Come to the Country Fair!

Mark your calendars for

Saturday, October 1!!!

Our friends and family are putting on a fundraiser for our adoption!! A Country Fair filled with fun activities for kids and families, yummy food and much, much more.

Lots more info to come. Just make sure to save the date. We'd love to see you!

Potty Training, Round # 1

As I mentioned before, we started potty training big boy Braden!!! He caught on to the potty part pretty easy. We've had a few accidents, but he's doing awesome. The poopy training wasn't going quite as well!

One day at the store while I was browsing I ran across this toy . . .

Now if you remember, Ryan is a big Bonanza fan. So what could be better for his little boy than his very own Bonanza Ponderosa Ranch, complete with barn and figures of the characters from Bonanza, even their horses!!! This became Braden's bribe to do his business in Ribbit, the potty chair, and not in his undies. Addyson helped to remind him as often as I did. "Braden, don't poop in your undies!". He is quick to point out to Addyson that she poops in her diaper. But she doesn't seem to care . . . at all. Hence why we're not trying to push her out of the dipaers for now.

Anyway, after our vacation we focused hard on the pooping because this mama was tired of cleaning dirty undies in the toilet. I'm thankful that we didn't have to use cloth diapers and enjoy this little chore x 2 for the last 2 + years!!! So the Bonanza toy sat on the bathroom counter tempting little Braden.

He wanted it bad, real bad. His daddy let him hold the box and drool over it while he sat on Ribbit. He would randomly want to try to go just in hopes of getting the toy. But to his disappointment there was nothing to show for it in Ribbit -- so no toy. But one day he caught on.

And the Bonanza toy was better than he even dreamed!!!

And he has been doing pretty good ever since. There were a few other bribes along the way (most included play hay bales and tractors and balers). And said bribes were taken away when mommy got to clean out the undies. Addyson was so helpful in letting him know they were being taken away. He caught on pretty fast to that and decided to try a little harder about keeping the big boy undies clean!!

So, I think the boy is potty trained! He wears a pull up for naps but it is dry most of the time. And at night - because this mama is not excited about waking him up to go potty. Or cleaning wet sheets. I'm enjoying the fact that they are sleeping great and I don't have to get up much at all during the night! Mostly thanks to another big change in the kids' life (more on that in a post soon hopefully!!). I am so proud of Braden. He tries diligently to learn and likes to do things correctly. He has worked hard and is doing a great job!!! Nice work, big boy!!!

We can only hope that Round # 2 with Miss Addyson will be half this easy. I have a feeling it could be very interesting :)

Colorado Vacation - The Last Part

I am finally getting around to posting the last part of our trip! Sorry it's taken so long - there's not too much exciting here but I did want to remember that we actually did make it home!

Sunday we said goodbye to Breckenridge and all went our separate ways!

Our family stopped at Silverthorne to play at a fun park - we were hoping the kids would get out some energy before being stuck in the car for several hours!!

They sure had a good time!!

Addyson asked me to take her pictures- and this is the pose she picks. She looks thoroughly unexcited.

We took our time getting to Colby, KS. It was back to the heat and wind. Ugh.

And Colby could quite possibly be the sleepiest town in Kansas. At 6 p.m. on a Sunday night there was absolutely no one driving around town. But at least we had a nice place to sleep and break up the trip so the kids didn't go completely crazy on a long drive home!!!

Monday morning we slept in. The most exciting parts of Colby were the Case and John Deere farm dealerships. Plenty of combines, tractors, etc. to look at. And even a few new toys to play with for the drive home and potty training bribes for later!

So that's it - our summer family vacation! Glad we went . . . and we were also glad to be home!

Colorado Vacation - Part 4

Saturday morning we rode the gondolas again up to the Peak 8 Fun Park. We started out with a game of mini golf. Ryan and I can get pretty competitive with each other - this round was won by only 1 stroke. We'll just leave it at that.

Addyson and Braden had fun with the cousins putt-putting. Braden most enjoyed walking the bricks on the edge of the greens.

Then we rode the chair lifts higher up the mountain. It was nice and cool on the ride!!!

We walked around a little at the top and headed back down.

While some of the bigger kids and adults rode the alpine slide and roller coaster, Addyson and Braden and I played in the dirt with some of their loaders and excavators. This was probably Braden's favorite part of the whole trip. He kept asking to play in the dirt wherever we went after this!!!

After naps we headed out for some good food at Fatty's. Then we walked around downtown and by the river. We fed the fish.

And got ice cream.

This is possibly my most favorite picture of the whole trip! Addyson loves her some ice cream cone!!!

Braden - not so much.

Then back home for bed . . . and Rook.

Colorado Vacation - Part 3

We woke up Friday morning to a yummy breakfast - it's much easier to get 6 kids fed at your house than getting everyone ready to go out and find something to eat!!!

Then we wrode the gondolas up to Peak 8 in Breckenridge. The kids LOVED this!!

We took a look around at the Fun Park to see what we wanted to come back and do later, grabbed some lunch on the top of the mountain, and then it was nap time for our kiddos after a ride down the gondolas!

After our steak supper we took a scenic drive up Boreas Pass.

This used to be an old railroad trail; they have taken the tracks out and you can drive your car, bike, or walk it if you want.

Everything I read online acted like it was an easy drive. It was a little narrow and crazy at times but not too bad. Although we did spot this car that didn't fare so well down the side of the mountain!!! Yikes!!!!

It was a very pretty drive with awesome views. And cool temperatures. It was getting close to dark so we spotted some wildlife too!! Addyson and Braden told us they were looking for hippos and monkeys; I don't think they spotted any of those! But we did see several deer!

We stopped at one place to play for a while. Ryan started a contest to throw rocks at some dead tree stumps. Of course all the boys (big and little) joined in!

Braden loved picking up rocks and throwing them too! And playing outside when it was under 90 degrees is always fun!!!! Something we hadn't seen much of back home!!

We opened all the car windows and took in the fresh, cool mountain air as we enjoyed the scenery on the drive down. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip - I love seeing all the beautiful scenery God made for us and showing the kids.

We ended the day with a mean game of Farkle!!

Colorado Vacation - Part 2

Day 2 we loaded up and headed to downtown Denver to the Aquarium to see the fishies. Addyson was SO excited. There were lots of fun fish and other animals to see! Even tigers!

They were a little scared the fish were going to swim out and get them - especially Braden. It was echoey and loud with a lot of people and Braden was sort of overwhelmed and spent most of his time in our arms hanging on for dear life.

We saw Nemo and Dori - Addyson was amazed. She could watch Finding Nemo over and over again.

After we'd seen everything we headed down to the restaraunt. You could watch the fish while you ate.

 

Then Addyson asked to see more fishies again - it was a hit with her!!! She even stuck her hands in with the sting rays multiple times. But instead we headed for Breckenridge while the kids caught some ZZZZ's.

Ryan's parents and his sister Julie and her family joined us later in the afternoon. (Don't worry about the Hiebert's - they had just returned from a 3 week road trip of their own.) We all rented a beautiful house. Here's the view from one of the decks.

They even had a big container of kids' toys - that was a HUGE plus!

We spent the evening settling in and relaxing! And enjoying the cool temperatures and rain!!!