Gabby Birthday Party, McCall, Potty Training, Bridal Shower

Well if you've read the post title you guessed correctly that it was a crazy busy week. On Monday afternoon I threw Gabby her first friend's birthday party. There were 11 girls total and it was kind of nuts. It worked out pretty good and everyone had fun but it was a little more stressful than I thought it would be. I was glad when the party was over. The girls decorated their own Valentine cookies and then they played a bunch of minute to win it games, had a pinata, and watched Gabby open presents. Gabby loved it so that's all that really matters.

As soon as we were done we hurried and cleaned up the party, got in the car, picked up Corbin at school and headed to McCall. I've been wanting to go to a hotel or do something fun with our kids for awhile. We had stake conference last weekend and I thought lets get out of town (since I'm a primary teacher and always have to find a sub). I contacted my brother Hart to see if we could possibly stay in his time share in McCall. He said the weekends were always booked but we could stay on a week day. So I thought, why not? The condo was about the size of our house. It was awesome. The kids thought they had died and gone to heaven. We basically in door camped for the night. It was great. We all got on our suits and went to the pool but the water was freezing. Even our kids wouldn't swim in it. So we were huddled in a tiny hot tub with other people. After 10 minutes we just went back to the condo for the kids to swim in the tub. We just ate lots of junk food, played games, and watched movies. Check out was at noon the next day. We drove around the town of McCall because it's a cute little town and then we drove home.

That night Corbin had a scouts family dinner and I went to The Boy with a friend. It was dumb. On Wednesday I started potty training!

I got the idea on Sunday that maybe I could potty train Ryan. He's been tugging at his diapers more and he's really annoying during his diaper changes. Plus I much prefer potty training in the winter since you are stuck indoors anyway. I normally like to start on a Monday but there wasn't an available Monday any time soon and when I want to do something I want to do it! I ordered his underwear online on Monday and it was supposed to arrive on Tuesday but then it didn't come until Wednesday evening. I could not wait another day to start, I already felt like I was two days behind. So I borrowed some giant old underwear from a friend and started with those.

Finally around 10:00 in the morning on Wednesday I was ready to start. I got Ryan in a shirt and underwear and he was not happy! He was crying and freaking out. I had to hold him on my lap for the first hour plus. He happily ate crackers and drank capri suns. After awhile the accidents began and I rushed him to the potty where he screamed. I grabbed some books and made him sit while I read to him and he screamed. He finally calmed down and got comfortable with the potty chair. Then we just repeated all day long. I thought he had it early on. At one point he was sitting down and started to pee and stopped himself and said, "pee" and we rushed to the toilet. I was like YES, he's got it already. Well five days later he does not have it. He hasn't really done that since. Wha, wha. Around 5:00 pm his new underwear finally came in the mail and that was pretty exciting for him to open his package of new undies.

Day two
He woke up wet in the morning but stayed dry during his nap that day. Pretty much same as day one. Catch him in an accident, rush to toilet. The good thing about Ryan is that when I would catch him with his accident he would finish on the toilet. That was a pretty big deal. I think with Piper she wouldn't release in the toilet so to get out all of her pee from one incident I would maybe go through 6 pairs of underwear. Woof!

Day three
He woke up wet in the morning (poor buddy was a frozen pop cycle). I really tried to focus on waiting for him to tell me he needed to pee or start having an accident before I took him to the potty. (In the days before he had just casually gone potty a few times when maybe Piper was going potty or something and not really because he felt and understood the urge). He drank 3 capri suns and I waited 4 hours for him to finally start peeing. That was long. For 2 of those hours I was intently waiting to jump into action. He finally spilled and I put him down for a nap. He woke from his nap dry. He got two very tiny poops in the toilet that day. That was a big victory! Piper held in her poop for like a week when I was potty training her. It was awful!

Day 4
He woke up dry! I was pretty busy making cookies and getting things ready for a bridal shower I was co-hosting with a friend. He went poop in his underwear when I wasn't watching him. Again this is much better than holding it in. Still tried best as we could to catch accidents and go to toilet.

Day 5 today
He woke up dry! He still won't tell me when he needs to pee or rush himself to the toilet. I'm not sure if he's going to get it.

Things he has learned; bladder control, he wakes up dry from naps and in the morning. He can pee on command if necessary, (like before church). He has gotten poop in the toilet.

He is over my constant watching and asking him to tell me if he needs to pee. He yells at me every time I ask him. At this point it's just a matter of figuring out if he's going to do it or not. It's like when Scott tried to make Corbin say "banana" for 30 minutes when he wasn't ready to talk yet. Ryan knows what's happening but is he ready to take the responsibility for it? I'm not sure. I don't know at what point to throw in the towel. I'm pretty determined but if he doesn't fully get it I will put him back in diapers. I am not into dealing with accidents for 6 months. If my kids don't get it and aren't accident free they go back in diapers. So we'll see. He's young. By next week he will either be accident free or back in diapers. Stay tuned...

Planing and executing a birthday party, family trip, potty training, and bridal shower was a bit insane. Hope next week is less crazy...

Scott had a second job interview and it went well. To be continued...

Kid Quotes:
Ryan: While I was getting him dressed for church he called out, "Gabby, it's time for church!"
He has gotten used to me being right next to him over the last several days. He was at the table eating crackers and drinking juice and I went and said something to Scott, I came back and Ryan pointed at the bench and said, "SIT!"
During church during the prayer, "Prayers Piper, Prayers!" Because Piper was not folding her arms.

Piper:
Piper is on some crazy kick. She is so concerned about growing up. She wants to be a kid forever. She has been talking about it constantly. "Mom, I have something to tell you," me:"what", P:"I never want to be a mom, I want to be a kid forever. Isn't it so sad that I never want to be a mom?" She's a nut. She's also a perfectionist and she's really concerned that she won't be able to cook like me when she grows up or be able to play the piano. She is so concerned about life!You're 4! Calm down.

Gabby:
After Gabby came home from school on Friday, "So mom, how's potty training going?" Ha.

The McCall condo except there was tons of snow.

Cookie Decorating (Gabby wanted it to be a costume party)

Catch the marshmallows in cup game

Who can blow the most cotton balls in a minute game.

Pinata!

Keep balloon in the air.

Presents!

Gabby and Piper have been the best cheerleaders. They come and clap and congratulate Ryan with every victory.

Painting while waiting for next spill. 

Movie night!

My friend Jess. She was one of my young woman back the day. I never really talked to her then. She married and not so good guy and had a baby and got divorced. She's been living with her parents for several years now and we've become good friends. We work out together 3 times a week. She's getting married again. Yay!

Toilet Paper Wedding Dress

Jury Duty

I was on call for jury duty all last week. When I called in on Sunday they said they didn't have any cases going to trial on Tuesday and to call back Tuesday afternoon. So Monday was a holiday, and no cases on Tuesday. On Wednesday I had to call in at 9:15 in the morning and I was fully expecting to have to go in but no, my trial was settled and my jury duty services were over. Nice! 

I had some of that same luck on Monday when we went to PoJos for Gabby's birthday. I won 200 tickets on Deal or No Deal. Ya! Which means out of 25 cases I picked the winning case. The kids had a good time as usual playing at PoJos. 

I finally finished my friend's last chair! That took forever. It was a lot harder and more time consuming that I thought it was going to be, but it turned out so I'm happy. I went to Savers one night and found 6 matching dining chairs that I couldn't pass up. Actually I texted some people to see if anyone needed or wanted them and then I decided to go back the next morning and buy them regardless. Scott's sister might buy them when I'm done if she likes them but if not I will try to sell them on Craigslist or something. The chairs are a little more light weight than I thought and the wood is really soft. We will see if this project works out. Either way it will keep me busy for awhile.

Scott had a promising job interview that we are still waiting to hear more about. I think he will have his second interview next week. We both would really like it to work out but we will see. 

Found this cute picture on Scott's phone with my dad working on our new sink surrounded by kiddos.

Winning!

Do you see me all the way back there collecting all of my tickets. Haha! It's a good thing I don't live by Vegas. Ha.

The chairs before. Ugs!

After. It looks good! Ha.

Next project. I mean can you see the cuteness potential?

Gabby's Birthday

Last week was pretty much same old busy times. It was Gabby's birthday on Saturday. She ended up going to another girl in her kindergarten class's birthday party that day. We were going to go to PoJo's in the afternoon but it was insanely busy. We walked in and walked right back out with a crying Gabby and a screaming Ryan. We had to talk Gabby down and let her know that we would go on Monday when it wasn't so busy. We took the kids to Burger King instead and they ate and played in the playhouse. When we got home from that we just did cake and presents then because Gabby did not want to wait any longer. Why not? We will go to PoJo's next week and I'm throwing her a very late friend's birthday party as I am on call for jury duty all next week. Birthdays really should be celebrated for an extended period of time anyway right? Yes!

We got a babysitter and went to our friend's prom party last night. We all got dressed up and had a great time. Our friends have a huge stained cement basement so it was perfect. I stuffed my face too much and we played several games and danced and watched you tube videos and I knew my date was into me so it was pretty much the best prom ever! Ha. 

Ryan is super cute and super terrible. I love when he talks. He will call out, "Dabby, where are you?" He is kind of a mean bully beast around other children. I have to watch him like a hawk when we are interacting with other children. He is super mean to anyone that gets near anything he thinks is his. This morning as soon as I got up the little three were all in the bathroom with me immediately. Ryan kicked his foot out towards Piper and said, "Shoo." Ha. He's lovely! 

Scott went to return a Redbox movie at a different drop off and Piper asked where dad went. I told him he went to return the movie. She said, "Inside Out? He's returning the movie? What! Without the Red box!" It was funny.

You're not quite on the bed little buddy.

These two are so cute. Love them together.

Gabby Birthday!

Scott and I went to "the prom" last night. We ate lots of food, played some games, and watched some funny you-tube videos. All in all it was definitely better than any high school prom.

I did a mock up first. It really helped for hanging up the pictures. Totally hung it all myself and only had to re-do one misplaced nail. That's super impressive for me. Ha.

I've been wanting to do wall like this for a long time. Finally did it. Decorating is HARD for me to do but it was a success!

Corbin's Baptism

Last week I was busy preparing for Corbin's baptism yesterday. I don't mind doing the work but it does stress me out to actually think of what to make and how much to make. I was baking and cooking most of the week. I also used it as an excuse and motivator to do some deep cleaning in my house. Whenever I do jobs like that it makes me appreciate some of the benefits of a small house. 

On Tuesday night I went to the stake women's conference and it was really good. It was a little long but good. I couldn't believe the amount of work that went into that. They served us dinner and the tables were fully decorated. Then we had a program that was close to 1 1/2 hours (like I said too long). They had women stand up and dramatize different women's faith in every footstep stories. Real life stories, some of women from the scriptures but mostly everyday women's stories. In between that there were narrations and musical numbers. Afterwards they had homemade fudge for everyone. There had to be at least 200 women there. I'm glad I wasn't in charge of that!

Scott's family drove up Friday night. They arrived in town just in time to have a pizza dinner party at the pool. The kids had a great time swimming. The next day my parents helped me set up everything for the baptism luncheon. It was so great to have their help. Corbin's baptism was perfect. The program wasn't too long and he was the first one to get baptized. He was also the only one to get baptized in our ward so when he was set apart it was just him. As soon as he was set apart we had the luncheon in that room. It worked out really well. I especially loved when Scott confirmed Corbin. I loved the words that he spoke.

The rest of the day everyone kind of relaxed and took it easy. That night we had burgers and went swimming again. We joined the Cannons for breakfast at the hotel this morning and then they headed home.

Gabby quotes:
"I wonder what Ryan will be like when he grows up? Like Corbin? A meany?"

Me:"Don't throw away apples ever." G:"don't throw them away ever? Why?" Me: "Because we don't waste food and you guys are always begging for apples and if you waste them I'm not going to buy them." G:"ok I see your point." Ha.

Last night at the hotel Gabby went up first to find the hotel room and she never found it. I went up and I thought everyone was there and  we were in the room for a good 10 minutes. When we were ready to go down to the pool I realized that Gabby was not in the room. I quickly went out looking for her first going straight to the pool area. I found her down by the pool. That was really sad and scary for her. I didn't realize she was missing so I only had to panic for 30 seconds before I found her. It made me feel bad that I hadn't noticed she wasn't in the room and also that she was lost in a hotel. That is so scary. A mom was there helping her. I tell my kids that if they are ever lost they need to go find a mom and she will help them. I learned that from the book Protecting the Gift (everyone parent should read it). She knew our names and the hotel room number but she didn't know my phone number so we need to work on that. Here's some of our conversations from that...

G:"I prayed to find the number and it didn't work." Me:" But you found the nice lady." G:"Ya, maybe that's how it worked."

G: "She was nice and I didn't even know her." Me:"There are a lot of nice people in the world." G:"and a lot of bad people." Me: "That's true."

Scott's conversation with Gabby,
G:"I was so scared when I was lost." Scott:"How did you get lost anyway?" G:"It's kind of a long story." Ha!

Ryan was such a beast during the baptism yesterday. He was extra crabby and horrible. This picture of him fighting me is awesome. Ha.