Trip To The Park

My boys are just that... Boys. They love to be outside, playing in the dirt, the wind, the sunshine. I try to get them outside at least once a day to get some good sunshine and fresh air. It has been very easy to do this living in Northern California having a BEAUTIFUL winter. It has been sunny and in the 60's and 70's every day. We have had 2 days of rain since we moved here. It is a horrible drought, and we are definitely praying for rain for the crops and the land, but it is just so beautiful out, we have to take advantage of every ounce of it.

We headed to a new park (New to us) in town. We have always gone to Sycamore park that has a nice walking path, a skate park, a swimming pool, tennis courts and an amazing "Little one's" playground. Perfect for my kids. This time, we headed to Jensen Park (I'm pretty sure, correct me if I'm wrong). It has little league baseball fields, a great picnic area, and 2 large playgrounds. They are a little too big for my kids with monkey bars and big slides, but they were able to climb and run some energy out.

It was such a beautiful day. We went around 4 so the sun was slowly going down, but it was still in the low 60's. They ran around and we headed home for some dinner, because after all the playing, they were STARVED.

Mission Potty Training: Complete.

I officially have one potty trained child in the house. Can I get a happy dance, hallelujah, amen, jump for joy...???

I'm scared to potty train Collyn now, because honestly, Alden's potty training experience was a breeze to say the least. It wasn't that hard at all. I think my one secret,.... I wasn't too worried about him potty training, so I didn't push the issue.

In November, I introduced Alden to potty training. We bought the potty seat, bought the underwear and away we went. The first 2 weeks were pretty successful. The poo part was an issue. He wasn't too confident about going on the potty. Then, we headed to Idaho for Thanksgiving and potty training was thrown out the window for a week. We occasionally made our way to the bathroom while we were on our trip, but nothing too big.

The day after we got home from Idaho, we jumped right back in. I would ask every hour if he needed to go, yes or no. If it had been a couple hours we would go in "just to try". He started getting the hang out it.

This last week he has been dry at night and at nap time. He knows after any "sleeping time" he has to go in and try to go. He is still in pull-ups at night, just in case. But, he does wear underwear during nap time.

Tips for Potty Training:

1. Don't push the issue. Your child will not be in Kindergarten with a diaper on. I promise. They will eventually get the idea of the potty.

2. Make it fun. Thank goodness for technology today, I would give Alden our Kindle with a little educational game or a TV show on Netflix. It helped to learn going Number Two because he wasn't concentrated on the potty itself.

3. Most of the time, candy and sticker rewards don't work. Not saying they do on occasion. I don't think kids understand the concept at such a young age. I tried the M&M trick. Alden would sit on the potty and then ask for his candy without doing anything. We threw that trick out the window after day 2.

4. Buy lots and lots and lots of pairs of underwear.... and let them pick them out. I think I literally have 20 pairs of little boy underwear. And, you will go through them. I did a load of laundry each day with a few pairs in there for the first few weeks of laundry. When you know you have lots of backups, you worry less. :)

Merry Christmas 2013

What a wonderful Christmas! I hope all of you had a very merry Christmas. It was fun in our house, let me tell you!

We were up, bright and early at 6 AM. Santa came!!!

Alden received exactly what he asked for: A Buzz Lightyear. Collyn got what he asked for: A Woody doll. Santa went even farther than that. The boys also got a Jessie Doll and a Bullseye. PLUS a new work bench and a large Goofy stuffed animal.

It was so fun to see the excitement on their faces, getting to play with their new toys for the first time. After about 20 minutes of playing, we started opening presents from under the tree and from family.



I got a new Keurig coffee maker. I'm in heaven. Plus some amazing amazing amazing cookbooks! Lyndon got some clothes, a remote control helicopter and a new video game. Alden got clothes, a fire station toy, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates toys. Collyn got an Ark shape sorter, clothes, and a tractor. We also got gift cards from family.

We spent the whole morning and afternoon in our jammies playing with our new "Toys". I had a fresh cup of a caramel mocha, Lyndon played with his helicopter, and the boys played Toy Story together. It was such a fun, relaxing day. We Skyped both our families and wished them all a Merry Christmas from sunny California.

In the afternoon, we headed out to a friend our ours' house for a Christmas Dinner of Prime Rib. It was delicious, but of course, I ate way too many snacks during the day that I couldn't eat half my meal. It was so good, I wish I could have shoved more down my throat! The boys played with some friends there and we chatted until the boys got tired. Then, we headed home.

Meeting Santa

We headed to the Chico Mall this last weekend to meet Santa. We stood in line for about 20 minutes, spent over $20 for 2 4x6 photos so Alden could tell Santa he wanted a Buzz Lightyear for Christmas.

Collyn wanted NOTHING to do with Santa. He sat on his lap because his brother did, but he was not happy about it. Alden was thrilled to meet the big guy!

Christmas Caroling 2013

Some of the members of the church went caroling last Saturday evening. We went to 11 different locations to sing. It was perfect weather out to go. A nice 40-45 degrees out.

The first stop was at a assisted living facility. They have their own apartments, but have a central location for events. We met in that building and sang a few songs. They had cookies, punch, hot cocoa, and other goodies for us. The boys loved the attention from all the elderly people and Alden loved acting like he was singing.

We then went house to house to other members of our church to sing. On the fourth stop, Collyn was getting really sleepy, because he was still sick and on an antibiotic and I had given him Benedryl to dry up his nose. He was laying on my shoulder the whole time, so I decided that Collyn and I would head home and Lyndon would take Alden with him.

They went to all the stops and then enjoyed pizza at the church.

It was a fun night for all. Even if we did only make it half way through. ;)

Oh, Sickness... Again

Well, before Thanksgiving, we all got colds. We headed to Idaho with colds, came home with colds and dealt with them for 2 more weeks, but no one was getting better, we were all getting worse.

Last Monday, we decided to go to the doctor to get checked out. We didn't have a family doctor here yet, so we went to an office with Walk-Ins in the afternoon. Thankfully, we liked the doctor and found our family doctor.

After we were all checked out.... We all have sinus infections/ear infections. We are all on antibiotics and the boys have been laid out most of the week.

Well, sort of... Collyn likes to cuddle with his brother...

Christmas Program 2013

This is the first year our little guys were able to be in the Christmas program at church. Both Alden and Collyn got up on stage and "sang". Alden spent a good 2 months in his Sunday school class learning the songs and dance moves. He was so into it. Collyn just enjoyed being up with the older kids and moving his mouth like he knew the words.

Of course, I dressed them up and brushed their hair in the "comb-over" style, because nothing is more adorable than that!

The boys performing...

Lyndon was part of the Adult choir and they had a good 30 minute show