Boston: of potties and pacifiers

Um, yeah.  It wasn’t too many weeks after the below pictured “poopy incident” that I randomly decided to try and potty train Boston.  I tried to blur the yucky stuff so you wouldn’t have to see it but I had to include these pictures because his face was so hysterically funny!  My decision to start potty training actually had nothing to do with this but it sort of seems related….  One Sunday I just thought, “this week is the week to potty train Boston.”  We started the very next day and he has done very well so far.  He isn’t completely trained but he is continuing to improve.  We are in it for the duration.

 

 

As a reward for getting so many stickers on his chart we busted out some new Spiderman underwear.  He LOVES them as you can see…

They were a pricey investment (seriously, why are underwear so expensive??) but well worth the money.  He stays dry better when he wears these than when he wears his training pants or pull ups.  (Do pull ups fool any kid?)  Something about saying “don’t pee on Spiderman” seems to click with him!

He was so busy dancing about that I could barely get these pictures!  He refused to wear cloths for a while since that would cover Spiderman up!  I forced some clothes on him so we could take Stephen to school but the minute we got home those had to come right off!

 

Unfortunately the same week we began potty training Boston, his last pacifier went missing.  Such a tragedy!  He was totally addicted to that thing.  Yes, I know we made a resolution to do away with it months ago but eh, whatever.  I liked that pacifier!  It was rough going that first week or so as he adjusted to nap and bedtime without the pacifier.  He cried and cried!  To make matters worse, that was the same week Stephen started school.  Yeah, not the brightest idea to have all of those major changes all at once.  It definitely wasn’t planned.  The funny part was that the next day I found a pacifier in my purse.  Well, there was no turning back at that point so I made Scott throw it away.  (I felt too guilty to throw it away myself).  Even with all the pressure on him, Boston pulled through like a champ and has adjusted very well to all of his new changes.

 

Boston is such a bundle of fun and cute as a button.  I had to include these pictures of him drawing.  He is very intense when he draws and tends to favor his left hand!  See how his cute pudgy hand holds the paper in place?  Sigh…love it!

Stephen: of worms and school

What four year old doesn’t like to dig up worms?  These were dug up at my parents house under the same citrus trees I used to dig worms under!

 

A nice juicy one…

 

Stephen started going to the public preschool nearby.  He is one of the only Caucasian children in his class (there are maybe three out of 18).  He is learning a little Spanish and he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES going to school!

My handsome boy, ready for his first day!

He is in the afternoon class and I thought that it would be a big problem for him since he was still taking an afternoon nap every day up until school started.  To my surprise and delight he has done very well and falls asleep so much quicker at night!

Boston is devastated that he doesn’t get to go to school with Stephen.  I have to sign Stephen in and out of school everyday and so I have to drag Boston along and each time we go into the classroom he wants to get down and play.  I think he is finally figuring out that it is not going to happen because he doesn’t throw a huge tantrum anymore when I tell him he can’t.

 

Stephen is my little artist.  He likes to make “projects.”  One day we spent a good hour drawing pictures of food which we cut out and he taped on the walls throughout the house to simulate his favorite movie, “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.”

July At a Glance

We watched fireworks with the Smiths and my sister, Celsea. 

 

This is me and my beautiful sister Celsea. She is a freshman at BYU (but that is another post…) and I miss her like crazy!

 

The boys had a blast with their Smith cousins in the bed of the truck.  There was a bit of a dust storm that kicked up – hence the squinty eyes.  I didn’t know that Boston was putting the glow sticks in his mouth until this very moment!

 

We drove three hours to Thatcher to visit Scott’s grandparents and attend his cousin’s mission farewell one weekend.  Scott’s aunt Paula captured these pictures of us:

 

Scott’s brother Josh, his wife, Shea, and their son, Bently.  I love this picture!

 

Scott’s sister, Brooke, her husband, Justin, and their children, Talan, Atley, and Ryker.

 

Us.

 

A huge portion of this month was spent helping my mom care for my sweet sister Celsea after she had major surgery on her jaw so her teeth would line up properly.  After having her upper and lower jaw broken, and shifted around to match up properly, she now has metal plates and 30-some-odd screws/pins – some in her upper jaw and some in her lower jaw.  This picture was taken several days after the surgery when the swelling had come down significantly.  What does jaw surgery get you?  Six weeks of liquid/blended diet.  NO CHEWING allowed.  Yikes!  She is doing very well now and is off at BYU!  (Did I mention that I miss her?)  It was really fun getting to spend so much time with her.  We watched dozens of movies together (including all of the Harry Potter movies in a 2 day time period – too much!)  She was an excellent patient – no whining or complaining…well part of that may have been due to her numb face/tongue.  It was fabulous living so close to my family – I can zip down to their house in 10 minutes instead of the 20 minute drive it was from our old house.

We moved.

Fourth of July weekend we moved 20 minutes across town.  It was rather hot that day…118 degrees.

I think he would have ridden up there the whole way if we had let him.

We had a ton of help from family and friends despite the nasty heat.  We are so excited to live closer to our families - we are in Scott's parents' ward now and only 10 minutes from my family!

We ate lots of fast food that week/weekend.



The boys thought that all the bubble wrap was awesome – here they are having a “bubble wrap party.”  Sadly the bubble wrap monster came in the night and made it all disappear!


I took Stephen and Boston to check out the empty rooms at the old house – they weren’t around when we moved everything and I thought it might help them to have some closure to see the house empty.  Even though we disliked that old house – it really was very gross – it was so sad to leave it behind!  We loved the neighborhood, our friends, and all the memories we made there over the last three and a half years and it was so much harder to leave than I expected. 


Ready for the first Sunday in our new ward.