been two full weeks and since that 3rd day she’s had only 4 pee pee accidents (three of them on one day, a week later for some unknown reason) and a couple of poopy accidents.  She’s even woken up from several naps dry, and 3 different mornings she’s been dry!

I’m SO proud of our big girl!  It was definitely the easiest potty training venture I’ve had yet!

T said, “Do you have big girl undies on?” when he went to take this picture and she  made this face.  So funny.

Yay for our BIG little girl!

Water Park Birthday!

I had SUCH a great birthday!  T took the day off and we made the two hour drive to a water park we’d never been too.  It was SO neat!  It was inexpensive, you could bring your own food in, and it had lots of toddler friendly areas! 

I love birthdays and believe they should be celebrated to the fullest so I was hap-hap-happy and had so much fun! 

Love my family!

Almost the whole clan was able to come and we enjoyed every minute! 

Cute Auntie Nae and Waylon!  Love that little grin!

Auntie M brought all the food so I didn’t have to do a single thing…what a nice relaxing birthday!  She brought sandwiches, fruit, chips, and cupcakes.  A water park feast!

And they also brought some fun favors for the kids!

Cutie Boo.

Funny sunglasses. :)

It’s hard to believe that 11 years ago I was spending my birthday in the hospital waiting for this sweet girl to arrive!  She is so grown up and beautiful these days!  It’s fun to watch our only niece (not for long!) turning into such a beautiful little lady.

Auntie M made these delicious cupcakes!  We all devoured them!

She also brought little ice cream cups. Yum!

I found this pretty shirt for S and was hoping she would like it.  It looked great on her!

After lunch, cake, and presents it was time to get busy swimming!  There goes our big little girl…

The cousins had a BLAST!  They have a huge zero entry pool that was perfect for Peanut.

Swimmin’ kids!

There was also a lazy river that was a ton of fun!

Not surprisingly the little ones passed out on the ride home which made for a nice quiet drive. :)

We got home, where Noni was waiting, and turned right around (within 8 minutes!) and left for a freezer meal party!  Bug and Boo came with Noni and I and an hour later we were back home celebrating some more!

Noni made me a yummy German chocolate cake, my favorite!  Had to get a picture with my best girls!

The kids got in bed and zonked out after such a busy day!  T stayed with them so Noni and I could go for a walk, where God gave me a beautiful sunset for my birthday!  I love this farm country we live in!

What a perfect day!

Swimmin’ Fishies

We got home just in time for bed on Sunday night and Monday morning we were off and running again!  I would have liked a few days to catch my breath but it was the last week of swim lessons at the pool I like so we signed up. 

This pool is in the next town over, about 15 minutes away, but it’s only 3 feet deep in the shallow end as opposed to our town’s pool which is 3’6.  Those extra 6 inches make a big difference when you’re only 4 feet tall so this pool is much more kid friendly.

We put Peanut’s extra car seat in the Pilot so our friends could come with us each day.  Here’s Boo and her little friend S.

And Peanut, who wasn’t technically in the class, but the swim teacher let me hold her in the pool and do the exercises with her.

The swim teacher here is so great and does a wonderful job with the kids!  She is one of the teachers at the school where the pool is located. 

Buggy had a big class and most of the kids could already swim, but a few of them were at her same level.

We were pleasantly surprised to find our missionary friends in the girls’ classes! They have three kids so the two little ones were in Boo’s class and the oldest was in Buggy’s.  They had just arrived back from Paraguay (just days before) and we hadn’t even seen them yet, so we had fun catching up at the pool!

It’s hard to see but I loved Bug’s expression in this picture.  The water definitely wasn’t warm, but it wasn’t too bad once you got used to it.

The swim lessons were an hour each.  Thank heaven for the tablet and snacks!  It kept the kids busy during the hour they were waiting for the other sister, and all three of them ended up doing great!

Neither of the girls would get their faces wet the first two days; Bug’s hair was almost totally dry.  They did most of the things asked of them…they just managed to keep their faces out of the water.

We had a picnic one day after we got home.

It was so hot (it’s been in the upper 90’s and even over 100 for the past two weeks!) that Peanut’s cheese stick melted!

We had to miss swim lessons on Wednesday because it was my birthday as well as Cousin S’s.  Cousin S chose to go to a waterpark and we joined them (pictures tomorrow) and the girls had a MAJOR breakthrough!  Something just ‘clicked’ for them and they both started swimming!  Boo (with her lifejacket on) motored around the pool all by herself which was something she wouldn’t attempt before.  She was so brave and she was even dunking her head under the water!

Buggy started really swimming…like underwater and everything!  It was amazing!  I told her that was the best birthday present she could have given me! 

Here she is on Thursday doing a float with her face fully in the water! 

And here she is SWIMMING!  We are so proud of her!!!

Here’s Boo looking cute on the last day. :)

Kickboard!

The first few days she wouldn’t attempt this on her own.  Both girls got really brave and tried hard by the end of the week!

And…I was so proud of them…they both went off the diving board in the deep end (20ft!) of the pool!  Boo needed a little help but she was brave and went for it!

Buggy did it once with help and then she went for it too!

My happy little fish!