The Pacifier Fairy

We decided that when the kids turned two the pacifiers had to go!

I started weaning them a month ago and they were only allowed to use them at night time and not throughout the day. I put two nails in the wall above the light switch in their room. Before they were allowed to leave the room after nap or bedtime they had to hang their pacifiers up. They hated it at first but began to love it after a while. They would ask to put it up and visit it through out the day and said Bye pat pat Nigh nigh! And they would wave to it.

Today we sat the kids down and explained they were big boy/girl now and don't need them anymore. I set two bowls out on the couch and had them put it in the bowls by themselves. They said their goodbyes and we left for breakfast.

When they came back The Pacifier fairy has visited us and put MM's in the bowl where the pacifiers had been. The fairy had left the kids birthday presents on the couch too.


Kiersten got a chalk board and a white board easel and a bucket of chalk for his birthday. I hate chalk and my handwriting is terrible lol.


Bradley got a remote control Thomas the Train set with 6 cars total and a bunch of tracks.

Nap time was ok. They fussed for a while and but fell asleep ok. Tonight was torture!!! They pulled out all their drawers, through clothes everywhere, screamed, pushed the beds around- my goodness!! I eventually went back to the first toddler bed night routine of standing in the corner. The screamed hysterically for about an hour and then gave up through exhaustion.
I am SO grateful I took the pacifiers with us in my pocket to the restaurant. I threw them away there so I wouldn't be tempted to find them, clean them off, and give them back. Adam of course gets home from school about half hour later haha.

First Day of School Cookies

A tradition that I had growing up was Cinnamon Rolls and Cookies on the first Day of School!
My Dad would take the day off of work and make up cinnamon rolls when we woke up the first day of school and he would have warm cookies waiting for us when we got home.
I wanted to carry this on with family and so Bradley, Kiersten, and I made Adam monster cookies on his first day of school.

Kiertsen liked putting the MM's in the best. One for me, one for the bowl, one for me, etc.



Bradley "stirring" the bowl


Kiersten mimicking me scooping the cookies on the sheet.


I love my family : )

Date Night

Adam and I went on a fun date night about two weeks ago. I mostly wanted to blog about it because it was the STRANGEST mini golf course I had ever been on! There were about 5 out of the 18 holes that had WATER HAZARDS- really?! My first ball i hit- plunk! Straight into the first pond.

Although the 2nd to the last whole was the weirdest!!! In the back of the picture there is a foot wide beam you have to putt across to get the ball to the other side. I got it across and Adam hit the water hazard- I have to admit I had to laugh at him because He finally lost a ball. So we dig around in the creek, poke at the rocks looking for the ball, can't find it anywhere.... Ok lets go ask for a new ball. I go to putt mine in and then ask for a new one for Adam. We walk to the bottom and Lo and Behold- there's his ball less than a foot from the hole!!! WHAT?!? That was closer than what mine was! Apparently the ball floats and drains out.

Adam won by 15 or so strokes- so sad.

After putt putt we played air hockey ( one of my favorite games of all times!) We each won a game and stopped at that. We went to Baskin Robins and redeemed our pint for a pint coupons. Yes I gave blood- So proud of myself! I am a total needle-phobe!

Bradley used the potty!

I don't like to write in my journal so I write in my blog instead. So this is another blog about bodily fluids- be prepared if you don't want to hear it!
So a little back up first- The four of us went out to Chili's on Monday. Kiersten and I shared a plate because she sat on my side of the booth. I woke up the next morning extremely sick! About noon yesterday Kiersten joined me in the misery so the both of us were sick. I started to feel better this morning so I began to tackle my to do list of phone calls, mailing, and cleaning.
I called SallieMae and was soo surprised because I talked to a representative right away- SHOCKING! The whole phone call was under 5 minutes. I've been put on hold for half an hour or more at the beginning of a school year. I was seriously thinking- this is a miracle! And right when I was telling the guy at the end of our conversation that I was really pleased it was so fast, Kiersten walks up to me and gives me the moan of- Mom I don't feel so good...
To spare details, Kiersten ended up in the bath tub about a minute later. Bradley comes in and wants a bath too so I clean Kiersten down real quick and let Bradley in.
Now we are done with the back story and tangents- sorry I love tangents.
A few minutes later Bradley tries to climb out of the tub and kept saying poo poo. I say No because they just love to sit on the Elmo chair for 10 seconds and hop off which gets me covered in water in the process and no one goes in the potty.
SO this time Bradley starts to pee in the tub and I felt bad so I put him on the toilet. And then he did his business. I'm so proud! And I hope his future girlfriend or wife never finds this blog entry haha.

Bedtime adventures.

The kid's bedtime is anywhere from 7-8pm. My bedtime is like 10-11. The kids have always been good sleepers so I go in to check in on them and give them a last kiss before I head to bed. They sometimes stir but never wake up. This last week we had three very eventful bedtimes!
First event I went to check on them and the kids had taken off Kiersten's sheet on the bed and she was sleeping on the floor. I picked her up and put her in Bradley's bed while I fixed her sheets. I left the room to get something and came back to them cuddling like this.


They were so cute I left them like that and they stayed that way all night until they woke up the next morning.

Second event: They had taken the sheet off the bed again so Kiersten was on the floor. They love to lay under the fitted sheet and play peek a boo. Its pretty funny to watch actually. They did it one day while I was in their room putting laundry away. Anyways! So Kiersten is also in this phase of I want to wear big girl panties and not diapers. She takes off her diapers and tries to put any clothes on her bum instead- pants with both legs in one hole, a shirt through the neck, big girl panties, etc. So I come in her room and she has one of bradley's shirts on her bum and the diaper next to her. I'm glad I cam in to check on them! She would have peed all over the carpet the whole night.


And third, I dont have a picture of. On our one day trip to Modesto we stayed with our good friends Tom and Laurie. We have pack and plays for the kids but they have outgrown them. So K climbed out of her cage and into Bradley's. Adam caught her and separated them again. Then she got out again and taught Bradley how to get out. They trashed our friends spare room together before K climbed back in hers and left Bradley to fall asleep on the floor. I was at the movies with my friend Tara so I didnt see anything happen. I did see the aftermath though. lol I just hope they invite us to come stay with again!!

Otter Pop Thief

Bradley has figured out how to open the deep freeze and he started taking out otter pops. I moved them from the top basket to all the way on the bottom in a box. Still didn't work. If they were regular pop-sickles I would worry about them a little more (because of the sugar) but otter pops to me are just flavored water and seem more justifiable.
Here are some pictures that I took while catching the thief cold handed!

First, drag a chair to the freezer and look around to make sure no one is watching...


Second, use your head to prop the door open so he can use two hands to dig.


If you can see in this picture- Bradley has two otter pops in his hands- a blue and a green. He always steals two so he can reward Kiersten for distracting Mommy long enough to take them.