Happy Birthday Barry!

Today is my father-in-law's birthday. He's a great Poppy to the kids and an awesome father-in-law. We hope he has an awesome birthday and gets some relaxation since he's been working so much lately. Have a great birthday Barry. We love and miss you very much.

Brothers will be Brothers

Here's a video of Justin pouring water on Kailee's head and then laughing about it. :) Boys will be boys or I should say brothers will be brothers.

Houston we have Dryness

In the mornings that is. So far the only time Justin has been wearing a diaper is at night. And now we can finally have him wear big boy panties at night! I got a call from my mom this morning and what awesome news it was. Justin for the past few days has been waking up dry in the morning and immediately going to the potty. Sorry for all the potty talk, but I am super excited! I am really proud of my little man for sticking to his potty training in a new environment. Even his Uncle Chris is proud. I know he's happy that Justin is going on his own that's for sure. Every since he's been off of work Chris has been having to run to the bathroom after JP b/c Justin wants him to watch. LOL Justin is all about his PaPa and Uncle praising him so I know it has to be nice to get a break from that. I've been told he now doesn't want any help at all and gets on and off by himself and even pulls his big boy panties down by himself. Now what in the world am I going to do with two full boxes of diapers?
Ok ok enough potty talk. I'm officially done talking about it. I really need to get a life..... :)

I've got the Blues

So I've been feeling pretty lonely lately. The kids are with my parents for a while while I under go some injections and what not for my back and neck. You would think FREEDOM, PARTY! Not the case. I honestly feel lost. I keep hearing you'll be fine just think of all you can get done while they are gone. So I tried psyching myself up. I mean organizing is a great thing, garage sale, clean out the closets, get rid of unused junk, study for my class. I'll be fine right? UGH. I can't focus, I can't concentrate, I can't feel at ease, happy, excited, nothing. What's wrong with me? After four whole years of never being without the kids except for 3 days when Paul came back from his first deployment you would think I would welcome the break. Welcome the opportunity to watch a movie from beginning to end without interruptions. Welcome the opportunity to sleep in, sleep all day if I wanted, or go to a store all by myself. I had so much planned for when they were gone I even made a list and I can't seem to wrap my mind around any of it. I go in and out of their rooms about 50 times a day, look at their pictures, watch their videos over and over, turn a corner expecting Kailee to jump out and say "Gotcha!" I wake up looking forward to my good morning mommy, hugs and kisses and all I get is a big sloppy wet kiss from Abbey. No offense to Abbey I mean she's great and all, but I miss my bear hugs from JP, I miss cleaning up his highchair, I miss my chats with Kailee, I miss those darn kindergarten workbooks. I miss hearing the kids play in the backyard, bicker over a toy, splashing water all over the bathroom floor. I miss making them breakfast and dancing afterwords in the kitchen while we clean up. I even miss Wow Wow Wuzby, Barney, Caliou, Word World, Dora, Diego, Clifford, and Super Why. Now I know something is wrong with me LOL However, I am enjoying the alone time with Paul. That is nice. It's nice to have an adult conversation without mommy I'm hungry, are we there yet, I need to go potty. I just wish I didn't miss the kids so much...I wish I could have it both ways. And mostly, I wish my back would magically fix itself so I never have to be away from my kids again.

P.S. These two pics crack me up. Kailee decided to put her bow in Justin's hair b/c she said and I quote "He looks exactly like me, but I'm cuter."

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Paul! The kids love you more than anything and the relationship you have with them is amazing. I couldn't ask for a better father for our kids. I love how you take Kailee with you to the races, car shows, and track even though she's a girl. I love how you let her hang out in the garage and work on your car with you. I love how both of them know the sound of your car and start running to the garage door to see whose going to be picked up first. I love how Justin sees you and immediately starts yelling daddy. I love how even though you're studying for Tech you've made sure and given each of them quality time. I love how you build big buildings with them and then let each one of them tear it down only to build another one. I love how proud you are of Kailee and how you always tell her how pretty she is and how beautiful of a girl she is. I love how Justin is your little buddy and sometimes you call Kailee your buddy and she quickly corrects you saying she's not a boy. I love how Kailee always manages to slip in that she's your princess when she's getting disaplined. I love how Justin always wants to wrestle with you. I love how you you understand how different both of them are and recognize they both need attention is different ways yet you love them the same. And most of all I love how you've learned to put the kids before anything. I love you so much for the father you are to our kids.

Wild Thing

I got this video of Kailee from my mom. She has this black ape that she got for Valentines one year and her and JP have always loved it. Loved dancing to it, loved making it go off at all hours of the night, and loved trying to imitate the song. I just love her singing in this video.

Bragging Points

So we are on day 8 of no diapers and no accidents. Justin even made a 6 hour drive to El Paso with not a single accident and another 6 hours to Texas without an accident. He's staying dry during his naps and waking up dry sometimes in the mornings too. And, this morning he pooped on the potty. I think it's safe to say Justin is officially potty trained with the exception of night time which we will start working on tonight. Not too bad considering he's already two. Paul and I are extremely proud of him and it's awesome being diaper free. So here's a BIG way to go for Justin!

A hard Lesson Learned

That's what JP had today. We are still potty training and he's still accident free. He hopped on the potty with his lollipop in his hand and in the lollipop went. Of course he was super upset but everyone has to learn at some point or another that eating on the toilet is not a good thing. LOL Kailee started laughing which thankfully started him laughing. We then washed our hands and went and got him another one.

No More Diapers

So we are on day four with Justin having no accidents at all. We had a HUGE accomplishment yesterday. We took the kids to Chuckie Cheese which was our first official outing while potty training. I left JP have all the water and watered down juice he wanted. After all it was their day. So he played and played and drank and played. We were there about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Right as the kids were picking out their surprises Justin comes running up to me saying pee pee pee pee. So anyone who knows me knows I hate public restrooms. I won't even use one myself. So I decided ok I can do this. I took him to the little girls room, sprayed the toilet with lysol and sat him down. All the time thinking he is so not going to go and he's going to be so upset when he has an accident. I knew we had things to do after Chuckie Cheese and the plan was letting the kids nap in the car. So here I am going through these thoughts in my head when all of a sudden I hear JP clapping and there he is peeing on the public restroom potty. It is Chuckie Cheese after all and the restroom was packed but ya know know what? I stood up did a yay!!!!!! and clapped right with him. I was soooo proud of him. I mean this was his very first time in a public restroom to actual go and he did it! Then the fun part came of trying to get him to actually leave the restroom. He wanted to play with the doors, lock and unlock them, play with the water, look in the mirror, you name it he wanted to do it. So we finally leave to the restroom head back out and I tell Kailee who starts jumpping up and down saying yay handsome man and clapping for him which of course started JP in saying Yay and clapping all over again LOL We get in the car and head to the auto mall which is about 45 mins the opposite direction of our house. We go look at cars and JP ends up waking up after a two hour nap. He of course had to go and here we are on the highway headed home still about 40 mins away from the house. Paul pulls over and tries getting JP to go like a big boy by peeing standing up. Which he doesn't do. So again I feel horrible and am really kicking myself for not packing the potty seat like I had planned. We head home finally get home and he takes off running to the potty. I check him no wet shorts, check his diaper no wetness there either. He hops on the potty and goes. WHAT A BIG BOY! I mean he actually held it that whole time. So I am officially not having him wear diapers. I haven't been having him wear them except at night and when we go out. He's been in big boy panties for days now during the day at the house. So no more diapers for JP. Just wanted to share his progress.

Six Years Down Forever to go

That's what my anniversary note from Paul said. How sweet. What a way to wake up. Fresh red roses and a note like that. I really do have the best husband. Hard to believe 6 years has gone by. Just six years ago it was just the two of us. How quickly that changed to us and Abbey, and then us and Kailee and shortly after the first deployment it was us, Abbey, Kailee, and add in Justin. A new place, a new house, another deployment and here we are at the 6 year mark. So how did we spend our anniversary you ask? Like any other married couple does...Chuckie Cheese with the kids LOL Talk about an old married couple for sure. We took the kids to Chuckie Cheese (Paul's idea) and they had so much fun. It was beyond crowded. Kids and adults everywhere. Talk about stressing me out. I hate that place when it's crowded and normally turn and walk out but we had already promised the kids so I was stuck in my nervousness. Luckily the kids pooped out after about a hour and a half b/c by then I was borderline panic attack. I just hate the thought of all those kids running around without parents in tow and the thought of what if. Anywho here are some pics of the kids at Chuckie Cheese.

Paul's New Toy

So tonight Paul got a new quad. Even I must admit it's really nice. :) I know he's really excited and ready to go ride. There are ton of awesome places here to go riding at. Already Kailee's been putting in how she wants one. We've been talking about getting her one so they can go ride together but it was nice to see her show intrest in it on her own. However, she's quite picky. She wants a pink Disney princess one. I'm sure Paul will have a blast trying to find her one that meets her requirements. LOL Paul let each of the kids get on it and both of them LOVED it. He even took them for a short ride down our driveway.

Thursday

So today the kids and I made Paul dinner and decided to take it to the station. When we got there they were still working out, so I went ahead and took the kids to the park. I just love the base parks here. They are all covered which really comes in handy considering at 5:30 it's still about 90 degrees. I let the kids play there for about a hour when Paul called and said he was ready and we could go to the station. We took him his food and then I asked the kids if they were ready to go home and of course they weren't. So, I took them to another park so they could run around and play some more. They had so much fun. At first Kailee didn't want to get out because in her words "There's nothing but boys here." She can be so funny sometimes. So after showing her there was a little baby girl she was fine. Her and Justin played and played and I practically had to drag them out of there. It was a really good time. Once we got home we had dinner and then the kids took a nice long bubble bath. I went to get JP's clothes and Kailee starts yelling "Oh mommy come look at Justin." I come to the computer room and Justin is standing on a laundry basket turning the light off and on. Crazy boy.

Coolness

I got a package in the mail yesterday and am super excited! I got my MT books like three days earlier than expected. I officially start the class on Monday but just seeing the books and equipment made it so real. I think this five month course is really going to enhance my knowledge of the medical office side and can't wait to add that to my resume. By the time the kids are in school I should be all set to get a job. Man it feels good to finally be furthering my education. It's kinda funny cause Paul's taking college courses as well so we'll both have our heads in the books at the same time. Pretty cool. Now if only the kids would go down just a little earlier so I don't have to burn the midnight oil for studying.

Lean Green Peeing Machine

So news on the potty front is...Justin is finally back to going on the potty. We had a very good start while in Fl and Tx but the drive back to Tucson pretty much set us all the way back to square one. And he's a suborn little thing so I was really starting to think he would never be potty trained. I started working with him the day we got back to Tucson and was having some success but not too much. He would still prefer to wear big boy panties as Kailee named them for him instead of diapers, but as you can imagine that can get a bit messy since he's not completely potty trained. Well for the past week or so not only has he been going on the potty, he's been telling us when he has to go. Ok maybe telling isn't the best way to describe it since he practically runs through the house yelling pee pee! Pee pee! Justin unlike Kailee doesn't care for the potty seats. He get frustrated and takes them off before hopping on. He is doing so well and I am beyond proud of him. He gets pretty excited for himself as well and he wears it all over his face. He gets the biggest smile and claps for himself. Oh and everyone whose home has to be in the bathroom with him while he does his thing. I often wonder what potty breaks will be like when he's five if we keep going at this rate. Will he always have the need for LaLa(Kailee) to be sitting directly in front of him, will he always need daddy standing in the door way and me standing against the wall, or further more, will he always need the HUGE round of applause and the jumpping up and down screaming yay you did it! What a BIG BOY! I know that's a bit overboard but he really does thrive on the attention and audiance when he goes. So that's that. We are on a clear path to no diapers soon.

Pool Time!

Today the kids talked me into going outside and letting them get in the pool, despite that it was cloudy. They had a blast and were so cute playing and splashing in the pool. Good thing it was cloudy cause man it's HOT here. LOL They had such a good time splashing each other and Abbey. She was going nuts and barking and running like a mad doggie. Now it's time for lunch and then hopefully they will both take a nap. Their allergies are still kicking their little booties so they need all the rest they can get. One cool thing that's happened so far today is that I got my school login. Next comes the books then I'll officially be starting school. Yay!

Gifts part two

So after dinner Justin still had the majority of his gifts to open so we decided to let him go ahead and do that. He had so much fun. As soon as he saw a fire truck or car he would be done until he could play with them for a little bit and then would go back to opening the gifts. My favorite part is every time he would open a gift and see a fire truck he would go woo wooo woo like a fire truck or if he saw a car he would go vroom vroom. He made out like a bandit let me tell you. We even had to enlist Kailee to help because there were so many gifts. Not to mention cards. He got a ton of cars and trucks, more fire trucks than I can count, clothes clothes and clothes. I can finally say for once he has his own toys and not just that but BOY toys. Poor guys has been playing with Kailee's old stuff and even her Barbies and dolls LOL. It'll be nice to go through their toy room and get rid of all the baby stuff to make room for his big boy toys. After he finished opening all his gifts him and Kailee had some cake and ice cream. Then it was in the tub and in the bed. What a great ending to a great day.

Sunday Pictures

Today we did family pics at Sears. Justin fell asleep on the way there. No surprise there. I think no matter what time I schedule pictures he's always going to fall asleep on the way there. I think the moment he realizes he's the car he decides to take a nap LOL. I can't believe the kids are 2 and 4. Time sure does fly. I wanted to make sure and get pictures of the kids now before the next couple of weeks which are going to be nuts. We get there right on time. And she tells us to go in the room and as soon as she says that up walks a customer to get his pictures. Ok anyone whose ever been to a studio knows you can't make kids wait especially two year old little boys. We ended up waiting 15 minutes while she helped him. Paul and I were slightly irritated cause we knew what was to come... We did go ahead and take another family picture even though we just did one in December. We even took pics of us alone with the kids. Kailee I mean I couldn't ask for a better person to have pictures taken of. I swear the minute she sees a camera she just lights up and starts posing. She truly loves having her picture taken and always has the best smile. Even the photographer kept commenting on how pretty she was, how beautiful a smile she had, how she just poses so perfectly, how she wishes she could just take pictures of her all day. :) And that's when her job turned from fun to oh boy. Justin had been playing out with Paul while Kailee had hers done. I thought that would keep him occupied so that when it was his turn it would be smooth sailing. Haha I was soooo wrong. So here he comes in immediatly clings to me, grabs hold of my leg and tells the lady NO! I was like oh great so much for getting a picture of him. Well she brings out the #2. Steps back and says wow he's quite a bit taller than our 2, which he was LOL. Justin decides lets push it to see what happens. BAM it falls apart and lands on the ground. So we pick it up tell him no. And, BAM there it goes again before she could even step back behind the camera. I'm thinking why me. LOL He does it again and again and again. So I say ok just forget it lets see about getting the two of them together. Again he grabs hold of me almost knocking me down and tells her No! So he sits on my legs Kailee's on the lower part of my legs and here we go. First Kailee smiles, Justin doesn't. Kailee smiles Justin pretends to steal her nose, Kailee smiles Justin steals her bow off her head. Kailee smiles Justin bangs the red ball he's been sooo attatched to since getting there on her head causing Kailee to say "that's it I'm done." So we go back out to the lobby wait about 15 more minutes before we can view our pictuires. Surprisingly she was able to get Justin alone standing with the #2. How in the world I have no idea. Kailee's look amazing. I LOVE them. I mean once I saw hers I knew we were in trouble even with our coupon. Poor Paul :). Our family picture is ok. Hey it has all four of us and JP has a smile. That's about all I can ask for right. The one of the two kiddos is hilerious. JP has a big smile cause he just snatched her bow and Kailee has a little half smile. Again what can I say. So after today I'll agree with Paul no more studio pictures for a while LOL. We then we and got the kids a happy meal. We promised Kailee if she was good she could get one. We knew she would be LOL. So they were happy and we just drove around. Got home took a nap and that was our Sunday afternoon. Here's a sneak peak. Of course the quality isn't that great but at least you can see what the kids look like.