They said What?!

While discussing her upcoming birthday party -
Mommy:  "Katie, are you getting excited for your birthday party?!"  "We are going to sing happy birthday to you and you get to blow out your candles!"
Katie:  "No I don't.  I don't blow out my candles!  I blow out the fire on my candles!"
Mommy:  "Oh Katie.  You're so smart."
Katie:  "No, I'm not smart."
Mommy: "Well then, if you're not smart Katie, what are you?!"
Katie: "I'm just a girl."

While potty training-
Katie as she is standing outside near our front door: "Mommy, come.  Mommy, come here!!"
Mommy: "Katie, what is it?!"
Katie as she is standing fully dressed with legs wide apart and a puddle underneath her: "I did it! I went pee! Yay! I went pee!"
Mommy: "uhh. That's great Katie! Maybe next time, we can try going on the potty!"

Katie:  "Mommy, I went pee."  While looking in the potty. "Wait, I drank chocolate milk.  Where is it?!"
Mommy:  "Katie, you pee urine, not chocolate milk."

Fully Potty Trained in 4 days!!!

All summer long, I have been talking to Katie about going pee on the potty.
It went something like this:
"Katie, if you want to go to school with your friends in the fall then you need to start going pee on the potty!"
"Katie, if you want to be a big girl then you need to start going on the potty!"
Etc. Etc. Etc.


As the weeks went by and there was still zero interest in going I was getting more and more nervous about what that might mean if school started and she still wasn't potty trained.

A guideline at their school is that the children in the PK-3 class needed to be potty trained prior to school starting.  But I knew from the previous year was that the first month or two they were pretty lenient on this rule.  Since I'm a stickler for rules, I was trying my hardest to not have that kid.

One day, as I was getting Katie dressed for the day, instead of putting a diaper on her in the morning I put her in underwear.  It was the very first time she didn't throw a fit and insist that I take it off immediately.

Day 1:  So I kept it on and that very day we went through 4 pairs of underwear and I had puddles to clean up!
Day 2:  I sat her on the potty every 30 minutes and she went every time.  Only 1 wet pair of underwear today.
Day 3:  She starting telling me when she had to go potty.  No wet underwear and had a dry pull up the next morning.
Day 4:  The first day she went both No. 1 and No. 2 on the potty.


That was it.  Well, that was easy.  I always knew that potty training her would be easy.  The hard part was getting her to make up her mind to want to go on the potty.  Once she made up her mind, it really took no time at all.

Of course she decided to make up her mind after I purchased a whole new stash of diapers.  But I'm glad she is potty trained and just in time for us to celebrate her 3rd birthday!

This girl just went on the potty for the first time and is sucking on 1 jelly bean! She was so proud! :)

On a side note, this kid can nap anywhere....

Fell asleep on the chair while I was cooking dinner.

Both kids like this warm and sunny spot in the kitchen.

Summer Camp

I signed up Mikey for summer camp at the Stamford Nature Center.  They have a total of 6 weekly summer camps.  Each week has a different theme.  Not knowing how he would do around an entirely new set of kids (most kids go to school there during the year) and also because I want to do stuff with him during the summer too, I only signed him up for 2 of the 6 weeks.

The very first week (June 30th) was Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Off on a hike we go.  Each day they took various hikes to different places around the nature center.  At the end of the week he came home with this awesome sculpture made out of all different things he collected that week on his hikes.   AND he loved camp!!!!

The first day I dropped him off he was so excited and not hesitant at all.  It was Katie who I had to deal with.  She threw a fit because she couldn't go!  You need to be 3 and potty trained, both of which she was not.  She wasn't happy about it but knows that she can go next summer.

The second week he went to camp (July 21st) was I Spy.  Each day they spied different objects around the nature center that were certain colors.  A different color for each day.  He brought home this handmade book of projects he worked on during the week and can't wait to go back next summer!

I'm so glad we can afford to send him to camp.  It gave me a breather from having to watch 2 kids and also gave him some structure during his day and build his independence and social skills while doing it in a fun, learning environment!

Snack bag in hand and ready for 1st day of summer camp!

Giving Baby Katie a hug bye on his first day of camp.

Summer camp out and smores

We ended our frenzied week in PA by having a camp out at my sister's place, complete with friends, laughs, family and s'mores followed by a birthday party.  In my family, it's always someone's birthday!

Back yard is set up.  Tent, hammock, fire crackling, lots of chairs.  

Boys building the fire....and Bryan keeping Mikey back.

My view for a few minutes!

Roasting marshmallows.

Amanda with the bug.

I was caught eating a s'more.

She likes it!

About to pass out in the tent!

Katie with grandparents, Nana and Papa.

Showing how strong he is!

Katie, Amanda, Mikey and Jen at the restaurant along the Susquehanna River.

Birthday girl Ashley with boyfriend Ryan.

Aunt Bev getting the crowd riled up!

Katie and Momma.

It's my party and I can hold you like a baby if i want.

Yummy chocolates from Israel for parting gifts.

Lake Tobias Wildlife Park

The following day we took the kids to Lake Tobias Wildlife Park. I'm not sure they recovered from Dutch Wonderland the day before but we went nonetheless.  This time we also took our cousin Bryan along.

This is a must see if you are in central PA!!!  We couldn't believe how much fun it was, how friendly the animals were and just how many animals their were.  I'm telling you....don't waste hundreds for a day at Disney's Animal Kingdom....spend $20 and go here instead!!!

They have an awesome safari ride, lots of wild animals and a reptile center with some great shows along with a huge petting zoo and a camel that will spit in your face!

The lion came out to say hi and you could hear his throaty ROAR even from far away.  Pretty awesome and I'm glad I heard it at a zoo.  I'd be so afraid if I hear that sound in the wild!

Our safari bus!

Katie, Mommy and Mikey

Papa and Bryan.

Just an example of how close the animals get to the safari tour bus.

llamas

Emu's.

The Daddy Emu's raise all the babies.  They call it Daddy Day Care.

Bison coming right up to the tour bus.  We touched one!

This one tried to get on the bus!

She gave the buffalo a treat and he backed out finally!

Tons and tons of deer.

I forget what they are called but they have the largest horn circumference of all animals.

This elk tried to come on the bus too!

Water buffalo staying cool in the mud.

The little baby emu's.  They looked like little velociraptors.

Petting little pony's.  This was a perfect size for Katie.

the crazy baboon.

The alligator cage.  They had a sign that said if you throw something into their cage, then you will be expected to go in and fetch it!

Very active bears.

This ostrich almost had a go at Bryan's head!

On a working farm too.  The kids loved seeing the farm equipment at work.

Petting zoo time.

This big lump was a huge pig!

This kid just loves goats.  He is always trying to pick them up and hug them.

Up close and personal.  

Please don't spit at me like you did to the other women.

Don't buy the food to feed them.  They are well fed and won't eat it.  

Lots of little baby goats.  They were soooo cute!

Moving grain into the dump truck.

These snakes were moving instead of just sleeping.  So neat to see their entire body gyrate.  

Didn't take much courage for him to touch a real live alligator.  

This looks like a baby alligator however she is 10 years old.  They only grow to fit inside their cage.  She was a pet and had a small cage and so wasn't able to grow to her full potential.  

 Fun Fact:  We stayed for the alligator, sloth and snapping turtle show.  It was so cool.  Did you know that the sloths were made to hang upside down their entire life.  They have no muscle tone so they wouldn't be able to walk upright.  They also give birth while hanging upside down!  Their hair grows from the middle of their belly outwards to allow for rain water to drip off their bodies.  Often times because they move so slow and can't really shake anything off their bodies they have plants that grow on them.

The show with the two toed sloth was so neat.  

A huge snapping turtle.  

 Have you wondered what a sloth looks like when it moves.  Here's a video so you can see.