My kids are lucky to be alive.

Why?  Because they almost didn't survive their mother this afternoon.

Lets just say that while I was teaching piano lessons they all snuck outside to play in the monsoon mud and were doing things like this:

(This is my sliding glass door.)

And all looked a bit like this:

(I would only take Damon's picture because I didn't want the older ones to think it was funny.  Because it really wasn't.)

They were all so messy that they couldn't just walk inside to get in the bath.  I had to hose off the patio before I could then hose them off enough to bring them inside.  Which, by the way, they thought was awesome since the water from the hose feels like bath water.

Once clean, the boys would not stop running and yelling... in the same room that I was still trying to teach piano lessons in.  After repeatedly telling them to go upstairs and having them not listen, I physically carried Damon up and made Kelton follow.  Lots of threats later, they understood I was serious and that they were not to come down until I was finished.

So I finish and find Damon like this.  I didn't even care enough to wash him off.

The kids went to bed early tonight.

Dogs

Nate and some of the kids think that we need a dog. I think we already have enough.

The Potty and Damon's master plan

I decided the last time I bought Damon diapers that I wouldn't buy another box, and I would potty train him when they ran out.  They ran out on me faster than I thought and I was caught a bit by surprise one day when I realized I only had about 10 diapers left.  I didn't feel ready to potty train, but I think after doing two kids, I will never really be "ready" to do it again.  And, I also wanted to give it a try before the baby comes and I am quickly running out of time to meet that deadline.

So, on Wednesday night, I used the very last diaper I had when I put Damon to bed.  Thursday morning, we started potty training.  I am using the "3 Day Method" where you never ask them if they need to go potty, or ask if they want to try, or even just put them on the potty.  Instead, you constantly tell them to tell you when they need to go potty.  I knew this might be a slower method with Damon, who is 2 years and 3 months old, but felt like it would be best in the long term with him (or really, any kid for that matter).  This way, they learn to use the potty when they feel the need to go and don't have to rely on a parent remembering to take them there.  (This way was super fast when I trained Kelton, but he was over three years old.)

Day one and day two were filled with nothing but accidents.  But I could tell something was starting to click.  On day three, at dinnertime, (at Denny's with Nate's parents) Damon had his first real success where he told me he needed to pee and then went to the bathroom and did it with his underwear still dry.

As for nighttime... the first time he woke up in a pull-up, it was wet.  But, I think he probably peed in it after he woke up before I could get to him.  The next two nights he woke up dry.  I have never had a child do this at such an early stage of potty training.  So tonight, I put him to bed in his underwear.  We will see what happens.  But I think it will be okay since Damon woke me up this morning (with a pull-up on) at 6:00 saying, "I need to go pee."  Which he then did, in the potty.  I was really happy about that.  Not so happy about the time of day, though.

Today when we went to church, I kept Damon in his underwear.  I kept him in his underwear as we went out and about this weekend with Nate's parents too.  Once I put underwear on my kids, I never put them in pull-ups during the day.  Even a two year old knows its just a diaper.  So, I was a little nervous about nursery, but was prepared to clean up any messes.  Damon actually did great!  He didn't even have any accidents until later this evening.  He ended up having two accidents tonight.  The last one happened while I was on my way home from choir practice.  I have to admit, I thought this whole thing was kind of funny.  Probably just because it didn't happen on my watch.  Damon peed on the carpet.  While daddy was occupied cleaning it up, Damon found a marker, which he knows he's not even supposed to have, and proceeded to make lovely drawings on the walls.

This one shows the wall a bit better.

There were two other walls that looked similar to this one.  When I got home, I caught him with the marker in his hand.  His diversion was good enough to keep daddy busy for a while, but he forgot to factor mom coming home into his scheme. And I am, once again, thankful to the Magic Eraser people for making it possible for me to find this whole thing funny.

As for potty training, it is still a work in progress.  But I feel like he's doing well and will continue to do better each day.  Then, by the end, I will never have to remember or remind when it comes to Damon going potty.  And hopefully our walls will remain mural free.

School!

So, this was my Sunday night indicator that boredom had completely taken over and school really needed to start.

Natalie's first day of 2nd grade was yesterday!  She was so excited to start school again.  She has one of the many new teachers at the school this year.  Actually, I think this might even be her teacher's first year ever.  We will see how it goes!  Natalie loved her first day of school.  When I asked her if she thinks she might like her teacher, she said, "No mom, I know I like her!"  I am excited to see what this new year brings for Natalie.

Kelton on the other hand was not too happy to lose his Natalie.  Actually, I think it was more that he really wanted to go to school too and felt left out, especially when Nate took her to school (she normally will ride the bus--it was just a first day of school thing) and the two of them left together and Kelton had to stay.  I had to take a picture of his pathetically sad, yet cute, face.

BUT... today is Kelton's first day of Pre-school!  He hasn't been too excited about it because he realizes it isn't Natalie's school and that he won't get to ride the bus.  But he was really excited about it this morning.  He got all ready and could hardly wait to get out the door.  He was excited to wear a backpack and his new shoes.

Kelton is going to a preschool that someone I know from church is doing.  I decided that, for now at least, I am done with the whole co-op preschool thing.  It stresses me out.  I'm just not cut out for having a bunch of extra (meaning not mine and don't know my rules) kids running around my house.  Plus, with a two year old and a new baby coming in seven weeks or so, I figured it wouldn't really work out anyway.  And I wanted something more structured for Kelton.  The co-ops tend to end up more as play groups and they don't really learn much with having a different teacher/house every week.  Kelton will be at preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:45-10:45.  I'm excited for him and I hope he loves it!  And for the next two months I will enjoy having only one child for six hours a week!

24th of July

Our vacation for the year was our trip to Snowflake for the Pioneer Days Celebration.  We spent almost an entire week there and it was really nice.  Rob and Tina's family was there too and Melanie came down a few times so the kids had lots of cousins to play with.  Here is some of what we did.

Damon was introduced to earphones.  He couldn't figure out why Tina was trying to put that thing in his ear, but once he figured it out (he had to do it himself), he had lots of fun listening, dancing, and singing.  Mostly he just zoned out a lot while he listened.

I bought bubble gun/fan things from the dollar store for the kids to play with one afternoon.  They worked great!  And the kids had a lot of fun.

Slip and slide.  My kids had never played on one of these before.  They thought it was fun but never mastered the technic.  Kelton doesn't like getting his face wet, so that was a bit detrimental to the whole process.

Damon was very content to stand on the side and play with the water.  Later, we got out the inflatable pool and the kids had a lot of fun playing in there.

On Friday night I had my 10 year class reunion.  There weren't a ton of people there, but a lot of my friends did make it.  It was fun to see everyone.  I was really glad to get to spend some time with my best friend from high school, Rebecca (Baldwin) Norton.  We've been really bad about getting together.  I hadn't seen her for four years.  Here we are.  (Me, Becca, and Carla Free)  I think it's kind of funny that because of the shirt I am wearing and the angle of the camera, you can't tell that I'm 7 months pregnant.  I also think it's funny that I don't think I've really gained any weight in other places until I see myself in a picture and realize that my face is chubbier. 

Saturday morning was the parade.  The kids love this for the same reason I always did... the candy.

 Everyone waiting for the parade to start.

Waiting for more candy.

Candy action shot.

 We had a community bag where everyone would put their candy.  Natalie on the other hand decided to hoard some of her favorites and fill up her own pockets.  Crazy girl.  However, that is so something I would have done too...

This picture makes me laugh.  I wanted to try to get a picture of the two of them, but instead, I got a three feet apart stare down.  Damon and Jade had a tricky relationship.  Basically, Jade wanted to just touch Damon.  And Damon just wanted to not be touched.  They found it fun (only on the giving end) to push each other a lot too.

Getting a ride home from the parade with Grandpa and his new golf cart.

 Nate's brother, Tyler recently got remarried.  Saturday night we had a reception for Tyler and Aurelie.  I forgot to take my camera so I don't have any pictures.  It was at Webb's house.  They had a taco bar and a soft serve ice cream machine.  The highlight for the kids was getting ice cream from grandpa... pre-dinner.  Since Aurelie is Swiss, they had a cake made from swiss rolls and more on the side to eat.  My kids are now in love with swiss rolls and we've had to buy some for treats at home.

On Sunday we took a big family picture with the whole Webb family, minus Marissa and Johnny, who couldn't make it.  (Photoshop is in the plans, I think.)

Here's a picture of just us girls.

Baby sister.

And I thought it would be a good idea to try to get a family picture after the big group picture, since my boys were being so super cooperative (NOT).  We took about 20 pictures.  Massive amounts of swiss roll bribery got us a bunch of pictures that look something like this:

Oh wait, here is the one lone picture where Damon decided to smile.

Overall, this is maybe the best thing we got.  Oh well.  We will try the self inflicted torture again sometime after the baby is born because, you know, it will be so much easier with one more child.

Right before we headed home on Monday night, Damon and Jade went for a walk with Grandma and Grandpa.