Mission {halfway} Accomplished!

Since about day 5 of potty training, Aly has been 'trained' while we are at home or at familiar places (on the go is our newest project). She earned all of her 'pee' stickers very quickly, but the 'poop' stickers took her longer and were like gold! She finally earned her last one last night! The chart is complete! She was so excited and proud of herself! Dan, of course, had to take her out after her bath to buy her reward. She has been talking about (and praying about) this play-doh ice cream maker for weeks, but her impulse shopping led her to get moon sand instead...which she calls 'sand moon' no matter how many times we correct her. She was so exhausted from the day she fell asleep on the way home with it in her lap! Precious!She woke me up at 6:15 AM this morning to play with it. **By the way...don't ever buy it for your kids!! It is colored sand...that you play with indoors!! Who ever invented it did NOT have children of their own!** It made a huge mess and I had to strip her down after playing and throw her socks away! I talked her into 'exchanging' it for the original prize, so we will have to go do that tomorrow!

The chart system was awesome! I think she is like me and really gets satisfaction from checking things off and completing them (it was really interesting her method of placing the stickers where she did)!! Since the chart was so successful and she seems very motivated by earning stickers...tonight we made her a new chart: A Potty on-the-go Chart. This is that part I am really not looking forward to for many reasons. I did buy her a folding travel potty seat though so she won't have to touch public bathrooms. She has already earned her first sticker towards the chart!

I Love You!!

Hannah vocabulary has been building for a while now. She has some things down pat..."no" of course is her favorite! She picked up a new phrase today: "I love you"! Hannah said it! I said it to Aly this morning and Hannah looked at me, took the pacifier out of her mouth and said it! It may not be very clear, but it is for sure what she is saying and she has been saying it all day when you tell her you love her! It is so sweet to hear...especially when she puckers up those little lips for a kiss!

Zoombezi Bay

When we were at the zoo yesterday we had to renew our pass because it had expired in May. Even though we had thought about it before and decided against it, we decided to go ahead and get the Zoombezi pass as well (with the discount it was only $150 more for this season and half of next). We had never been there before, but since Hannah loves the water and Aly pretends to like it we figured it would be fun to come for a few hours at a time. Surely we would at least get our money out of it. We went tonight to 'test the waters'. It wasn't very busy since there was a chance of rain, which we only missed by about 20 minutes, so we really got to explore the place! It was sooooo much fun!! The girls had a blast! Aly was scared at first to get in, but by the time we left she was going down the little slides and 'swimming' around. Hannah loved it from the beginning and was up and down the slides more than I can count! I am going to have to take my camera next time. It is going to be so much fun going there this summer! Dan and I can wait to go together sometime without the girls and try out all the water slides. Some of them look really cool! Anyway, it was definitely a great decision to buy and it makes me sooooo excited for vacation at the lake!!

15 Month Stats

Hannah had her 15 month check-up today. She is 22.8 pounds and 30 and 3/4 inches tall. Which means she is in the 50th percentile for weight, 70th for height and 75th for head circumference. She has a big bean. Other than that and her chicken pox vaccine, there is not much too report on. She is right on track and getting so big!

Guess What!??!?!?!?!??!

Dan got a teaching job!!! Praise God! Hallelujah!! We originally didn't think he got it because the school's director emailed Dan last week to let him know they really liked, him but decided to go with someone else. Then, while we were at the zoo today, he left Dan a message to call him. When Dan did...he offered him the job!! It is teaching Social Studies at a charter school in Westerville called the International Academy of Columbus. While it initially wasn't his first choice, he is really excited about it and it will be an awesome experience for him both professionally and personally. Most of the students are Somali and all of them are considered ESL (English as a second language). He won't be making as money much as he would at a public school, but it will be worth it...plus they are going to count some of his subbing as years of experience. We are soooooo excited (and thankful, relieved, nervous, etc). We all have been praying about this for a long time! We feel so blessed that we both have good jobs and GREAT family and friends!

Now if we could just sell our house...

Our Next Family Pet...

We went to the zoo today and 'met' the baby elephant, Coco. I never realized how rare a baby elephant was until the zoo worker was telling us last time that there have only been a handful of them born in captivity in the last 50 years and most of them have been here at the Columbus Zoo. The girls loved him and he is absolutely adorable!! Since elephants are one of my favorite animals (they are tied with dolphins if anyone was wondering), I told Dan that is what I want as a pet next. Sure it may not be allowed by our deed restrictions, and I am pretty sure he wouldn't be able to sleep above our heads like Sammy does...but I think we could make it work. What do you think???

Dora The Explorer! LIVE!

Part of Aly's birthday present was tickets to see Dora, LIVE on stage. Today was the big day and she was so excited to go! She insisted on wearing her Dora boots (just like Boots the Monkey) even though it was 90* outside. She definitely had a good time, but she is so reserved and was scared during some parts. We didn't take Hannah because we thought she would be too young, but I wish we had because she would have loved it!! We have seen both Dora and Diego LIVE now, but something tells me we will be seeing more of these wonderful shows in the future...

Happy Father's Day!

Aly and Hannnah were really cute when I was trying to think of what we could do for Dan! Aly really loves to do crafts and cook, so we made Dan a craft with dried pasta (which Sammy ended up pulling off the counter and eating part of it - yes, paper, glue, uncooked pasta and all) and his favorite cake. He loved it all ;)

Then, we had a really busy day celebrating all the dads in our lives. First we took my dad out to breakfast at his favorite place, the Waffle House. Then, Dan and I took Alyssa to see Dora. Finally, we went to Dan's grandparents for a cookout with his whole family. It was a busy day, but a lot of fun.

My Thoughts on Single Parenting...

it sucks!! Dan left on Wednesday to go backpacking with some of our friends. Although I don't think it sounds like fun at all, they had a great time! He got back this afternoon and we were ALL very excited! The girls have been good and we have had pretty smooth sailing...but it was sooooo nice to have him back. I just needed to take a shower without listening to screaming or make myself something for breakfast other than their leftover, hair covered Fruit Loops. I honestly don't know how single parents do it! I love, love, love being a mom!! But I am also so very thankful I have a wonderful supportive husband, who is very involved in the parenting process!! It sure makes me remember how blessed I am to truly be married to my best friend!

Cool Summer Nights = Perfection!

One of the great things about living in America is the traditions. And not just the big ones, like Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July...the little ones, like high school proms, lemonade stands, garage sales (just like the country song "It's America" by Rodney Atkins says ;). Family bike rides are another! I remember going on bike rides with my family on cool summer nights, talking to neighbors and getting ice cream and Popsicles. We finally got the seats hooked on to both bikes and went on a ride with the girls tonight. It was so much fun (but, man am I out of shape)!! Aly was terrified every time Dan moved his bike and Hannah was pointing at everything just talking away in the seat behind me. I wish I had some pictures of them in the back with their little Dora helmets on! We are going to start going on bike rides more often. I don't know, maybe they do it in other countries too, but to me it seems something that is so 'American'! I love it! I love summer...it's the greatest!

Red Raspberries

Hannah loves all kinds of berries...except strawberries (the only kind Aly will eat)! Today, I gave her some fresh raspberries while I was cutting up strawberries for Alyssa. I looked over and she was doing this:

She is soooo silly! When she realized I grabbed the camera she turned on the charm! What a great personality!!

Potty Training: Update

We are a little over a week into this adventure the world calls 'potty training'. It is by far the hardest, messiest and most frustrating thing we have had to do since becoming parents. Changing diapers is easy, but how do you explain to a child that what they have been doing their whole life is wrong...and now they have to learn something completely new (and scary)?? We have had our ups and downs. If we are home, Aly is usually ok...naked, but goes on the potty without much prompting. When we leave and put a pull up on her it is a whole other ball game. She REFUSES to go to the bathroom anywhere else (Except Grandma and Grandpa's and Dave and Jess's)!! I don't even know how to change her mind! It took me a whole week, and lots of bribes, to get her to poop on the big potty...we may have to buy her a pony to go on a public restroom!!

We have been working on a Dora rewards chart: Pee in the Potty = 1 Star Sticker, Pee in the Pants = Loosing a Star, Poop in the Potty = Big Character Sticker...you get the idea. We told her when her chart was totally full we would take it to the store and trade it in for the Play-Dough Ice Cream maker she wants. It was working like a charm until last night...she told me after she peed on the potty she didn't want a sicker for her chart. I asked her why and she told me, "I have too many toys already". What 3 year old says that?!?!?!?

So, we will keep trudging on towards the goal and I will update along the way. It may take a few lot of loads of laundry, but she will be trained in time for pre-school...during the days anyway.

Hannah Takes a Tumble

Hannah is for sure the one who is going to get hurt the most and have the most serious injuries. We thought we would have a nice relaxing night last night at the Seed's for a cook out...WRONG! Hannah was being a grump from the time we got there, so after dinner we decided to walk to the park in their neighborhood. Everything was going fine until Hannah tried to go down the steps on the jungle gym. She wants to be like Alyssa so much that she thinks she is so much older than she is!! Anyways, I couldn't grab her in time...she fell face first (more specifically nose first), down 2 steps on to the ground. And it wasn't mulch, or the nice shredded tires...it was good ole' rubberized concrete! Although she didn't really bleed, the entire left side of her face was red and puffy. She screamed for the whole walk back to their house and until we got her in the car to go home and fell asleep. She hit sooooo hard I was really worried about her. When we got home though I had to change her diaper before I could put her in bed. Once her diaper was changed she stood up on the couch and started jumping and giggling. Guess she was fine! The scabs don't do the fall justice...I was honestly expecting the whole left side of her head to be black and blue!
Poor baby!

Night and Day

I did not realize just how different the girls' personalities were until this morning when we went to story time at the library. Aly is extremely shy! She would not go to sit with the other kids and stayed glued to my arm. She wouldn't even sing the songs or dance next to me. Hannah, if I had let her go, would have been right up there with everyone else (as long as I am in sight). She was giggling and dance in my lap. Aly wouldn't even go to get a stamp without me going with her.

Then we went into the kids section of the library. Aly walked to the shelf, picked out a few books and sat down to 'read' them. Hannah, on the other hand, went down the shelves pulling books off, tearing out pages and making a mess like a tornado in a trailer park. She did not sit still for even one minute while we were there! I felt so bad making Aly leave, but I couldn't chase Hannah anymore! We took some books home though and we are going to make it a weekly activity from now on. I guess I am for sure going to have to make time to do things with each of them that they enjoy one on one!!

Potty Training: Day 2

We had a rocky start this morning! She is wearing a Pull-Up to bed, but after putting panties on her she decided she didn't WANT to go on the potty. For the first 5 hours of the day, out of sheer spite, we went through about 6 pairs of panties. Finally she stopped being so stubborn and did great again. we went out to run errands, and even though she had a Pull-Up on, she stayed dry and waited 'till we got home to use the potty! I think it is going well, but it has been 2 days and we have yet to see a #2...

Potty Training: Day 1

I have been telling Aly for weeks that this summer (AKA: when school is out) she was going to have to start using the big potty. Since today was my last day of school, I was going to start tomorrow morning. However, when I came home from school today and told Aly I didn't have to school anymore she giggled, took her diaper off and threw it. That was at 11 and for the rest she used the potty like a big girl! She didn't have any accidents all day until Dan's mom was babysitting (Aidan came over so I think she just forgot). I think that is pretty darn good for the first day!

Pray, Pray, Pray!!

Dan has an interview for a TEACHING job!! It is at Delaware Hayes High School. It's a long drive...but it would be a start!! The interview is this Friday at 3pm! I will keep you updated!

**Update**

Dan said the interview went really well, but it was just the first round. All he did this time was take the 'Perceiver' (a series of questions they ask teaching candidates to find out their teaching philosophy). The principal told him that they want to hire someone in the next 10 days so it could be approved at the next board meeting. Hopefully he will get a call early next week for the next round! Keep praying!!

Ouch!

While I was making dinner in the kitchen tonight I faintly heard Aly crying in the background, "Ow, ow, owie..." I turned to see Aly's index finger in between Hannah's TEETH!! She was totally biting her. I told Hannah NO and, of course, they both started screaming. I would have too...there were indentations on her finger...Hannah bit down really hard!! I don't know why her finger was in Hannah's mouth to begin with, but I told Aly not to stick her fingers in there anymore and that Hannah didn't mean it. Through tears Aly cried "I coulddn't get it out!" Thankfully, Dora band-aids are a cure all!

Later, we saw my parents and she showed my dad her 'bite'. He asked her if an animal bit her...Aly's response: "Yeah...Hannah!"

Classic.

Who Knew...

spitting could be so much fun?!?!?!?!?!?!