More of my cute kids

This morning it was a little chilly in our house. You know the season where things are cold in the morning, but you can't justify turning on the heater. Thus the kids are wearing Conrad's jackets.

The other morning I was blow-drying my hair upstairs when Conrad came upstairs from watching TV and he came in naked and said, "Mom I go'd poop in the big boy potty and now I get a fruit snack!"
Spiderman Fruit Snacks were THEE trick for this kid and poop. This picture is from the day he came and found me after he "go'd poop in the big boy potty." Perhaps another trick for this kid was when the last time he pooped and made a mess of it I was so furious and finally it dawned on me to say a prayer with this boy. I know that helped, too.

He has been wearing underwear for a week now, during the day. He's been doing really great! We'll get the days figured out before nights. Baby steps. But Hallelujah anyway!

Did you know?

http://www.kctv5.com/news/21130036/detail.html

Walter Cronkite was born just an hour away from where I live now, and was buried right here in Kansas City. I got to see Walter narrate one of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas programs a few years ago. (Was it the Christmas program?) Anyway, that's the way it is.

Just kind of brimming with pride

Sorry to brag, but someone posted about MY SON on their own personal blog!!!

Her blog post's title: "i just don't know what that means"

For my church calling, I now babysit about 9 kids for 2 hours. It's great
birth control.
Sorry
mom/dad/sister/friends/in-laws/grama's/grandpa's/whoever
else...
I was
called...and I answered.
Moving on.
In trying to distract one 3 year old
little boy, who's quite adorable...I
asked him what he will be for
Halloween.
He'll be a monster.
To continue the distraction, I asked him
what he recommended for me to be
for Halloween.
"You could be an
Elephant"
And...I just don't know what that means.

Oh man now I get why my mom thinks I am hilarious! Because I am her daughter! Conrad is my child and man he just cracks me up sometimes! I wish I could remember all the funny goofy things he says. Thank you so much Tara for making my week!
I don't know what that means either, but you don't have any reason to take offense. Just a 3-year old boy who dreams about "Turkeys and Barnharts." weird!
Oh, and thank you Conrad for wearing underwear for the last 3 days!!! I don't want to get too excited about it, I might jinx it!

Confirmed:

Conrad has my weird sleeping eyes.
It's been known to haunt others in the room that are awake. Freaky!

Riverside Riverfest Parade

Us big girls know where it's at when it comes to being parade time.
Amelia has yet to learn that concept. She stayed by the gutter or with Daddy most of the time.

Here's Conrad with his 45 year old mother.

Conrad got some sunglasses WITH NUMBERS ON THEM, and Josh was trying to show Conrad how to keep his huge sunglasses on.

It was a really fun parade. I was giggling like a school girl. It helped fill some of the void of homesickness.

What the horses left behind right in front of us. (They didn't have anyone behind the horses cleaning them up! Can you believe that?!?) One piece of candy skidded through some cow pies. Conrad picked it up, but with all his experience with #2 he'll be just fine.

the girl is like Cotton Candy

Sorry, but here I go again. This blog might just be a shrine to my daughter while she is in my favorite stage, and before she enters the horrendous stage Conrad is in (but I think he might be coming out!!! good news :) )
Amelia got this dress for her 1st birthday, and she now fits in it. Thanks you Aunt Lea!!!

So sweet.

p.s. today at the grocery store the teenage kid said I reminded him of his Drama Teacher. Argh! I must look at least 20 years older than I am.

2:47 of my life

We got a package in the mail for Conrad's birthday! Thank you Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Scott!!!! They sent Conrad 2 new outfits, both with big numbers on the shirts. This video is Conrad's excitement. I didn't catch it in this video, but I asked him why he was running fast and he said, "Because I have a number on my shirt."

DISCLAIMER:

Sorry for the boring parts. Amelia had been playing with my hair when I turned the camera on her, just the same way my mom would play with my hair! I wanted to capture it. But it ended up being super boring. And sorry for the jerky motion-sickness causing parts. Oh, and Amelia really isn't a "Greaser," she had just had a bath and her hair was combed funny. It is a pretty boring video. But I know their Grandmas and Grandpas will find some joy from it.

Conrad's 3rd birthday details

We didn't do much for Conrad's birthday this year. This last week was a crazy week. Between hosting for a book club and then Josh asking me to start looking for a new van, Conrad's birthday was not my first priority. Though it was on the short list!!!
Conrad happy to have pizza for dinner. (Weird face, I know, I snapped it as he was shaking his head around).
Getting shy from the camera.

What Conrad had to look forward to: (notice the number of candles on the cake? That is our way of having fun. Though Conrad did say that he was 3 today. 'Atta boy!

Looking forward: a jacket with a number 37 on it (he loved it.)

And a new scooter! (In addition to the helmet and pads... which are equally exciting to Conrad)

He is still my handsome boy!

Next on the agenda:

This is the dent we put in the cake. We wish we could have had our Grandmas and Grandpas and cousins and Aunts and Uncles to celebrate with.
And this was my messy kitchen. Sure wish we could've had all those relatives here to help me clean it!Conrad is and always has been Mr. Straight-Face. I told Conrad to show me how excited he was to get a scooter. This is what I got. I think he was too tired to think about showing any emotion except sadness when he had to take the helmet off and go to bed.

Announcing...

A new mini-van! Josh's cute little '88 Nissan Pulsar aka "DeLorean" started failing us. We knew we were going to make a mini-van purchase within the next 2 years, so Josh got excited and we went with a 2005 Chevy Venture. It has 108 K, which is the same as our beloved Camry (actually within 30 miles). So the competition is on. Which car is going to last the longest?!
By the time the car is run to the ground we hope to fill up a couple more seats.But sorry, the only announcement today is for the mini-van. :)

potty-training is under-rated

Words on how awful potty-training is don't do it justice.

Conrad has been taking his diaper off and going #2 on his bedroom floor lately. Our steam-carpet cleaner has been my happiest investment. And it's been sitting outside his room ready to go, anticipating the next cleaning.

I don't blog about this everytime it happens. Because it is not so nice to read the word "poop." But, it happens. And Conrad is still figuring out that he CAN come out of his room during naptime if he needs to go potty, despite my threats to stay in his room for a nap. (BTW, he doesn't nap everyday. We're down to once every 2nd or 3rd day.)

I don't really want to talk about it any more, or go into more detail. I feel like I know what to do, and he IS figuring it out. It's just a matter of patience. I just wanted to document this so he can know what kind of agony I went through and that it is a miracle he survived.

(Oh, he pushed Amelia down 6 steps, too.) See? SEE??? Miracles are witnessed everyday he survives!

30-H

Some of you may be aware of Conrad's age confusion. We ask him how old he is, and he insists "Five." Due to that confusion we've been practicing this question and answer, especially since he has a birthday coming up. Today I repeated the question "How old are you going to be on your birthday?" and he replied:

"Thirty-H."

Labor Day Park Visit

Just us family here. No big barbecue's or get-together's planned. Which I am a little melancholy about. But I also don't have the gumption to plan anything. So we went to the park.

Amelia was happy to play in the dirt.

Everyone had fun :)

I'm a grandma, she thinks.

Today as I checked out at the grocery store, purchasing 3 different types of candy, I said, "I promise this is not all for me."

The cashier laughed and said, "Ohh, I know, I hear it all the time, they're for the grandkids."

I laughed, being the non-confrontational sort of person that I am. I wonder if she really thought I am a grandma. This woman was at least 20 years OLDER than me. I bet she was 50.

Anyway, I am a little hurt. Just a smidgen.

Because she must be so old that her eyes are failing her.

Then again, I feel that this last year I have aged dramatically. Extra LBS. and STRESS equal AGING mama. The stress and weight go hand in hand, feeding each other's flame. We should just be done having kids!!!

(By the way, today was my Mental Health Day, so I had no kids with me.)
(By the way, Josh tested my hearing, and it IS significantly worse than his.)