More Potty Fun

Parker is getting really good at squeezing out a small pellet of poop because I am giving him a bag of fruit snacks each time he does it. I'm thrilled to see his progress, but I'm running out of fruit snacks. I don't want to change the rules to our game because he's doing so well. On a not so positive note, Apollo ate poop tonight. I'm not sure if it was his or Parker's, but GROSS!!! He spit it out on the floor after I had made brownies and I couldn't be sure what was poop and what was brownie. I just HATE poop! Ryan was out on splits, so I hate to clean up my poopy two year old and a poopy/brownie floor.

Family Fun Weekend Galore

It's been a great weekend. It was very busy, but fun. My sister, Pinks, and her family. came with my parents on Friday night. Pinks ran the Seattle rock and roll marathon on Saturday and she needed to be here rather than in Port Angeles with my parents. So we had fun BBQ and enjoying their company. Then Sat. morning we had a stake BBQ and softball game to go to, so while Pinks was running her marathon, we were at that. Then we left to meet her at the finish line. Rachael gave us an unexpected surprise and drove here to be with the family for Pink's marathon. It was so nice for us three sisters to be together. After the marathon (which was amazing and inspiring ~ Ryan thinks we need to do one together) we spent some time g-saling and getting slurpees, just us girls. It was wonderful! Pinks went back to our parent's house. Next weekend we'll all meet up at Ryan's house for the 4th. 

Today was a really nice day at church. Ryan has a ton of meetings after church, so I'm home with the kids. Now that Bryce is ten, I feel more comfortable asking him to do some of the housework. He sprayed down and wiped all the counters and our kitchen table, and he did a great job! It's so nice that even though Ryan is gone, I still have a good helper. 

Missionary Discussions

I noticed the Lord's hand in my life today when we had a couple over to take the plan of salvation missionary discussion. These people are as down and out as you can get ~ much like the people I used to associate with on my road to homelessness. The guy was talking about how he doesn't know how to get past his past and I felt impressed to share where I've been. I could see a light go on for him and I think it gave him hope. No matter how far down we are, we can always find our way out with Heavenly Father's help. That's really what it comes down to. It felt good to see how my past experiences can bless someone else's life. I feel like I can relate to almost everyone from the things I've been through.  Oh, and she's on date for baptism. YEA!!!

Bryce's 10th Birthday!

Today is Bryce's 10th Birthday. I can't believe he's ten, but he behaves very much like a ten year old, so go figure. I feel so blessed that he is my first and that we had so much time to develop a strong relationship before his siblings came along. 

He's having a sleepover for his birthday party ~ his first one. I'm planning on the boys staying up all night and I'm ok with it. They will be playing up above our garage, so hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight. Ryan is going to be up there with them. I hope he has a great birthday!

My Nails!

I noticed the Lord's hand in my life today in the way my husband knew he should let me get my nails done. That might sound bad, but it really was a blessing. Usually when we have "the conversation", really a debate, about whether or not I should get my nails done, it ends in me feeling thwarted and not doing it. But lately, I've been feeling like I'm not a priority because I serve my family constantly and I don't take time for myself. So I opened the debate, and Ryan told me to go get my nails done ~ no debate. I was so grateful for that time I had to myself. It's kind of like how flowers make you feel like someone loves you ~ only I get to carry these flowers with me everywhere!

Life feels good!

There have been more poop things go on this weekend ~ like when both boys got back at us by taking off their poopy diapers while we were doing our garage sale. But enough of that. We had a blast doing our garage sale this weekend. We combined with Raine on Fri and Sat, and the Crass' joined us for Sat.  It felt really good to clean house and get rid of a lot of our clutter. Simplifying feels good. 

Today we renewed our temple recommends. That felt good, too. Living with everything in accordance with the gospel makes me feel like I'm doing exactly what I'm meant to be doing and that I can be an instrument in The Lord's hands. It's helping me utilize the tools I've been given to bless other's lives, and that makes me happy. 

So, the potty training continues. But at least I'm in a better place mentally to conquer this task. 

Another humbling moment

In all the fun of potty training. We had an accident (the poop kind). I had to take Ollie to the Dr., so I quickly changed Parker before taking him. When I got to the Dr. office, I realized there was poop on my pants because the smell was horribly strong. I tried my best to cover the smell with the foam hand sanitizer. When the Dr. came in he asked Apollo if he needed a change. I knew very well that Ollie did not need a change. I felt my blood pressure rise and felt my face get flushed. I was so flustered that when I answered for Ollie, I said, "it's not him, it's me, well.. not me, just my pants". The Dr.'s face looked concerned and then I explained the whole thing. We both had a good laugh ~ and I'm considering changing doctors.