Another potty post, because it's consuming my life right now, just skip it if you don't want to hear about it.

Rory peed on her potty last night! And the best part is that she did it while Daddy was the one there encouraging her! So her first big girl potty was with her daddy and she even went again later that evening.

Now that Dusty is gone and it's just me and the kids? She won't go. She also wouldn't go in her diaper for most of the morning as we were out running errands and doing other fun things. I think the big toilets scared her a bit but I'd rather she go in her diaper then continue to hold it. This girl has an epic bladder I tell you! And so, we're back to encouraging her to get comfortable with the potty and learning how to go on command. Hopefully this afternoon, after her nap, we see some more progress.

Have I mentioned I hate potty training? I'd like this to be over, or well managed, soon. Pretty please?

We had so much fun this morning! Dusty worked almost 24 hours yesterday, returning home at 4am so I needed to get the kids out of the house and fast when they woke up to let Dusty sleep. There aren't many places open that early in the morning so I was going to drive to a local park when I suddenly remembered that we live close to Willow River State Park, and man did that turn out to be a great idea!

We started out with a walk down to the Willow River to check out the waterfall. The kids even appeased me and took a break on a bench so Mommy could take their picture.

The waterfall was really cool. My camera phone doesn't do the waterfalls justice, but really no picture does, there is just something about the pounding of water as it pours down that makes it so cool! Max and Rory had a lot of fun just watching it and picking out objects in the water that they would watch float downstream.

There is a bridge to cross the river there and Max got almost completely across before he came running back screaming that he'd found a turtle! Sure enough, there was one huge turtle sitting in the middle of the walking path.

On our way back we stopped to pick up some caterpillars. Seriously? How perfect did this picture turn out? It was all by chance and I love it!

We also checked out some butterflies.

We checked out some more of the park, we also saw two deer, a wild turkey and lots of other birds. They didn't have much of a play set for the kids to play on, but the beach was nice and large and the lake was beautifully blue. I think we may have found a new place to go and play.

Of course, the fact that they have so many walking paths to tire my children out is a big plus! So if you want to go to the park give us a call, just be ready to give a piggy back ride or two as the kids get tired.

Today I woke up ready for potty training. I just knew Rory would get it today. Imagine my surprise when after 3.5 hours Rory still hadn't gone potty even with all my creative ways of keeping her interested by moving the potty around. Here's the "Yell at Chris" spot.

Of course, Chris was home, so they had to go on the deck to yell back to him, and lo and behold she peed down her leg. Then moved to the other side and did it again. Five minutes later she's filled her training underwear.

Ugh...I hate potty training!

This weekend was spent working on our garage and yard. It was pretty lame but the garage is coming along nicely thanks to Dusty, Chris, Dean, Randy and a plethora of other men that have been to my house over the last month. So today, I figured I'd show a quick picture so you can grasp just how huge this 32' x 40' garage really is.

We've dubbed it "The Marriage Project" as this garage and all the extra space should cut down on many disagreements. You know you like it!

These last two days have been so fun, we've been hanging out with Katie, Lyla and baby Nora! Wednesday they all came over here to play in the pool, fight, scream, laugh and just have fun. I was fortunate enough to get to have Nora all to myself as everyone took a nap during one of Nora's feeding times. It was so fun to get to hold an infant again. (The baby talk just comes right back!) She is a really great baby, cries when she's hungry, eats, then goes right back to sleep!

Lord knows I never had a baby that easy. I'd consider adding to this family if someone could promise me s/he'd be this easy! (Just kidding, two is enough.) We attempted to get a cousin picture but Max wasn't in the mood to cooperate and getting 3 big kids to sit still and also find a safe place for an infant just isn't all that easy. So this picture will have to do for now, it's still cute!

Today we went to their house and I took all four of the kids on a walk so Katie could take a shower and other small things without having the kids around. It was surprisingly really easy, especially since there was a park not even 2 blocks away to keep them entertained for an hour. And did I mention Nora is super easy?! She slept in the stroller the whole time. After we got back, Max refused to take a nap so he got to help me feed her while everyone else slept.

Don't you love how he is pursing his lips with her? He kept pulling the bottle out and would purse his lips with her to make sure she was getting it. So cute! After the girls woke up, Lyla got to hold her baby sister for a while and she was showing me where her nose was, and telling me that she was a big sister, and even gave Nora a nice kiss!

Katie and Andrew even got to have a full house of family as Dusty, Randy and Ashley all came over to join us for dinner. It was nice to get a chance to visit with everyone and start going back to a normal, healthy life after Nora's health scare.

To those that are curious, she is doing marvelously. She will need two more surgeries that should take place within 3-6 months but we're not concerned at this point. She's healthy, everything is doing what it is supposed to, and in less then a year all of this will be behind us. That gives us more then enough to be thankful for. And this little girl? She found her thumb today while we worked on tummy time. I mean two weeks old and she's finding her thumb? GENIUS!

Everything is going to be A-OK!

My kids are driving me crazy! I know, that isn't nice to say but trust me, there is reason. To start, we're going through a bit of an adjustment as Max and Rory seemed to enjoy all the extra freedoms they got last weekend while I wasn't around. Neither of them seem to think that when I tell them not to do something they actually have to obey me. Don't get me wrong, Dusty is a great father and Ashley was a great babysitter but I'm guessing they were a bit more lenient then I am with following through on a threat of punishment.

A recap of just yesterday alone. Max spilled two different spice jars, at two different times, right after being told not to touch them. Then he smiles when he looks at us as if to say "And what are you going to do about that?" Then there was him dumping his water from the glass he had into the glass he wanted, which was of course smaller resulting in water spilling over on the table. Oh, and don't forget the goldfish snack in my van that he knows he cannot touch, only Mom hands them out, yet took the bag and dumped all the contents on to the floor. And again? The smile and look. My patience is more then worn out.

Rory seems to think that crying is the only way to get across her message whether it be that she's frustrated, wants something, is uncomfortable, or a plethora of other things that crying does not explain. Naturally I'm making it more difficult by attempting to potty train her this week. Of course, she's excellent at this and loves sitting on the potty, but she has yet to make anything actually happen on the potty since that first day. But with this, I am pretty relaxed as I'm not in any rush and just letting her lead the way. Today she was dry for 2.5 hours before we put on our swimsuits and went outside so really, it's pretty hard to get her to go in the potty when she isn't going often as it is. It will happen, and hopefully she won't cry in response to her excitement!

Thankfully they were really tired after we played in the blow up pool, so naps came a half hour early, and I can hope for a longer break to rejuvenate myself. Oh, and check every possible parenting suggestion on how to handle Max and this new situation. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

This weekend I took my college girl friend's up to my parent's lake house. We couldn't have asked for better weather! We spent a lot of time just lounging around and took numerous rides on the boat!

We also went and visited Schultz's Bar which is a short walk away. This is the very bar that we discovered Apple Pie shots which prompted Dusty and I to start making our own Apple Pie beverages! While the girls were a little hesitant to have a shot, once they realized that I wasn't saying "Shot ski!" to be funny but that it would actually be all of us taking a shot off a ski they very willingly signed up!

Nothing like having the whole bar cheer for you while you are drinking from a ski! We also got a little goofy and silly while we were all together; teasing Lisa that she needs to start digging further into her ancestry to figure out where her dark skin coloring comes from, finding silly ways to enjoy our beverages, and taking  silly pictures.

We had an amazing time just talking, sharing stories, and being together. My dad was a champ as he drove us around the lake a bunch of times, and even started a fire for us although it was way too buggy out to actually enjoy it. It was really hard to leave Sunday and we put it off for as long as we could. When I finally got home I was pleasantly surprised to see the progress on our garage. It's huge!

So real life beckons and we're all adjusting back to what exactly that means now that it is hot and sunny out. Today, after naps, I think that it means we run through the sprinkler for the afternoon. I don't think there will be any complaints!