My BIG girl!

She did IT! On the 6th day of potty training Ella finally went #2 in the potty! I know most of you really don't care, and are wondering why I am making a post dedicated to my child's poop, but I am SO excited! We were all in the kitchen after church (which by the way she did not have an accident during the 3 hours at church and went potty there just fine) and she said she needed to go, and she just.....went. I could NOT believe it! We had a huge celebration and she kept saying, "Ella's awesome!" So now the real test will be to see if she does it again. I hope it wasn't a one time thing.

My BRAVE girl!

Ella's surgery went great! She was really brave, she didn't even cry when they took her away. The worst part was that she couldn't eat or drink. It broke my heart when she was begging for a drink of water....it was the saddest thing ever. It didn't help with Kash running around, grabbing sippy cups and snacks out of the diaper bag right in front of her! The promise of an ice cream cone afterwards really helped I think! She really must be my daughter if the thought of a treat makes everything worth it. When we were able to see her she was totally fine. She was eating a cookie as happy as could be. One of the first things she said to me was, "my ears feel better!" The doctor said it was probably the first time she felt some relief, like her ears popped for the first time in her life. I feel so bad that she has been in pain for so long. I think she really got used to the pain, it was just a part of life. The rest of the day she was 100% her old self. Hopefully this will be the end of her ear problems. I am excited to see her hearing and speech improve because she has heard everything as if she was under water. I am so glad this day is over!

Our little trip

Here are a few pictures of our trip to California. I didn't take very many, we were too busy having fun!

One night we went out to dinner and I happened to catch this pic while we were waiting for our table.

Papa and Nana are good entertainers-just look at those faces!

My youngest sister Nikki was in a softball tournament so we went to watch her play.

When Papa got there the kids ran out to meet him and he walked them back.

Nikki had a party Saturday night in the backyard. Ella and her friend Carter ended up being the entertainment!

They were dancing non stop, and I couldn't believe the break-dance moves they had!

DAY 3

Today is the third day of potty training Ella. I keep having people tell me, "oh my kids just did it, they were potty trained in 1 day." WHAT? Am I the only one struggling with this? Am I going about this all wrong? She is actually doing pretty well with the "pee pee" part. I have a little potty in the kitchen and she tells me when she has to go pee and she goes in the potty. There is never pee on the floor that I have to clean up, although her panties are always a little wet. This is normal right? I think she actually has to FEEL that she is wet before she realizes she has to go. I am hoping this will get better with time? But the "poo poo" is another story. She has not gone ONCE in the potty, always in her panties. I don't know what to do about this. We have a big bag of wrapped presents that are her "poo poo prizes." She seems excited about them and wants them, but not enough to poo in the potty! When I tell her that she needs to poo in the potty she says, "no I can't, I'm afraid." Any advice from you mothers with potty trained kids? Will I ever be able to leave the house again?


Here are some of the things I am doing: I have a little potty in the kitchen that she usually uses, its a lot closer than the bathroom. I also have a potty seat on the big toilet. She gets a piece of candy every time she goes in the potty. She also gets to put a sticker on her potty chart, when it is full she gets to go to Pirate Island. There are the poo prizes that she has yet to receive. She wears a potty watch that sings a song every 30 minutes and we all yell, "its potty time!" She has panties that she picked out herself and we discuss how Dora and the Princesses don't want to get wet so we need to keep them dry.
What else can I do? More specifically, how can I get her to POOP in the POTTY???

We are home!

The kids and I had a great trip to California this past week. It was really great for me because....I am now officially a certified scuba diver! Whitney and I went to Catalina and did 3 dives there to finish up our certification. It was such a great feeling when we were all done! I am so glad I did this, I still can't quite believe that I did. I am pretty proud of myself because it wasnt the easiest thing for me. I was surprised though how much calmer I was this time then on my first beach dive. I guess I knew what to expect. We were so cold and tired and it was the LONGEST day ever, but totally worth it. I can't wait to dive in Cancun this summer!!! Here is a picture taken from the dive park looking into the bay at Catalina. It was such a cute little town.

We're out of here!

Today we are leaving to my parent's house in sunny California! I am taking the kids and staying until Sunday. I am pretty excited seeing that it is 80 degrees there! I am finishing up my scuba certification while I am there, so that is the excuse I gave Matt why I just HAD to leave for a week! I wish he was coming with us but he has missed too much work lately. I'm sure I will have lots of pics to post when I get back.

Instructions for cupcakes

I've had a few people ask me how I made the clover-shaped cupcakes, so here are the directions:

Step 1: Place paper liners in muffin cups, then fill each HALFWAY with batter. Do NOT over fill, they will spill over.

Step 2: For each cupcake, roll 3 balls of foil and insert them evenly around the cupcake liner. If you have marbles, this might cut back on time. I tried using marbles but mine were too big.

Step 3: Bake the cupcakes for a few minutes less than the package suggests because there is less batter.

Step 4: Allow the cupcakes to cool, then you can remove them from the pan.

Step 5: Cover each with green frosting. Use a toothpick to draw leaf veins, and use a piece of green licorice for a stem.

A bit early....

I've never done anything for St. Patrick's day before but this year I decided to make cupcakes. Mostly because I knew Ella would love it.....and I was craving chocolate:) So this is my attempt at clover-shaped cupcakes. It was fun and simple and SOME of them turned out pretty cute!

Sort of done

I finished this little project for now. Now Ella's hair bows will be much more organized! It was really easy to do, especially when your husband does it for you! We had some molding in the garage that Matt cut and made into a frame. Then he got some chicken wire and stapled it to the back. And ta-da......organized hair accessories! Eventually I will paint it and possible put some cute fabric behind the chicken wire. I told Matt that I am not going to do the finishing touches until we are in a new house and I can be inspired by the NEW bathroom. I wonder if this will motivate him to become a home owner or if I will just have an unfinished frame for the rest of my life? Hmmm I guess we will just have to wait and see. :)

Unforgettable

When Ella was so deathly sick last week she spent a lot of time in my bed. One day when she was laying down Kash came in and wanted to get up there too. I asked Ella if she wanted him on the bed and she said yes. I put him up there thinking he was going to start jumping around like crazy but instead he immediately laid down as close to Ella as he could get. She put her arm around him and he just stayed there!

The best was when she gave him a kiss and said, "Thanksh Tash." (Thanks Kash)

These are moments you just won't forget! Kind of like the other day when Ella said to me, "Go away mom, you ANNOY me!" I think she must like Kash more than her mom?;)

She's BACK!

For an entire week, Ella has been extremely sick. She has NEVER been this sick. I thought she was getting her 2 year molars because she kept holding her cheeks in pain. Finally I took her to the doctor and discovered that she had ear infections in both ears. I felt horrible that I waited as long as I did to get her in. This girl has had so many ear infections....hence the need for tubes. Anyways, all of our lives have been miserable this week but today she was almost 100% herself again! She was running and playing and I about cried when I found she had stripped my bed down to the mattress and was jumping up and down singing!! I was so happy to see her happy!I forgot that I actually ENJOY my children. And speaking of tubes....towards the end of this week of misery I swore to Matt that I was going to get MY TUBES tied!! haha

Anyways, this picture is in tribute to my sweet Ella, just being her funny self. She was taking a "nap" and came out to say, "look mom, I have 2 pockets."

INSURANCE!!

Ok I'll admit it, we don't have health insurance. None. Since we have been married Matt has had ACL surgery, we've had 2 kids, and been to the doctor countless times. And we are still self pay. His business does not offer any kind of insurance so we just haven't looked into it. Now Ella needs tubes in her ears. Our doctor told us to get on insurance because it is a pretty pricey surgery. So, now what? Are any of you self employed and have gotten a good deal on health insurance? I don't even want to START researching it because it seems so overwhelming. Maybe we will just get the kids on it? They are always at the doctor while Matt and I hardly ever go for ourselves. Maybe we will save money that way? I don't know. Advice, anyone?