Only One More Week to Go!

I can hardly believe we only have one more week of school. I am so excited to be coming to the end. We are all in desperate need of a break!! It's mostly going to be a huge party week next week.

The homework has finally calmed down for most of them. Well, not for Steven, he has had a few final things to finish that have been hard on both of us. It is the hardest thing for me to sit back and watch him make it so hard on himself just because he doesn't want to do it. At times I really wanted to knock his block off! It was hard not to try to "save" him from the consequences of his choices.

As usual, I am right in the middle of chastising my children, when I get that morphing in my mind and I see myself standing before my Heavenly Father. I can only catch such a small glimpse of how Heavenly Father must feel watching all of us struggle through earth life! He has laid it all out for us and if we would just follow "the plan" it would be the easiest it could be (not that it would be completely easy, we do have to learn and grow). But NO, we have to stray and make things harder on ourselves all along the way.

I make so many mistakes, I hope He will treat me better than I treat my kids at times. I had to put my arms around him, apologize and just love him! Then tell him to GET TO WORK!

Melanie Bought a New Car!

Melanie was getting real tired of her little Ford Escort. It really has taken a beating and was finally dieing! She's been saving up for a little while now. She kept going back and forth as to whether she should fix the escort or spend the money and get another car.

She did some car shopping and thought she needed some more money than she had to get the "upgrade" she was hoping for. The salesman at Car Buyers tried to talk her into financing just a portion of a car. It would only cost about $50 a month to finance the last $1500 or so! I was so happy to hear that she was smart to ask (all on her own) For how long? He said only 48 months! She said, "WHAT???" I don't think so! She actually resigned herself to waiting and saving some more before taking the plunge.

Then out of the blue, Doug's boss was thinking of trading in his car and was willing to sell to her at only a couple hundred dollars above trade in cost to him! It only took one test drive, she was in love!! But she had to wait for him to find a new car for himself. It was a hard, long wait (about a week), but worth it, of course!

Wednesday she came home with a silver/gray 2003 Chrysler Sebring!

She spent yesterday after work getting it inspected, licensed and legal! The best part is that, it's all paid for!!

We looked into fixing her escort for Bethanie, but it's just not worth sinking the money into it. It would be cheaper to buy Beth a monthly bus pass every month to get her to the DATC in the fall than it would be to fix and maintain the car.

Red Light, Green Light

Boy, have we been enjoying the weather and the later sunshine! We love being and playing outside. Our Family Home Evenings start to consist of outside games like freeze tag, No bears are out tonight, volleyball, etc. This week one of the games we played was Red Light, Green Light.

It is so fun for me to watch these big kids play these little kids games with their younger siblings. Sometimes they are so cooperative, and other times, well???...

Here is little Natalie learning how to play...

She was so funny, because she would start out real good, then as she would turn her back to the kids she would see something that interested her and start to walk off and explore!!

Pot of Gold?

Some people think you find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow...

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go on my walk earlier in the evening than usual. We had a wonderful spring rain which produced two beautiful double full arch rainbows!!


By the time I got home they had faded quite a bit, but I had to try to take this picture...

I found the Bountiful Temple at the end of this one!!!

Potty Update...

I think I can safely say, Potty Training.....DONE!

Day and Night!!

Yesterday, she finally put it all together and went pee pee and poo poo in the potty all day, self initiated! Often the kids and people around her didn't even know she went into the bathroom to try and we would hear her doing the potty dance and singing. We'd go in there and sure enough she went!! She also came in from outside to go potty! She panicked and didn't want to go in the bath tub during her bath! She even has gone to bed both nap and night without a diaper and has been dry!

I can hardly believe I could be so blessed to have her catch on so fast and decide to just cooperate!! Now will she go on the big potty at church???

Our Little Nattie Bug is truly our
Champion Potty Girl!!

I couldn't resist to take this picture, as I was dumping her little potty pot she picked up the seat and peeked through the hole! Hilarious!!

We Have Pee Pee in the Potty!!

Natalie is potty training this week, which means I don't get anything else done! She is doing great for Day 3. She doesn't seem to mind sitting on the potty for literally hours on end! That helps, maybe.

She doesn't have the motivation to get off, so she just sits there. Maybe I need to have less for her to do....

This is day one!

While she is proving not to be the dream child, Tiffany was, she seems to be improving each day and is right where "normal" children train for Day 3. We're still doing a lot of waiting for it to happen. Hopefully in the next day or two we'll have more "on demand" success!

The first time she actually went in the potty, she just looked at me like I was some strange woman when I did the "pee pee in the potty dance". But it sure didn't take her long to realize it was a good thing! Here she is doing her version of "the dance"!




She's too funny because she really likes to take pictures with her older sisters, so she is so stuck between wanting to see the picture and be in the picture! She actually does it even cuter, but I couldn't seem to catch it on video. She kept wanting to "see it".

Here is one more attempt... Tiff couldn't wait to get in the act, too. They have been watching our Shake it Video and the potty dance has turned into a kind of a combination of the two dances!

So, while this is so NOT my favorite thing to do, following a 2 year old all over the place constantly worried about whether or not she's going to "go" in her pants.

I know it's time! I'll be so glad when it's over!!!

Can't Seem to Get it Together!!

Sorry, I've been so neglectful, I have so much to write about and yet I seem to have very little time and what's even worse some sort of writer's block!

Here's the shortened version for now...

--I've been to Canada and back for Doug's Dad's 90th Bday
(huge stuff with my Mom) Ugggh!
Better Now!

--I've been cleaning and organizing rooms, bedrooms and storage rooms. Trying to inventory and organize my food/household storage so I know what I have and still need.
Huge job, still not done!!

--Lots of homework patrol due to last 5 weeks of school, Midterms, & End of Level Testing next week!

--I've been to Women's Conference, (Wonderful!) That's a huge story!
Thanks, Melanie & Doug!!

--Jon left for North Carolina for a summer job. If all goes well, he won't be back until September.

--Nattie has had no more bottles for about two weeks with hardly a complaint!
(just a little, not bad!)

--I plan to get down and "dirty" with the potty training on Monday (after Mother's Day!) :)
She actually woke up dry this morning so I put her on, just for fun. After only about 15 minutes, she went!! I am so hopeful this won't be too hard!

--I had to drive to Ogden today because my wheat grinder decided to just stop working. NOT GOOD when you use it 3 to 4 times a week. Fortunately, it was an easy fix, they didn't even charge me!! While I was there, waiting to see the "damage", I was looking at some hand grinders...found an awesome one, and Doug said I could get it!! :) Gotta Love That Guy!!!

I'm sure there's more, but I gotta run for now, time to finish homework patrol and start dinner!

Never a dull moment!! :)