Oh, the Joys of Parenting!!

This is how our day started! I got Mara this way cute hat at the Disney Warehouse up in Salt Lake on Union Park Ave. It was only $3.oo, regularly $14.00 in park. (They sell older merchandise from Disneyland and California Adventure. I try to go up every few months and usually find some really good deals.) So anyway, I got out the hat and she loves it!!! I just hope that she will wear it alot to make my 3 bucks worth it. LOL

And then, for the past month, Mara has decided that she needed to go potty. Nothing has happened yet, but it is an every day thing. She will go running down the hallway towards the bathroom and say "I need go potty". So I run after her with a new diaper and sit her down and we wait. (Her diaper is usually already wet, so I think that her brain just isn't catching on fast enough to get to the potty in time.) After a few minutes I tell her that we are done and then try to get her to put a diaper back on. This is when the battle ensues. She will stand up and say that she is done and then the moment I show her a diaper she will say "I need go potty" and sit back down! Now this lasts for another few minutes, until I have had enough and then I fight to get a diaper on her, which I usually have to pin her on the floor or try to put it on her while she is standing. (This is not fun, she is almost 2 and has started into the tantrums) So today after her nap, she ran to the bathroom and the process began. After a few minutes I decided that I needed to get a picture of her at least sitting on the potty to scrapbook and blog, even though nothing has happened yet. (don't mind the hair, I didn't re-do it today) When I came back into the bathroom I could smell something!!!!! Sure enough, she pooped!!! So I made a big deal and cleaned her up! And she still didn't want a diaper on!! So at least there has been some progress. So anyway, I had to share!!

If you don't want to see a flash of poop in a training potty don't watch the video!!! LOL

New Family Pictures

Last week we went to Target and did our first "real" family picture. I say "real" meaning, professional, in studio, actually paying someone to take our picture. We usually just have my mom or sister take our picture in the backyard or something. But I just love the look of studio pictures! And my kids are more behaved when we are doing things like this. I know that I put the pictures on the side bar, but I felt that they needed a post too! We get to pick up the pictures next Monday, and then I can complete my wall of pictures, and finally post that too :) Little by little I am making the space that we are living in feel more like MY home then my mothers.

What Princess Are You?

I found this on Kristen's blog, and thought it was cute!


You Are Cinderella!

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Dinosaurs!!!

I am a little behind in the blogging, but on Wednesday Pat didn't have his afternoon classes. But he had to do some school work, in the form of visiting historical sites for his Utah History class. So we ventured to Salt Lake for most of them, on the way we went to Thanksgiving Point and did the Dinosaur Museum. This was the first time we have taken Xander, so he was excited and had alot of fun. Here are some of the highlights :)

More Birthday!

"You Are My Cup of Tea"

Pat gave me the rest of my birthday present last night!! Here is another Disney Park Exclusive Precious Moments figurine. I am very lucky to get this one. My sister Karri was in Disneyland in December, and was looking for the Mickey one that I got on sunday, and saw this one! She called me and sent me a picture and I told her to buy it for me. So she tried, only to find out that you could only buy it online for 4 days!!! So I jumped online and bought it from a Disney website!! We were so lucky!! They had another one that was a little girl riding in Dumbo, but I liked the Minnie one better (since I was getting the Micky figure too!) I love Precious Moments, and have bought or recieved 8 Disney figurines since last May when I went to Disneyland and found Aurora!! I will have to take pics and post what other figurines that I have.

Birthday

I just want to say a very heart felt THANK YOU to Natalie. You are so awesome to take my kids for me, and even pick Xander up from school! My pedicure was great, and a nice way to start my birthday :)

Today is my 27th birthday! I started the day with the above mentioned pedicure, then I went to the mall and got a few new shirts :) Then I got my kids and met up with Pat and his sister Lana for lunch! THANK YOU Lana for lunch! It was great :) After getting home and putting Mara down for a nap, Xander and I watched the live-action Peter Pan!! Pat got me this movie for a late christmas present. I love the music to it. (listen to "I do believe in fairies" in my playlist) They use the music from the movie in the Disneyland commercials!! And my sister Karri even made the music into a ring tone, so I have it on my phone!!! I LOVE IT!!!! Now I am just waiting for my mom to come home, so Pat and I can go to dinner and a movie!! (we are seeing "Definetly, Maybe")

Birthday's are fun. I was just going to hang out at home and do nothing today, but Natalie surprised me with watching my kids, and the day has just snowballed!! It is nice to know that I am loved and have great friends and family that can help make my day special :)

ZzZzZzZz...

I am very grateful for good sleepers. Both Xander and Mara sleep through the night, which is heavenly!! Xander only started sleeping all night long regularly when we got him a twin bed last spring. It is a very rare occasion that he wakes up at night. We were able to teach Mara at a young age to sleep all night, but she will wake every so often, and when she does it takes awhile for her to go back to sleep. We usually just turn down the room moniter and go back to sleep ourselves. But last night was different. She woke up around 1:30 and just called out "mom" alot. So of course I just laid in bed, waiting. We try not to get her out of bed unless nessecary, because she definetly won't go back to sleep! So after a few minutes, she began to cry. And the great husband that I have, got up to check on her :) It ended up that she had wet out of her pj's and needed a change of diaper and clothes. When Pat went to put her back to bed, he noticed that her sheets were wet too. So then we had to change her sheets!! And through all this, Xander didn't even move!! He is amazing! He is able to ignore her during the night, or he just sleeps really hard! LOL Mara was able to go back to sleep, but it didn't last long. She woke up at 4:30 needing a drink of water. Pat had forgotten to put her cup back in her bed after changing the sheets. At least that second waking didn't last too long. So I am a little tired today, I am used to getting more sleep because my kids are great sleepers :) At least Mara slept in until 8:30!! (8:00 is the usually waking time for both kids) I just hope that they will always sleep well! :)

Early and Late Birthdays

Last night we had a birthday celebration for me and Pat. Pat's bday is on the 5th and mine is on the 20th, so we always celebrate them together with my family. We both got mainly cash (which is awesome!) But I did get a few items :)

Here is our family effort at blowing out the candles :)

My mom gave me this awesome card from Hallmark that playes "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from Mary Poppins!!! (It is one of my most favorite movies) And Mara was dancing on my lap to the music :)

My mom also got me this wall hanging that says:

"I believe stars in the sky are openings where our loved ones shine down to let us know they are happy"

We saw this when we were at Swiss Days in September, and it made me cry because I thought of my dad.

Then Pat gave me this sweet Precious Moments figure from Disneyland. (Thanks again Karri for picking it up for us!!) I love it so much!! It has the theme on it "Where Dreams Come True". Oh how I love Disney :)

So happy late bday to Pat, and happy early bday to me :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

These are my attempts at doing cute Valentine's pictures. Mara doesn't sit still very well, so after each picture, she would run away!!! At least I was able to get some good ones. (The one in our title is my favorite)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!!

New Windows!!!! Yipee!!!!

We have been living with my mom for 3 years now. This house is a little over 30 years old, and still has the original windows in the basement (where we sleep). The basement has always been cold, but whenever it is cold outside there is a breeze that comes through the windows. Our bed is directly under our window, and I can always feel the cold air on my face when I am going to sleep. In the kids room, Mara's crib is under their window, and my mom is always so worried about her being cold, enough that she bought some new pjs for her. So finally after talking with my mom, we got new windows!!!
Our room
Goodbye old, single pane, drafty windows!!
Kids room

Our room
Hello, beautiful nice and warm windows!!

Kids room

I am so excited to go to sleep tonight and actually be warm!!! This is going to be great! We didn't only replace the windows for the bedrooms, but all 6 windows in the basement. :)
THANKS AGAIN MOM!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!