Potty Training

Well... we started potty training Luke this week. Day 1 was pretty uneventful- a few minor accidents. Day 2 I decided to force drink Luke, giving him lots and lots of juice to ensure he got the hang of it. Mistake #1. He is a camel and can hold his pee for inordinately long periods of time. So, me taking him to the bathroom every 30 minutes was very frustrating for us both. Then he would have an accident after about 4 hours of no peeing. Tuesday morning at our house looked like "Hades- the Musical," with me starring as Satan and Luke as a little imp. After a long crying jag by Luke, yelling by me and a long nap. We all awoke in a better frame of reference. Since then, it could not have been easier. I removed myself and my ideas about how hard this should be and "How to potty train a boy" rules and just listened to my son. He tells me when he needs to go and is happy to do it. Yet again, experience does not equal wisdom on my part. The Bible says that man's ways are not God's ways and my wisdom is not God's wisdom. Another life lesson from the Lord via my 3 year old son and a potty.

Bootcamp results are in!

Well, the results are in. Today was the last day of bootcamp for me. 5 weeks of torture and foot pain has resulted in some very interesting numbers. I didn't lose a single pound (insert 4 day Sea World trip one week before weigh-in here) but I am still a loser.
I lost 3% body fat. I was able to do 27 pushups on the wall in a minute when I started, and 37 on my knees when I finished. And the greatest part was I lost 10.75 inches off by body! That tells me two important things. One, I may not have lost any weight but I now have a lot more muscle taking up space where the fat used to be. Two, that I had next to no muscle before I started. My poor body couldnt lose any weight, because I needed to make some muscle.
How was I even walking around before? So... anyone want to do it with me? It starts again on the 18th...

Birthday Boy turns 3!

Luke turned 3 this past Sunday and I had to share some cute photos and stories about this adorable boy. He and Jacob were in our hotel room and Luke decided to share one of his new birthday toys with his older sibling. I told Jacob, 'Your brother just shared something special with you- tell him he's awesome and thank him.' Jacob responds and adds the awesome part for good measure. What was Luke's reply? 'Yes, I am awesome.' Such a humble boy we have on our hands.

Check out those ultra big shades he's sporting at the poolside table. Tre' chic no? And what about the future James Bond? Green castle hats are all the range in San Antonio right now!

Putting the 'fun' in dysfunctional... or Our trip to SeaWorld

There is nothing like getting away from it all, to put things into perspective. On our SeaWorld trip, our hotel had movies outside at night, up on the wall. Like a drive in, only with mosquitos and smores. Anyway, the showed the classic Bruce Willis homage "Over the Hedge," in which he plays a deceitful raccoon. The other main character Hammie is a turtle. At the end of the movie, they are discussing how they are all a family and sharing how families operate; what they do and dont do well. Hammie tells RJ that he would have helped him in his quest to repay a killer bear if he had only asked him beforehand. To which RJ replies, 'I wish you would have told me that sooner,' and Hammie essentially says communicating is another thing families don't do well.

What does this have to do with our SeaWorld trip you ask? Well, my dear, it has everything to do with it. We drove 5 hours to be reminded that communication is the key to any healthy relationship, whether it is husband and wife, parent and child or brother to brother. In hindsight, we probably looked like the 4 stooges- constantly miscommunicating where to meet, where to eat, what to do and where the truck keys are and no one answering their phone- shoot, even knowing where our phones were! But, dont get me wrong. We had a great time and I have the pictures to prove it to you!

The boys at the Waggin' Tales animal show. They loved seeing cats, dogs, ducks, skunks, pigs and ponies doing tricks.

And this is how close we got to the dolphins. No photo cropping required to get this close. All you need are some stinky fish and they come right up to you.

The boys after face tattoos of Dolly the dolphin and Shamu the Killer Whale. Great times!

The Soccer Champion Blizzards

Here they are in all their soccer glory- the 2008 summer indoor champs with their purple trophies in hand. To commemerate the occasion, we bought Jacob a t-shirt in the color of his choice (purple) and an iron-on that has a soccer ball with the word "GOAL" on it. Very snazzy this shirt. How did I end up with 2 boys whose favorite colors are purple and pink? Maybe its because they never see these colors and are therefore novel to them? Lets hope so- for a solid month Luke begged for a 'pink birthday.' Without any intervention or slamming of pink, he changed his mind and requested a 'blue Shamu' birthday in honor of our SeaWorld birthday/family vacation trip to San Antonio.

Our BIG Day!

Today was crazy. Lots of things happened, but just stay with me. I promise it will all be worth it. Andra heads out to Bootcamp while Chris feeds and clothes the boys for Jacob's soccer tourney. His team, the Blizzards, were third in the indoor soccer season this summer. We were playing the Lightning team, who had soundly beat us both times we played them. Surprise, surprise, we won that game! So, it was home for a quick lunch, practice in the backyard with Chris and naps before heading back that afternoon to play the Storm team. We had beaten them earlier in the season, but after a full morning game (hour long), were the kids up for another win?
We scored several goals early on due to Storm being short a few players and a COACH for 15 minutes. About 15 minutes before the game was over, the score was 3 Storm and 4 Blizzard. Imagine a large huddle of 4-6 year olds and Jacob in the middle. The ball gets kicked to him and lo and behold, he fires it straight into the goal- SCORE! Our teams parents went crazy. Moms were hugging me and gives me high fives, the coach said he could see me crying from the bench and Chris was in shock because he had missed everything before the goal by talking to Luke! I was SO proud of my son! He looked up at us when all the shouting and clapping started and you could tell he was beginning to understand what he had done. The Storm came back and scored with about 45 seconds left, making it 5 to 5. Our star player Josh came out as goalie to play forward and literally with less than 5 seconds left he scored our final goal, making the Blizzards the champions! Trophies and everything! What a day! We followed it up with ice cream and Braums.
That goal was such a huge gift from the Lord- such an encouragement for the learning process for Jacob, but mostly for us as his parents. Its tough to see him struggle, but I hope he remembers that moment forever- Chris and I will. So, the next time you visit our house, look on our mantle for the coolest purple soccer trophy ever!

Chris or Hal Sparks?

MyHeritage: Celebrity Morph - Family tree diagram - Free genealogy software

Celebrity Morph by MyHeritage