Summertime

I love summertime. My boys love being outside when this hot weather permits playing. They love helping their daddy cut the grass.




Bored with cutting grass and looking for something else to get into.

Found it.

Beaches and Summer Just Go Together

Every summer we go to the beach

With my side of the family

But this year Ty Ty didn't make it

But Coop's tiny hiney made an appearance.

The kid loves to be naked.

Rylie Girl was not impressed with the heat.

Jack searched for seashells.

My boys love their Daddy

Their Mommy too

And walks on the beach

With a little brotherly love.

No trip would be complete

Without a day on the boat

To finish with some swimming at Crab Island.

A day at Big Kahuna's

Never disappoints.

Neither does a train ride at Emerald Grand.

We are excited and thankful

That sweet Rylie Girl

Is a part of our family now.

I love my family

And my parents too.

Uncle Chad, my boys love you, but please quit teaching them to pull your finger :)

Poppy's birthday is celebrated on every trip

And I love to see your family grow from year to year.

So until we meet again

Let's savor all the memories made.

Happy 4th of July

Being in the middle of potty training Cooper, we were disappointed about having to skip all of the 4th of July parties. Coop was doing so swell that we decided to try to make a couple since we were on our last day of training. Thankfully Cooper had no accidents at the parties. He even decided to poop on the potty for the very first time at the Rusich's! Lucky us and lucky them because they had a plunger handy! We had fun swimming and watching fire works. My boys loved being around the triplets and Braeleigh. I am so glad there are some many little children around now when we get together. :)



Jack, Cooper, Reiss, Halie, Madison, Braeleigh

Braeleigh and Cooper hiding out inside during fireworks

Next was a party at the Hoefeld's. We had a great time celebrating with our family and hanging out in the pool all day. My boys had a blast and they love swimming and playing with their favorite Nellie Bellie!








Thanks to our sweet neighbors Dave and Sue, we finished off the night doing sparklers with the boys. They were a little scared but still had fun.

What a great 4th!

Leaky Faucet

Coop is officially potty trained! He has to be potty trained for nursery school in the fall so we decided to tackle it while Christian was off for the 3 day holiday for the 4th of July. Smart move on my part! It would be so hard to do it without Christian. Fortunately for me, Coop wanted his Daddy with him most of the time. He's not using to having his Daddy home for 3 days in a row, and he was loving Daddy time.

We used the 3 Day Potty Training Method by Lora Jensen . Essentially you spend 3 days at home with your little one wearing only a t-shirt and undies, and you stare at their crotch for 3 days. You only bring them to the bathroom if they ask or if you see them start to potty in their underwear. The teaching moment is that you catch them while they are having an accident. If you miss the accident, you miss the learning moment. The hardest part is having to stay at home for 3 days straight. At least for my family it is. We are used to being out.

We woke up Saturday morning and Coop put on his big boy undies and threw his diapers away. We took him to the bathroom to show him his potty and to tell him this is where he will go pee pee and poo poo. Evidently he didn't listen! In the first 30 minutes, my leaky faucet had to have his undies changed 7 times. He just leaked all day! Cooper woke up dry after naptime, and was dry all night until 6 am. He woke up crying because he peed all over himself. Needless to say, Coop now sleeps with Pull Ups on at nap and bed. He continues to stay dry at nap but not bedtime.

By the middle of the 2nd day, I so badly wanted to just hang it up and pull the diapers out of the pretend garbage can we threw them in. But he got it. We also cheated a bit and got to celebrate the 4th of July at 2 parties. Thank God there were no accidents there. By that time I think he got it. Except for the poop. He didn't poop for 3 days - which is not normal for him. He stopped up Mrs. Debbie's toilet, went in his undies, and went in the bathtub. Where #4 will land will be interesting to see. Instead of Where's Waldo, it's Where's the Poop around here.

We even took Coop swimming at the parties, and he got out every time he had to pee. We were shocked and pleasantly surprised!

I took Coop out today and he did great! I am sure there will be accidents, but I am so proud of my little boogie. I am a firm believer in the 3 day method. I have tried it with 2 children with very different personalities and different potty habits, and it worked perfectly on both of them. The method teaches you to night potty train too. That worked on Jack, but only because he just didn't wet the bed. If we would have continued with Coop, it would have worked with him too. But, frankly, the Pull Ups are worth it. I don't like changing sheets in the middle of the night! Give it a try if you need to potty train your little one. Let me know if you would like to see my book.


I love him in his undies...so cute!

He was so proud of himself :)


"Dr. Cooper"
I think Cooper secretly loved potty training. He was in heaven with 3 12 hour days of constant playtime with Mommy and Daddy

A 4th of July break from Potty Training - but still wearing big boy undies - at the Rushich's

Baking cookies with Mommy on the 3rd day
This picture was taken right before he had his biggest accident of all.

My big boy swimming with his favorite Nellie Bellie at the Hoefeld's

Little Fish

Jack loves to swim and for the past several years my good friend Kelly has taught Jack swim lessons at my mom's house. She is prego with her 3rd kiddo, and she was unable to teach this year. We surely missed her! Instead Jack took lessons at Elmwood with his best buddy Preston. I enjoyed hanging out with Kristy at the pool and then swimming after lessons followed by lunch, but it made for some really exhausting days for 2 weeks. I am glad they are over, and I hope to have Kelly teach again next year. We enjoyed Ms. Flo at Elmwood, but there really is nothing like private lessons. Elmwood had 5 or so teachers teaching 3-5 kids per class at the same time in the same pool as well as members swimming in the same pool. Hectic! Cooper got his own lessons from me. He had a blast!

Jack loved floating on his back and was awesome at it!




Jack and his buddy Preston on the last day of swim lessons. The kids got to put on life vests and float in a raft, and could get flipped if they chose. Our boys opted no!

I look forward to lots of swimming days with my boys this summer :)