Happy 24th of July

07/24/2017

On the 24th of July we packed up the family and went on a bike ride along the trails of Park City, making a stop at the famous flag draped barn. The kids rode on their bikes for 6 miles total...which is a pretty big feat when you consider Charlie rode his strider bike for at least half of that. At one point Will lost control on a hill and crashed into Steve. He's been scared of riding bikes ever since. Hopefully this summer we can convince  him to hop back on the horse since he got a new bike for Christmas. 

Backyard Hangs

These kiddos never cease to amaze me with their adventures they come up with. Katy and Will had lots and lots of backyard campouts on the trampoline last summer. The other thing I love about these pictures is the fact that those boys have the cutest summer shaved heads in town. Will wanted to shave his head like dad, and Charlie wants to be just like Will...of course. These pictures really describe their personalities well. 

01/01/2016 | The Leonardo

When your husband gets home from work late and your kids stayed up way too late trying to celebrate new years, you throw caution to the wind and wake them up and take them to breakfast at Mcdonalds in your pajamas. 

I was sure that I would be paying for this today, especially after Steve went to bed, but the kids were great. The last few days we've been sick and cooped up in the house so I decided it was a good opportunity to get out of the house. We all concluded that a trip to the museum would be a good way to start this year.

We haven't been to the Leonardo in a while, and I kind of thought it wouldn't been too busy (which it wasn't) so it turned out to be the perfect choice today. They had all new exhibits to play with.

Will was in heaven being able to put things together and take them apart using a "ranch" as he calls them.

Charlie was happy as a clam just being able to crawl around after us everywhere we went. 

Surprisingly Will made it to about 11:00 watching Phineas and Ferb episodes on Netflix (we are totally crazy around here). After I put him to bed I dozed off on the couch and was awoken by fireworks my neighbors were setting off at midnight. Katy was asleep too, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if she made it to nearly midnight. I just can't resist ringing in the new year without a good party blower and hat. 

McDonalds was totally packed and the play land was especially so with older gentlemen. Everytime a new one would come join the group they would call out his name, it was like watching an episode of Cheers. And the cute worker kept checking on them every 5-10 minutes to make sure no one needed a refill of coffee. I'm sure they thought we were crazy when we were using Steve's apple watch to take family self timer shots propped up on Katy's robe of course. I'm sure Charlie is still trying to figure out if we really are this crazy, but hopefully he knows the answer to that by now is a resounding YES!

the bedtime bandit strikes again

I laugh when I see this because Will always seems to win in the end. Life for him seems like that. Make a big mess, clog the toilet, dump the lemon pepper Steve left out all over for the hundredth time, draw on the couch with pen (when does one grow out of that? shouldn't it be by now?), and say, "I sorry mom," with that cute face and all is well.

We have been having a blanket war since the temperatures have dropped. Mom gave me this blanket to take to the hospital when I had Charlie and it hasn't left my side. It is fabulous. The very best and softest in all the land. Will always reminds me of that when he is using it during the day, dragging it everywhere. He says it because it's soft he loves it so. No one else seems to be attached to this quite like Will and I.

You would think that any kind hearted mother would see the joy something like this brings to her kiddo and gladly hand it over to them with a big squeeze, but I just can't bring myself to! I've become quite accustomed to it accompanying me to bed, especially since I sleep alone more than half the night with Steve's schedule most nights. I have a feeling that Santa may need to be contacted and a request placed. Let's just hope Will is on the nice list this year.

Last week after I put him in bed I heard him walking around. I didn't give it a second thought as it ended as quick as it began. But when I went to bed I could not find my beloved blanket anywhere. And, as you would have guessed, I didn't sleep as dreamily as I usually do. When Will came in to wake me in the morning, with a huge grin on his face (clutching MY blanket), he said, "Mom, I stole your blanket." And he did it again....as I laughed out loud....he melted my heart and all was well in the world.

Tonight when I gave him a big huge squeeze and a kiss I kindly asked him if he would leave my beloved blanket on my bed tonight. And I left the light on in my room down the hall per his request. This is what I found when I finally went to check on him and he was not in his bed. This sneaky cute guy kept his promise and my blanket was, in fact, still on my bed.

potty training 201

I can't even begin to tell you how bad I wanted to cry that day. I was frustrated beyond belief and yet all I could do was laugh.

If you know Will, then you know that he is one strong willed guy....no pun intended. He has straight up told me, after peeing and pooping on the toilet, that it just takes too much time and he'd much prefer a diaper.

I was sure once he went poop on the toilet the fist time, it would all be down hill from there. After all that is all it took for Katy to get potty trained. But not this kid. He doesn't care if he's in a diaper, a pull up or underwear. He's pretty laid back about the whole thing.

That afternoon since we were outside and planning to be all afternoon, I put him in his underwear. He was doing a great job going pee and we even brought out his race car potty. But I of course looked up, after already asking him if he need to go, to find that he had a load in his pants. I proceeded to clean him up outside on the grass. In my haste (as cleaning up poopy diapers is my favorite thing), I got some on the grass, which I fully intended to clean up after I had the situation on my hands under control. It wasn't until I was done that I turned around horrified to find that my Chuck had taking a liking to what he had found in the grass and was happily rolling too and fro. When he got up from the grass, brown and stained, that's when I wanted to cry. Steve did what he does best and made light of the situation by laughing hysterically and telling me that MY dog was disgusting and that HIS dog (big dumb Chief) would never think to do something so distasteful.

The rest of the afternoon we treated poor Chuck as though he was caring a horrible disease such as the plague. It was such a crazy day of needing to get things done we left him outside. I kept yelling to the kids that they couldn't play in the backyard today (when I heard the door trying to open), and NOT to let Chuck in no matter how bad he was making them feel with his pathetic crying and wining to come in. It wasn't until after 11:00 that night that he was able to get a bath.

Poop happens. Or so they say, and sometimes the best thing to do is let your cute boy (who is totally exhausted from potty training and being out in the sun) take a 5:00 PM nap on the couch so you can take a picture of him (his cute farmer tanned chicken legs and all) and remember this day. He won't be little like this forever, just as he won't be wearing a diaper either. This picture is a great reminder of how I need to take a step back and breath every once and a while...and when life calls for it, laugh about Will poop on my dogs face!