I'm Going Off the Rails on a Crazy Potty Train.........

Ok, so this is more an exciting milestone for me...... the one who gets to have the fun of potty training. Today, for the first time ever, Joey sat on the Elmo potty seat and went potty in the toilet! HURRAY!!!! He has peed outside before, but today was the first time on the actual toilet! YAHOO!!!!

Oh, and a funny memory for me of David....when David was learning to potty train, once he started to pee he would shout with a huge smile on his face "I'm doing it! I'm doing it!"

Man, what I wouldn't give for NO MORE DIAPERS! Or for now, I'd settle for just at night. (This picture has nothing to do with potty training, just a cute shot of him from a recent outing to Old Poway Park)

A Few Random Things

Me to the Boys: "Let's play Candyland." (They go to get the game and David returns without the box)
David: "Ann, the game board is missing."
Me: "What did you say?"
David: "The game board is missing, Ann!"
Well now, I wasn't even sure he knew my name.


My Grandma, Sally Holley, turned 98 on April 12th. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go see her. So much going on with my Mom.... more to follow. Happy Birthday Granny!


David and Joey started swim lessons again this week while Rose is at school. While they don't have their same teachers, they did get to see them again and both teachers were VERY excited to each one. It was so nice to see how sweet they both were to each boy! And the boys were delighted to see them too. They are getting right back into it, almost as if 9 months hadn't even passed. Rose did get to see her old swim teacher last week at the soccer park. He happened to be the coach for the team the boys were playing. They were both delighted to see each other too. Rose would LOVE to get back into lessons too. That girl does love to swim!

Overheard:
David to Joey: "That's SO annoying!"
David to Me: "Mommy, isn't that interesting?"
Rose and David: "Oh, that's gotta hurt...." (usually when they see a character die in a game)

When Rose was a baby and just getting the hang of talking, she would call her cousin Owen Owney. Rose also used to say "no-me, no-me no-me..." and "abita-abita-abita" was another favorite. She also used to say "mana-mana juice" when she wanted juice.

When Owen was just getting the hang of talking, he would say something that sounded like itchy-bomb. Every once in a while Andy and I will say to one or the other: itchy-bomb. What a great expression!

I LOVE the smell of Crayola brand crayons. There is nothing better than when the kids open the tub of crayons to color. Mmmmm....... Brand new dollar bills and Scotch brand tape smell fantastic too.

Happy Anniversary Baby, Got You On My Mind

Last Friday, April 16th, Andy and I celebrated our 9th anniversary of our first date. We went to the Outback Steakhouse...hey, it's close and we like it, then headed to Conway's Irish Pub, the site of our first date. Everyone already knows, but we met on matchmaker.com and decided to meet at the Pub for a few drinks to meet. Well, here we are 9 years later..... BLISSFULLY married. (Ok, married anyway.....) We had a great evening and stayed out all the way to 10 PM! Late for us, well, late for me. Thanks for the great date night, Mr. L!

So THAT'S Why We Bought the Van!

Hey, it's me.... the soccer mom! Yep, we finally got the kids involved with organized sports, and for the most part, they are enjoying it. A flier was sent home from school with Rose advertising an upcoming soccer league at the local indoor soccer arena. The flier touted "All Games.... No Boring Practices...." and best of all.... "No Experience Required." Sounded right up our alley, so I called and signed them all up. David and Joey are on the same team, the Mavericks, in youngest division. Rose is on the M&M's in the next division up. The boys do a lot more watching their shadows, looking in the stands and wrestling each other (when they are on the field together which the coach figured out not to do).....but hey, they are out there getting some exercise! Rose really does try.... but it's hard when you don't really know what you are doing. Fortunately for her, there are a few really good players on her team. They have won all the games they have played. Now the boys team.... fortunately they don't keep score for that level. They are out there enjoying it, and that's all that matters...... Oh come on, winning is really what it's all about! GO MAVERICKS & M&M's!!!!! Oh, and with the money we spent to have them in the league, you would figure we could at least get some shirts that FIT!

Not PUDDLE!

What is it about the lure of puddles? What kid can resist the Siren's call of a good puddle, big or small? With all the rain we have been having, some pretty good puddles have been forming in the parking lot where we pick Rose up after school. And as if giant puddles weren't enough.....there are also STONES to throw in too! Recently, I picked up Rose, plus the usual extras, Madeline, Tyler, Lexie..... (I think Owen was sick that day) and let them all have a good play in the puddles. (without getting all that wet.... after all, I didn't want to get in trouble with the parents!) Let it Rain, Let it Rain, Let it RAIN!

In this picture, Tanner, a boy from Rose's class in the black & white shirt, is throwing a rubber snake in the puddle. Man, life is good! (It's in front of Lexie and her blue backpack.)

The Easter Bunny Cometh....Again

Sometimes this whole blogging thing is hard! It's tough to write a whole story about something....so I'm just going to share some pictures of the past weekend. I can't believe a year has already gone by, and here Passover and Easter are here again!

Highlights:

Saturday: went to an egg hunt hosted by my Mom's church then colored eggs

Sunday: found the Easter Bunny had indeed come, went to lunch with my Mom, hit up the park after. Missed the 7.2 earthquake as we were driving at the time. Too bad.....earthquakes are always fun....turbulence too when I'm flying. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and Passover!

The Great Egg Hunt!

Today was David's spring party and egg hunt at school. There was a sign up sheet for a few weeks prior with all sorts of things to bring. I signed up for pepperoni as they were making english muffin pizzas. (Plus, all the other easy choices had been taken.....napkins and plates) The slot for "2 dozen sugar cookies to be frosted" sat permanently vacant, so Wednesday, I added my name to bring them. I couldn't let the kiddies be sugar deprived right before Easter! Well, as EVERYONE knows, I am extremely challenged in the art of culinary skills. Every time the kids decorate cookies at school, there are always perfectly-perfect cookies to decorate. I have no idea who normally brings them, but they didn't step up to the plate on this occasion. I consulted my friend Kelly who is usually the type to present just those perfect cookies and asked her how she does it. I followed her advise and got the super secret cookie mix (when she isn't making them from scratch from Martha Stewart's recipe) and gave it a go. I followed the directions to the T, lovingly rolled them out with the rolling pin my first boyfriend Scott Bingham's step-mom gave me 28 years ago, and cut them out with a glass, making sure they were perfectly shaped. What I forgot to take into consideration was expansion. The end result were perfectly-perfect sugar cookies the size of Joey's head! Well, I was almost embarrassed to bring them in, but I had no other choice as I had no back up plan. I made them last night and wasn't about to run to the store to try it all again. I was sure they wouldn't have enough frosting to decorate them all, they were so big. I planned to stop by the store on my way to school this AM and pick up an extra can of frosting just in case, but of course I ran late and wasn't able to. In the end, there was enough frosting, but just barely. The kids loved them, the other helpers in the classroom asked how I got them so big and perfect and one of the parents commented on how good they were, having sampled them, not knowing I had made them. "Oh, these silly things? It was nothing, really...."

The kids had a great time making pizzas (and by the way, they put me on cooking duty for the pizzas too...Mrs. Martin obviously has no idea what she sort of culinary prowess she is dealing with). As for the party and egg hunt, they were a success. The kids all had donned their bunny ear head bands and bunny bags they had made, and went on the hunt for eggs with their names on them. It was fun to watch and listen to them shriek to each other they had found one, or alerting friends they had seen theirs. I was a little sad that I didn't have Joey there too, but his day will come.....like tomorrow, when we take them all to another egg hunt!

Side note, Rose had an egg hunt yesterday at school too, but parents weren't invited to come. We did go early to pick her up today and listen to the class sing a few aquatic songs. They just finished studying oceanography. They were cute. Oh, and next week is Spring Break..... YAY!! A whole week of NOT hearing "I don't want to go to school!"