My little Opu

The Happenings

Kurt got the kids ready to swim in the pool the other day and this is what he dressed them in.  He put Brody in Drew's old suit and he put Drew in Brody's board shorts.  I was on the ground laughing to my guts out when I saw them.  I thought Brody looked like he had on a Strongest Man outfit, and Drew looked like a local boy with long hair.

Stefani, Addi, and Gwen Jorgenson came over to swim yesterday.  I think the kids had more fun making a mess with chips than they did swimming.  I playfully asked Drew if she dumped out the chips and expecting her to say yes, but she said, "No Addi did."  Hahaha!  What a way to sell out your friend.  Drew's very good to point out the things she didn't do.  I guess there was no need for a bag when you could eat it off the floor.

Bro Dee!  This is his favorite spot in the whole house.  He climbs on a coffee table and sits on this ledge.  He snuggles and blends right in with with the sodas.

We've been having fun hanging out at home.  Neither one of us has a job right now and we aren't complaining.  We love having Kurt home with us night and day.  He's been working on his language class he needs to finish, selling the last of our junk, securing a job in Korea, and trying to beat my high score on a computer game called BeSpelled.

I'm having a fun time swimming with the kids every day, watching Food Network, taking fun walks around the loop, playing on the computer, pushing Kurt to do his language class, and keeping the kids from ripping the house to pieces.

Drew and Brody are having a fun time with Grandma.  They follow her like a shadow.  Drew is learning how to swim and she's like a fish in water.  She can swim half the length of the pool.  Drew asks for her friends every once and while but she suffices with looking at their pictures on the computer.  Her 3rd birthday is on the 25th of this month and she talks about it everyday.

Brody is busy being a boy.  He loves chasing all the wild life we have at our house.  He can say Thank you, I love you, ball, Mama, Dada, more, yup, nice, and his favorite, NO!  Of course in his Brody way.

Happy Birthday America!

On Friday the 4th of July we went to the 62nd annual 4th of July parade in Kailua.  It was so fun to see the kids get excited over bands playing, horses trotting down the street and "princess" riding on the backs of the convertibles.

Drew became a professional beggar, or should I say pick pocketer, by the end of the parade.  When people would pass out candy Drew didn't wait for them to hand it to her.  She would take them directly from the bag or bucket they were carrying them in.  They handed out good stuff too.  Flags, popsicles, tattoos, pencils, bread, candy, water bottles, and even shirts.

After the parade we came home and got ready

for our bbq/pool party.  The Jorgensen's, Wynes',

and Jones' - Aaron, who had to work came over for the festivities.  The kids, Kurt and I, cooled off in the pool.  Then we had DELICIOUS hamburgers Kurt grilled up and SCRUMPTOUS grilled peaches with ice cream for dessert.

We were able to see the fireworks from our house so we didn't have to drive to the beach and fight the crowds.

Then we set off some fireworks of our own... if you call smoke bombs,

snakes,

Poppers,

and sparklers, fireworks.

We did have a good finale with a chain of fireworks wrapping up the tree.  It seemed like it lasted a couple min. and ended with a bang.

Then as we were sitting around talking about different challenges this cinnamon challenge was put to the test by Kurt.  Supposedly you can't eat a Tablespoon of cinnamon; It's too dry.  That supposedly became irrelevant.  I love the clouds of cinnamon!  I can still smell it now.

We were so glad our friends were able to drive an hour to hang out with us.  We were able to see the clothes Stefani made her girls, show the Wynes' how we do it in America (though it's no Stampede and they seem to know a lot more about our own country then we do), and thanks to Shanae get to watch Kurt's challenge over and over again!

We hope everyone had a fun and safe fourth of July!

Brown Noser

I love my little girl Drew.  She'll be 3 on the 25th of this month.  Drew was potty trained by the time she turned 2.  We had been trying to get her to use the toilet in hopes that we wouldn't have to buy a potty and have to clean it and smell the stinkynes of a 2 year olds pee and poop.  During this time we went over to our friend, Natalie's house, who has a little boy named David.  Natalie and I were talking in the living room when Drew came out with just her shirt on proclaiming, "Mommy, I pooped in the toto!  I pooped in the toto."  As I got my bearings on what she had just said I ran to the bathroom and looked for her mark in the toilet.  It wasn't there.  Then I swung around to see she had pooped in the potty.  I was SO excited!  I didn't care that it was the potty just as long as I didn't have to change another diaper.  The next day we got her a potty and she was trained.  Throughout this year we have made a transition to the big girls potty, the toilet and I'm proud to say she's doing great!  I do have only one concern and question.  When do you let them wipe themselves?  Drew can go to the bathroom now without any promptings but I'll be watching t.v. or blogging and I can hear from the bathroom the most hated words in the world!  "Mom, wipe my butt!"  Okay, it's not the most hated words, but I REALLY am over wiping her.  I just KNOW she's not ready to do it herself.  There's been a couple of times where she hasn't yelled to us but we know somethings gone wrong when she starts crying.  We go to check on her on these too often occasions and Drew is off the toilet with poop all over her hands, legs, and toilet, having tried to wipe her butt herself.  

Question: When do children start wiping their own butt's without making a mess?