Pee Pee On The Potty!

What a big girl Jade is. She went pee in her potty. We got her a potty around Christmas. We intended it to be a gift for her. Lovely I know but she is one. I mean really she would be just as pleased with the box.

About a week before Christmas she was having trouble pooping (Yes TMI). She had removed her diapers several times and I thought maybe she just didn’t want to go in it. So I ran to the garage to get her potty.

I helped her remove her pants and her diaper. When Jade sat down on the potty and I could tell there would be a problem. She kind of leaned back as if it were a fun new chair. A throne if you will.

Then when she made sounds as if she had to go she got off. I put her back on and she got off. Before I could get her back on she pooped on the floor and a little on my pants. The smell was…just…umm…let’s just say not the best. After a carpet scrubbing and a change of pants I swore I could still smell it.

Her majesty loved to sit on the potty but had little interest in using it. She threw snacks and toys in it and pushed it around. Last week I was in the bathroom and I thought it would be a good time to try.

I helped her with her pants and diaper and she sat down and got up and sat down. At some point she went. I’m not sure when but she did it. Of course after that she wanted to play in it but hey let’s just focus on the accomplishment. So Jade is not potty trained by any means but it’s an exciting step.

The Tram

Teagan had a simple request just before the Christmas season. He wanted to see snow. Now most of you reading this are either from around here or living here now so you understand what a big deal that is. If parents do not go out of their way to make sure their kids experience snow it just might not happen.

I grew up part of my childhood with my grandparents in Arkansas. Plenty of snow. I even had a snow suit. Red and white. It was really cute. When I moved back to the desert one year my dad took me to see snow. I'm sure it was some place near the tram. What I remember most is him shaking a tree over me and dropping a bunch of snow on my head. Besides that it snowed here when I was twelve. It didn't even stick to the ground.

Neither Ian or I are a big fan of snow. I lived in Utah my first year of college where snow is not so bad. Little icy, kinda slushy but nothing that can't be handled. Then I moved to Iowa. Ian was in Iowa all four years where snow really, really sucks. Totally sucks. Can't get your door to your car open sucks. Which doesn't matter much anyway because you are not driving in anywhere without a big shovel, a bag of salt and a snow plow. Put that in whatever order necessary.

Why all this background? Well because when our sweet boy made this request on the inside we were thinking, "I HATE snow!". Yet on the outside we smiled and said, "Sure why not?". I think we get parent points for that. So whoever is keeping score jot down 10 points each for us please. We invited Ian's parents and brothers. They were happy to come.

On the way up we saw a ground squirell sunning itself. We got there and parked. Just making it up to the building was quite a climb but that was really the hardest part. We made sure we had coats and layers and gloves. Jade had none and we couldn't find them at any stores. They had a pair in the gift shopped she liked them but wouldn't keep them on. Once we got in the building we were hot. Oh well it will be cooler at the top.


We waited for the tram. I look around the room at all these people. Then it slowly sunk in. We were ALL waiting for the same tram car. Seriously! It will be okay. Teagan is all smiles and Jade is just wanting down to run around. Anyone that knows Jade is not surprised. We ALL get into the tram car. Stepping in I had the same feeling as I do when getting on an escalator. Yes if you didn't know I'm scared of getting on or off escalators. Ian laughs at me. I'm not scared of much but that is something that freaks me out. I saw this aweful movie when I was little...it's not important. I still use them I just wish there was a better way to get around a mall.


As we head of the mountain I keep looking for Teagan. We are in there like sardines and I can't see him. Denise points to where he is which happens to be right below the "Danger Moving Parts" sign. Great! He is right at the window though and just thrilled. We are going up and up. When ever we get to a tower the whole car rocks. We all try to get our footing. I'm looking around confused because Teagan was right by the door and now the door is to my left. Ummm huh? Oh okay we are spinning. Lovely. Well I'm at least no longer worried about him being by the door. Apparently we spin for a better view which is pretty nifty.


We get to the top and take a potty break. I wait in line forever to get those mittens for Jade I mentioned earlier. Then we are free. We all head down this winding path to the snow. I found that our tennis shoes were not wonderful on snow that had melted some. Everyone and I mean everyone around us were slipping and sliding and laughing because they were slipping and sliding. Jade fell on her bottom several times. Teagan just couldn't wait to make snowballs.


Ian dug down and found some nice snow for snowballs, then began pelting his brother Kade and Teagan with them. He graciously showed them where to get snow so they could defend themselves. Jody walked around enjoying the scenery. Jade sat down and played in the snow because she got tired of falling. Denise and I snapped pictures and Stanley found a nice place to sit and watch. That is when I noticed my husband looks really good in the snow. Well he looks good all the time so it's no surprise.


It was all going well until Ian hits Teagan in the face with a snowball. I guess it clipped his hat a bit but he certainly had a red mark on his face. Teagan told Ian, “This is not fun Daddy!” sounding more like his mother everyday. After that we all posed for group pictures by a fallen tree. Then we decided to go in a bit further. Then path along the way was muddy. We are assuming it was heated from beneath because it really should have been snow covered. We decided to take the road less traveled and not get muddy.


Near the Ranger’s Station was a big open area perfect for sledding. Along the way we kept falling through the snow. One time I went in up to my knee. Ian headed back to see if he could get one of those plastic discs from the gift shop. We waited and enjoyed the scenery while Jade ate snow. Ian finally came back. It turns out that they won’t sell them when it’s icy. It’s too dangerous. Bummer! We toyed with the idea of paying someone for 10 minutes with their little disc thing but we weren’t brave enough to ask. Next time we will bring our own.


It was past time for lunch and Jody needed to make some business calls so we headed back. We tried to go to the restaurant but there was a wait. Apparently on the other side there was a bar and tables and we could get the same menu there. Everything looked good on the menu. By the time we finally got it we were starving. Luckily there was demolition derby on the TV to keep us all entertained. This is possibly a future hobby for this family. Teagan never got his whole order and Stanley who takes the longest to eat got his last. Ian got some sort of steak sandwich which was awesome. The rest of us got food had a good concept but not enough sauce and such.


On the way in for lunch all Teagan could talk about was how he wanted to play in the snow again. We promised him we would go back. After lunch he decided he didn’t want to go play again. We finally found it was because Kade didn’t want to go out again. We told him he was going anyway and he got teary. We were trying to convince him that he didn’t need to do everything Kade did and he just wasn’t getting it. I took him aside and asked him what he wanted to do, pointing at his heart. I asked him not to think about Kade or anyone else. What did he want to do? He said he wanted to go play in the snow. So we went.


On the way back Ian and I talked to him about the importance of doing his own thing. We tried to explain that we don’t always have to do what our friends or even family want to do. Most especially when it’s a choice of going to play or sitting on your bum. No offense to Kade or anyone else. We just want Teagan to think for himself. I’m glad he did want to go back out because we had so much fun. We built, so to speak, a snowman. Okay we took a lump of snow that was already there and put a head on it. Our hands were freezing, don’t judge us! It turned out pretty cute. Teagan was really proud of it. Jade ate more snow and we headed back.


We stopped in at the museum where Jade saw a bobcat and went crazy. If she could have hugged it through the glass she would have. All I could think was how lovely it was that she now won’t be scared of bobcats either. Wonderful! We headed back upstairs to meet Ian’s parents and brothers. Teagan wanted something from the gift shop. He got an orange wooden snake and Jade got a little coyote made from real fur. It was really cute. Unfortunately she had the nose bitten off before she got back on the tram.


The ride down was nice, much less bumpy. Jade flirted while we enjoyed the view. Kade and Teagan spotted a waterfall so we went to go see it. Teagan wanted a penny souvenir on the way our but we were out of change. Ian’s mom and brothers were inside for a really long time while we waited in the parking lot. They came out with a penny souvenir for Teagan. That was sweet. We had a lot of fun. We had saved up for this trip and Ian’s dad paid for everything, very kind of him. Thank you Jody! We after that Ian’s parents headed home and we headed for Costco. It made for a great day.

No Hens In The House

We are a bit sad that our little hen home has no inhabitants. We set off Saturday to go buy some hens. We planned on getting chicks but after talking with the Barnards we decided to take their advice and just get full grown hens. We went and got some straw for bedding first and then set off for Broadway gardens. I was very excited to finally get our hens.


When we got there they had no hens. Well that is okay if we must get chicks that will be fun too. Umm no they didn't have any chicks either and won't until some time in February. They said it's been very difficult to get their hands on them anyway. So we risk the chance of not being able to get them in February either if someone else gets there first. *Sigh*


Now I've been around chickens all my life but I really don't know anything about them. My maternal grandparents had a very large operation for raising meat chickens for Tyson in Arkansas. My paternal grandparents always had a good sized hen house. I still don't know the first thing. I'm thinking of ordering chicks online but I don't really know how to care for them and the site I'm looking at wants you to order 25 at a time. The good thing is you can get mixed breeds.


So I'm looking for advice here from you seasoned hen raisers. What should we do? We obviously want to get started now because if we start with chicks it will be another six months before we have eggs. If I do have to start with chicks I would love some advice on taking care of them as well as any ideas for getting rid of the extras. Our hens house is lonely. Advice is welcome and needed.

We have worms!

Just seeing that title made you feel like something was crawling up your arm huh? Well we do have worms. About 2000 of them unless they have begun multiplying already. Not only do we have worms but we have them in our kitchen. That way I can keep them the right temperature and easily drop scraps in their little tub. Don't worry they don't smell or try to escape.


Why do we have worms? For our garden. In about 5 months they are going to have made some lovely compost for me. After that they will make it quicker and quicker because I believe they double in number every 3 months. I ran across worm composting by accident while looking online. I sort of filed it in the back of my head. Once we got our garden going I figured it was time to get started.


The worms came in the mail. I gave them about 1/2 a cup of water and put them back in the box. The next evening we set up their home. Ian drilled air holes in a Rubbermaid tote. We all shredded cardboard and newspaper. The kids enjoyed helping getting things ready. I'm not very squeamish but these are kinda creepy worms. They aren't big earthworms. They are called red wrigglers. They are small and very pointed on the ends. They give me a yucky feeling because they look as though they could bore into your skin. Ugh! But they are supposed to be one of the breeds of worm that make compost quickly.


So yes we have worms. Our garden is doing wonderful right now. Our lettuce is starting to grow over the sides. I was going to do a post about it but it looks so different than the pictures I took a week ago. My peas and sugar snap peas have just come up. We are going to build a few more boxes very soon. I really love gardening. I go and check my plants every day a few times a day. With the garden doing so lovely already I'm sure it will be even better with some rich worm compost added to it. I can't wait!

New Years Eve

Whew I just did 11 posts! That is some kind a record for me. I'm all caught up and now it's time to talk about New Years Eve. We really had a great day. Ian went out and did some work in the morning. He had been gone for days for wrestling and Jade insisted on going with him. It was really cute. When Ian got back we ran a few errands. After that we were hungry and picked up some lunch. Ian thought it would be a good idea to have lunch at the park.

We got Popeyes and headed to Todd Park. That was really nice because Ian rarely gets to see the kids play at the park. The kids played for a while. Ian and I pushed Jade on the swing and talked. Jade was really cute. I had never noticed before that she won't climb the play equipment herself. She turns to Teagan and waits for him to lift her up. What a little princess. Teagan loved taking care of his sister and playing.

After that we picked up some movies and some treats. We had planned on camping out for New Years Eve but with Jade being sick we didn't think that would be a good idea. Well no need to worry. Ian came up with a great alternative. He set up our family tent in the livingroom. Now the pictures just don't do it justice. It nearly touched the ceiling and couldn't be extended out all the way. It was so cool. We sat in the middle and had snacks and watched Horton Hears A Who.


My favorite part of the night was our Goal Boards. Ian and I have meant to do this for over a year but it was so cool do them as a family. Teagan and I talked the day before and made a list of the things he wanted to accomplish in the next year. Many of his goals were so sweet and sincere. He wanted his sister to do a board too. I toyed with the idea and then decided she not so much has goals but developmental stages at this point. Here are the results:




Teagan loved making smores. Ian suggested using the marshmellow fluff which turned out really cool. Earlier in the day Ian and I were talking about a kinda sad New Years we had when we were teenagers. I was a Senior and Ian was in his first year of college. We were broke up. He was dating someone at the time. Although he says they were broke up. They weren't. I was dating someone at the time too. He came to the church with his friend Matt and asked me if I wanted to go with them. We went out to Coors Canyon and looked at the stars.


You would think I would have a clue right. Nope. I was still mad about the way we broke up. Story for another time. It was so painful to be with him but not actually with him. He says he remembers wanting to hold my hand or kiss me but he was afraid. Me too! I really wanted to talk things over with him but I was afraid to in front of his friend. The new year came and we went back to the church. It was a really sad night. Each New Years we've had together since has been so so. I think I have been trying to build up New Years to make up for that sad one we had.


Most years we've done nothing. This year I let stand on it's own and we had a really good time. Teagan slept in the tent. We were suppose to but the night wasn't over for us yet. What an awesome New Years Eve!