memorial day weekend

On Saturday morning we headed to Fargo to visit Gramma and Grandpa. 

It's amazing how as the girls get older, we need to bring fewer things with us, but it still takes as long (or longer!) to get on our way. And now, the potty breaks are going to make these trips a bit longer. eek!

Unfortunately the weather was cold, windy and sometimes rainy so we didn't get to enjoy as much outdoor time as the girls would like.

They did get to play baseball with Grandpa.

And catch with Daddy.

And while the weather disappointed, time with Gramma and Grandpa did not. The girls:

...chased Bindi around until she was worn out.

...played with Gramma's iPad.

...ate lots of yummy food.

...went to the park with Gramma while Grandpa, Daddy and I freezed our bums on the golf course.

...did not take a nap. :(

...read lots of books.

...went to church.

...ate more yummy food.

...invented a new slide (off the arm of the leather couch).

...put on a show for some relatives.

...had night terrors at night (poor Little Bird)

...kept everyone entertained!

And on our (long) drive home, we stopped for a must have beginning of the summer treat; a mini Blizzard!

They left a little bit for me.

proud little girl

Within a day, this little girl was trained.

I knew that if I let her decide when, it would be a piece of cake.

She was so proud to take a trip to Target with just Mommy and pick out a Dora toy just for her.

On the way home, she proudly reminded me that she was still dry.

This girl has even gone above and beyond my expectations. On our 3 hour car trip this past weekend, she wore a Pull-Up, but didn't need it. After 2 hours she announced she needed to pee and did not hesitate to jump on the potty chair in the back of the van.

She even used the "real" toilet at Subway when we stopped for lunch. 

Our only issue is that she doesn't want to go in a diaper at all...not even at night. There is no way her little bladder can last all night, and she gets very frustrated with herself when she goes in her diaper. This is a tough one...because we are all losing sleep over it.

But everything is worth it to see the proud look on Little Bird's face!

going on a bike ride!

Clear blue skies.

Bright yellow sun.

Crisp morning air.

First bike ride of the season.

An hour long adventure.

A nice substitute for going to the gym.

Smelling the freshly cut grass.

Waving at the school buses passing us by.

Finding all the yellow cars.

Listening to a little voice announcing that she is still dry.

Listening to another little voice congratulating her.

Stopping only once to fix a fallen bracelet...a must have accessory for any bike ride.

Feeling refreshed after arriving back in our drive way.

Wondering why we can't have a morning like this every day...

supportive sister

Little Bird did AMAZING today. She was ready to put underwear on the minute she got up (after using the potty of course). She had one minor accident late this morning, otherwise, she would tell me when she needed to go. Sometimes nothing would happen, but sometimes it was the right time. 

I'm exhausted from all the trips we made to the potty, but I'm so proud of her for trying so hard to figure it out.

She even went poo poo! I think it surprised her as she originally told me she had to pee pee. She was so proud to earn TWO stickers for that event.

The best part of this whole process is Little Pie's unconditional, sweet, enthusiastic support of Little Bird's efforts. She truly is the sweetest little thing. Every time Little Bird is attempting success on the potty, Little Pie is right there to congratulate her.

"Good job going pee pee S! Now you get a sticker! Good job!"

"Wow, a poo poo S! Good job! You get two stickers!"

"Good job S! I'm so proud of you!" (followed by the sweetest hug)

She even reminds Little Bird about the whole process. "When the timer goes off, you go pee pee on the potty and you get a sticker. Then you go to Target and get a Dora toy."

But still, when I ask her if she wants to try, she says she "can't".

Although, today she slipped and said yes, but then quickly corrected herself when I started to go to her drawer for a pair of undies.

Actually, with how exhausted I am after dealing with one potty girl, I'm secretly glad she isn't ready. Two little ones on the toilet all day would drive me to more than just this glass of wine I'm currently enjoying!

cookies!

On a cool a windy morning, what else can you do but make cookies?

A little too much flour.

Watching the mixer cautiously. Little Pie was so concerned for my safety, she kept telling me to move my hands.

Must get all the spilled chocolate chips into the bowl.

After several attempts, we got all of the chocolate chips in!

Enjoying the fruits of our labor.

Nothing's better than a chocolate chip mustache!

Dora the ... Motivator!

I don't know why I decided that today was the day. I think Target played a big role in my decision. 

Target and Dora the Explorer ... although, I will be referring to her has Dora the Motivator from now on.

Little Bird is officially on the potty train. 

This morning while at Target, we were heading yet again to the diaper aisle. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get sick of going down that aisle, but today I thought I had had enough. I asked the girls for the millionth time if they were interested in wearing underpants instead of diapers. Little Bird was shockingly enthusiastic about this time (usually she emphatically declines). Little Pie, not shockingly, said, "I can't wear underwear". 

After picking up what I hope is one of our last boxes of diapers (I'm sure I'm getting ahead of myself), we passed by a Dora display. The girls are so into her right now...quoting lines from her show, pretending they are climbing to the top of the tallest mountain, yelling at Swiper...even if they only watch her show once a week, they are just so excited about her all the time. 

I maneuvered the cart over to the display and they immediately got excited. I explained that when we got home we were going to start wearing underpants and that anyone who went pee pee and poo poo on the potty lots of times and didn't go in their underpants, could come back and pick out a Dora toy. 

Little Bird was on board immediately. Little Pie, not so much.

So during nap time I made up some Dora potty charts, and when Little Bird got up, I put her on the potty (where she produced nicely) and then plopped her in her underpants. She was so ready to go.

Little Pie repeated that she "can't" wear underpants.

Part of the reason I have been hesitating about starting the potty training is that I am not yet ready to sacrifice my "freedom" to get out of the house. I just cannot be trapped in the house. So I decided that I was not going to change my schedule at all, we were just going to go ahead with the training and whenever and wherever accidents occurred, we would just deal with them.

In fact, after the girls' "nap" today, I needed to run to the bank, post office and Lowes'. I had Little Bird use the potty before we left, although she wasn't able to go. I packed a diaper, extra undies and an extra pair of pants and we headed out the door. 

Post office drop ... still dry.

Bank drive through ... still dry.

Lowes to pick out flowers ... still dry.

I decided to risk it and stop at a Redbox to pick up a movie for myself ... still dry.

Pulled into the driveway ... still dry!!!

We all went inside so that Little Bird could use the potty (which she did successfully) and then we headed back outside to plant some flowers.

About an hour later we needed to go in (the girls to the deck) so that I could start supper. I asked Little Bird to use the potty but she said she didn't have to. I should have had her try anyway because about 10 minutes later she told me she had an accident. I was so proud of her for telling me though. 

She made it through dinner without an accident as well. 

I knew after supper would be our biggest challenge because that's when she typically goes poo poo. About 5 minutes of playing after supper, she said she needed to go poo poo, so she sat down. But nothing happened. I should have had her sit a few more minutes because about 10 minutes later she had accident #2, with a #2. 

Oh well, I think going 5 hours with only 2 accidents is pretty good for us. The fact that she made it so long without dribbling in her undies is huge progress for her. I know she can do it now. So with a little more motivation from Dora, I think that we may be able to check one potty trained girl off the list!

I hope!

our deck

One of my favorite things about our house is our HUGE deck. I have always loved sitting out there with a drink and a book. It's sunny in the morning and shady and cool in the late afternoon/evening. 

Our deck is big enough to hold our grill, a table and 6 chairs, a lounge chair, a couple of end tables, the girls picnic table, the girls two Adirondack chairs, and now....

... a little playhouse!!

The girls got the playhouse from Nana and Papa for Christmas. Papa put it together a few weeks ago and was finally able to bring it up this past weekend. The girls were SO EXCITED. In fact, Little Pie peered out the window while we were bringing it up to the top of the deck and could not contain her excitement...while turning and RUNNING for her shoes, she exclaims, "I come outside!!!".

Pounding some nails with her favorite hammer.

hi! I'm in here too!

I got to fix the mailbox. Any mail in there?

I love our deck even more now. The girls can play on it by themselves and I can be in the kitchen making lunch or dinner, putting laundry in the wash, folding laundry or *gasp* be on the computer.

I wish we could use the deck year round!

gramma's here!

Last Thursday, Gramma and Grandpa Bob came to town. We hadn't seen Gramma in a long time, but now that she is back from Arizona, it was really fun to hang around with her for a few days. The girls thought it was great that "Gramma's here! Gramma's here!".

The girls got to play with Gramma a lot. She took them to the park, read them almost every single book in the house, played the Goodnight Moon game with them, sang songs, and snuggled. It was great to have her around.

Gramma also took us out to lunch a few times! It was a great treat for all of us. The girls do really well out in restaurants now so it was especially fun. They can just sit at the table like "regular" people, eat off the menu and use the utensils at the restaurant. My how far we have come!

I especially like it when Gramma comes because I get to go to the gym or go shopping by myself. It's great to have that once in a while! Thanks Gramma!

---

As the weekend came, and Daddy, Grandpa Bob, and Uncle Rye were done working, we had fun hanging out with everyone. (Daddy and I even got to go out to a movie on Friday night!). 

On Saturday, the girls went to their first horse race and loved watching the horses run fast. Before we went, we explained to the girls they were going to see some horses. Little Pie replied, "we don't ride the horse, just Nana rides the horse." (she remembers seeing the video of Nana riding a horse in AZ). 

Over the last several days the weather has been atrocious; Saturday night was no exception. On our way home from the races, we saw a funnel cloud not far from our house. When we were about a mile way from home, it suddenly down poured. When we pulled into the driveway, the sirens went off. We hurriedly went in the house and to the basement. We turned the TV on to see that a tornado had touched down a few miles from us. We looked out the window to see our yard had standing water from all the rain we had gotten that day and the days before. For some reason we decided to check to see if the sump pump was working. It wasn't. The water was almost spilling over and Daddy rushed to get buckets to try and bail it before it flooded our basement. After calls to Grandpa Bob and Papa, we determined we needed to call a plumber. We were fortunate that our plumber showed up within a half hour and replaced our sump pump. Our basement was saved!!!

big little girls

This afternoon we visited the park at our Early Childhood Center (where we go to school). We haven't been to this park since last year around knocking little ones over. 

and the girls were so thrilled when they "rediscovered" it.

I like this park for several reasons; it's enclosed within a gate so you don't have to worry about kids running out into the street, the equipment is made for preschoolers, there are woodchips instead of sand, and there aren't any "big" kids running

Last year, I remember being much more relaxed when we visited this park, even though I was still climbing around the equipment with the girls making sure they didn't fall off. 

This year, they did all the climbing themselves while I got to sit on a bench and take pictures/videos of them! 

We all had so much fun, I even reset my "time to go" timer 3 times!

games

The girls are really interested in playing games. They love to sit down with each other, with me, with grandparents or with friends and play games. 

There are a couple of games that really get them going; but some are still too advanced. We've tried Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders, but both of them take a bit too long to play (it can't hold their attention) and they don't quite get the progressive movement each piece is supposed to take. 

But, they LOVE Elefun and The Goodnight Moon Game.

It's hilarious to watch Little Pie play the Elefun game. She gets sooooo excited to see the butterflies shooting up and all over. 

Too excited in fact, because she forgets that she's supposed to try and catch them. If you were to watch her play, you would hear her yell, "Wahoo! I love butterflies! Wahoo!". She's so hilarious; she's like a little cartoon!

The Goodnight Moon game is pretty fun too. After playing with a little direction from me, they now play it all the time with just each other. 

 Little Bird likes to be in charge and lead the game. Little Pie is happy to follow along. She just likes to yell, "Wahoo! I love the Goodnight Moon Game! Wahoo!"

Seriously...sometimes it's like watching a cartoon.

outdoor seating

It was HOT today. Those are words I haven't said in a long time! I think it topped off around 87, but it felt much warmer than that. The girls had red checks and frizzy hair all day!

Along with the warm weather comes....the picnic table! Since Daddy stained the deck this weekend, we are now able to sit outside on our furniture and enjoy the warm weather.

It also means we get to EAT outside! Not only do the girls think it's fun, but I love that it is so EASY to clean up meals! I think that as long as it's not raining we will be eating 3 meals a day on the deck. Hopefully that means I only have to see my mop occasionally this summer!

The day kept getting warmer and warmer and while I already had shorts for the girls, I neglected to get sunscreen! I was kind of nervous being outside today, but we stayed in the shade as much as we could and the sun was actually not out very much.

Since lunch was such a success, we had to have dinner outside too (poor Daddy was working late and missed out on our yummy outdoor meal).

Homemade BBQ chicken pizza. (Of course I needed a cold beverage!)  The girls enjoyed waving at all the airplanes that went by. They also talked to the geese and ducks in our pond. It was very nice dinner entertainment.

Little Pie was a little distracted with the neighbor kids playing soccer. Check out those curls!! I usually wet her hair in the morning to get it curly, but today the humid air took it to a new level! I'm so glad that it appears as if she did NOT inherit my hair.

There is a downside of eating outside; random debris landing in your apple sauce.

I put off turning our air conditioning on all day; it sort of felt silly turning it on in May (especially since we will likely have our heat on by Friday). However, when I went upstairs to get the bath ready it was 84 degrees up there. Even with all the fans blowing, I still needed to turn the air on so the girls wouldn't melt. That is the one thing I don't like about this house; it gets so hot so fast and no matter if you have every window open and every fan going, it still can't cool off.

I'm looking forward to more outdoor meals! (Cleanup was such a breeze today!)

Question of the season: How will the girls handle thunderstorms? So far they still seem to be oblivious.

project, project and Mother's Day

Whew. I'm so glad last week is over! We were so busy with 'projects' that I think I fell into bed every night with a huge headache.

It all started with Daddy's glorious suggestion that we have a garage sale. We decided that if we were going to have a garage sale, we better go big or go home. The first week in May is known around these parts as Garage Sale Week. Apparently people from all over come to Maple Grove for these garage sales; so we thought we better get involved in the action.

I started weeks (actually months) ago, by going through all of the girls' clothes from their first two years. I sorted and sorted and sorted. I gave two huge plastic bins of clothes to Auntie B knowing that Little V would look darling in anything I gave her. I also boxed up about 7 diaper boxes of clothes and gave them to Daddy's cousin who is expecting a girl in June. 

Somehow I was still left with BOXES of clothes! Once again, I was sorting through the remainder. Nana came to help and we decided on prices for everything that was left. 

Over the weeks we brought up stuff from the basement, pulled out stuff that was stored on our garage shelves and pretty soon we had a pretty good looking sale ready. 

Last weekend Daddy and I really got everything put together so that I didn't have to stress out during the week. The poor girls had to hang out inside (the weather of course didn't cooperate). They were really confused about what we were doing. Finally Little Pie asked, "you doing a project mom?". Since then, every time we were in the garage, she would ask if I was done with my project yet. 

Of course Daddy had to be out of town the week of the sale, so Nana and Papa came to help. And boy were they ever LIFE SAVERS! They showed up bright and early on Thursday morning. Papa stayed in the house and played with the girls while Nana and I were outside (in the FREEZING cold) waiting to make some big bucks. The girls would peek in on us to see how the project was going. 

Nana stayed the night so that she could help me the next day. Daddy took the girls to ECFE (that was a real treat for both girls and Daddy!). Thankfully the day was much nicer so the girls could join us outside. We had a picnic lunch in between "customers". It turned out to be a pretty good day. It was just fun to be outside again and talk to the neighbors we haven't seen since last fall!

Overall the sale went well. We got rid of ALL the girls clothes (a friend of a friend expecting twin girls cleaned me out!). We got rid of a lot of stuff and only have a few boxes to donate. Even though I was really not looking forward to everything that's involved in a garage sale, I'm really glad we did it!

With one project down, we got going on project #2 on Saturday. (The girls are probably wondering why nice weather means we are always busy around the house!) Daddy stained the deck on Saturday so that we could finally get our lawn furniture out and start enjoying the nice weather (...when it comes back). All day Saturday, the girls were wondering when Daddy would be done with his project.

To cap off a very busy week and weekend, we had a very nice Mother's Day. We went to brunch with Nana, Papa, Uncle Drew, Gramcracker, Magra and Boompa. The girls were very good at brunch. I think Little Pie's favorite meal is now brunch; boy did she eat a lot of pancakes!

It is so special that the girls got to spend Mother's Day with not only their mother, but a grandmother and TWO great grandmothers!

ring around the rosie

The girls are REALLY into Ring Around the Rosie again. 

They love to sing it with friends...

They love to sing it with each other...

And they love to sing it with Uncle Rye...

They just LOVE to perform!

a princess picnic

I admit, I was quite into the royal wedding. I recorded at least 8 hours of coverage on BBCAmerica and all of NBC's coverage. There was no way I was getting up in the middle of the night, but I was so excited to watch, I did get up by 6. 

I got through the good stuff (seeing Kate's dress) before Little Pie woke up and joined me. She thought it was pretty fun (maybe because I let her eat her breakfast on the couch, gasp!). She kept saying, "there's the princess!" and "they are at church" and "I like the wedding". It was fun to have a girly moment with her.

After getting home from ECFE, I made us a picnic lunch so we could continue to watch the rest of the wedding while we ate. The girls thought this was amazing!

Little Pie was a bit more into the spectacle than Little Bird. After we were finished watching, she asked to watch "the wedding" again. 

While people may go back and forth about whether the whole "princess" thing is good or bad to expose young girls to, I just enjoyed being "girly" with my girls and watching what is basically just a very happy occasion. 

Plus, Little Pie didn't really correctly understand what a princess actually is; while looking at one of Daddy's and my wedding pictures, she exclaimed, "another princess!"

Maybe she did really get it...