Project 365: 219-243

August 7- Working on some Minnie Mouse banners for a friend's daughter's first birthday party.

August 8- Paul and I were sitting on the couch talking and we heard Addie giggling to herself.  When I peeked over, I saw her holding tiny Lightening and Sally cars, making them kiss each other.  She's not even two.  Imagine the teenage years.  No don't.

August 9- Family movie night and living room sleep over.  These are the nights I'll always remember.

August 10- We went to dinner after Paul finished his six day work week.  The boys were in the bathroom when I took this.  And it's the only one I got.

August 11- Lots of birthdays coming up in the next couple weeks/months.  Working on some details tonight.

August 12- My Uncle Randy would have been so proud of these two little boot scootin' boogiers.  They were walking like Bambi on ice.

August 13- My sis in law took me to get a pedicure tonight.  It was a much needed break.  Look at that laundry mountain in the back ground... It can wait...

August 14- I love it when Paul gets a weekday off.  Less crowded at the beach.

August 15- It's my FIL's birthday tomorrow and his brother is in town.  Which means there will be a lot of meat consumed over the next few days.  We started with these beef and pork ribs.

August 16- We pulled it off!  A surprise 50th birthday party for my FIL with about 50 of his closest friends and family members.  And because 50 is so old, we figured the best place to have it was at a cemetery.  So we did.  I'm exhausted.

August 17- It's been a great day with this little guy.  I'm sad to see him go tomorrow.  He's made leaps and bounds since I last saw him over the 4th of July.

August 18- This little guy headed home today.  He was very patient this morning with Addie as she admired herself in the toy mirror.

August 19- I decided to take a break today to recover from a busy, full weekend.  So I took a picture of the cleanest spot in the house.  Sigh... I need a maid.

August 20- Garrett got a date alone tonight with mom and dad to celebrate potty training successes.  Dinner and a new toy.  But the whole time we were out he was wanting to get back to the grandparents.  He was pretty jealous that sis got to go in Bapa's car and he didn't.

August 21- We're pretty archaic around here when it comes to entertainment for the kids.  I'm pretty sure this is the first time they ever played a game on the ipad.

August 22- My MIL has a friend in town and she brought two Basset Hound puppies with her.  So dang cute!  It almost made me want a dog.  When they'd run they would step on their own ears and fall down.  Oh man, it was too much.

August 23- Power's out.

August 24- This Englishman became an American citizen this week.  And tonight we celebrated!

August 25- Pinterest fail.  Home made pulled taffy.  The flavor was fine and it probably would have eventually been fine if we'd been willing to take all night to pull it.  We gave up after about 10 minutes.  There's a reason taffy is made with machines.

August 26- We spent the day wandering around old town orange.  And we stopped at the train station for lunch on the way home and found this giant tree.

August 27- Eating ice cream in the shade after a fun day playing at Newport Beach.

August 28- A super hot, long, fun day at Knott's with Mimi and Papa.  Paul and Addie in a race car with Mimi and Garrett in the back ground.

August 29- Planes!  Addie's first theater movie, Garrett's second.  Garrett loved every minute of it, Addie might not even know we went to a movie.

August 30- The splash pad and sprinklers at the park weren't enough to cool off on this 100 degree day, so our last resort was Addie-sized snow cones.  Also, everyday I'm a little more convinced that Addie's going to be a lefty like Paul and me.

August 31- It was a Mongolian BBQ kind of night.  We haven't been below 100 degrees all week and I have a rule that I don't cook if it's over 90.  Ok, I just made that rule up, but I think it's a good one.  Maybe I'll change it to 80...

Underwear Adventures

It's been two weeks since we started "Official" potty training.  I use the term official lightly because the reason we started was because I was changing Garrett one morning when he woke up and I opened the diaper cupboard in his room and it was empty.  I was too lazy to walk to the living room to get the new case of diapers, so I put him in underwear with plans to put a diaper on as soon as he had an accident.  But he had a great day, and the first accident didn't come till around dinner time.  So we stuck with it.  Day one, one accident.  Day two, two accidents.  Day three, three accidents.  And day four until now, day 14, we've only had two accidents.  And knock on wood, never a messy one.

I'm not so optimistic to say we're there.  I'm expecting some sort of relapse.  Maybe next week when my parents are in town, or next month when we take a week long vacation.  And I'm sure it'll take a while for me to stop planning shopping/walks/park trips around where the potty is/how fast we can get home.  But for now, I'm feeling pretty much there.

There were no timers, no jar of M&M's on the toilet, no incentive programs.  One of the perks of waiting till he was almost three, I suppose.

I did make a chart to use the stickers that came with his toilet, but he couldn't care less about filling it up. He got a sticker every time he went without me asking, but he only put stickers on about a third of the time.  Last night I pulled it out again and asked if he wants to go pick out a new toy when it's full and he said he'll stay home and play with his play room toys.  And I've only given him one prize for a full row and that wasn't that cool either.

He still wears a pull-up at night and most naps, but hopefully we'll be done with that soon, too.

According to the kids.

Garrett lately...

What's Sisters name?  Lulu or Luschki
What's your name?  Garrett or Gargit
What's dad's name? Paul White
What's mom's name? Mom White

Addie was fussy as she was going down for an early nap.  Garrett heard her through the monitor and said, "Mom, you wait here.  I go check on Lulu."

The White grandparents live in the next town over, but it's easy to get there, down one road, turn left, turn left, and we're there.  When we get to the right streets, Garrett has started saying, "turn left, Sparky!"  Yesterday, Paul was in the left turn lane and I said, "Where do we turn?"  Garrett pointed and said, "here."  I said, "do we turn left or turn right?"  And he said, "turn right here!"  To which Paul responded, "Aww, son, you have found one of the many flaws in the english language."

He checks his poop in the toilet and says what it looks like:
-snake
-fish
-muffin
-ice cream
Yuck.  I know.  Boys are gross.

It happens nightly that he asks if he can sleep on the couch or sleep in our bed.  Neither of which he's ever done.

I was hurrying him through a store, telling him we needed to get home to go to the bathroom, to which he loudly responded, "Did you pee in your underwear?"

He was begging to go to the play ground at the beach and I kept telling him we didn't have time.  He finally said, "I go to the play ground mine self and say, Hiiiii Kiiiiids!"

He calls all of his toys, whether it be trucks, trains, stuffed animals, etc. "These guys."

Addie Lately...

I don't remember the last update I gave on Addie's talking, but here's what I remember as of late.

She'll repeat any words we ask her to say.  Sometimes it comes out right, other times, not so much.

Some usuals:
-fridge
-pizza
-chocolate milk (but she says it the same wrong way Garrett used to) cha-led a led a muck
-melon
-Lulu
-cheese
-bacon
-diaper
-flowers
-sleep
-kick
-push
(Pretty sure Garrett had a hand in those last two.)

Paul plays hide and seek with them at night and when she can't find him she comes to me and shrugs her shoulders and says, "Dad go?"

She's been walking around chanting "ABCD."

When we're eating something she wants, she says, "Some. Some. Some."  or "This, this."

When Garrett goes to use the potty she always announces, "Go baff-room."

Whenever she sneezes she shouts, "Bless you!"
When Garrett sneezes she shouts, "Bless you Garrett!"
When anyone else sneezes we get a bless you about half the time, the other half she repeats, "Ah-choo!"

She hates when the sun hits her in the car, she lets out a whiny, "Sun! Mom! Sun! Gases, Gases!" (glasses)

She can hear a bus from a mile away, and she puts her hand up to her ear, and yells, "Bus!"  She does the same with "Plane!" and "Truck!"

Friends from Utah.

Some of our closest friends from Utah, Erik and Deb, came out for a visit a couple of weeks ago.  They're both from California originally, so they were here for a school reunion/family stuff, but we got to see them a few times and we had a great time catching up.  And the kids loved playing with their little C-bug.  He's about right in between Garrett and Addie in age.

We had them over for dinner one night, as well as some other mutual friends that live here.

We met them in Huntington Beach for a farmers market and dinner on the pier.

 It was windy on the pier.

 Doesn't look fun, but the kids think it's fun.

 My kids are big into good-bye hugs, even when the recipient isn't so much.

The next night we got babysitters and just the adults went out to dinner.  We love this little family and it was so great to see them.  They're the kind of friends we can go weeks or months without talking to, and then pick right back up where we left off.  The best kind of friends. (But I wish I was better and keeping in touch!)

Summer Themes: Bug Week

This was a fun week, but mostly because we didn't do anything involving real bugs.  I hate bugs and don't have much of a desire to learn/teach about them.  But the activities we did were entertaining and I didn't have to touch/look at real bugs.  Win win.

We made coffee filter sun catcher snails.

We had worms in the dirt for dessert.

We made firefly jars with glitter and glow sticks.  Not as cool as the pinterest tutorial, but the kids didn't know the difference.  And that night they each went to bed with a glowing jar on their shelf.

I made fruit caterpillars for a snack.  Garrett admired his as though he appreciated my efforts.  Addie promptly decapitated hers and devoured it.

We read some Eric Carle books about bugs.

We went on a bug hunt outside.  I bought plastic bugs for this because I wasn't up for hunting real bugs.  It was like Easter.  The kids loved it.  I bought the bugs and hunting gear at the dollar store.

Pre-hunt excitement.

 Addie was not interested in getting this one off the tree.  I guess I made it look too realistic.

 Garrett loved picking them up with the tweezers, then putting them in the net, then dumping them in the cage.  The cage has breathing holes and a built-in magnifying glass, and the tweezers and net came with it.  All for a buck.

 Checking out all their finds.

I think Ocean week is up next.