Potty

Phew! This is the third post for the day! I am feeling very ambitious today, and apparently B knows it because he is making all sorts of sweet surprise messes for me to clean up.

I often wonder about how things run in other people's homes. For instance: is it only my kid who can't seem to keep the pee in the toilet? Honestly I'm not really complaining because with Brenner, it's a feat in itself for him to actually urinate in his potty in the first place.

Let me set the stage for this morning's incident.

Upon awakening, Brenner goes to his door in a trance-like state and knocks. You see, he can't open the door from the inside because it is is child proof. There are many reasons for this-use your imagination. So I go let him out and try to be upbeat because he is in a very vulnerable state in the morning. I never know if I'm going to open the door to a little beast-child or an angel-boy.

This morning was a little tough to decipher, so I say "goodmorning", and he immediately requests breakfast. After snarfing down his eggs, I tell him "Ok Brenner, it's time to go potty." To which he starts to melt down.

I carry him to the bathroom and pull the pajamas off his listless body and plop him down on the bright green potty chair. He stands up and starts crying and wants me to hold him. At this point I am getting frustrated and worried. He drank a lot of water before bed lastnight and woke up dry this morning, so my deductive reasoning tells me that he has to go and I'm also thinking it's a "right now" thing. So I'm trying to stay calm and stand him up to put him back on the chair and he is sad and wants to collapse and all of a sudden he starts peeing as if it's totally involuntary and he stops crying long enough to watch. He is facing me, of course, and I get a nice huge pee spot on my robe before I can come to grips with what is happening and I turn him towards his potty. I'm not a man and he has never peed standing up like this before so he starts spraying the wall, the potty, and the floor like a fire hose going out of control. So I quickly "direct" things and he finishes in the bowl of the potty.

He jumps up and down and shouts with joy "I did it! Let's put a sticker on the chart! Lightning McQueen!" and he is happy and gleeful whilst I sit on the floor next to all the urine.

I'm not really sure how he held all that liquid in his body but there was what seemed like gallons on the floor and all over the place. Wash, wipe, spray, sigh.

I think potty training is the worst thing I have done as a parent so far.

Someone Told Me it's All Happening at the Zoo.

First a little background explanation. When my sister Megan was little my Dad bought her the book The Zoo" by Paul Simon. It's the lyrics to the Simon and Garfunkel song and it's really a cute book. Brenner has been really into books for.. well.. since he could see, and my Dad reads him "The Zoo" often. So we have the S&G greatest hits which has the zoo song on it and B sings the song and it's great and fun and he really likes zoo stuff a lot. While we were in Boise, his Nanna bought him a set of zoo animals and he has been going crazy about them, carrying them around in the container they came in and telling me what each animal is etc etc.
My cousins Lili and Holly were going to the Hogle Zoo last Saturday and since I have been telling Brenner all winter "When it gets warm we'll go to the zoo." I decided it was going to be a beautiful day and we should go. So off we went with Russ, Nanna, and Meg.
It's kinda funny how B LOVES the thought of the zoo but when he gets really close to the animals he is a little freaked out. There is a giant wooden, tribal-looking elephant by the elephant cages that makes noises and is fun to take pictures by and I thought he was going to shimmy right up my leg and claw the skin off my face he was so freaked out by it. However, I think next time he will be better. He has no fear with animals that are smaller than him but anything bigger takes a lot of getting used to.
We had a great time anyway and I'm so glad we went.

I just have to say how much I love taking pictures of my brother Russell. His faces are priceless. Here he is with Cali O'Malley

Another fabulous Russell shot. Along with Meg and Brenner.

My entourage. Russ, boys, and BOB.

The train gang. Nanna, Brenner, Kenz, and the babes peeking in the background.

In the end Brenner scored another set of plastic zoo animals from his Nanna and was happy as a lark about it.

Easter

Better late than never right? We went up to Boise for Easter weekend to visit my brother Eric, wife Nicky, and cousin Eva. We stayed in a lovely hotel and had a great time with them and Nanna and Grandpa too. Nicky did a little Easter egg hunt for the kids in their little patio/backyard area, and as you might imagine, Brenner was much more interested in getting the candy out of the eggs than finding the eggs themselves. Once he got the hang of it he did great and came home with quite a little booty of candy. Thanks Nicky! We miss you guys already.

Here are the kids in their new Easter duds.

Dear Chacos

Dear Chacos,
I know it's been a while, and I'm sad about that too, but don't worry, soon we'll be together every day. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, but I thought I would wear you today so you'd know I still love you more than ever. Yes Travis says you smell bad, but I'll wash you as many times as it takes, and we will never part. Hiking, fishing, walking, and chasing children, we can do it all together...

The weather is so lovely that I decided to go to The Home Depot and get some plants. Yes they're inside plants but they make me cheery looking at thier cute little pots.

So for now, when the weather turns bad again, which it almost assuredly will, I can look at my little friends in the windowsill and think of the warmth to come.

Then when it's here, I can whine about it not being Fall yet.

Em-Style-Steezin!

Success! Today I was steezin. Ok, ok I wasn't exactly "huckin tricks" or "going off cliffs" but I was waist deep in amazing powder, loving every minute of it. I couldn't have picked a better day to have my only ski of the season. My mom and Craig invited me to go and since Travis didn't want me to go through my life always saying "I didn't go skiing ALL SEASON ONE YEAR!" He insisted that I go.

So off we went to Alta, pumpernickel bagel and shmear in our bellies and eyes wide with excitement for the new snow. We spent all morning floating through deep soft clouds. We had to partake of the high-priced delicious food at Alf's midmountain, stuffing ourselves with fries and other goodies from the grill. Honestly, I needed those calories trying to get up after a few falls. My "post baby" (aka out of shape) legs occasionally gave out on me and getting up in deep powder is no easy task. Wah right? So in the end I do feel like I burned more calories than I consumed and I had amazing time gliding around all day. Putting on my ski boots and going on that first run was like coming home, and taking them off at the end of the day was even better. So what if I can't walk tomorrow, so what if my face is wind burnt like you wouldn't believe, the skiing was great and I couldn't be happier. Thanks Mom and Craig!

Speaking of wind burn, here is a picture of my face, although the photo doesn't do justice. I have a sweet line where my goggles were and my face currently feels like it might burst into flames. Hey I made the hat too!

me and the momma

P.S. We missed you Hil and Lane!

day in the life

Clark is sleeping and Brenner is having quiet time in his room so instead of laundry or something else productive, I'm going to do a quick post of randomness. Last week Trav and I had our 5 year anniversary. Ahh the best day of my entire life. Don't get me wrong, I love my boys and I think the day I had them was great and all, but my wedding was hands down the best day ever. If you weren't able to attend, just know that the whole day was absolutely perfect. Anyway. this year we kept it low key with sushi and a movie. We are saving up our pennies for a trip this fall and I love dinner and a movie oh so much. Happy 5th baby!
Today I am doing damage control (laundry, cleaning etc.) from a weekend in Salt lake followed by Sunday laziness. I took Brenner on a run in the stroller this morning and hopefully I can stay motivated this whole week. Spring has been creeping around Logan, peeking around corners and lurking at the park for hours at a time, alas never deciding to stay. Come or go Spring, stop the teasing! phewf. So after the run, B decided he wanted to paint, which usually I have to closely monitor because of spillage, eating/drinking the materials and the like. This time I put the water in a bowl and let him have at it.
Success! He had a great time and stayed at it way longer than usual. Big boy.

P.S. I got him yet another potty at IKEA this week. Potty party coming soon.

A few nights ago I was getting him ready for bed and he brought his cowboy stuff out, and Travis, not knowing the extent of my bed time rituals, dressed him up.

What is better that footie robot PJ's with boots, chaps, vest, and cowboy hat? Nothing that I can think of right away. Except maybe wrangling him enough to take them off before bed.

And I can't have a post that is all about B-town. So here is Clark's new favorite pass-time, apart from sucking his fingers far enough down his throat to make him gag. Oh I love him.

A day in the life of Em and the boys.

Artsies and Soupsies!

No, it's not Christmas, it's just Art & Soup time!! I look forward to this event every spring, and this year was fab as usual. For those of you who don't know about it, Art & Soup is an function put on by Community Nursing Services in Salt Lake and is a charity event to raise money for their organization. Artists come and set up their work displays and 30% of their sales for the three days goes to CNS. So that's the art portion. Then restaurants come and bring their gourmet and specialty soups and give little cups of them out all evening. You sip a soup while you look at amazing art. Can it get better? Yes, it can. There are also a few bakeries that come and bring pastries, desserts, and cookies. Phewf, I'm getting heated just thinking about it. Some of my very favorite things: art, soup, and pastries. Wowzer. Anyway, I went lastnight with Meg and Nancy and we had a grand time. My favorite soup was a sweet potato crab bisque from Blue Boar Inn and there was a new artist there that I really fell in love with, Erin W. Berrett. Check out her website http://www.EWBpaintings.com she's great. We left with bellies full of soup and minds full of colorful paintings. If you can, you should hit it tonight at the downtown Sheraton. You can click www.cnsvna.org to find out more details. Don;t even think about eating before you go. In fact, start your fast now.

I always love going because it really inspires me to start painting again. I usually start work on a couple pieces this time of year because of A&S and then abandon them because I don't have the room to set everything up and I don't like getting it out and putting it away a million times. Subsequently, I have many unfinished paintings sitting under the bed. So for now I'm savoring the memories of this year's soup and wishing I had a studio to paint my days away...

P.S. Stay posted for hats on Etsy!