At my wits end!

I have a dilemma and I need some advice.  My son will be 3 in a month and has been potty trained for a while now...well we thought he was.  He goes number one in the toilet, although many times he wants me to go in the bathroom with him, but he goes number two in his pants.  When we first started potty training he went number two in the toilet a few times but now he will hold it and go in his pants.  I am so tired of cleaning it up, sometimes even multiple times a day, and its very stressful in public.  We have tried rewarding him with suckers for going in the toilet, and now he is only allowed to play on the computer when he goes in the toilet, but nothing is working!  I would like him to start pre-school in the fall but I am worried that this will be an issue.  Yesterday he told me he had to go (which never happens), so I sat with him in the bathroom for nearly 20 minutes and he finally went.  He was really determined and did not want to leave the bathroom until he went.  I was so happy, and we cheered and clapped, and got suckers and...today he went in his pants twice.  I sat in the bathroom with him again today but he just would not do it, five minutes after he got off, he went in his pants.  Help me!  I do not know what to do.  I have been reading online that this is normal and he will stop when he is ready, well that does not make things any easier!  I would really hate to have to backtrack and put him in a pull-up.  Have any of you had this problem?  Oh an P.S.  my daughter did not do this so I am new to this issue.

Christmas in May?

Hello friends!  I was going through my pictures yesterday and came across some from around Christmas time.  Last Christmas we had two Christmas trees, the regular one and the kids one in the basement/playroom.  All the ornaments on it were handmade.  Since I did not blog at that time...I will post about it now.  We used salt dough to make them, and there are a million recipes on the web for it with some variations.  Here is one:

Basic Salt Dough Recipe

Ingredients:

■1 cup of fine salt

■1 cup of flour

■1/2 cup of water (may add more)

Instructions:

■In a large bowl, combine the salt and the flour
■Make a well in the salt/flour mixture and add the water
■Knead until smooth and shape into a ball
■When not in use, wrap in plastic or store in an airtight container

Some of the ornaments were made by hand and some with cookie cutters, and yes my daughter made a yellow submarine....this is an obsession with my kids.  You don't have to make ornaments since it is almost summer, you can use salt dough for just about anything...make picture frames...little animals...whatever their little hearts desire.


                                           
                                                                   Dad helped too...

Then we baked them before painting

Little man needed some help

Now he's got it...notice the lack of that vinyl tablecloth?  Could have come in handy on that day!

Sis getting in the spirit

So proud of his art

Everything looks better with LOTS of glitter

Some finished products

Oh yes she did, there it is...my favorite ornament...the yellow submarine

Some of mine...well the star is Bubba's but I wrote his name on it

Summertime and the Livin' is Easy

Summer weather is officially here.  The kids were in the sprinkler all day yesterday while hubby and I finished the last section of the garden.  The good news is that its done, the bad news is that I almost passed out while planting it.  Today is the last full day of school, tomorrow they just go for an hour to get report cards.  I can not believe my baby is going to be in second grade, she is growing up so fast.  Took some pictures of the kiddos playing outside yesterday.

I really tried to make a bucket hat yesterday so I could post it on here, but it did not come out at all...got frustrated and threw it away.  Sorry, it was not a good crafting day.  Hope you all enjoy your day!

Oh yeah...and I have a new banner, what do you think?

Ever Have Them Steamed?

I harvested my first veggie of the year from my garden today, the radish.  I know, you either love it or you hate it.  I like them raw but many people think the taste is disgusting (you do get some nasty burps afterwards).   But have you ever had them steamed?  Up until last summer I never did either.  I had so many radishes in my garden last year, I was looking for recipes to use them up.  I learned that if you steam them, their flavor changes and they become sweet and delicate tasting.  Even people who don't like radishes should try them this way, its a completely different flavor.  I usually add a little bit of butter, pich of salt and some dill, mmmm....so yummy!

My Aha! Moment

I had this revelation yesterday...it was more like a Duh! moment actually.  My kids love to paint, draw, glue, cut, create and make  a huge mess.  Although they have their own area for this, they always end up at the dining table.  After years of using newspaper and garbage bags under their "projects" I realized that a vinyl tablecloth would work sooooo much better, and boy was I right.  The best part, it wipes off.  I used to keep my house spotless (only had 1 kid), and would have never considered keeping a vinyl tablecloth on my table.  Well things have changed and the vinyl tablecloth is keeping their creations from ruining my furniture.  I actually like this one, got it at TJ Maxx for $4.99.

Gettin' dirty with soap

Last night we had a Girl Scout meeting.  We were earning our petal for respecting ourselves and others.  We talked about all the ways we respect people as well as ourselves and that one way to respect ourselves is to take care of our bodies.  Keeping clean is a great way to take care of yourself, so we made soap.  I got this idea from Family Fun magazine, it was in one of their winter issues but its also on their website and you can go to it HERE.  I thought making soap would be a clean activity, but boy was I wrong!  I have 19 girls so I divided them up into 4 groups.  Each group had one cheese grater and each girl had 1 bar of soap and two little toys to hide inside.  When the girls started shredding the soap, it started getting everywhere.  Each one of them had to put their hands into the bowl and mush it around, then dusted their hands off over the floor instead of over the bowl.  I don't know why I didn't think to bring newspaper.  They all thought the grated soap looked like cheese, so that was what they were calling it.  When they made their soap snowballs and it was time to clean up, the whole place was covered in soap pieces.  We had 19 girls on hands and knees wiping up soap off the floor, then walking on paper towels to dry it up.  But I gotta tell ya, they all helped clean and had fun doing it...they said they were playing Cinderella.  When they were going home, all of them had soap on their clothes, white knees and all.  This activity was a blast and I think it was their favorite so far, besides the mess, it was my favorite too.

My daughter and her friend being silly with soap!

The truth about blogging

I am a fairly new blogger, who knew nothing about it when I got started.  I am by no means a seasoned vet but I have discovered some truths about blogging along the way.  Please do not be offended by anything on this list, it is only my opinion based on personal experiences:


1.  You might as well find a 12 step program the day you start a blog, you will be addicted.

2.  You will be very excited about EVERY SINGLE FOLLOWER that you gain, woohoo someone is     reading this right now!

3.  Your husband (or life partner) will complain bout the hosework not getting done.

4.  You will check your blog on your phone (a lot) just to see if there are new comments.

5.  Unless you are a graphic artist/web designer/computer/adobe photoshop genius, you will be confused or stressed about something on your blog (i.e. layouts, buttons, banners, pages, labels etc.)

6.  You will be inspired by ideas or stories of fellow bloggers, so read other people's blogs!

7.  You will NOT win every giveaway that other bloggers have (please Pioneer Woman, have another iPad giveaway...PLEASE!)

And last but not least:

8.  Your husband (or life partner) will look at you funny at least one time while you are blogging, and tell you you spend way too much time on the computer.

Happy Blogging!

Its Mario Time

My son's third birthday is quickly approaching and I'm starting to think about his party.  He is obsessed with Super Mario Brothers, Luigi to be specific, so I think that will be the theme of his party.  The past couple of years I have been the one making the kids birthday cakes, but right now I am drawing a blank.  I did some searching on the web to get ideas and there are so many amazing Mario cakes out there!  Here are some neat ones I found

This one is my favorite!

Obviously some of them are wedding cakes but they are all really great looking cakes.  I'm also looking for some ideas on decorating, anyone have any good ones? 

I'm also trying to create myself a new banner...which is turning out to be just as difficult as the button (I'm very indicisive) ...I guess I would appreciate any ideas you might have for that too.

 

Random Saturday

So after a very rainy week we finally saw some sun yesterday, just in time for my daughters 2k Fun Run at her school.  I participated in this last year, but due to the fact that I had my son in a stroller, I walked instead of ran.  Actually most of the parents walked.  My daughter on the other hand, took off with her friends and I didn't see her until the finish line.  This year she requested that dad do the fun run with her.  She said that she wanted him to run because he is "faster and all you (me) did was walk real slow with bubba"...booo...ok, I'm not a runner, but I do go "speed" walking quite often...I'm not a slow walker. 

On a much happier note, I re-fell in love with Menards.  Want to know why?  Ok, well our washer crapped out on us, not completely, but sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't.  We needed a new one and we were not in the market for new, expensive appliances.  Well what I found out blew my mind...at Menards...behind the store (outside) they sell appliances.  Used ones, with prices starting at $69 and going down $20 every two weeks until they reach $9....yes $9.  Our friend just purchased a refrigerator for that price.  It's for his garage but its a very nice side by side.  So we went, and guess what, I found a very nice Maytag washer for $29.  Its an older model but it was $29.  They do not offer any kind of warranty but you do get two weeks to return it for a full refund.  These are the appliances that are taken away when you purchase new ones.  They haul your old ones away for free, then quietly sell them behind the store...sneaky.  My new washer works great, its clean and still had that plastic film over the top button area...the one you peel off when you get something new.  Here it is

Talk about a great deal...maybe I will go back for a new dryer :)

Hooray! A Winner

This is so very exciting!  I have reached over 100 followers!  So now I will be giving away the little Belly Baby.  But first I want to say thank you to all my new friends for stopping by, and I hope you visit often.  My life and blog are an open book and I love getting comments and emails.  If there is something you want to see on here just let me know.  Ok now for the winner via random.org

drumroll please....


Follower number 98 (phew only have to count backwards a few numbers)

shanna.elizabeth

You are the winner so please email me!!!

Shutter Love Tuesday

This is one of my favorite pictures of me a md my mother, obviously I did not take this, but I wanted to share it.  "Mother's Love" in honor of my mother and the battle she is about to begin.

We used to go for walks at the park all the time!

Sad day in the chicken coop

We have had a rough couple of days in the chicken coop.  Friday morning I went to feed the chickens and found one dead in the chicken coop.  Well I thought nothing of it since we did have one that got picked on from time to time, and I thought they just ganged up on her and that was that.  So I gave her a proper burial.  I had 10 chickens left (11 before this one died).  Next morning I went in there like usual and had 7 live chickens and one dead one on the floor, so two missing.  Ok, so we realized something was feasting on them at night.  We have a fenced in run for them, and the fence is about 7 feet tall.  We have never had any problems with any animals getting in before so I never close the little door in the coop.  So Saturday we were out most of the day and came home around 10:30.  The hubby ran out and closed the chicken coop door.   Since it was dark in there and they were were sleeping we thought we had closed the door in time.  Sunday morning I went in there and found my rooster missing...my favorite chicken.  I was really upset, whatever it was got in there before we came home.  I am down to 6 chickens in 3 days...what the heck?!  Is it a cat?  A racoon?  What animal is strong enough to climb a 7 foot fence with a chicken in its mouth?  And carry away two in one night?  I don't get it...last night we closed the door early enough so they were safe, but my husband has his gun ready and waiting.

Mother's Day Bonanza

Mother's day weekend was bittersweet this year.  As some of you know my mother was diagnosed with cancer just a few days ago.  We do not know many details yet, and she is going to see her oncologist on Friday.  I am praying that it is only in her uteris and once that is removed, the cancer will be gone.  She is being very strong and going into this with a positive attitude.  On a lighter note, we had a busy "Mother's Day Weekend".  We went to Chuck E. Cheese with the inlaws on Saturday and the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago on Sunday.  My oldest has not been there since she was one, and my youngest has never been there.  They loved it, it was a great time...lots of fish, dolphin show, and oh so much more....and yes there was even a yellow submarine!  (Maddox thought that was too cool)

There's my beautiful butterfly necklace that Alexis got for me

Nemo?

Snapping Turtle

Dolphin/Whale Show

Oh Yes...we found one...a yellow submarine

A very excited Beatles fan

Penguins during the dolphin show

Sea Dragon

Mom! Opopus!

Dark room + No Flash Photography (yes I used my flash...shhhh) = blurry picture

Beautiful city of Chicago

mmmm...yummy

Love these guys!

Soldier Field

Amazing Day!