Cars+Stickers=POTTY TRAINED

So about a month ago we started potty training with this cute boy! Everyone seems to ask... WHY NOW? Well, one I felt all I was doing all day was changing diapers between the two boys and, two, he would tell me every time before he went number two, that he needed to, then as I would ask if he would like to use the toilet his reply was always, "no, diaper"... So mommy said, " no, toilet". And the adventure began.

I tried potty training him a few months before Benson's arrival but he found it much too stressful and I think a little too much pressure. So as I started this time, we loaded up with hot wheels for every time he went number two, and lots of fun stickers for every time he went pee. I decided this time around to leave it up to him and just let him go naked. That way, no stress, and no pressure on Mr. Kala. Honestly he took to it so quickly. I figured he would want the comfort of a diaper for nap time (and i didnt want to clean up a huge mess..haha)...well i asked him and he said " NO, NO DIAPER!" Well yes sir. And he woke up dry! Woo hoo! Well bed time rolled around and i thought for sure he would want a diaper... And i got the same response. "NO, NO DIAPER!" Needless to say, he woke up dry, and i was awake all night convinced he would wake up sobbing because he wet the bed. He sure likes to prove me wrong. Stubborn boy! So, Zero accidents the first couple days so we added underwear into the equation. The first two mornings while he was playing he had a single accident, but then after that he did great! Next it was time for some out tings. And once again ZERO accidents! Woo! Kala potty trained himself. Every once in a while Kala will have just a day where he has several accidents in a row, but for the most part he is completely potty trained. Such a big boy... Makes kind of sad. But oh how cute his little booty is in that underwear!

Add do you like that booty shot? I do! He came out from the potty one day looking like this. Kill me now! I love that. 

"YES GRACIE!"

Last Friday before I went to pick up Kaulana from school I took the boys to Freestone park to feed the ducks. Well they also have rides there and they are officially open since the hot summer months were open... and Kala enjoyed feeding the ducks, but was more excited to finish feeding the ducks when I promised we could stop and see the rides when we were done. (Besides the ducks were being CRAZY. The were grabbing the bread out of Kala's hands and wouldn't back up even when I kicked at them! One was pecking at his arm when he turned around to get more bread from me. Nutty ducks!) The rides were a couple dollars each so I decided he could just sit in the ones that didn't cost money and we would come back for a family date when Kaulana was on break from school. Kala was entranced by all the rides but seemed ok with waiting for Kaulana. There were a few people about 30 ft away from us that were talking. One mom was asking her son if he wanted to ride with their little friend Gracie... Kala heard and shouted out "YES, GRACIE!". He was convinced they were talking to him and he DEFINITELY, ABSOLUTELY wanted to ride with Gracie. I just could not break my sweet little man's heart he wanted to ride so bad.... so yes, i caved and he rode with Gracie. He did not crack a single smile on the ride, he would barely even look at me. But he begged and begged to ride again as we drove away. Benson was all smiles too. He loved all the lights. He just talked and talked while we were around the rides and all the fun lights. But as soon as we got in the car. He cried and cried. Because heaven forbid if he's not having fun, he remembers.... HE'S HUNGRY! haha so glad to have so much fun with these two handsome boys.

One of the Guys

Last weekend Before and after TOFW we hung out at my uncle's house. Kala LOVES all my cousins. He thinks he is just one of the big kids and loves every minute. They are all so good with him.

jammin

My little cousin andrew has GI Joe guys and kala thought all the gear was so cool with all their guns and cool lego cars. heaven.

too busy to look at the camera mom

How is he getting so big???

Time Out for Women

Last weekend I got to go to Time out for Women with all the amazing women on my mom's side (and one handsome baby!). It was AMAZING. We had such a fun girls weekend. There were some really incredible speakers and some really beautiful music. I learned so much and it was so nice to be reminded that... I am a wonderful mom even if I am not perfect. So often as an lds women I think I need to be perfect because that's what everyone else makes their lives look like through blogs and pinterest and facebook. Well news flash. I'm not perfect. But I am perfectly imperfect and I have a divine nature and I have a Heavenly father that sees great things in me even when I have had a day where bed time rolls around and I wish Kala would be singing lullaby's to me. Some days I'm not the mom I needed to be. But it's ok because I don't have to be perfect, and TOMORROW is a NEW day! I am so grateful for so many wonderful women in my life that have been and continue to be such amazing role models to me.

the crew (cari is ALMOST sitting down)

beautiful sisters

my mom, me, and my sister

halloween 2012

So... as everyone knows. I am a very last minute planner, and I could not decide for the life of me what Kala and Benson should be for halloween. So the day of our ward trunk or treat... i had to make a decision... and LUMBERJACK IT WAS for kala! Haha. I just wanted to draw a beard on Kala's face. and not to toot my own horn, but dang Kaulana and I made one cute kid! We had a little shirt with tiny pine trees on it for Benson and put him in brown pants, so he was Kala's tree for the trunk or treat. Kala was very overwhelmed by all the costumes, especially the masks. He WOULD NOT speak a single word to anyone with a costume, but said "trick o treat" and "dant-doo" to everyone he deemed ... not scary. He caught on real quick and wanted to get to every car. To say that he was excited on halloween is an understatement. He had such a blast walking from house to house with his friend Gavin. He insisted on walking even when he was getting so tired. He finally was just walking so slow that we finally convinced him to let us carry him. After about an hour and a half of trick or treating... yes that long. Gavin sat in his stroller and proceeded to tell him dad that he was done, because he had enough candy. So we headed home. and Kala did not like this idea. He was so confused why we were skipping all these perfectly good houses on our way home! He kept saying "NO! trick or treat! No trick or treat!"  The next day we were driving in the car and I went the opposite direction from what we had walked the previous night while trick or treating and Kala started BAWLING. He kept telling me I was driving the wrong way and that we needed to go "that way" to go trick or treating. When we got home and he saw the huge bowl of candy from trick or treating the night before, he was all smiles again realizing... yes the best part is STILL in our kitchen. On Halloween we made Benson Tigger, the same costume Kala wore for his first halloween when we lived in hawaii... Yes Benson is three Months younger that Kala was. and Yes it fits him just about the same as it did Kala. He was such a sweet heart the entire time. He slept half the time and was all smiles the other half. He LOVED all the commotion and lights. He was sure one cute little tiger. I deem this halloween was a success!

he loves just wearing his gloves and hat around the house. even if he insists on not wearing other clothes. he is CONSTANTLY wearing the gloves and hat. glad he likes them!

It was so cute watching Gaving and Kala knock on the doors. Gavin would knock on the door... well it was more like POUND on the door. Man he was gonna knock that sucker down. He meant business. It was hilarioius.

yes this is the kind of mother I am... the day after Halloween this is what breakfast looked like... a bowl of cereal, a sucker and had to have a movie to have a nice laid back morning... judge me :)

he was in love with his monster teeth. he STILL talks about them all the time... even though I secretly threw them away because I was sick of all the gross slimey slobber!

crafty cathy

We had a super saturday in our ward and I couldn't resist signing up for A MILLION THINGS. They were all just so cute! I am so happy with how everything turned out... I still have to finish my pumpkins so they're not posted but I am so lucky to have such crafty women in my ward that put in sooo much work for us all to be able to be a part of this! It was SO MUCH FUN!

PT mormon club

Kaulana has been very blessed to have great guys to study with at school.

Quite a few of the guys have families and just happen to be lds as well! We got together at the Workman's house to watch the ASU vs. Oregon game (which was not even a game... yuck). All of our kids are around the same age and they had SUCH a blast. Kala loved wearing Guess' hat even though it was too small on his head haha. what a nerd. i love it. 

They had about... a million of these little scooters and all the boyse were riding around on them. Can you tell Kala was in heaven. He would sleep with one of those if I would let him. 

As we begin this fun journey of PT school we decided we should document the kids at the beginning. Then take pictures each year as we go along to see how big they get and how many more are added by the end. 

Kaulana and I decided our favorite part is actually trying to get this many toddlers in a picture to look at the camera so we started videoing... AMAZING. haha

There is only one sweet girl in our whole group of kids. She sure has her pick! She's going to have them all eating out of the palm of her hand.

We are so excited to have such a fun support group to take this journey with!

my very own picasso

So i FINALLY got Kala his very own play doh. For some reason having the space in our new place makes me not feel so claustrophobic so I actually enjoy doing such fun (potentially very messy) projects! He now LOVES to play play-doh! 

I had made a fish with a triangle back and a sideways tear drop put together... so he decided to copy and this is how he proceeded.

best fish i've ever seen I don't know about you!

I don't know if i've ever said this before but... I.LOVE.THIS.LIFE.

Everyday is worth it when you get to spend moments like this.

carnival fun

A.T. Still had a free carnival for their founders day celebration. They had bounce houses, huge blown up slides, popcorn, food, cotton candy... and this amazing jumping thing. I happened to be in the car feeding Benson while Kala was dominating the slides so these are the only pictures we captured. They were going to take this down and Kaulana asked super nicely if I could go. What a sweet hubby. I love that man. I had SUCH blast. it's great to feel like a kid. and I was so happy not to be pregnant so I could actually do it. SO FUN. So grateful that A.T. Still was founded (not only for the fun party! but that is a huge plus), but so the hubbs could have the opportunity to go to such an amazing school. He is loving school so much. It's been so much work but he is so thrilled to be a part of and working towards something he loves so much. 

Blessed.

partaaay

We decided to throw a little halloween party since we are actually in a house now and have the room. I.love.parties. 

I am definitely in my element when it comes to parties... the clean up... well that's a different story. haha

We had such a fun time decorating cupcakes like monsters, bobbing for apples, eating witch hat cookies, enjoying some homemade rootbeer, and eating some yummy soups. It was so good to be able to get together with friends and enjoy this fun holiday. 

And if I do say so myself, all the kids were dressed up so cute!

all the monster parts... to name a few:
frankenstein's "tootsies", frog lips (sour watermelons), ogre eyes (peach rings and dum dums), Dracula teeth (candy corn)... we had fun.

               

bobbing for apples... the kids were taking bites of the apples they got, then putting them back in and BOBBING AGAIN! oh my goodness it was hilarious.

(sorry I stopped taking pictures halfway through the night because I got so distracted so I didn't get everyone! I know ME... DISTRACTED... that never happens... haha)

We are so lucky to have such good friends and to be blessed to be living in (the perfect) house (for us)!