Our New Piano!

Tall Boy consented and I got a piano! I have been wanting one for awhile now, and Super Boy recently told me that he wants to learn how to play the piano. So I found an electric piano for a great price! The best part is that it never has to be tuned, you can plug in headphones so you don't bother anyone while playing, and it is WAY lighter than a traditional piano. It is beautiful! So here are a couple of pictures...
Also, today is Super Boy's last day of school. He is excited for the summer, but sad that there is no school. He tested for the Accelerated program and was put on the waiting list, but we recently found out that enough people declined that he has a spot in the program for 3rd and 4th grade! He was very excited because according to him "I only learned 1 new thing in school!" His class recently performed "A year in review" it was a great program with a lot of fun songs and little narrations by the kids.
Super Boy's grade also had a walk-a-thon last week. He did great! They did it at a local park and the kids had 45 minutes to walk, jog, or run. Super Boy Ran most of the time, walking only about 1/4 of each lap. I'm not sure exactly how long the route was, but he did 9 laps! That's 5 minutes per lap! Here he is at the end with his punch card...
The kids all had sack lunches and Super Girl and I stayed for a little picnic with Super Boy...It was great fun!
Now we just have a long summer to look forward to! We are excited to be in our new neighborhood where there are tons of kids. I think this might be the best summer ever! Kids roaming wild and free from house to house! We also have a trip to Cali in July to look forward to. We might even send the kids to Gma and Gpa K for a couple of weeks of freedom! I'll try to keep this blog updated, but we just might be having too much fun for me to stop long enough to update!

Potty Training COMPLETE!!! And my new guilty pleasure...

Yes that is right! Super Girl has been accident free for a week, and she shows no signs of ever going back to being a "baby with a diaper"! She has officially earned her potty elephant today!
In other news, I just discovered an awesome recipe that I had to share! I used to participate in a recipe blog, but I've decided just to include them here. There'll be a new label "Recipe" that you can click to see all my posts with recipes in them from now on!

The recipe I've discovered is kinda weird sounding, but delicious! The recipe is...

MICROWAVE POTATO CHIPS

I know what you are thinking...ewww...right? I thought the same thing, but thought, "why not give it a try?" I tried them and now I'm hooked! This is a very economical way to get your chip fix, and healthier too I think! Here are the instructions:

1 potato or sweet potato
parchment paper (or microwave safe glass plate)
cooking spray

Slice your potato using a thin slicer (you can even do it with a vegetable peeler) I use my salad shooter. Lay the potatoes in a single layer on the parchment paper. Spray with a light coating of cooking spray. Turn each slice over and spray again. Make sure none of the slices are sticking together, and put the potatoes in the microwave.
Microwave on high for about 5 minutes (mine are usually done after about 3-4) You should take the potatoes out immediately after they start to brown. They can burn easily and stink really bad when they burn (personal experience). Slide them off the parchment paper on to a cool plate or bowl and enjoy! I don't think they need any salt, but you can sprinkle a bit on right after they come out of the microwave if you want. I LOVE the sweet potato ones...mmmmmm... no dip or salt needed, just lucious! The following picture is the potato ones, they were slightly under-crisp, but still delicious!

Here's the sweet potato ones (and a few potato ones) they got slightly over done, but weren't burnt yet, and they were still delicious!

Mother's Day, Super Girl, Tim and Minute to win it fun...

Mother's day was great! The kids gave me some yummy treats and 2 fun games. At church the Primary kids sang 3 beautiful songs, and the Relief Society gave us yummy chocolates and a beautiful quote I have always loved...

"Each of you should be grateful to be a woman!...To be a righteous woman is a glorious thing in any age. To be a righteous woman during the winding up scenes on earth, before the second coming of our Savior is an especially noble calling." ~Spencer W. Kimball

I got to lounge in bed most of the morning before church, then after church we had Tall Boy's parents over for pulled pork...YUMMY. Then we had cobbler for dessert...extra YUMMY! It was a great day!

As of today, Super Girl is 6 days clean and sober...um I mean DRY!!! She is doing great! She is over half way to her elephant.

In other news we FINALLY found TIM (Super Girl's beloved stuffed bunny)! Tim was stuck, wedged behind Super Boy's linen box in his closet! Tim was about 1 inch thick when we pulled her out, but she has been fluffed back up to almost normal size. No more sad Super Girl at bedtime!

The kids are in love with the show Minute to win it. They are constantly asking to try all the games. I recently found pedometers at the dollar store so I bought 4. The kids love playing "Bobble Head" and "Nervous Nellie". So I took some video of them doing the games...






Such cute and silly kids! I'm a lucky woman!

Potty success!

Yesterday was the 1st accident free day for Super Girl! She has been wearing only panties for a couple of days now, and yesterday she went potty on her own THE WHOLE DAY! I only told her to go potty right before bed, the rest were all on her own! WOOOOOOHOOOO! Hope it continues! She's up to 15 out of 50 stickers needed for her cute elephant....keep it up Super Girl!

Corrections, Baptism, Scouts, and other updates...

I just figured out something about the potty dresses. The dollar amount I gave was wrong. I realized yesterday that I just added up all the ribbon and fabric from my receipt, and that included the ribbon and fabric for the bike trailer! I spent about $8 total on the bike trailer, so that leaves about $25 for 12 dresses. So it really boils down to about $2.10 for each dress! Potty training has been going well, had a couple of accidents yesterday, but improving! Super Girl told me after the fact that she went poop in the potty! Sure enough, I checked and she did! Luckily she was in a potty dress at the time so she didn't get poop on any undies from not wiping her bum....ewwwwwwww!!! Anyway, PROGRESS!!!

I finally got around to downloading the pics off my phone and getting the baptism photos from Hot Mama, so here it is!

Super Boy Turned 8 in the beginning of April. He had known about Scouts for about a month prior to that and we worked on all the requirements we were allowed to work on before his birthday. He is so gung ho about anything Scouts! So 2 weeks after his birthday was the 1st pack meeting he got to attend. He received 3 awards!!! There is a program this year called BSA 100 because it is the Boy Scouts of America's 100th Anniversary. So there are special ribbons the boys can earn and Super Boy earned 2! He earned the Outdoors ribbon for planning and doing an outdoor activity (a  hike) for our family (that fulfilled 2 requirements), and while we were on the hike he identified animals and plants that were present in our neighborhood and told whether or not he thought they were there before the houses were built. The next ribbon he earned was the Community Service ribbon for cleaning up a public area (school balls over construction fence), planning and participating in a community service project (shoveling 4" of very wet and heavy snow for our whole side of our street) and for talking about people who serve the community and what they do (he mentioned me and the bishop! Talk about awesome company!) At the pack meeting, Super Boy also earned his first rank, Bobcat. He was so excited! I was too! He gave me the parents pin for helping him with his projects. i had forgotten about the pin, so it was super special. I was so proud of him for wanting to do Scouts and for being so persistent, I felt he earned it all on his own. It made me a little teary-eyed when he said, "Thanks mom, you are the best mom ever!" and gave me a hug. We don't have any pictures of the pack meeting, but he was kind enough to pose for me after...pardon the crappy phone picture quality...

So let me tell you a little more about this amazing kid known as SUPER BOY for obvious reasons!!! He is so smart and wants to grow up WAY TOO FAST!!! After he turned 8 he asked me, "Mom, can I cut my own hair? Will you teach me?" So I agreed and this was the result...

He wanted to do it longer that I usually do it, so we put on the longest guide and he went to town. A few days later we did it again, the normal length, so he looked super sharp for his baptism!

There is nothing in the world that can prepare you for the emotions and feelings you get when your oldest child makes the decision to be baptized. I still remember my baptism day very clearly, especially the feeling I had. So that made me think of how he will remember most of his life from now on...SCARY!!! All the moments I need to be the mean mom, he's going to remember! Through a series of unfortunate events, we lost the images of right before the baptism, with Tall Boy and Super Boy in their white clothes. But we still have the after photos! We were so happy so many people could join us and support Super Boy on this special day!

Here's everyone who was there...

Our newest family photo...

There are tons more pictures of the party that followed, but that will need to wait until next time...

My latest projects...

Along with the potty dresses, I had another sewing project last week. We have this old bike trailer/stroller that has been neglected over the years, and the fabric cover was thrashed. So I made a pattern as best as I could from the scraps that were left and made a whole new cover!

The old cover (what was left of it)

The patterns I made (side net, side fabric, front fabric, front net, side velcro etc)

The finished product (side view)

Back view

Isn't it spiffy!?!

I also have my very own laptop now that is small but has an awesome battery life! Tall Boy told me I could "put whatever viruses I want" on it! That's his way of saying games and programs. The only program I've downloaded so far is for the Family Search Indexing. I know Dad, you are so proud...I've caught the bug! For those who may not be familiar, it is a program where you download images of census documents or other similar documents from around the world, and you type what you see in each field. I have been doing WWII draft records from Texas. It is amazing to see how many people have the same names!!! I have been typing away for a couple of days now and have set a pretty lofty goal of 36,500 names indexed in 1 year...about 100 a day...I already have over 1000 done in just the past 2 days! Just 35,500 more to go! Wish me luck!

In other news, Super Girl has been doing well with potty training. She has a chart with places for stickers up to the number 50. She gets a sticker each time she goes on the potty with a clean diaper/panties. When she reaches 50, she gets her cute elephant! She's already up to 10 and we've only been doing it for a few days...here's hoping!

And last tonight is the return of the weight loss tracker. I recently started walking with Hot Mama and another friend about a month ago. So far I have lost 5 pounds in 4 weeks! I haven't been walking lately, but I'm still exercising at home most times. So root for me, I'm shooting for about a pound per week...slow and steady wins the race!