The potty training super hero

TAKE THAT!!!!
AND THAT!!!!

Here to rescue you from all your potty training emergencies such as:
1) Squirting your mom(who knew???I guess I should have)
2) #2 sticking to your bum and you jumping up in excitement because you went stinky....thus causing a serious emergency....poop on on the carpet.
3) Thinking you need to wipe because girls do (maybe boys should...it sure would make restrooms smell and look nicer)

Catch-up

Just playing a little catch-up here. It's all in the name of my posterity. These events are quite old. About a month or more. I can't even remember. Jason's brother and his family came into town at the beginning of July. We visited Stone Mountain where the sweat flowed freely, the kids still have not stopped talking about the laser show where, in Ella's words, "the horses came alive (referring to the carvings on the mountain) and they ran and there were swords and fireworks". That's a perfect summary.




We even got to ride the train around the mountain. It's about a five mile journey that took about 30 minutes. You do the math. It was slow....but soooo fun. The is Lincoln and my other child Jason, watching in excitement as the train approaches to pick us up for our ride.
We also managed to visit the famous Georgia Aquarium. Another highlight for the kids.
Here we are with my sister-in-law's niece and nephew.
Link wishing he was a crocodile..or alligator...whichever. I can never keep them straight.
Looking up at the sharks in a tunnel where you are surrounded by all the sea life. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Allred! We had so much fun!

A foreign experience

After suffering through the harsh dryness of the west (post about that chaos to come), my feet somewhat resembled the grand canyon. I tried home remedies. After all, I pride myself in giving my own pedicures...why pay someone else when you can do it yourself? A spa treatment such as that is a luxury I indulge in only once in a while. After about two weeks of being back on the east coast, I saw little improvement in the coarseness of my feet. And, to add insult to injury, my right toe started getting a little puffy and sore on the edge, indicating an impending in-grown toenail (my first). I gave in. Off to the spa with Lincoln.
Immediately a cute little Asian lady (I am not being demeaning...they are so cute....and I cannot fail to mention that they have AMAZING little figures) came to my aid. I showed her my inflamed toe and she had a look of excitement on her face. I was excited too. It was hurting to exercise. Then, she took out a basket of metal instruments that looked like they belonged in the operating room of the hospital instead of a sap. I immediately braced myself. This cute little lady really started operating on my toe. At first I was able to muffle my yelps by biting my lip or just making hideously ugly facial expressions. Then she took out this tool that look like a knife on the end. The lady (who is not so cute any more) shoved that thing so far down into my toenail that I swear she was digging for a kidney. This is the moment when my screams were no longer muffled. I yelled. I yelled VERY loud. All the cute little Asian looked at me in disappointment while the other customers looked at me with sympathy. I guess my little expression of pain was NOT appropriate. I suppose my little lady friend wanted me to harness my inner kung fu warrior or something. She continued to dig and stab and take chunks off of my toe. I continued to yell and writhe (literally) in pain. I endured several smearing looks from all the employees there. My friend stood up and spoke in her native tongue to her coworker. I didn't have to speak the language to know she was not fond of me, my toe, or my yelling. Then that coworker (apparently the resident in-grown toenail remover) sat down and did her magic. They both had the same method- they would poke, stab, prod, cut, etc. and then ask me innocently, "Does it feel better?". After this second lady sat down and after she had asked me that about three times I finally lied and said, "yes". I guess that was their indicator that they had retrieved the offensive material out of my toe. They stopped. What normally takes about 20 minutes had taken an hour due to the out-patient surgery I endured.

PEDI COST: 16 + tip (I know, it's a bargain)
SURGERY COST: Only humiliation and pain. That's all.

Do you believe in magic?

This week has been a tornado of events. I feel like Dorothy with things flying all around me and out of control. Link would be Toto, always running off and Ella is the nice witch, just because she's pretty. Ok, enough of that. Anyway....We got back from our THREE WEEK trip (I hesitate to use the word vacation b/c us moms know that when you go out of town- especially if your driving 60 hours across the US- without your husband, it's MORE work to be away from home than to be home) on Tuesday night at 9:30 pm GA time. My kids at this point are probably suffering from vertigo or something b/c we have been back and forth between every time zone possible. So they crawl in bed and I have to wake poor Ella up at 7am (5am on her little body) to go to her first day of Pre-K. Waking her up on this particular morning was proving to be VERY difficult. As soon as I said, "it's time for school" she perked up and jumped out of bed. This is how excited she was to go to school. There were no tears from her, but I must admit, I was a little weepy...It was sad for me to let go of the reins in a way...my little child becoming susceptible to other peoples' philosophies and other kids' bullying. That was the hardest thing for me....letting go of Ella's innocent little mind and allowing others to put their foot print on it. Anyway, she loved it. Every minute of it. She even said, "Mom, I met someone today". It was weird to hear that phrase b/c i automatically thought, "she'll probably say that in another context in 20 (hopefully) years." That night Jason gave her a father's blessing for the new school year. We've explained the priesthood before and have compared it to magic...of course...what else could it be compared to? :) The next night at dinner prayer Ella thanks Heavenly Father for "the magic".
PS- I would just like to note that the puffiness you see in my face in this picture is due to my pregnancy. Certainly, it has nothing to do with eating fast food for three weeks.