Come One, Come All....Shriner's Circus!

We went to the circus this past weekend. It was the boy's first one. As you can see by the picture they were entranced with the whole experience. Nolan did really well sitting for 3 hours and Braydon did pretty good. Towards the second half of the show Braydon was getting a little tired. We saw tigers, dogs, elephants, acrobats, and tons of clowns!
Braydon was all smiles here! He saw the elephants and went crazy talking about them. I really couldn't make much of what he was saying because he was so excited!

Nolan wasn't too sure about the clowns...then he decided that they weren't too bad. He got a few autographs and pictures. One funny thing with Nolan was that every two minutes he said "I smell something." He was smelling the stinky elephants. LOL

Here are some more photos to enjoy!

On a side note, DH was part of the pre-show. Nino the clown was so happy with him for cheering loudly that he hugged him over and over. We had a great time and enjoyed the circus as a family. John and I were like kids too!

Playground Peek-a-Boo!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Braydon. He was playing peek-a-boo with me. I have been trying to capture memories instead of pictures. One of my favorite blogs called Memory Hunting is a perfect example of what I mean. She is really talented with her camera and her two girls are adorable! Braydon also is featured in another favorite of mine called Knotted Apronstrings. He is pictured with Suzi....she is too cute for words! Take a peek at these two great blogs located on my favorites to the right!

Pink Fingers and the Science of Easter Egg Dyeing

First find the egg you want!



Then slowly dip it into the dye...make sure you splash some dye up on Mommy's table!



Now swirl the egg around with your fingers. The egg will be nice and pink and so will be your fingers.



AND presto!! You have pink fingers for several days! Hurray!


Let me see...to calculate a perfectly dyed egg...we need...



an egg! Let's just see what happens when we put an egg in yellow...IT TURNS YELLOW!



I am going to get a little fancier and use my handy dandy egg wand!



Ooohhh watch out Easter Bunny...I am a Easter egg dyeing champion!

VRRRROOOOM!! 1962 TBIRD

That is how my oldest describes what he calls the "red car". Last May, my husband and 2 sons were very blessed. You see my DH likes to listen to his favorite radio station at work...Rock101. Rock101 had a contest to be put on the payroll and you were paid $100.00 a hour until you were kicked off by someone else calling in. (The radio station would call a new name every hour from 8-4). If you heard your name, you called the station. Anyways, his name was called and he was on the payroll for 11 or 12 hours. We were jumping up and down, this was fabulous...who couldn't use the extra money especially with 2 lil pumpkins!
By winning this contest, your name was put in a larger drawing to win a 1962 Ford Convertible Thunderbird. You had to go to a local dealership that was sponsoring this event with Rock101 on May 19th, 2007. I had volunteered to work at a teddy bear clinic at the hospital I work for. This event allows children to bring their bears to the hospital and see what would happen if the bear broke his arm...or needed a breathing treatment with a nebulizer...or even if their bear needed surgery. (the next one is May 17th, 2008 and I will blog about that event in more detail).

Well, I persuaded my husband to go to this give-a-way because you needed to be present to win. I told him to bring the boys as good luck charms. Approximately 40 or so people showed up to win the car. My lucky men were number 38 if I remember correctly. 37 other people went ahead of them to see if they won the lucky CD that when placed into the player would make the Vrrrrrooom sound of an engine starting. Ironically, the teddy bear clinic had just finished up and I was driving back home listening to the radio anxious to find out who had won. I heard them introduce my husband and talk about my two boys. I thought.....this is neat. Within seconds, I hear VRRRRROOOOOOM and my husband screaming like a girl! THEY HAD WON THE CAR! I started screaming, hitting the steering wheel, and bouncing up and down. I almost had to pull over.


We have enjoyed that car. My oldest son in this picture still tells the story of the red car going vrrrooom and daddy screaming. It is quite funny. He likes to sit in the front seat (when the car is parked, of course). We did install seat belts in the back to accommodate their carseats to ensure safety. After all, it is their car. My husband dreams of all 3 of them restoring it completely. It needs a little work, but overall it is in great shape. Kinda like a family project. It is warming up here and soon we will be going on a family drive to see what God has to offer in the beauty of Spring. We are truly blessed to have such a fun story to tell in years to come.

One year ago...

Wow, have my boys changed in one year. I came across a few pictures from last April on our road trip to Auntie Crystal's house in Tennesee.

Braydon Cheesing it for the camera and enjoying an afternoon stroll.


Nolan looking out of his Thomas the train ride.

Family Picture with the boys favorite....THOMAS!

Desperate measures call for desperate times!

Nolan is 3 1/2 years old.... 3years, 6months, 3 weeks, 6 days old to be exact. He will not go poop on the toilet. AND YES...we have tried every imaginable trick to get him to poop where he should go poop.....in the toilet.
Dunk the Cheerios...get stickers...get Thomas the train tattoos...do the poopy dance...watch Elmo's potty time dvd...get matchbox cars...go to Monkey Joes...go to Mcdonalds...put the magic lotion on...learn, so you can teach your brother. You are probably wondering what some of these tricks are. Lets just say we have tried them all and then some. My latest act of desperation was that I told him I would buy him a $300.00 bouncy toy if he would poop in the toilet.
"OK Mommy," he said. "I will go poop in the toilet, but TOMORROW." AARRRGGHHHH. He never went in the toilet and I am still $300.00 richer. My husband did suggest that we buy the bouncy toy and put it in the backyard. (my neighbors will cringe). He will only get to play on it every time he poops in the toilet. *sigh* I don't know if it will work, but at this point I am willing to try anything.
I know some of you are saying he will go in the toilet when he is ready. My pediatrician said it was toilet training resistance. He said we need to let him take responsibility in helping to clean his own mess up. Yes, we even had him swish his underwear in the toilet...just one problem besides me thinking I am a horrible mom to let my three year old do this. He likes to swish his dirty underwear in the toilet. So, I quickly changed my mind about the whole taking responsibility thing.
I am still open to suggestions from friends, family members, and even strangers. I look back at everything we have tried and my heads spins...Nolan probably feels the same way.
It is very hard to have patience with him on this toilet training adventure. We recently went on an underwear shopping expedition with him. He picked out new underwear. His favorite was Diego. I picked out Batman undies and he looked at them and said he didn't like it because a bad man was on the underwear! LOL I guess Batman can look intimidating to a three year old. I told Nolan that if he pooped his underwear he had to wear batman. (I am so mean). I probably reversed all the training we have done the past few months with him. AFter I get through this I will snicker at it...I know I will. Right now, I cringe to think we will be going through this with his younger brother soon. SO, I will up my shirt sleeves and take a deep breath...potty "poop" training HERE I COME!

~~~UPDATE~~~
It is the middle of June and I can finally say we are potty trained fully. Nolan hasn't had an accident in over a month. I really can't say what happened except that it literally clicked with him....OVERNIGHT! We just were persistant and honestly started not to care if it was going to ever happen. When he had an accident I told him it made me sad....and left it at that. No yelling, no discipline, and no caring about the potty training thing.