Isabell's Clean Room!

Isabell is so wonderful!! Tonight she cleaned her room for the first time ALL by herself. It wasn't a horrendous mess as it usually is, but still there was a bunch of books and some small toys and some clothes on the floor.

 We had put her to bed and she told me

 "First I"m going to play. And then when I get tired of playing I'm going to read books. Then when I get tired of reading books I'm going to color. Then when I get tired of coloring I'm going to go to sleep."

Well, about 15 minutes later I'm at the computer and I hear her singing in her room about cleaning it. She just kept singing "Cleaning my room, I'm cleaning my room." A few minutes later she came out to put stuff away. I'm just so proud of her. I never asked her to clean she just decided all on her own to clean it. These are some things she told us afterwards.

 "I was trying to make Heavenly Father happy."

"Hey Mama, I like it when my room is clean."

 "I didn't want me room to be messy; I didn't want anybody to get hurt."

Director's Cut

Tonight after playing a game of water balloons (which was pretty much just Spencer chasing me, but the girls went running with me. And at one point, Ellie grabbed her side and said, "Mama, my tummy hurts." so I asked her, "Do you have a tummy ache?" Ellie responded, "Yeah, I have a tummy ache.")

We were playing at the playground and all of the sudden Isabell decides she's going to be a director, and says, "Ok guys, let's play fairytale as a family. Mommy you're going to be the princess locked in a tower, and Daddy will be the prince that comes and saves you." To make a long story short it took the prince WAY too long to come save the princess, so the princess decided to save herself and run to the playhouse. With the change of scenery the director wanted to change the story a bit. We were told we were to play the story Sleeping Beauty. The scene was to be set at the top of the climbing wall. Once I climbed up there the director demanded, "Ok, now prick your finger and fall asleep." So I obeyed. This is when things got a bit tricky. Early in the evening the actress playing the princess had used the hose on the actor portraying the prince, and apparently he was still seeking his revenge because all of a sudden the princess got an uneasy feeling, opened her eyes and say the prince coming at her with the hose. He claimed he had to go get his weapon to fight the witch. Well, this made the princess run away. This really upset the director, she started crying saying, "You haven't had true loves kiss yet!!!" So the actress demanded that the actor leave his "weapon" at the front door. After some negotiating he complied. 

You can guess how quickly the actress' trust for the actor disappeared after this stunt, so she had trouble keeping her eyes shut. This made the director exasparate at them and say, "(deep sigh)" Ok I can't remember what she said, but it was really funny, something about us not doing it right and I didn't keep my eyes closed but what I do remember is at the end of it she said, "And the princess has boogers in her nose" Oh my goodness that sent me over the edge(not literally). She was just so serious and so frustrated with us because we couldn't do it right. Spencer kept saying things about renegotiating his contract and the actress won't stay asleep. It was priceless. Well, after the prince threw a water balloon at the princess, and she practically refused to keep her eyes shut, he kissed her. Then the directory said he needed to give me a flower, which she picked for him to give to her.

Afterwards Isabell kept talking about how we were naughty and were making her mad and frustrating her because I wouldn't keep my eyes closed and Spencer kept trying to spray me with water and throw water balloons at me. It's so hard to try to take her seriously. I feel bad because I know I should, but it's just too cute and too funny. Oh at one point, after the hose incident she told me we need to have feeling time and talk about how I was feeling. She said it so seriously. Had me sit down on the stairs and talk about what I was feeling. I told her I was scared that Daddy was going to throw a water balloon at me and now I didn't trust him. She didn't have much to say to that. It was fun though, playing together as a family. 

And news on Ellie, we started trying to potty train her today. Spencer thinks she's ready and in some areas she is. Her diaper is starting to be pretty dry when she wakes up from naps and bedtime, and sometimes she'll tell you that she's gone pee or poop. However, she doesn't like the potty. Today I sat her on it but she cried a lot at first. I had to force her on it, and give her a sucker. Had her watch some Diego on it, but nothing happened. Then of course as soon as she had the diaper on she peed and recognized it so I guess that's a step in the right direction.   

Mommy and Daughter Date

Life has been busy. Isabell is in swim lessons, Spencer's trying to find a job and in the mean time either working for NSP or for his Mom building a fence, and I'm in Young Womens. I decided last week that I wanted to do a Date day with Isabell. Well, today I made that happen. After swim lessons we slowly but surely got started. 

Of course before that I should give the pre-lesson story. I was gathering things for the activities for today and as I finally made my way out to the car to leave, I found Isabell outside the preschool gate with a bright yellow rope that had been used as a "Brady Gate" this last weekend, wrapped many times around her feet and a couple of times around her neck. I was so scared when I saw it. Luckily and thankfully it wasn't wrapped too tightly around her neck. I did need some assistance getting off of her feet though. She got quite the talking to by me and Spencer for this act. I don't think she'll EVER do it again. This also resulted in us being late to swim lessons. Once there though she was quite chatty. Talking about what we were going to do  on our date and informing her teacher about her misbehavior with the rope and that, "It can take off your head." 

After a trip to the library, which Isabell was a little sad about because we didn't get her any new books, but she did discover for the very first time the handicap door opener, and was quite excited about it. Then we headed to Wal-Mart to get her some new sunglasses which she said, "I want to wear them when you wear yours Mama." Following that we headed to the bank to deposit a few checks one of which was the highly anticipated settlement check from the Spokane trip which was $5,236. We are very great-ful for this unexpected money. For right now we plan to save it to use for either car repairs(our vehicle doesn't seem to be in too good condition), moving costs and a few months rent, or storage rent and boxes if we are to continue to stay here at my parents house. It's getting very crowded in more ways than one, but the most solvable is moving some of our unneeded things out. There Isabell also "used" the handicap door. From there we went to Carter's to get some new clothes especially pajamas for the girls. 

After that was the much anticipated stop of Chuck E. Cheese. Every time we stopped someplace Isabell named the stops to Chuck E. Cheese. She had started to fall asleep on the way up to Olympia but as soon as we pulled up to Chuck E. Cheese she said, "Yes! We're here yay!" She loved it there! She kept saying how much fun she was having.  Following that we went and got her some church shoes at Payless and me and fancy sun hat. Then I took her to Claire's to get some fun jewelry and hair things. She really liked it in there. Then my favorite part was taking pictures in the photo booth. She really enjoyed it too. She asked to keep doing it. 

It was a great day and I'm so glad we got to do it. I want to do it everywhere at least once with each of my children. A day with just them and me; one-on-one time. Doing whatever they want. I don't know if she'll remember it too well, but I will always remember it and cherish those pictures forever. I love my girls so much and am so thankful they have been sent to me. I just hope and pray I can be the Mom they deserve. 

In Case of Burglary

As I try to be prepared most of the time that is all this blog is about. Just in case we get robbed while living at 1811 Collison St. Centralia, WA 98531. I took pics of anything that I think may be taken in a robbery.

My head hurts, I need soap.

Earlier this evening Isabell and I were in the bathroom and Isabell was playing in the cupboard and upon exiting it she hit her head on the top edge. Of course pain was involved but after she calmed down she went over to the bath tub grabbed the bar of soap and put it on top of her head and said in her pouty voice, "My head hurts, I need soap." and kept holding it there like an ice pack and kept saying that phrase over and over again. Eventually she started rubbing it into her hair so I took the soap away. Then she got some sprinkles of water that were on the tub and said, "My head hurts, water makes it feel better." After this she tried getting the liquid soap by the sink but couldn't so she settled for a tub of toothpaste and said, "My head hurts, I need medicine. Medicine makes it feel better." and placed the tub of toothpaste on her head. This kid is full of the darndest things and is always making me crack a smile by what she says and what she does. She has such an attitued about her. I hate to admit it but she probably gets it from me.  

When They're Quite, Think Trouble

Ok, I know I am just going to be freaked out everytime I see these pictures, but it's just one of those things you have to remember and the pictures make the story.

One thing I have learned with Isabell is if you're preoccupied with something, anything, and at first she's running around and you can constantly hear her, then after a while you notice you don't really hear her so you think she is playing nicely so you just leave her be; Big Mistake!!! A few times she had gotten a hold of my toothpaste and put it on the door, her doll, and then her dog.

Well, this time I was talking to my friend Kathleen at the kitchen table, and I could still hear Isabell, she was right behind my seat. I thought "Oh how nice that Isabell is playing so well." and "Oh how cute Isabell is talking to herself." Finally I decided to turn around and see what she was doing, and at first I was horrified. It looked like her baby doll hand been brutely killed and the blood was rubbed all over her face. After a few moments I realized Isabell had part of a strawberry in her hand, and that was what the red was, not blood. I felt relief until I saw she got it on the carpet too. Luckily I had just bought Shout and it worked like a charm. No red in the carpet, and almost no red on the baby's outfit, just a little on the collar. Well hopefully I have learned my lesson about Isabell being quite.

Pee Pee in the potty, but still not ready

So I'm still a little behind in my dates, but slowly I'm getting the hang of this. I find the pictures to be the hardest part. But anyway, on the real story. This past Monday June 28, when Isabell woke up from her nap I went to go change her diaper and it was completely dry. A quick not, this is the same diaper I put on her after she woke up this morning, meaning she hasn't peed all day. So I figured she was bound to pee pretty quickly, why not try the potty. So I set her on her little toliet. Of course she made me sit on the big toliet, but after a minute or so, I heard the sound of little droplets. So I told Isabell in an excited voice, "You're doing it! You're going pee pee in the potty! Good job!" I don't think she got it right away. But once she was done I asked her if she wanted to wipe and she just started freaking out. She would look at the toliet, point inside of it and say, "Oh no! Oh now!" I tried explaining that it was a good thing, but she didn't get it. We gave her a popsicle, rewarding her for being a big girl, but after that she seemed to forget about the incident and hasn't really been into using the potty anymore than she had been. So in conclusion, I still don't think she is 100% ready to be potty trained and the more I think about it, I don't think I am ready for her to be potty trained. All the messes to clean up, and that's mostly it. But it has to happen sometime. I think we're going to have to get her pull-ups though because now when she says she has to go potty, she pulls down her pants but leaves her diaper on and won't let me take it off for her. Independce I know is a good thing, but man is it annoying at times.