Dress Up

Here are some fun pictures of my boys :)

Jacen dressed in Scott's clothes at nap time.

Then Brycen went and got Jacen's soccer uniform and put it on :)

My favorite part is that that Brycen's feet are not all the way down

in the socks...but he was so proud that he got the uniform, including the huge socks, on all by himself.

Soccer

Jacen started soccer practice in August. They had their first game on September 10th. He has 7 on his team and they play 4 vs 4 (including a goalie). When the coach asked which name they wanted (and she gave options) Jacen said, "I've got it, we are the Rockstars". Everyone agreed. So the Rockstars they are :)

Jacen is the one on the left.

Brycen is the honorary player, eats snacks with them and all :)

Preschool

This is Jacen's second year of preschool. He was so excited for the first day. He started August 29th, which was a week after Scott started back to the high school. He could hardly wait. He asked all Summer how much longer until School started again.

My boys...being my boys...don't know why they both can't smile at the same time. They are such goobers! Brycen's cheesy smile makes me laugh.

Potty Training

I love talking to others about potty training (and the like). I guess this is exactly why I got my degree in Child Development :) The baby and toddler ages always interest me. I enjoy hearing what has worked and not worked for all my friends.

As for me, I was so excited when I realized that it will be 8 months of no diapers in our house :) For those of you asking what worked for us, here it is :) Disclaimer: I know that every child is different and maybe I have not met my match yet. It is not like me to publicize my opinion out there where it can be offensive to others...this might end up being the first and last time that I do this :)

We kind of have an open door bathroom policy. Our boys have always seen us use the bathroom. I think it is healthy for children in diapers to see that their parents/siblings use the toilet :)

We start around 2 years old (18 months if you feel ambitious, or even later than 2 1/2 if you feel you or the child are not ready) with encouraging the child to go on the toilet, we do this randomly or after changing their diaper, find what works for you. With Brycen I would ask every time I changed his diaper, "do you want to go potty on the toilet". Some days I would even ask if he wanted underwear or a diaper and let him decide.

1st time on the toilet: Read books, sing songs, find what excites your child. It will take them awhile to learn the urges that come along with potty training (my boys held it). They might not go potty but it is getting them used to the potty/toilet that matters at this point. You can also try turning on the water or running water down their legs as they sit on the toilet.

I talk with them about being a big boy(/girl, if I had a girl). Then right around 2 1/2 I decide a time that will work for "potty training" (a time when we can be home a lot or at least no road trips for about two week, etc). I tell the child all about the day, however they understand time. (days of the week- on Thursday you get to wear big boy underwear, count down to the day- in 5 days we are going to wear big boy underwear..then count down each day, etc.) With Brycen I told him we were going to go potty on the toilet all the time when we got home from grandma and grandpas house (he had over a week of me preparing him).

We go straight to underwear (it is important that they really like the underwear they will be wearing). The reason that we do underwear is because the child knows when they are wet and can learn the process faster. We also do underwear at bed...and plan to wash sheets frequently for about a week (although our boys stay dry more than not, even at the beginning...if they were to wet every night we might have changed our opinion). We also go straight to the big toilet (with step stool and the kids seat on top). We do this really just because the idea of the little toilets disgusted Scott. I have found that the kids like to be big like us anyway.

Jacen received a book for his 2nd Birthday from a friend called, "My Very Own Potty!" by Fisher-Price. He really liked this book. The book even came with a stickers and sticker chart with Sun-Sat. For Brycen we found a potty chart online at google.com by searching "free potty charts". I let Brycen choose between a few of my favorites. We give stickers for having success on the toilet (the first few times Brycen wanted a sticker and he didn't go. I told him he could have a sticker on his hand for trying but that stickers only go on the chart when he goes potty in the toilet. I like this approach because I don't like to focus on how many times they don't go but rather that they sat on the toilet and tried.) Both my boys took awhile longer with the poop...which means poop in underwear...yuck!! I then use chocolate as a bribe, because that is just gross! Chocolate seems to do the trick after awhile.

I tried having both boys naked when potty training because I understand that they can confuse the underwear for a diaper. It didn't work for us, I became the "don't touch yourself" police. Just underwear was perfect for us. With my boys I started with a reminder every 15min. If they didn't go sit on the toilet one time then the next 15min, I would say it is time to go sit on the toilet. I found that with Brycen all I needed was to say "do you have to go potty" every so often. He would get mad at me if I suggested it too often so I quickly stepped back a bit. We still to this day go potty before we ever leave the house, and before going to nap or to bed. The boys have this routine ingrained in their heads now.

Something I also do, is wait for them to ask for the chocolate and stickers after the first few days. They will start going for the praise and not for the reward, this is key. (I would take notes of accidents and the successes that didn't get stickers on another sheet of paper.) Be sure to always praise them for their efforts. If they go on the floor let them know that you are sad that they didn't go in the toilet. I am sure to tell their dad how big they were that day when he gets home from work...or I have the child tell him that they went potty/poop on the toilet. Again we don't focus on the negative. We also call grandparents tons for the praise from them :) Good luck! Feel free to ask questions because I feel like I could go on and on..and if you know me you know this is true :)

Pregnant & Potty Training

While in Spokane I was prepping Brycen on wearing BIG BOY underwear and going potty on the toilet. He was so excited. And it was that first day back from Spokane (August 15th), that first day of potty training, that I realized I was pregnant. On Wednesday, just two days later, I took a pregnancy test just to be sure. It was POSITIVE!! We are so excited.

Brycen took one week to not have accidents. He is now potty trained day and night. We are so excited for him!!

Trip to Spokane

In August we were off to Spokane to visit Scott's Parents. We were able to go for 13 days. This was the first trip where we had to buy Brycen a ticket. He was so excited to have his own seat.

Jacen was excited he got to sit by his dad.

We got to help pick berries.

Go to a Baseball game.

Go to a cat park called Cat Tails.

Go visit Scott's Aunt LaRose, in Montana.

Play...

Play....

Play...

And play some more.

Scott and I even escaped to the temple. Thanks

for watching the boys so we could go :) And thanks for having us, we had a great time!!

Swim Lessons

This Summer we put the boys in Swim Lessons. We signed up for a 2 week session with our friends, which was a blast.

Here Margo and I are with Tyler and Brycen. We were part of a Mommy and Me class.

Jacen and Joel were in the next class up (3 & 4yr olds). I was a little concerned that Jacen was going to want me with him. The first day I walked around the pool with his class but once we got in the water, he told us we could go with our class. He is really growing up. Every day following he would walk quickly (since there is no running) to his class as soon as he saw his teachers.

Brycen loved being in the water. He would throw the toys and then swim to get them. He is a natural.

He wanted to do everything BY HIMSELF of course. That just comes with being 2 right? He is going to love being in the big class next Summer.

Jacen was really good at following directions. He floated on his back....

and swam across the pool.

Both boys had a great time.

Last Gymnastic Class

Jacen has been in Gymnastics since September 2010. He has absolutely loved it. It is a 45min drive from here. With us going out of town in August and Jacen starting Soccer in September we decided to take a little break.

Jacen's teacher let Brycen also join in at his last

session. The boys talk about going back to Gymnastics once Soccer is all over. (just wish there was one closer!!)

Visitor

Scott's nephew, Mike, came and stayed with us
for 9 weeks this Summer. It was fun to have him. The boys still call the office "Mike's room". And Brycen often asks where Mike is, or includes Mike in the family prayer. We had a ton of fun while Mike was here.

We went to a Dodger Game. A first for all of us.

We went to the beach. Scott and Mike

went Boogie Boarding.

The boys jumped

waves :)

We went to Six Flags TWICE. Scott was able to sign Mike and I up as Chaperons for Grad Nite. We had a fun time. Thanks mom and dad for watching the boys. Green Lantern was supposed to be opened but since it wasn't we received Bounce Back Tickets. Scott once again scored and got a return ticket for Jacen. We went back with the boys -only costing us gas and meals- and had

a great time.

Jacen was 42" so he could ride some of the bigger rides.

His favorite was Flash.

Brycen was 36". Six Flags had a large kid section. Bigger than we expected from looking at the map online. They were in heaven.

My favorite ride was the last of the night Tatsu. No picture to show how awesome it truly was. (Mike and Scott actually rode it at Grad Nite, but I was too tired by 4am and needed to go get re-energized with our free buffet.) On Tatsu, your seat is brought forward like you are flying through the ride. Since we had the boys with us we got to take part in Parent Swap. So Mike and I stood in line for the 1 hour. Scott kept the kids busy and met us at the exit. Where him and Mike switch places, and I got to ride it a second time :) Did the same thing for Green Lantern, (and some other rides too) Scott and Mike stood in line, and we switched, wasn't really all that great if you ask me. We had a really great time if you ask us!! The only thing that could have made it better was no traffic and detours on the freeway at the wee hours of the night.

This is a video of Brycen's dance moves. A must see!! The song is MC Hammer's, Can't Touch This. It is hard to hear on this video for some reason, but is still so cute. Yes he got his moves from his daddy @ this

Also, we were able to go to the San Diego Temple. Mike got a job at KFC, and also took a trip with the Young Men to an Diamondbacks game. Thanks Mike for the fun visit!

Sea World

We love Sea World. Forget the fact that it takes us 2 1/2 hours to get there. Our passes are used tons. Here are some pictures of our different trips. Once we were even able to meet up with some friends, who also have passes.

The boys enjoying the new Turtle Reef. It is really cool! All the turtles here were born at Sea World, they also have lots and lots of tropical fish.

The kids favorite Summer show is still Cirque de la Mer...heavens, their favorite show at Sea World is Cirque de la Mer. When it isn't Summer the boys are constantly asking how much longer until it will be back. The Sea Lions tonight is a close second because of the fun pre-show of Biff dancing. I guess I have him to thank that my boys are always playing Justin Bieber's song Baby. They have some fun moves too.

Preschool Promotion

Jacen got to participate in graduation even though he has one more year of preschool. He has absolutely loved preschool. This is my son singing 5 Little Monkeys. I thought it was so cute, he gets his personality from Scott for sure. He said to me as we were watching the video, "look at how silly I am, look at my fingers." He would put fingers up on both hands to equal the number of monkeys jumping on the bed.

Here he is

with his achievement certificate :)

Prom 2011

With Scott being the ASB/Leadership Advisor at our high school, Prom is a huge deal. This was my third year going to Prom with my husband. I love being able to support him by helping him chaperon. It also gives me an excuse to find a new dress and dress up for an evening :) Thanks dad for coming up and watching the boys for us, we appreciate it!!