Princess Jack Sparrow?

We still had a bunch of princess pull-ups left after Jaiden was potty trained a couple of years ago and so we saved them for our next baby -- which of course was a boy. Josh didn't seem to mind. In fact he seemed pretty excited about them.

Right now he is mostly running around in big boy dinosaur underwear. I purposely keep his shorts off so that I remember to put him on the potty. A few days ago I thought, "maybe he is potty trained!" We had the big "potty party" for him which got him off to a good start. Then a couple of days later, after more efforts on our part, he finally told me when he needed to go -- and then actually went -- three times in a row (which was a major breakthrough).

But now he has regressed! Today he threw a huge tantrum, kicking and screaming, "I don't wanna go on the potty!" when I tried to put him there. Sigh! He is almost 3 1/2. I kept putting it off but now that I have started I really don't want to give up and put him back in diapers. Especially with pre-school starting in one week! I am starting to get discouraged!

Tonight I told him and his sisters a bed-time story. It was about a little bunny who was learning to use the potty. I explained how he was trying really hard but how he accidentally went all over the floor and was left standing in a big puddle. (Taken from today's earlier events). Then I said, "...and the bunny was really sad." Then Josh said, "I wasn't sad!" Hmmph! Well, the bunny's mommy was! Of course I ended the story on a happy note -- he learned to use the potty and everyone was happy.

Let's hope that story comes true soon! Patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue!!!!

Pucker Up Baby!

Back to School!

This year is a lot of "Firsts" for our kids! It is Janika's first time at Middle School (which unfortunately brought back every unpleasant memory of Junior High that I could think of), Jase's first day of Intermediate School (he now has seven class periods), Janelle's first day of ALL DAY school (since she is in first grade this year), Jaiden's first year of kindergarten, and Josh's first year of pre-school. WHEW!! And of course it is Jenna's first time of actually being without all of her siblings during the day. 

Well, the kids survived their first day of school. Jase's response was the most enthusiastic. When I asked, "Well, how was it?" He replied, "Awesome!" He said that with so many different classes and teachers the day just flew by! He liked all of his teachers. He also applied and was accepted to be one of the lunch workers at his school. That saves us some money since he gets free lunch (I also pay him a weekly allowance for doing it which is less than what paying school lunch would be and so it still saves us money and also allows him to earn some money ). Jase is the one I was least worried about because he handles change just fine. He is a pretty confident kid, and he is out-going, and bright. He loves to learn and challenge himself. He could care less about fashion and wears basketball shorts and a t-shirt everyday. I was more worried about Janika just because she is a little timid (reminds me so much of myself at that age) and those middle school years are difficult ones. But she is very bright and has strong values and a good head on her shoulders. She also has a good fashion sense, conservative and simple, but also stylish -- and being pretty certainly doesn't hurt either. I am sure she will have her ups and downs but I am confident that she will do just fine. She is worried about one of her teachers that she has heard lots of negative things about but we will play that out for a couple of weeks and see what happens.

Jared has a difficult time with change and it a bit of a worrier (also reminds me of me at that age -- poor kid!) So his first day was a little tough. He says that all of his good friends moved to another school and that he doesn't really know anyone in his class. But Jared makes friends pretty easily. He is outgoing and has a great personality. He is also very smart although he sometimes underestimates his abilities. And of course he is cute (only don't tell him that or he will probably growl at you!) Janelle seemed to do just fine although she was tired after being at school all day. 

Janelle is very out-going and talkative and so I think she will do fine socially. I just hope she cooperates with what she is asked to do. At home it is like pulling teeth trying to get her to do her jobs! But sometimes kids are better for a teacher than they are for their parents. Jaiden just met her teacher today and went on a treasure hunt to get acquainted with the classroom. Jaiden is very friendly and social and so I am sure she will have plenty of friends. She is a leader. My only concern is that she can be a bit hyper at home and so hopefully she will not get into any trouble at school. And academically? I guess that just waits to be seen. 

Josh hasn't started pre-school yet but can't wait! He definitely WON'T be one of those kids hanging on to their mother's leg. He has seen me bring Jared, Janelle, and Jaiden to Mrs. Kathy's pre-school for years and he loves to go and play there when I go visiting teaching. So Josh will probably run to the door shouting "Bye mom!" My only concern is potty accidents. We are still working on that one. But he is doing well. And last, but not least, Jenna finally gets a little alone time with her mommy. She loves being around all of her brothers and sisters, but a little quiet/snuggle time will be nice too!

School Starts Tomorrow!

At the end of the school year last Spring the teachers sent us home with instructions:

Have your child practice his/her multiplication tables.
Have your in-coming kindergartener practice writing her name over and over until she can do it in the lines with a capital letter for the first letter and small letters for the other letters.
Read to your child everyday.
Fill out a reading chart with all of the books your child read over the summer.
Review math concepts learned last year... and so on.

Well, we were just SO BUSY that we didn't get any of those things done. OOPS. In the meantime, our boys were able to find hours upon hours in which to play with their friends. They had time to play video, computer, or the Wii. Janika found time to chat with all of her friends over facebook (and to her credit she read several huge books cover over the summer). And the big kids did manage to watch a movie almost every night after the little kids were in bed. Our little kids always found time to play dress up, babies, and mermaids for hours on end. And all of the kids always found time to made nachos -- at any hour of the day or night.

Yeah, we were pretty lazy this summer. We really do place an emphasis on education and academics around here...at least nine months out of the year. And the beginning of that nine months starts tomorrow. No more staying up late watching movies every night, no more sleeping in, no more hours of unstructured activities. And no more helping mom out with baby-sitting, chores, doing girls' hair, laundry, and cooking during the day. Boo hoo!

But a little structure is always nice too. And good teachers to help mold and teach young minds -- and resources to expand learning and increase social development. And new activities, new friends, and new ideas. And a couple of hours of quiet time for mom (hopefully). Hooray for school!

Yogurt Recipe

Mix the following:

20 cups of water

5 cups powdered milk (must be 100% milk product like the kind you get at the cannery.)

2-3 cups sugar

Mix in big pan on stove and heat to 180 degrees (we had to go out and buy a candy thermometer for this). Stir continually. (On our stove it took about 20 minutes to get to 180 degrees.)

Then turn off heat and cool to 115 degrees. This took over an hour for it to cool down to 115, stirring every once in awhile. (I found that you can speed up the cooling down process by putting the whole pan into a bigger pan or bowl of ice water).

When it gets down to 115 degrees add:

1 cup of Dannon plain yogurt (for the “start”) and

2 tsp. Vanilla

Pour into 6 different quart jars and 1 pint jar. Place jars in Styrofoam cooler (we didn’t have one so I just used a regular cooler) and put in fleece blankets. We only had two little fleece blankets so I used other blankets to stuff around the sides, bottom, top etc. and it still turned out fine). Leave in cooler with lid on for 7-9 hours. Then refrigerate and serve when cold. You can pour out the little bit of excess liquid.

When your yogurt is finished save one cup of it to use as the “start” for the next batch. (You can continue to do that for about six batches and then it starts to weaken and so you start over with a new start from another Dannon plain yogurt again.)

We tried some different flavorings (bought from a kitchen store used to make candy) but the plain vanilla is great too and yummy with added fruit. We also added some food coloring to some of them just for fun.

It is also yummy frozen! We have made this several times now and love it!

Home-made Yogurt!

A couple of weeks ago a friend of ours taught Janika and I how to make yogurt. I was surprised by how simple it is! One batch fills six quart jars and one pint jar (used for the start of the next batch). We have been making it twice a week since our family goes through it so quickly. We freeze some of it in little containers with lids for snacks. It is a lot cheaper than the store-bought variety and we love it!

Splash Pad

Last Saturday we started Josh's Potty Training and so during his big "Potty Party" I took all of the rest of the kids to the Splash Pad for a few hours. They enjoyed it!