Warm Weekend

Ahhhhhhhhhh. Jessica and I had a great time on our Girls Weekend to the condo. We left right around 4:30'ish on Friday. Nathan was just leaving to take the kids to soccer when Maysen had a melt down and Griffin was ready to be fed. So, as Jessica and I stood there watching Nathan run around a million miles an hour with both kids screaming, it confirmed to me why I was going away for the weekend. Once at soccer, Maysen REFUSED to play, having an attitude mixed with "momma left me" and "I'm tired". Total nightmare. Thankfully, my co-worker R was there and was able to help Nate out while taking care of Griffin while Nate went on the field and coaxed M to play for awhile. Thanks, R!!

(Here is where we spent most of our time. We'd hot tub about twice a day, if not more. Just up the stairs on the left is another floor of pools and 2 more hot tubs. Heaven.)

We had beautiful weather the whole way to Bend, although there was snow 6 feet high along the roads up over the mountains. We stopped in Sisters, OR and had a nice dinner. Our waitress was busy and seemed preoccupied. She later told Jess and I it was because she had to "feed the alleycats" and sped away with no explaination. By that, we're still not sure what she meant, but it made for a good laugh.

Since neither one of us drink, our bottles of Mike's hard lemonade was very tasty. They had a good laugh as these terd-like dirt clods scattered the field we crossed to the pool. Hey, alcohol + darkness = these really looked like terds.

Saturday morning, Jessica got up at the crack of dawn. Here she had her chance to sleep in, but after being scared by the door around her bed, and the sun coming up, she was up. I on the other hand slept in. We spent the rest of Saturday shopping, talking, hot tubbing more, watching movies, and eating. We had a good plan to scrapbook/do photo albums ... but wouldn't you know we just didn't get any of that done. It's ok. We found great deals on summer clothes for the kids. Gotta love Carters! Saturday night we had gotten a pizza from Papa Murphy's and just relaxed, not going out anymore. We watched total chick flicks, and topped the night off with another trip to the hot tub.

Sunday morning I got up and J was still sleeping, so I took the opportunity to get up and do some photography. I was glad Jessica slept in. We left town and while Jessica flirted with the man serving our breakfast (haha), I scanned the scene and found our favorite place to shop. At the end of our trip, we were finally able to shop for ourselves!! We ended up getting the same outfit!! Hey, we have good taste!

And I was so glad to get home to my boys! Although we had a great time and can't wait to go back, being HOME is always the best feeling.

Yesterday was a very warm day and last one of the week, so we went outside and played CandyLand and ate M&Ms. Griffin is sporting his new summer hat and liked it rather well. He's getting so big. He's a big bubble blower now. Maysen is doing AWESOME at potty training. He only had one accident while I was gone this weekend. He marches in on his own and I'm so proud to hear that toilet lid slam down when he's done. After he's gone #2, he demands to use the air freshening spray. What a man ....

Here Maysen had set the card down on his foot. He had to make sure he hadn't hurt Griffin. Ahhh, these are the loves of my life (including Nate but he wasn't present for the picture). Being away makes you realize your priorities. I know where mine are!

My dad called me last night to say they are leaving California and moving on to Kentucky to manage another park there. I have to say, selfishly, that I am sad because I enjoyed having him within driving distance. I am even more sad that Maysen will get to miss out on seeing them as often, as now it will only be about once a year (if that). He has such an unbelievably close bond with dad, and I fear that will grow apart not having them as close as they have been. On the other hand, I am happy that they get to travel and that makes dad happy. So, I'm torn. They are coming up here tonight to spend the next 2 days before they head out to Kentucky. They'll be missed.

Soccer Mom!

We started soccer last week. Maysen absolutely loves it. Even though it was 42 degrees, he played his heart out. I felt so much for the coach, as twenty 3yr olds were running a muck, chaos flowing in all directions as he's oh-so-calmly trying to explain "Red Light, Green Light" to a bunch of kids who could have sworn he was speaking Greek. Nonetheless, it didn't matter because all kids had a great time and boy did he sleep good that night. This will continue for the next 4 weeks worth of Fridays. I guess I am now officially a soccer mom, as people have been calling me that because I drive a minivan. I wouldn't give it up for the world ... the van, that is!


The rest of the pics from the game, plus more from his first "real" feeding of rice with a spoon are on my Flickr page, please visit if you'd like. Bailey, our doggie, was also dressed as a super hero on that set, as well. We started feeding Griffin very watered down rice with a spoon because he was so hungry at night. He'd eat an 8oz bottle with rice in it (plus his phenobarb) and still wake up hungry. We give him just a little amount about of rice about an hour before his bottle and he's not near as hungry any longer, his digestive system is handling it just great, and the best part is he's sleeping through the night now!! He goes into his crib and he'll sleep from about 8:30pm - 6:30am. We're all just a bunch of happy folks these days! Full and rested :-)

"Ahhhhh" awaits

And I thought monsters were supposed to be sleeping under the bed??

So, no motivation to blog lately. Sorry! I feel the struggle to keep 2 kids happy while getting my "chores" done let alone blog. By 9pm I'm pooped. However, my energy has been restored because in just FOUR days my sister in law, Jessica, and I are heading off KID/HUSBAND-FREE for 36 whole hours to our family condo at Inn at 7th Mountain in Bend, OR. Maybe, just maybe, Nathan will see just how hard it is maintaining everything all at once can be! He's being a good sport, and how great he is to let me get away not only this coming weekend, but next weekend I have been invited to another get-away weekend with some work friends to the coast. I'm not going for the whole weekend, but I'll go for one night of girls and craziness. Jessica, my sis in law, runs a day care out of her home, while having her 2 kids at home full-time as well. I'm not sure who needs the break more: Her or Me!? We're looking forward to margaritas, sleeping in, popcorn/movies, getting our scrapbooks/photo albums caught up, hot tubbing, and shopping. I can't wait!

So, last weekend I blogged about it being summer-like. Well, I spoke too soon. We got our yard done, flowers planted, and this past weekend we had SNOW!! It wasn't much, but it snowed/rained/hailed all weekend. We got the plants all covered in trash bags, but it's just been weird! My mom in law would say "I'm telling you, it's the Equinox" (love ya, mom!).

Off I go to watch my shows. If I don't talk to you before my retreat ... have a good week!

Return for postage

I worked on Friday, which went amazingly well. It felt so good to get back in the groove of things, among fun people, feeling needed, having adult conversations, and being human again making errors (not too many). The full-time triage nurse is having shoulder surgery so they might need me every Friday for the next 8wks. I still have to talk to Nate and get details figured out, but that would be rather fun, actually.

So, since Nate had the kids on Friday, he had my van and I drove his truck. I had been waiting to get stamps, so I had a pile of mail in my passenger seat that needed mailed.

Me: Where did that huge pile of mail go that was in my seat?

Nate: *Blank uh-oh look* Huh?

Me: That pile of mail. Where is it?

Nate: *proud* Oh! I mailed it for you.

Me: You mailed it? None of them had stamps on them.

Nate: I'm guessing you didn't want them mailed, then.

That'll teach him for being helpful! So, I currently wait and hope that I successfully get each article back.

This weekend was just like summer. It was 70F on Friday, 85F on Saturday, and 70F again today. The clouds have currently rolled in and the rain will be back for a few days, but I forgot how good a sunburn can feel (sometimes). Griffin loved the sun. I had him in the backyard on a blanket (naked) and he just squirmed, talked to the clouds, and looooooked around. On Saturday Maysen had fun with the clan 'o neighbor kids who were all decked out in nothing but bathing suits and barefeet as they took turns running through sprinklers with the aroma of sunscreen floating behind them. It was refreshing watching them as sweat dripped into my eyes, my back ached from pulling weeds, and Nate was covered head to toe in bark 'o mulch. Our yard finally has some color and looks like it just got a giant haircut; the fresh/groomed look is back.

On a fund-raising note: I got the storage company in town to donate a unit to us free of charge to store all the garage sale donations. That's a huge weight off my shoulders as it has cleared out my garage.

Maysen starts soccer on Friday. He is playing at the middle school Nate attended in his youth. I think that will be a fun time for us to see him playing on the same field.

To the shower I go. It's been a long weekend.

Spring Cleaning

Spring is finally here. I was excited when my weather widget popped up and showed a rather nice weekend coming up. 73 on Saturday!! Yes sir, we will be getting out and digging in the dirt this weekend. We have lots of plans for our yard this year. Mainly just revamping flower beds and adding a dog wood sitting area. We'll see how much work we get done.

Do you remember your first birthday party you were invited to? I do. It was for Aaron ____ in kindergarten. His brother, Inn, was in 3rd grade and man was he cute. My mom dropped me off and we played his this stuffed animals in his room. My mom sent me with cars from McDonalds for his present. I remember when he opened them, I was embarrassed as I thought 'Way to go, mom'. Maysen has gotten invited to his first birthday party. It's for T, the 5yr old neighbor boy. He's been over a few times this winter to play, so I think M will be OK. Dad and Mase went and picked out his present (a "cool" spiderman package including the web shooter). He's going to drive his race car over to T's house all by himself he informed us. They grow up so quick.

Our nightly routine has now included a game of Hide and Seek. Maysen can't stand to wait for us to find him, so he usually comes running saying "Here I am!!" This week has been rainy and chilly, so we've been inside a lot this week. I'm working on Friday back at the clinic. I think it'll feel good to get back in the swing of being out of the house every once in awhile and getting around "my girls" again. Tomorrow I'm going to just watch the new computer system. When I left before Fin was born, there were a lot of problems with the new system. I have to go have labs drawn on Fin tomorrow anyway, so I'll stay for the rest of the morning and observe the system. That way I'll be ready to just pick up and go on Friday.

I need to get started on my fund raising garage sale. My sister in law's auction for the school is over, so now I can start my garage sale stuff. I hope it raises a lot of money for the kids at Maysen's school. I need to get up signs around town that I'm taking donations. If anyone is reading this ... and have stuff to get rid of now or after spring cleaning, consider giving it to me so I can put it in the garage sale. The $$ is going toward scholarships for kids of 5Cs that can't afford the tuition. So, it's a great cause. The Garage Sale is May 31st.

With that, I'm going to make signs now...

Typing Skills

You all have to do this: http://www.typingtest.com/.

I will have you know my score was 89 words per minute with 96% accuracy! Let me know how you all do!

Easter 2008

Just doin' eggs with dadddy...

If only these eggs would dry faster!!

Holy cow, dad ... that didn't go in red ...

Wow ... look at my loot!!

I didn't know the Easter Bunny brought rockets!

Nothing like grandma kisses!!!

I found my hands a couple weeks ago, and boy are they yummy!

I'm not sure what all the hype of this Easter thing is, but I kinda like this strange orange thing in my lap...

Bubble parade at Easter. Why not?

It took him 5 min to find that egg in the planter. Grandma put a yellow one in there and it matched just right.

So, sorry I've been MIA. This having 2 kids thing is nuts! I spend most of my days in PJs until noon ... only because I refuse to get up at 6am to shower before the rally starts ... and then it's noon before I'm able to jump in the shower, usually with a screaming baby but hey - I can only handle so much stink :) This last week I've been only cleaning mess after mess it seems and it's by the grace of God that Maysen is sleeping right now - a bigger grace is that they're doing it at the same time!!! Usually my posts are at midnight or something.

I've been very challenged with being a stay at home mom lately. Being an RN was so much more immediately-gratifying. Not that I won't ever be returning to that, but this waiting until the kids are 20 to realize the sacrifices that were made seems like it'll never come through. I miss my individuality, my freedom, QUIET, adult convos. The mess after mess, disaster after disaster, cry after screams all day long makes for a llllong day. Sometimes I think going back to work would be easier, but I always come back to wanting to be the ones home with my kids and I realize real quick that I would regret going back to work and sending my kids somewhere because I chose to go back when I had the ability to be home. So, I grit my teeth a little harder, have alone cries in the bathroom, and prepare for another fun-filled, crayon-on-the-wall, poop in the pants, defiant child, stubborn, loud, messy day ... sounds like fun, eh?

So, Easter was good ... Maysen got a lot of things from the Easter Bunny, lazy morning at our house, then dinner at Nate's mom's house where another hunt ensued. Mase made out like a bandit with egg money, which went into his piggy bank which I was informed was saved for a new "purple race car I can drive, too" ... as if the red one isn't good enough. We had an interesting "never to forget" time at Bobbi/George's for dinner. First Maysen found Mom's red nail polish and "wanted to make his feet pretty too" and painted both feel with red polish --- including their white carpet. So that was disaster with Acetone #1. After about 30min thankfully it came up (how? I don't know) but just as we're all sitting down to eat dinner, Nate's mom knocks over her red wine onto the carpet. At this point we had a mildly good laugh. Out comes obsessive George with the cleaner again. I can thankfully say that everything came out of the carpet.

Fin's doing really good - he loves his Johnny Jumper and is wanting to stand a lot and is rather strong! He loves his hands and seems to "pray" a lot by holding them and he'll look down at them and sing to his hands. I'm putting rice in his bottles at night now and one night he actually slept all night until 7:30am. He will usually go from 10-4am without getting up ... he's rolled over a couple of times on his own, which I think scares him more than anything! He's a long little guy - almost being too tall for his 3-6mo clothes already and he turns 3mo on Thursday. His red hair is still sticking around but it's much lighter into more of a strawberry blond now.

Nate saw Barack Obama this past week while he was in town. From what I've heard it was very moving. He's just going to be a great president. Oops ... did I say that already? I mean ... IF he were elected, he'll be great. Anything will be better than the mess of a president we have now.

So the forcast is SNOW on Thursday. What's that all about?? I'm going to get M up and outside before the sun goes down because something tells me we'll be inside a lot the rest of the week. (goody .... look for "house burned down" later this week). Until then ...

Bond between Auntie & Nephew

Kisses ...


... and the contact. Because lip kisses are gross!

Some pictures around the yard ... spring is here!!


Gotta love the drive-thru brownies


Can you tell we live next to the ball field?


Jenn and I went out to King Estate Winery near home



To our surprise, we discovered an old 1800 cemetery right off the grounds of the winery. It was a jackpot for me!!!

We had quite an exciting weekend this past weekend. My sister Jenn was here for a visit. Saturday afternoon between downpours we shot photos in the backyard (check ‘em out on my Flickr site). Then Jenn “had” to show me her newest favorite movie, Cloverfield, so we headed to the $1.50 movie theatre and saw it. It was good – a mix between Blair Witch Project and September 11.

On our way home we got dinner and proceeded to our quiet little suburb. We rounded the corner down our street and noticed something small crouched on the sidewalk as we were driving by - it was a small little girl. She was naked except for a tiny pair of panties on and she was crouched down in a instinctual self-preserving fashion as the 40F rain poured down. I stopped the van and before I could get it fully stopped, Jenn and gotten out and was approaching the girl. As Jenn reached her, she leaped into Jenn ’s arms. She was cold and shivering, but content. I parked the van and put her in Maysen’s car seat and started a movie. Long story short, the girl belongs to the people who’s dogs attacked Bailey last month. Apparently this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. DHS got involved and I believe she went with them that night. The mom finally came out once the boys noticed the cops and blamed the boys for “letting” her get out while she “took a shower” (no wet hair, apparent no shower).

Levi, the same officer whom we dealt with in Bailey’s case, was on duty so that was nice. He told me he would keep me updated on what would happen with them. I have yet to hear what happened, but I know Levi isn’t back on shift until Wednesday. He kept us very up to date on what was going on with Bailey – even stopping and talking with Nate only 20 minutes before he got the call about an abandoned child on Saturday (which was us). Levi later joked he just needed to give me a badge. I have mixed emotions for feeling bad for the kids of that family, and feeling good that we did the right thing, and possibly made a huge difference in the kids’ lives. At least I would like to believe that …

On another note, I’ve talked before about my sister-in-law, Danielle, and her annual auction she puts on to raise money for the Christian school her kids (and Maysen) are in. They’re working toward building a new building for the school – instead of just being in the basements of 2 local churches. It’s a great cause, and I’m hoping to win the lotto to get that accomplished. Well, one thing she includes in part of her auction is donations for scholarships for kids who want to go, but can’t afford the tuition. We had a woman donate a keyboard – and although it’s almost new, I don’t think that’s something we can “auction”. So, I got the idea of a Scholarship Fund Garage Sale, to be held annually at the end of each school year. All proceeds will go toward helping people finance their kids to go to 5Cs. I felt good about that decision. Now the craziness begins!!!

Today and tomorrow Nathan is taking an Engineering class put on by Weyerhaeuser. They flew the teacher out here from Denver. He has a light week because of it, only working half days Thurs/Fri. Tonight, Nate’s supervisor is taking everyone from the Engineering class and their spouses out to dinner tonight along with the teacher. I actually get to endure a NIGHT OUT AMONG ADULTS? The world must be ending … something’s going to happen. Ooo! Maybe I should buy a Lotto ticket since the jackpot is near $230mill. Nah, it should be fun. I’m usually uncomfortable around crowds of people – especially those I don’t even know. But, I’ll order a margarita and all will be good. Hopefully Bonnie will have the kids bathed (since Maysen LOVES to take a bath in their garden tub) and he’ll fall asleep on the way home.

Big Brother is on tonight again and I am hoping that James gets evicted. I absolutely *loved* the twist that Ryan threw on the crew. Well, if no one watches then you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about!

Oh, and here are some pics I got of the boys today on Maysen’s bed. I had to use the “Stop like the red light” to keep him still. Whatever works, eh?

Bubbleland

It was another big bubble day in our household on Saturday. This is what happens when you put mondo bubble bath in a jetted tub. Maysen was in hog heaven – there was about 2ft of bubbles. It was too great to not take pictures of this moment. I won’t show the nudie shots I got of Nate *wink*.

This week has been great as far as weather is concerned. We got a lot of our weeding done in the last few days. The rain and chilly air is about to settle back in for another week, so it felt good getting it done. It also felt good to get the windows open and get some fresh air in the house.

Friday we’re taking Maysen to see Horton Hears a Who while Grandma keeps Griffin for the afternoon. I am loving Nathan having Friday afternoons off.

Peace offering: Trade popsicle for our freedom. (hehe) I was watching Supernanny the other day and I made a keen observation: Why is it that all the families she goes to have really nice homes? They all have the stainless steel, marble counters, big house. You never see Jo whipping up to the trailer house down in the South with 27 kids blowing out every window to greet her while the hounds howl at her. Just …. Interesting. Having said that, does anyone feel like they could be a Supernanny contestant about every other day? I know I do!

And this is what we find after a night of "I don't want to go to sleep". It was quite a feat trying to get him out from under the bed!!

Big Brother is on ....gotta go. Hey - priorities! Is anyone else watching??

Just in time ...

Timing is everything. This picture was taken at just the right moment – the milliseconds right before the bubble is popped. Can’t be more exact!

Yesterday was Griffin’s 2 mo check-up. I am pleased to say that everything was very very good!!! Since giving his Phenobarbital only at night, he is completely a different kid. He holds his head up, sits up, likes to try and stand, kicks his legs to stand up, talks, sings, and smiles all the time. Everything was right on track! Dr Pelinka said she couldn’t have been happier.

He got 3 shots, which didn’t go well. The nurse that came in to do them did them how I hate: slow. When you have a baby who has to get multiple shots, you don’t do it SLOW! Get those babies ready like shooting darts. I about came out of my skin! There was nothing incorrect about her technique – just that she didn’t do it fast enough. After we got home yesterday, he continued to scream when he moved his legs or if you touched them. Poor baby! So I kept Tylenol and Ibuprofen going round the clock and today he’s fine. He’s a tall boy, that’s for sure. I think Maysen is going to look more like my side: short and stubby, whereas Griffin seems to be more on the lean/tall side. His weight was 11lb 7oz (50th percentile) and he was 24.5 inches tall (92nd percentile).

Nate got his pride rubbed again yesterday. I have to say that he is turning out to be a very demanded programmer. M, one of the leads at Weyerhaeuser, approached Nate yesterday to see if he would consider taking a “more senior” position near Seattle for the company. Nate is already a Software Developer II, which normally requires 5+ years of experience and he only has 1.5 years. This job near Seattle would be a Software Developer III position and for a lot more $$$/yr. However, we are content here and so Nate told M that he would consider anything, but was happy here. It was just a shock!

Today we visited Bob and Bonnie for a bit. Bonnie is a very talented artist and she's currently painting the above picture (sorry it's grainy - used the camera on my phone) of Maysen when he was on the Polar Express train this past November. You can see the actual picture just to the left of the painting. She is just in the beginning phase of the painting, but I'm already blown away. I'll keep posting progression.

Have a great, bubbly weekend!

What?!

Fin's got to be teething. Perfect alignment for bottom incisors, reacts to anti-inflammatory and ice. I'm going to have a 2mo with bilateral incisors broken through in a week. Wow. (this of course needs to be backed up by my pediatrician whom I see tomorrow)

Poor Nate's dealing with a whopper of a teething storm out there tonight. Something about the silhouette of a grown man rocking back and forth with hips swaying, humming to a baby to get a woman's heart. *tear* I'll let you know what Dr P says about Griffin's 2 month well-baby check!

Swing Away

This was worth every $$ we put into buying this thing. It swings both side-to-side as well as front-to-back. For the longest time we had it swinging sideways and he didn't care for it that much. Now you can't get him out of this thing (as you can tell by his beaming smile). And in fact if I need to get something done I put him in this and he's out like a light a few minutes later. Such a great invention.

I've been battling with boredom the last few days. You see, after being well for a week (because we were in California), the kids are BACK to being sick. The problem is that Maysen goes to school, and although I've asked the teacher to call me if the other kids have been sick the 2 previous days (mon,tues), she never called me to tell me that all the kids were coughing when Maysen went back to school last wednesday. 48hrs later, Maysen has the cold/cough back. That means = 48hrs later Griffin has it, too. He's so susceptible to germs. Maysen acts fine although he's hacking up a lung and his nose is running so much his sleeve is wet (you get the picture). Because of this, none of us have been outside the house in 3 days. Today the sun is shining bright and I haven't had fresh air since Saturday. Maysen might be OK but right now Griffin just has the snot part of the cold and I DO NOT want him getting the lung/cough/RSV part.

Because we've decided that if Griffin gets "really" sick again because of this, we'll reluctantly have to pull Maysen out of school. But how many cartoons can one handle? If he's not watching cartoons/plopped in front of the TV, then he's absolutely destroying the house! Tomorrow is supposed to be really nice, with highs in the low 60sF and no clouds! I am hoping that at least I can get Mase outside and let Griffin sleep inside. I keep thinking I'm so thankful that I am not really working right now because I'd for sure be fired ... no one would believe me that my kids were this sick! Thankfully, I can give Maysen Benadryl because he's so snotty and not feel guilty about it! Benadryl is a wonderful (sedating) drug ... hehe.

The last 2 nights Griffin has been very colicky, which Maysen had at 2 months of age. He starts being really fussy at 6:00pm with little comfort. The problem is, is that he's kept himself up almost all afternoon, so by then he's over exhausted and can't go/stay asleep. Last night was the worst. We noticed 2 lumps on his lower gums on the sides, almost like he's teething molars ... but it's WAY to early for that. He did calm down when we rubbed them, and so I gave Tylenol. Luckily he went to sleep around 9:30 and slept until 5:00am.

This is The Potty Jar I created and it has been very successful. Only ONE accident since Saturday, which I think is great. Right now the "prize" of filling the jar has ranged from swimming to going to get ice cream to baking brownies. In fact changing it up keeps him motivated day by day until it's full.

Did any one else realize that Easter is way early this year? I need to get Easter Baskets ready!

caroustore

I thought this picture turned out pretty wicked. I took it on the Wharf in San Fran while Dad and Maysen were on the carousel. It is the reflection of the carousel in the storefront window. It’s pretty abstract if you ask me, however perfectly clear if you put your mind to dividing the two images.

The last couple of nights I’ve been catching up on a lot of sleep, sleeping about 12hrs each night the past 2 days. I have needed it as I about had a total meltdown on Thursday. This stay-at-home mom stuff is almost overwhelming! I love every second, but when you only get 2hrs of sleep at night because you have a sick boy and a newborn then “wake” up the next morning and deal with nothing but 100mph 3yr old and the demands of a newborn – it can get very overwhelming fast. So, I’m feeling much better having gotten some good sleep over the last few days, thanks to my great husband! I think he knew I was serious when I told him I wanted to go back to work just to get a break!

Not only is the demand of a newborn/no sleep/3yr old/etc/etc/etc overwhelming sometimes, take the 100mph 3yr old and add POTTY TRAINING to the mix. Yeah right! I’ve tried EVERYTHING under the sun. He’ll do great one day, telling me every time with no accidents, then the next day he’s a whole different kid. We’ve tried sticker charts, we’ve tried M&Ms with successful trips, we’ve tried Potty Dance/Praise. Nothing. So, tonight on yet another attempt at trying to get something to work, the Potty Jar and Potty Rocks were born. He has a special jar and every time he goes in the toilet, he gets to add a Potty Rock to the jar (decorative colored rocks in the craft section of any dept store). Once the jar is filled up (not a very big jar) we get to go swimming, zoo, ice cream store, or whatever treat we’re working toward. So far it’s working great! He’s gone 4 times and is even sleeping with his “new friend, my Potty Jar”. We’ll see! Any other ideas would be great!

Otherwise, we’ve haven’t done a lot. Today we went and decorated Nate’s office at Weyerhaeuser. He’s got a huge space and it was great to get his pictures and UofO paraphernalia up. He’s back “home” now.

Have a great weekend!