Mother to Big Kids

So much has happened in the last couple weeks, I figured I better update now before it gets away from me. I had time today because we have just had awful weather this spring. Well, that's not true. I like the rain, and living in Colorado I have learned to appreciate it more and more. There's a lack of it usually, and so when it does come we are SOOOO grateful. But this Month of may it has been borderline ridiculous. We (being Denver airport's official numbers) have received over 4 inches of rain THIS MONTH ALONE!!!! That's not including here in Northern Co, where we've gotten more than that, or the mountains where it has been snow. In fact, the one ski resort that still open (all the others closed because we had such a warm and dry February and March there was almost no snow left!) has had over 30 inches of snow in the last week!!!!  Everyone is flocking to A basin to go skiing. It's like April in the midwest for us. We never see weather like this. And frankly, after a cold winter of stuck inside, I'm ready for sunshine and 80's. So anyways, today it is yet again raining, and also only a high of like 43 degrees. So it's cold on top of that. The boys' schools had a bunch of fun things planned this week for the end of school, and they have all been canceled. Today Jayce was supposed to have "Water Day" at preschool. Nope. Not happening. Tomorrow Riley was going to have a Field day at the middle school. Nope. Not happening. Thursday is the last day of school, and the preschool was doing a park playdate for lunch instead of regular school day. That one is still a maybe, but I highly doubt it will happen. The teachers said if it's cloudy they will probably try to brave it, but if it's all out raining (which so rarely happens in Colorado, but has been the consistent for the last 2 weeks) they will cancel and have a regular school day. Poor Kiddos!  So many fun things that can't happen because of weather.

So we've spent a lot of time indoors, but the few days it's been nice, we've spend outside making the most of it!  Our Farm Friends, Trista and Kinsey, have some new baby goats!  One of their goats got pregnant this year, and so we were able to visit the "kids" just a day after they were born. They are so cute and tiny!  The light colored one is a girl, and her name is Phoebe (Trista and I are both big Friends fans!) and the darker boy is named Rowdy - because HE. IS. ROWDY!  I was surprised that Amara was so taken with them! She didn't want to hold one, but she wanted to pet them, which is really good for her. she's usually so timid around new things, I was really proud of her for not being scared! Jayce loved them!  He wanted to chase them and pick them up, and hold them forever! He is such a cuddler and a lover!  Riley of course was indifferent. :) He was anxious to see them, but once he did, he was over it and spent the rest of the time climbing on all the old farm equipment and piles of wood/etc. around the farm. That kid is so his own little person. Here's some photos from our trip to see the goats!

Rowdy and Pheobe

Amara wanted to pet them Right Away!!

Rowdy was a hard one to catch

Kinsey was anxious to pet them too!

Mama goat (Bella) and the kids

Jayce holding Pheobe, Ryder TRYING to hold Rowdy

Kinsey would sit here with her all day if she could!

For Mother's Day weekend (it was again rainy) so we headed to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We bought a family pass this year, so I'm excited to see all the different exhibits as they change. This time it was Mythical Creatures (I'm waiting for the Poison one and Sherlock Holmes!!! later this year!) and it was really cool. They had figures and histories of a lot of mythical creatures: mermaids, unicorns, dragons, griffins, Pegasus, and more; and then explained possibilities of real life creatures or things that could be the source of such myths. For instance a Narwhal tusk for a unicorn horn, or packs of whales coming up for air that resemble the many loops a sea serpent makes. It was really cool to see!  Best part - to spend time as a family!

After that we had a few "nice" days. Still cool, but sunshine!  So we were able to get our house painted!! Yay!! It's been 8 years since we moved into this house, and the Colorado sun was started to really affect the south and west sides. Cameron has been thinking about doing it himself, but after we got a free estimate and realized how affordable it was - we couldn't pass it up. Especially since they were done in 2 days!  2 days!!!!! It would have taken Cameron a full summer of weekends to do the whole job! And it turned out really nice. We decided to change the colors up. No more boring grey or tan like the rest of the neighborhood. We are now a bold rusty red color!  I really love it! What do you think?

Also those few nice days we spent some time outside playing. Jayce has been riding with training wheels on his bike for a year or so now, but only because he wasn't tall enough to reach the ground on the balance bike. After his growth spurt this winter he is now tall enough, and he really took to riding the balance bike. It took Riley about the whole summer to get good at balancing with no pedals, but Jayce picked it up in about a week!  By the time we were playing outside last week he was a pro - leaning around corners, coasting down the sidewalk with his feet up, and even going up and down the curb!  ( I attribute it to his scooter balance which he perfected at a young age to keep up with Riley!)

So this last weekend I told Cam he's ready for no training wheels, and we took them off. And he DID IT!!!  I was so proud that he picked it up just as fast as Riley did!! By the first pass down the street Cam was barely holding on to him, and on the way back to me he was letting go completely! At one point he rode down the street, around a car, and around the corner all by himself!!  It was amazing to watch! He's still not real bold in wanting to do it, but that will come with time. Just like Riley his first time on 2 wheels, Jayce was done after about 3 passes and didn't want to do anymore. So we are waiting for some better weather so we can practice more.

Speaking of Big Kids - Amara is (yes I'm going to dare to say it) POTTY TRAINED!!!!  It's been an uphill battle to get her to wear undies, so finally one day a couple weeks ago (a Friday) I told her no diapers, and if she didn't want to wear undies then she would be naked. She went for that, and after giving her a LOT of tea that morning (so there was no way she could hold it until naptime when I put her in a diaper - the obstacle we had reached until that point) She peed in the potty all on her own - as in, I was out of the room and she went to the potty chair by herself and did it!!! I was so excited I almost peed MY pants!!  Then she continued that way the rest of the day, and the rest of the weekend. By Monday I was bold enough to put her in undies when we went to MOPS. She had a few accidents, (mostly #2's) but by Wednesday that week she had figured out #2 as well!! I wasn't sure what to do, it was NEVER this easy with the boys! So she's been wearing undies all day long for over a week now with only one accident (and it was funny, she was outside and took her pants and undies off before peeing right there on the deck! I'm sure one of the boys peed in the yard and she thought she could too. ugh.) AND . . . the last 3 nights she has woken up with a dry diaper too!!! I can't believe it! Everyone says Girls are easier, but I didn't believe it after the months of her refusing to wear undies! So I think it's safe to say she is potty trained! She may have a few more accidents here and there, I'm sure, but this is amazing. I may be able to get rid of all the diapers in the house by the end of summer!!! YAY!! (and then the bitter sweet feeling of my babies growing up. :( 

I still haven't decided how I'm going to approach road trips with that yet though. We have one coming up in a couple weeks, to Moab - an 8 hour drive, with one stint where there are absolutely NO exits or facilities for MILES, and the big trip to Indy next month. I would like to try it and see if she can make it (she's risen to everything thus far!) but on the other hand we may be stuck in the middle of Utah with a wet carseat and no washing machine. Yep that's right. All of our vacations this summer will be road trips. We've got a few little mini vacations planned, and a bunch of other stuff fun us to do on a daily basis. I'm really excited for this summer and all we have going on! Keep checking back, especially at the end of this month for Riley's birthday! He picked out a cute theme, and it will make for some fun Pictures!  :)