10/09/2011
LIA IS POTTY TRAINED!!
I have been putting off potty training Lia for pretty much the last year. She was already expressing interest in using the potty last year at this time, but I was sooo not ready to deal with wet and messy underwear. Then with the move and being displaced for several months, it just seemed like the time was never right. About a month and a half ago I thought that I had better get serious about potty training her and we bought pull-ups and underwear. She liked the underwear, but didn't like keeping them dry. Then two weeks ago, after going back to pull-ups full time, James had her put on underwear one morning. That day she told me several times that she needed to go potty and only had one accident. Since then she has been virtually accident free, aside from the few close calls when she piddles a little in her panties before telling me she needs to go. I am so proud of her and so glad that the potty training has been fairly stress free and really positive.
JACOB AND SETH'S SCHOOL
This month Jacob and Seth have been doing really well in school. Because of a few hitches with our charter school, we decided to change schools this month. We changed over to the Washington Online school, which is part of the Washington County School District. We are still using the same curriculum, but the new school is much more flexible and much more relaxed. We are enjoying it quite a bit so far. I moved Jacob up to the first grade phonics and language arts because he is already reading fairly well. Seth is learning his multiplication facts right now. He knows how to solve his 0, 1, 2, 5, 9, 10, and 11 times tables. We are trying to think of good ways to help him memorize the rest. Both boys are really enjoying their science and history lessons. With the new school we will also be starting a sign language course. I'm hoping they love that too!
LIA'S BIG GIRL BED
Because Lia decided to be potty trained, I thought that it was time for her to move out of her crib into a regular bed. I had primed and painted an old bed frame that Seth used as his first big boy bed. I also got really cute bedding for it when we first bought the house. So, over conference weekend, I took apart her crib and set up her new bed. She was so excited and had to get on and jump on it a few times to try it out. Later that afternoon she told me that she needed to take a nap in her new bed. Unfortunately, she quickly discovered that she could get in and out of her bed by herself and the nap only lasted about 10 minutes. Other than not napping much anymore, she hasn't had any problems transitioning to the new bed and loves that she doesn't have to wait for someone to come get her out in the morning. I have the port-a-crib set up in my craft room for visiting cousins, so I just put her in that on the days when she really needs a nap.
Here are some before and after pictures:
ZOO AND PLANETARIUM FUN
Last Friday, we were able to go to the zoo with our new school. The weather was perfect and the kids were really interested in actually learning about some of the different animals we saw. Usually they just rush through as fast as possible, so it was nice to kind of slow down and read about the different animals. Just a few days ago we went to the planetarium with the Abbotts. We saw a 3D IMAX movie about oceanic dinosaurs. They kids were a little freaked out during one scene when a giant shark mouth came right out of the screen at us. Lia was so funny, she kept putting her 3D glasses on upside down and hiding in her seat whenever there was a "scary" scene.
SOME HOUSE PROGRESS
We have done a few projects on the house in the last little while. We cleaned out half of the basement and then stained the concrete floor so that it is a little more livable than just regular bare concrete. James plans to have a little hobby workshop down there and we put up three more storage shelves for some of our stuff. I need to move our bookshelves and unpack our books and then we can clean out and stain the other half of the basement in anticipation of letting the kids play down there in the winter. I plan to bring their scooters and bikes down there and possibly hang some swings and get a slide so they can have a warm place to play. We also cleared out the garage enough to park both of our cars in it. That was a major milestone for James! He's been looking forward to it since we moved in.
The last project we completed was planting our front flower beds. I really hope that everything we planted out there lives through the winter. The soil out here is very dense and clay-like and has a high salt content. I think everything we bought said it was hardy and salt tolerant. The beds look really nice and we can finally get the HOA people off our backs for not having them planted. I'm not sure why they decided to get on our case about it, the house has been here for 5 years and apparently nothing has ever been planted in the beds. Dumb HOA.
DECORATING
In addition to the house projects mentioned above, I have been doing a few things to liven up the house a bit and make it seem less brown and beige. I added some beautiful curtains to the living room. I love the pop of red color that they add to the room.
I also recovered the dining room chairs in a greeny-teal color that just makes me smile because it's so happy.
I also found a desk chair for my kitchen desk at the DI for $4.00. I had been looking for one for a while, but needed something that didn't have an ugly back since that's what you would see most of the time. This chair has a piece of solid wood that attaches the chair back to the seat so it was great! I reupholstered the chair in some fabric I had left over from another chair project and it looks pretty cute. I still want to paint or stain the wood to complement the wood in our kitchen a little better.
HARRY POTTER MANIA
The kids have been really interested Harry Potter lately. We let them watch the first movie and they have the Lego Harry Potter Wii game. Jacob is even going to be Harry for Halloween. I decided to get the first book on CD to listen to in the car. Seth read along with the CDs and would fill us in whenever the disks would skip. When the book was through the first thing they said was "Let's get book #2 now!!" They have been using chopsticks as magic wands and running around the house casting spells on each other. The planetarium was clearing out Harry Potter hats and scarves, so I bought one for Jacob to wear with his costume. The boys have been using the hat as the "Sorting Hat" and acting out many different scenes in the story. It is so fun to watch them use their imaginations! I'm definitely going to get the CDs of book #2 soon!
I have been putting off potty training Lia for pretty much the last year. She was already expressing interest in using the potty last year at this time, but I was sooo not ready to deal with wet and messy underwear. Then with the move and being displaced for several months, it just seemed like the time was never right. About a month and a half ago I thought that I had better get serious about potty training her and we bought pull-ups and underwear. She liked the underwear, but didn't like keeping them dry. Then two weeks ago, after going back to pull-ups full time, James had her put on underwear one morning. That day she told me several times that she needed to go potty and only had one accident. Since then she has been virtually accident free, aside from the few close calls when she piddles a little in her panties before telling me she needs to go. I am so proud of her and so glad that the potty training has been fairly stress free and really positive.
JACOB AND SETH'S SCHOOL
This month Jacob and Seth have been doing really well in school. Because of a few hitches with our charter school, we decided to change schools this month. We changed over to the Washington Online school, which is part of the Washington County School District. We are still using the same curriculum, but the new school is much more flexible and much more relaxed. We are enjoying it quite a bit so far. I moved Jacob up to the first grade phonics and language arts because he is already reading fairly well. Seth is learning his multiplication facts right now. He knows how to solve his 0, 1, 2, 5, 9, 10, and 11 times tables. We are trying to think of good ways to help him memorize the rest. Both boys are really enjoying their science and history lessons. With the new school we will also be starting a sign language course. I'm hoping they love that too!
LIA'S BIG GIRL BED
Because Lia decided to be potty trained, I thought that it was time for her to move out of her crib into a regular bed. I had primed and painted an old bed frame that Seth used as his first big boy bed. I also got really cute bedding for it when we first bought the house. So, over conference weekend, I took apart her crib and set up her new bed. She was so excited and had to get on and jump on it a few times to try it out. Later that afternoon she told me that she needed to take a nap in her new bed. Unfortunately, she quickly discovered that she could get in and out of her bed by herself and the nap only lasted about 10 minutes. Other than not napping much anymore, she hasn't had any problems transitioning to the new bed and loves that she doesn't have to wait for someone to come get her out in the morning. I have the port-a-crib set up in my craft room for visiting cousins, so I just put her in that on the days when she really needs a nap.
Here are some before and after pictures:
ZOO AND PLANETARIUM FUN
Last Friday, we were able to go to the zoo with our new school. The weather was perfect and the kids were really interested in actually learning about some of the different animals we saw. Usually they just rush through as fast as possible, so it was nice to kind of slow down and read about the different animals. Just a few days ago we went to the planetarium with the Abbotts. We saw a 3D IMAX movie about oceanic dinosaurs. They kids were a little freaked out during one scene when a giant shark mouth came right out of the screen at us. Lia was so funny, she kept putting her 3D glasses on upside down and hiding in her seat whenever there was a "scary" scene.
SOME HOUSE PROGRESS
We have done a few projects on the house in the last little while. We cleaned out half of the basement and then stained the concrete floor so that it is a little more livable than just regular bare concrete. James plans to have a little hobby workshop down there and we put up three more storage shelves for some of our stuff. I need to move our bookshelves and unpack our books and then we can clean out and stain the other half of the basement in anticipation of letting the kids play down there in the winter. I plan to bring their scooters and bikes down there and possibly hang some swings and get a slide so they can have a warm place to play. We also cleared out the garage enough to park both of our cars in it. That was a major milestone for James! He's been looking forward to it since we moved in.
The last project we completed was planting our front flower beds. I really hope that everything we planted out there lives through the winter. The soil out here is very dense and clay-like and has a high salt content. I think everything we bought said it was hardy and salt tolerant. The beds look really nice and we can finally get the HOA people off our backs for not having them planted. I'm not sure why they decided to get on our case about it, the house has been here for 5 years and apparently nothing has ever been planted in the beds. Dumb HOA.
DECORATING
In addition to the house projects mentioned above, I have been doing a few things to liven up the house a bit and make it seem less brown and beige. I added some beautiful curtains to the living room. I love the pop of red color that they add to the room.
I also recovered the dining room chairs in a greeny-teal color that just makes me smile because it's so happy.
I also found a desk chair for my kitchen desk at the DI for $4.00. I had been looking for one for a while, but needed something that didn't have an ugly back since that's what you would see most of the time. This chair has a piece of solid wood that attaches the chair back to the seat so it was great! I reupholstered the chair in some fabric I had left over from another chair project and it looks pretty cute. I still want to paint or stain the wood to complement the wood in our kitchen a little better.
HARRY POTTER MANIA
The kids have been really interested Harry Potter lately. We let them watch the first movie and they have the Lego Harry Potter Wii game. Jacob is even going to be Harry for Halloween. I decided to get the first book on CD to listen to in the car. Seth read along with the CDs and would fill us in whenever the disks would skip. When the book was through the first thing they said was "Let's get book #2 now!!" They have been using chopsticks as magic wands and running around the house casting spells on each other. The planetarium was clearing out Harry Potter hats and scarves, so I bought one for Jacob to wear with his costume. The boys have been using the hat as the "Sorting Hat" and acting out many different scenes in the story. It is so fun to watch them use their imaginations! I'm definitely going to get the CDs of book #2 soon!
