Slow on the draw

Our not so little baby, two and a half year old Lucius decided that our "last box of diapers" was one box too many. I've been putting off potty training him, because quite frankly I've been dreading it.

Well, Sunday I asked him to try to go potty on the toilet. He pushed the stool into place, climbed on, and pee'd in the toilet. I was shocked that he just did that- like it was no big deal. Crazy! Monday I wasn't going to push my luck but I did get him on the toilet a few times and every time he would go. AND before bed he even pooped on the toilet {sorry if that's too much information}. But I'm blown away.

Today is now Tuesday and he's been dry since 8am. Not only did he go to the bathroom throughout the day, but we weren't at home ALL DAY. He pee'd in toilets all over the city. We ran errands this morning, went in the church bathroom. Then it was off to the Zoo where he went twice. Then it was off to Auntie Em's for a nap and playing. He was dry through nap and went all afternoon at Auntie Em's.

This is absolutely CRAZY because Jerimy actually had to leave this morning to go out of town for 6 days. It's quite possible that Lucius might be in big boy underwear by the time Daddy comes home. I guess there's no more lazy potty training- Lucius is pushing us to do this and do it NOW!

simple pleasures: water

It was in the high 80's low 90's the other day and the little misters found it very funny to dump the water on their heads. It was pretty entertaining to watch their absolute love of water running down their faces.

At the Nature Center

Daddy had to go out of town last week, Thursday-Friday. After we dropped Daddy off at the car rental place we took the bikes up to a nature center. First we rode the trails for awhile. Lucius got a "new" bike from a garage sale a couple weeks ago and that's all he wants to do. He has got some power legs on him and can now go much faster than Oliver. On his Tricycle he would pedal so hard to keep up that he'd spin out. Now he looks and seems so grown up.

After riding for a little while, and hearing Oliver's un-ending "when are we going to be to a park?" questioning we turned into the Nature Center. It's a fairly new Nature center, or at least has recently been re-done. The little misters were pretty excited, but weren't quite sure where to start.

There was a tee-pee, climbing on the rock wall, walking on fallen tree stumps, and building houses out of sticks (to which I was instructed to be the big bad wolf and try to blow it down).

Not to mention the several sandboxes, with plenty of room for one and all. A little sand here, a bit of sand over there, and then a shovel full into the pocket. Hooray sand!

It was windy, but fun, with not too many people there that day. A special afternoon with my little men and a relaxing walk through the prairie to end our adventure. I love it when the boys hold hands and seem like they really love each other.

One of my favorite parts was the wooden xylophone. I REALLY want to make one for our backyard. I'm adding to my "wish I could, hope I might" project to-do list. How cool is this?!?!

Fun Activities with the family

These two precious little misters are our joy. We LOVE spending time together as a family and lately we've been doing a lot of what we call "fun activities" with them. It's a way to tell them we're going somewhere but not tell them exactly where we're going. This time it was off to the mini golf course where Daddy and I had our very first date a little over 8 years ago.

Did I mention there are go karts there?? We were just going to play the mini golf course through but who could pass up a fun few laps around the track with a couple of very excited little boys.

The boys, each with their own unique swings. {above}

Check out Oliver's huge smile as Lucius and I passed them by.

When all less fails pick up the golf ball and toss it into the hole, at least that's what Oliver did towards the end of 18 holes. Poor Lucius was getting quite bored with the sport. I think he was thirsty and hot, possibly pretty tired as well.

Quoteable: sister's pants

I was wearing my twin sister's pants she borrowed to me. Little Man saw what I was wearing and said "you look so handsome today!" Apparently my sister dresses a lot nicer than I do, maybe I need to wear more of her clothes OR possibly try a little harder to look nice instead of just wear what's comfy...

Big smiles for his Daddy

Lucius. just cause.

A day at the Theater

 We took the boys to Hopkins last week to see a play "Giggle, Giggle, Quack". It was pretty crazy morning getting everyone dressed and happy. Oliver was excited to meet up with Oma and Mormor for a brunch before the show. Lucius was upset about something, I forget what.

But we eventually made it down there and Lucius cheered up to be able to hold his grandmother's hands. 

After a bite to eat, we went to the theater to see the show. Lucius was a bit nervous... he's not so open minded about new things/ places. But with a little cuddling and encouraging talk he calmed down enough to watch the play.  Half way through he wanted to sit on Oma's lap. Once he moved to her lap he was giggling and happy. 

Oliver LOVED the play this time around. With a lot of animals singing and dancing around the stage- he was having a blast watching them tell the story. It was a fantastic day at the theater.

Oliver's First dance around the May Pole

At Oliver's School they celebrate May Day with a May Pole. Yesterday they all made may day crowns with flowers to wear for today's festival. I've never celebrated May Day or known much about it, but it sounded interesting. I was not able to take off work to watch the May pole. Thankfully Morfar stayed to see Oliver make his way around with his class. He's the second kid to the right of the purple jacket, blue pants kid.

Doesn't he look so happy to have his Morfar there to watch... {Thanks Dad for taking pictures!!}

The Maypole before the celebration and Oliver's May Day crown:

Happy May Day everyone!!

Quotable: getting older

Oliver was talking about changing his name and told me:

"When I get older I'm gonna change my name to something not in this kind of world. Not in Hawaii or MN or in this country"

I think in the context he was trying to tell me he didn't want his name to be the same as any name he's heard before. I don't know why, but he talks about changing his name almost daily.

Speaking of getting older my baby Lucius was playing with his cars on the couch and needed a little more room. He looked at me and said:

"Marmee, scooch your feet please!"