Potty Treats and No Training Wheels

Last week was so much fun! Brett learned to ride his bike without training wheels and now wants to spend as much time as possible outside on his bike! We live in a little court area where there is a road that is off the main road. I feel pretty comfortable with him riding around by himself, especially when I can see him through the window. HE has made lots of new friends and loves to play with Zack and Zander and Luke and Leah. Zack and Zander are 8 and 9 and Luke is 3 and Leah is 1. Alana also loves to ride bikes with all of them, but I usually go with them if she is out. She forgets the rules a little easier and is just a little smaller.

When I was working at the computer last Sunday, I peeked into Lizzie’s room and found Alana telling Lizzie stories =) We finally got her room all cleaned up last week too and hung pictures. A home tour is coming soon, I promise.

The big news for Missy Moo has been potty training. We tried doing pull ups for several days and she did ok, but would get lazy and just want to go in her pull up at the end of the day. Last Wednesday I just told her we needed to wear panties and told her she could have a potty treat each time she kept her panties dry and peed in the potty! The sweetish fish must have done the trick because she has had very few accidents since! She looked so summery and grown up in this picture. I know it isn’t obvious to everyone, but I think the lack of diaper bulk makes her look older. I’m so proud of her!

Brett is taking a tumbling class and is loving it! He does so great with the forward and backward rolls as well as the jumping, stretching, and balance beams.

Lizzie loves to help me do laundry =)

And smile. Lizzie’s favorite thing to do is smile and coo!

Last Wednesday we had a water party in the back courtyard. I set out the kiddie pool and toys and the neighbor boys came to join us, until the lawn mowers came =)

Brett and Alana play so hard every day! Alana has been taking to falling asleep around 4:30 or 5. She fell asleep while I was reading her books here:

I moved her over to the beanbag:

On Friday night we went over to my parents house to help with yard work and visit. We had a great time visiting and playing, then on Saturday we played outside before heading out.

Alana had sufficiently showed her potty skills by Saturday so we headed out to Build A Bear to get her an Elsa Bear. My niece Kaity has an Elsa bear that sings let it go and whenever Alana sees it she takes it and snuggles it. This whole time we’ve been potty training, we’ve been working for that bear. We got there and she saw the skye from Paw Patrol next to the Elsa and wanted that instead. Then I told her to look at all the others just to be sure and she chose the Dragon. She was so adamant and it was darling. She chose a rawr sound to go in its foot. Brett was such a great big brother helping her build it and not getting upset that he didn’t get one.

Later that afternoon, Brett got a little jealous but he was able to come out of it great when we explained that he got his bike when he was potty trained. He said we share all the toys in our house and we explained that that was true for most things, but the dragon was Alana’s. She’s done a great job sharing so far too =)

Saturday night we had some new coworkers of Sean’s over for pizza and games, so much fun!

On Sunday we went to church and Brett did a great job singing in the primary choir. After our Sacrament meeting we went over to the assisted living center across the street. Our choir sang Love One Another and then the primary kids sang there as well. We stayed for their whole sacrament meeting and Brett and Alana were awesome about it! A sweet lady held Lizzie and loved it, for most of the meeting. After church we came home and the kids helped me make a Father’s Day Dessert. I made a chocolate cake out of a cake mix with sour cream, pudding mix, eggs, oil, milk, and a whole bag of chocolate chips. The frosting started by cooking milk and four into a paste then cooling it off. Then we added that to butter and sugar and vanilla and whipped it like crazy. We folded in oreos and decorated it with more oreos. It was super super delicious! The recipe is from Our Best Bites website if you are interested =)

We watched a little bit of Bedtime Stories then headed out to my parents for Fathers Day dinner. While my Dad was barbecuing beef fajitas, Sean took the kids on a bike ride. It was the first time Alana got to be in the bike seat and she was giddy! We ate yummy food, exchanged cards and gifts, ate cake, played a round of Sushi Go and then headed home. It was a great Fathers Day celebration.