Mimi Rocks!

In a few days, it’ll be four months that we’ve had the boys. With it being summer, the kids spend lots and lots of time outside. We had a bike and a scooter for Zoe but, now we have three kids, one bike and one scooter just was not going to do. A fight ensued every time we went out, over who was going to use what.

As most of you, I’m a HUGE thrift store shopper. I love, love, love going to thrift stores for just about everything. Last week, we happened to be at our local thrift store and out of the corner of our eye, we spotted a bike. Zoe had outgrown her small bike and we’d been shopping around for a bigger one so we could pass hers down to one of the boys. By lucky circumstance, the bike we’d spotted was PERFECT! It was the exact size we were looking for, and there wasn’t a dent or scratch on it. I sprinted in to pay as Shelli was loading the bike in the car.

Shelli’s plan was to ‘boy up’ Zoe’s old bike for Luis. She spent about a week tearing it apart, painting it and putting new decals and striping on it. Luis asked everyday when he could ride his NEW bike. He couldn’t stand to see the bike in a million pieces, and he didn’t put it together in his head that the bike he was looking at was Zoe’s old one. All Luis knew was that he wanted to do everything he could to help Mimi in hopes she would finish faster. The relationship between Luis and Mimi is pretty tight. He adores her and wants to do nothing more than to help her and make her proud of him.

So for now, all the kids are content. Zoe got a new bike, Luis got a new bike, and Christian has the scooter. Zoe being the sweet girl that she is couldn’t be happier that Mimi could fix her old bike into a new bike for her ‘brother’.

Mimi, you’re the best!

Zoe's new bike

Basketball

My basketball stars....

Summer Kick-Off

We had the best afternoon hanging out with the Johnson- McCormick family. It feels like forever since we’d last seen them for some quality one on one time.

ALL the kids had so much fun playing inside, outside, in the sand, on the swings, banging on the drums, and of course I got lots of love time with Miss Meera. Now that the boys are getting older, it’s hard to get them to sit still long enough to have much love time. I’ve learned over the past couple years to grab my loves when I can. They will never turn down love time but when they have an agenda, it’s hard to get them to cuddle – Not that I blame them!

When we first got there, Owen ran up to Zoe, hugged her, and said, “How old are you?”, Zoe said, “Still 4!”. It took Zoe a few minuets but she looked at me and said, “Mommy, Ky & O are older than me now!”

It was fun to watch the kids play. Luis and Christian didn’t skip a beat. They jumped right in and had a BLAST! Zoe’s favorite part of the day was shucking the corn we had for dinner. Heather sat the kids down with the bucket of corn, and by the time we got it in the house and on the stove, each ear of corn had several bite marks from the kids ‘trying’ the corn while they were pulling the husks off.

I couldn’t help but to chuckle when it was time for dinner and I grabbed an ear of corn to eat with my burger and half the corn was ‘missing’. I enjoyed it just the same and it gave my corn some character – ha!

Dinner was wonderful, the company was even better, and with Shelli’s bean dip and Braydon’s margaritas, we were living large!

Letter of the day... 'C'

Christian

Chow-down

Chili

Content

Potty Training Update

I’m proud to announce we are making great strides with going potty. The progress was at a stand-still until I told Shelli I had an idea….. I filled a basket with all kinds of toys as a motivation, and told the boys every time they actually USED the potty, they would be able to pick one toy out of the basket.

BINGO! Why didn’t I think of this before? We first tried the whole candy concept. I bought all kinds of different sugar-free candy and put it in a pretty see-through jar so they could see all the different pretty colored candy. That didn’t last too long, they lost interest and frankly, they’d rather have fruits or veggies.

The past week has been wonderful (knock on wood), they are SO excited to get on the potty and will sit for as long as it takes to finally go so they can pick something from the basket. I picked up things they are interested in, like horses and tractors for Luis, and anything from the movie ‘Cars’ for Christian. They get so excited after they go, they sprint out of the bathroom half naked to get to the basket and pick something. When the basket gets low, I head straight out to get stuff to refill it. I’m so proud of how far they both have come in just a week, and the best news was that they are also going at school during the day! Fingers crossed that we will keep sailing smoothly. We want these boys out of diapers and into BIG boy underwear.

School's out!

Last week was Zoe’s last week of ‘school’, what better way to start off summer vacation than with a trip to Sesame Place with her best friend Shawn. The weather wasn’t great but we made the best of it. Having overcast weather actually worked to our advantage, we didn’t have to wait in line for anything!

We are looking forward to a summer full of fun activities, all the kids are in camp, on top of visiting Nana and camping trips, I have lots of fun stuff planned to keep the kids busy.

Memorial Day ‘Jam’

Uncle Henry flew in Saturday for a visit and to participate in our ‘First Annual Memorial Day Jam Fest’. We started the weekend with a picnic, and then progressed from there to a wonderful dinner at John and Bryan’s, and then ‘jammed’ into the wee hours of the night.

Bryan made the best chili, EVER for dinner, and then he pulled out homemade (from scratch) brownies for dessert topped with ice cream, hot fudge, and whipped cream --- Mmmm!

After dinner as the kids explored outside for hours while the adults got busy in the kitchen. We cut, mashed, boiled, and stirred fourteen pounds of berries, and about twenty five pounds of sugar later, we filled 36 jars of homemade strawberry jam. Somewhere along the way, we completely lost track of time. When we looked up at the clock, it’s was 9pm and the kids were running on empty so Bryan took the kids upstairs and read to them until they fell asleep. By the time we were done making the jam and cleaning up, it was almost midnight. On our way out, Bryan pulled out some of his homemade bread from the freezer for us to eat with our jam this morning.

This weekend has been one of the most action-packed weekends we’ve had in a long time. Today, we are looking forward to just sitting around the house and relaxing.

Lori and I are blessed to have such amazing friends here!

Picnic

FIRST ANNUAL FOSTER FAMILY PICNIC...

We had a fantastic time seeing everyone. While the kids were playing, we took the opportunity to visit and catch up with all the other foster families. At the end of a fun afternoon, we had three very tired kids with smiles from ear to ear. The highlight of the day for Christian and Luis was seeing their sister, Layla. The expression on their face was priceless!

Today

A day at the beach; the perfect way to begin a LONG weekend.....

Mimi's HOME!

Shelli got home around 3am this morning from Denver after being gone since Sunday. When she came down the stairs after a short night's sleep, I heard the kids screaming, "Mimi Home! Mimi Home!" She couldn't get down the stairs before the kids were tackling her and pinning her down for hugs and kisses.

Potty Training

I sometimes feel like potty training is going to put me over the edge. The boys have no concept of ‘going potty in the potty’. We were so spoiled with Zoe.

We first tried having them sit on the BIG potty but, it was too overwhelming for them so we broke down and bought a little potty. The little potty sits in the bathroom right next to the big potty, still no interest. Believe me; we are not above bribing the kids with toys, candy, etc. We just want some sign of comprehension, to know they understand the concept.

Every few hours we put them on the ‘little potty’, just to let them sit so they get used to the idea. That works pretty well however, they won’t go! Luis will sit and try and try; he wants that new scooter oh so badly. Christian on the other hand, has no desire to even try. It’s a fight to get him to just sit on the toilet nonetheless, get him to go.

I want so badly to stop buying diapers and have the kids in big boy underwear. I even went as far as to buy them cute underwear in hopes it would entice them to stay focused.

Juice

I pulled out my Jack LaLanne Juicer today. Mind you, this was the juicer I had to have. I was up late one night watching the infomercial for this nifty juicer and told Shelli it was a must have! It took several weeks of convincing her but she eventually came around and we bought one. On TV they made it look so easy. No cutting, peeling, and the clean up looked like a breeze -- WRONG! The truth is, this juicer in my opinion is like any other juicer. A pain to clean!

As much of a pain it is to clean, I absolutely love juicing! It's so refreshing and the kids love it. This morning, I cut up tons of fresh fruit, and let the kids go to town. The kitchen was a disaster when we were done. I had fruit on the floor, stools, counter, and even on the pantry door—go figure! The only problem is, I hate to throw the pulp away when we are done. I want to make muffins or something with it but have know idea how to do it. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

The kids Favorites:

Zoe: Grapes, Watermelon, Strawberries, and Apple
Luis: Apple, Blueberries, and Watermelon
Christian: Apple, Watermelon, and Grapes

Mommy's favorite: Apple and Carrot --Yummy!

Family Hike

This morning was prefect! Shelli, the kids, and I went for a hike. The weather was slightly overcast but that just made it all the better. All the animals were out enjoying the cool weather. We saw deer, frogs, birds, squirrels, and even turtles. We spent a few hours checking everything out and letting the kids romp around in the creek. The kids were dirty from head to toe by the time we left.

Life is good!