Week in Pictures

I'm almost done with this week and just getting around to posting LAST week's pictures.  Not only that, but I didn't even have enough to use the 6 pic layout (let along the 9 pic layout).  Why?  Because I was holed up in bed or walking around like a slow elderly person for most of the week.  I had surgery to correct a double abdominal hernia (gotten when pregnant with Blythe and with Ethan).  I figured I'd be hurting pretty bad for a couple of days and then just be sore.  Instead, I was pretty worthless for 3 full days and then halfway worthless after that.  So here are the pics I managed to get:

1. We did manage to go out for my birthday last Friday.  We had sushi with Doug and Lynette and WOW!  we ate a lot of sushi!
2. We made it out to Pullen Park for Blythe's ballet family appreciation day.  Blythe headed straight for the face painting.
3. One of the cards drawn from the "Mom...I'm BORED!" jar was "Make puppets".  So here they are.  Ethan has an angry puppet.  Blythe's is...a dog?  A nun?  A brunette?
4. Another of the cards from the "Mom....I'm BORED!" jar...."Put on a circus".  Yes, Blythe is wearing a size 18 month tiger costume.  And yes, Blythe did her own face painting (and belly painting.  and hand painting.  and feet painting.).  Need to remember to hide the face paint. 

Week in Pictures

Sorry no other blog posts this week.  We held our first ever Wolfpack Swim Camp this past week, so we were busy with that!  It was a 9am-12pm day camp.  Blythe participated in the camp and Ethan did the Wolfpack Soccer Camp at the same time.  Brynn "helped" me with the camp (or whatever the opposite of "help" is).

Going down each column:
1. Ethan in his soccer camp
2. A picture of a camper at our swim camp
3. Blythe playing a game at swim camp
4. Ethan wanted to wear his NC State swim cap at Doug and Lynette's pool while going down the slide or off the diving board.
5.  Theme this week was supposed to be "camping", but short of painting some camping stuff on plates on Monday, we didn't do anything else camping-related
6. Blythe and Ethan as ninjas (underwear ninjas, that is)

Week in Pictures

Yay me!  I had over 9 pictures to choose from!

1. Someone made a ginormous sand castle in the middle of Moore Square in downtown Raleigh.  Ethan tried to knock it down, but it was hard as a rock.
2. For our SPORTS themed week, we played some tennis.  Ethan was in love and carried the tennis racket around all week.  He's now signed up for a mini tennis camp in July and he can't wait!
3. A beautiful day for a trip to Pullen Park and a picnic.  Kids of course rode the boats.
4. My summer saving grace.  Before summer started, I thought up lots (like well over a hundred) of things for the kids to do.  The first jar says "Mom....I'm BORED!".  It has things the kids can do at home when they are bored.  Beware though...some are chores!  Blythe found that out on Friday with a "Dust the house" coupon.  The second jar says "Oh, the Places You'll Go!".  This one has all kinds of ideas on places we can go.  First coupon of the summer was on Friday..."Pullen Park".
5. Took Brynn and Ethan to Marbles.  They are in the pirate ship here.  Walk the plank Matey!
6.  Blythe with her safety patrol friend Ellen on her last day of kindergarten.
7.  Brynn on the slide at Godbold Park after we played tennis.
8.  Hey look!  I'm actually in a picture!  Carousel at Pullen.
9.  It's Rapunzel, Spiderman, and sidekick Bogie.  Every now and then Bogie likes being with the kids and doesn't growl at them.  He's weird like that.

The end of kindergarten

The end of kindergarten for my for my first child at least.

Got this idea on Pinterest.  Hopefully I'll remember to do it each year for each of my kids.

Blythe's ballet recital

Last Saturday Blythe had her much anticipated ballet recital.  Much anticipated not because she was super excited about it, but because she was ready to be done with ballet.  It wasn't that she hated ballet.  She really liked it for about 6 months or so.  It's just that she had never done anything longer than 2 months prior to this and ballet was a 9 month commitment.  That's a long time for a 5 and  6 year old!

I do think she had fun at the recital though.  What girl doesn't like getting dressed up and putting on makeup?  The fact that she had to perform in front of thousands dozens of people, didn't seem to phase her.

Here she is all dolled up

And here is the video of her first dance.



I don't think she'll do it again next year, but at the moment we don't really know what she'll want to do next year.  Guess we'll wait and see!

Week in pictures

Okay, I already failed at the picture thing last week because:
1. I took no pictures of Blythe (will make up for it with a post on her dance recital)
2. I didn't even take 9 pictures, so different layout required.

Going down first column first:
1. Can't even see Brynn's teeth because they are covered in Cheetos
2. Actually Blythe is in this picture and so is Ethan.  It's their swim team photo.
3. Brynn sat outside by herself for at least 30 minutes painting her hands and then making handprints on a paper
4. First day of potty training!
5.  Ethan finally participated in a swim team practice (he's still only done the one)
6. Grams reading to Ethan and Brynn during our trip to Cashiers

No more diapers!

Well, at least during the day.  Brynn has been potty training this week.  She's been very interested in the potty recently, so I wanted to capitalize and thought this week was good since Blythe is still in school (so I only have to ignore 1 kid while we potty train).  Our theme this week has been "Transportation-Wheels" but I guess should have been "poopy and tee tee".  Ethan has played with his cars a lot by himself, so I guess that counts, right?

We started as soon as we got back from Cashiers on Monday.  I had been taking her potty all weekend, though still had her in diapers (didn't want to actually make the move until the 5 hour car trip was over).  We went out to Outback for dinner on Monday (because we had a gift certificate).  Even without potty training, Brynn is not good at restaurants, so we rarely go.  She went through 2 pair of undies while there.

So Tuesday was officially the first full day.  And she had ZERO accidents!  Granted we were home most of the day and she was pantless most of the day, but she even stayed dry through naptime.  Wow!

Wednesday was almost as good.  She even pooped on the potty in the morning, though I wouldn't say she was a fan of that new process.  She did not stay dry through naptime and then a little while after, peed on the floor, but stopped and told me she had to go potty.  So not bad, though still pantless most of the day.

Yesterday was pretty good.  Again wet during nap, but otherwise did great.  Wore undies most of the day and was telling me when she had to go.  I could tell she needed to poop, but just didn't want to.

Today she did great again!  We went to the Sesame Street Live show this morning and she held it for hours but stayed dry and told me all day when she needed to go.  However, I knew she REALLY needed to poop, but just wouldn't do it.  I started calling her the "Girl who cried poop" because she kept telling me, we kept going to the potty, and then nothing.  Probably happened 100 times over yesterday and today. After a while she was in pain.  Didn't want to push, but didn't want to get off the potty.  We sat like this for at least half an hour.

She was back in underpants later and took the opportunity while neither Braden or I were in the room to poop in her pants.  It was ginormous and probably took a lot of pushing.  So that's still a work in progress.  What was impressive though was that she didn't wet herself through all that pushing.  Instead she waited until I cleaned her up then told me she had to go and then peed on the potty.  So I think we're already there on #1!  Very impressed with my baby.