Success already!

Well, I think it is safe to announce that Payton is officially potty trained. It has only been two and a half days, but he has only had two "real" accidents the whole time. After feeling like somewhat of a failure because of Kegan's two and a half years (and counting) of training, I really didn't want to start Payton. But I was looking into buying him some training pants for when Kegan was (hopefully) done. The training pants were all gone (there must be others with the same resolution) but they had some underwear on clearance. So I got some Scooby Doo, Diego and Spongebob underwear for Payton. Well of course he wanted them right away. So on Friday about 11am I put them on him and told him he was a big boy now and he had to keep Scooby Doo dry. Well, he did! I had him go a couple of times and then just let him alone to see what would happen. He wet a few drops and then stopped and ran to the potty. He went, and then changed his own underwear and put his in the laundry. I said nothing, did nothing, he did it all on his own. This happened a few times that day. He did have one "real" accident when he wet significantly. He stayed dry all of Saturday and today until just as I sat down to write this, but he went and cleaned himself up without any prompting from me. Ha! Ha! Now, for Kegan. Sigh. He did show some improvement for a day or two, but really its just the same old same old. We are trying to appeal to his competitive nature and have him do "better" than Payton, but he doesn't seem to care.

Oh, and for a less disgusting update (by the way, if you are afraid to come to our house with all the pee-ing and pooping, don't be. We have a steam cleaner that gets used frequently!) I got my scrapbooking software and I LOVE it! I haven't had anything printed yet, but I tell you I love just dropping my pictures on the pages and adding my stories and captions. We'll see how the printing goes!

New Year's Resolutions

Although I'm not usually big on New Year's Resolutions, I have made a few this year. One is I am going to scrapbook more. All the kids pictures are stuck in a drawer (pre-digital camera) or in files on the computer. So I want to make them more accessible. I like to scrapbook, but its hard to do with a baby and a toddler around. By the time I get all the stuff out, someone needs a diaper change or to be fed. So I have ordered a computer program that has layouts and stuff so I can just plug my pictures in and add text and then print! Hopefully this will help me out.

The next goal is to have only 1 child in diapers by the end of the year. This means no pull ups at night either. So I was going to start with Payton as he is the one in diapers. But Kegan has recently been having trouble with more and more accidents and even reverted to pooping in his underwear again. Sigh. I am becoming worried that there might be something physically wrong. So I have been researching on the internet and have found a program that hopefully we can get him accident free in the next month and then we will work on the staying dry at night thing. It is going to be a fun program, let me tell you! The first step was to get a urine collection device which measures how much he goes each time. We then have a "contest" to see if each time he goes he can go more. (This should help increase his bladder capacity.) The next step is when he has an accident he has to wash his own underwear and pants in the bathtub. We are supposed to emphasize smells with this. We smell his clean underwear and comment on how nice it smells. Then as he washes the underwear, they have to pass the smell test before he is done. That means he has to get them within an inch of his nose and smell them. Oh, yum! The last step is the practice step. When he has an accident we are going to practice going potty 10 times. We will go to different areas of the house and pretend to be playing blocks, or reading or coloring, or watching a movie, or outside, etc. Then we say "ow, ow, I really have to go," and run to the bathroom and pretend to go. And then we'll say "ahhh, that's better!" Instead of sticker charts or little treats as rewards (all of which have failed with him) we are supposed to reinforce the relief of going as the reward. I hope, hope, hope this works! He goes to Kindergarten next year, and we have to be done with this! As for Payton who is next in line, I have ordered the book "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" I read this when I trained Kiara, but obviously have forgotten it as we have failed with Kegan so miserably. So I will read it again and be much better, I promise! (I WILL NOT be training him for two years straight!) He already will go once or twice a day, and thinks its great fun, so this is a good sign!

Rub a Dub Dub!

Three Men in a Tub!

Zander is big enough to join the boys in the tub, which he is very excited about, until he gets splashed in the face of course! It is a bit crowded though, Kegan I think will soon be on his own. Man, they grow up fast!

Fun times

This is what Santa brought the kids this year. Santa and his elves built it in four or so hours on Christmas Eve. We have been looking at the stuff for a while and have been telling the kids we want to build one in the summer. Well Kiara informed Paul that thanks to Santa, he doesn't have to build one now! Thanks Santa for that favor! Zander got his first front tooth for Christmas! (well one day late) He is also sitting up and just discovered the cat - or the cat discovered him.
This is a short video of Christmas morning when they discovered the play ground. It was way too cold! They haven't played too much on it yet. They go out for about 10 minutes at a time a couple of times a day. But I know they will spend tons of time on it when it warms up; they already have planned games of pirate and house and picnics, etc.

We had a great Christmas and enjoyed seeing all our family. We can hardly wait for next year!

This Weekend

Here are the cupcakes. They are even filled with Strawberry Danish Dessert for blood. Gross and fun!

Here is the final of Kegan's cake. I need more practice with fondant so it won't droop. But it was a huge hit with the kids. They wanted to eat everything, and tore poor Superman apart. They couldn't eat the Daily Planet on top, it was a rubber ball spray painted gold. I could have used a jaw breaker and painted it with luster dust mixed with vanilla, but I didn't think of it in time to order the luster dust, and well, its hard to find stuff like that here. But I did see Michael's has it now, so next time I guess.

Kegan's b-day

Drumroll please..............

Kegan's cake and party are - what else - Superman theme! This is his cake, not completely finished. Only the two sides showing have windows. I ran out of fondant and need to make more to finish. Or maybe no one will look at the other sides.... Hmmmm. No, I'll finish, I want to clean up the corners and I want Superman to tilt up instead of down. This is still a work in progress, thank goodness fondant keeps cake fresh for longer. Oh, and slightly less than half is actually cake, the bottom is styrofoam. His party is Saturday, as well as our ward Halloween party that I'm doing cupcakes for. So I'll post the final picture of the Daily Planet and the cupcakes later.

Ummm. Can't wait to destroy this one! Why did I choose a hobby where you plan to cut into your creations from the get go?!

Some past cakes

Here are some past cakes. I have more to post, but I'll wait until later, don't want to over load it now!
This was for our neighbor.

The youth of our church had a fundraiser and I donated a kids birthday cake. The little boy liked big trucks and bulldozers so I decided to try making one. It worked out okay, but the food coloring acted different with white chocolate and the frosting so the scraper thing (can you tell I know nothing about them) is different colored. I was annoyed, but what can you do!?

I made this for my niece the day she was blessed. I was teaching myself how to do frosting "embroidery." I just guessed how to do it, I saw it once and decided to figure out how to do it. Not bad, if I do say so myself!

This was for my niece. The car is a toy. You know, black frosting and kids is just too fun! Hee hee.

I made these for my twin nephew's 1st birthday. They were a total mess when they were through with the smash cakes.

This is Kiara's 7th birthday cake. It was my first time using gumpaste, and I really liked it. The kids loved the walls too, they ate more of them than the cake. More for me, it was carrot cake with cream cheese frosting! Yummm!!!!!