Potty Training 101

Ok, so a little potty training fun, or not. Friday Teresa would not put anything on her bum. Mary was in the hall waiting for a friend to come over. Teresa went over to where she was an stood on the carpet runner. Teresa said something to Mary meaning she had to potty. So Mary told her to go ahead. I turn towards them and see Teresa bending her knees a little and looking down at her who-who. All of a sudden out comes a kernel, then two, then three, then a BIG clump. As you can imagine, I was shocked. I clean it up and tell her not to do that and to go to the potty. Ok, accident one over with. THEN in about 5 minutes she goes back to the same spot and pees. NOW I have a mess. Ok, clean that up. I decide that she is now going to wear a diaper for the day no matter how much she fusses.
I'm NOT ready for potty training yet!

Kitty Update

Well the kitty Mary decided to be her favorite was very sick when we got it. She carried that thing all over and it didn't get any better. It would not eat or drink anything. Well, Monday morning after the gym, we came home to a dead cat. It was a very dramatic experience, for 20 minutes. Then she decided Syrah, the black one, was her favorite. Life was good again. Funny how quickly kids can change their minds and forget things. Kevin came home and he dug a hole and buried the cat. It was a quick thing. Mary is totally happy with Syrah and does not mention the other one. It was a sad first family pet experience. But I know there will be more to come.

Mary's First Big Girl Trip

Last Sunday Mary was off to Lake Havasu with Nana and Papa. No mommy and daddy or Teresa to go with her. She was all excited to have some fun on Papa's boat. It was a long long drive and she was bored. She started to miss mommy on the way. Once they got to the house and put the boat in the water, she was ALLLLLL GOOD! She had a super time and was a super good girl. She liked going fast in Papa's boat and feeding the ducks. The house they stayed at is actually the house of Mary, who my Mary is named after. She had fun playing with all the dolls in the house.
One night they had dinner with some friends, Marv and Carol That was the first full day of boating. Mary was so pooped she fell asleep there before getting back to the house.
It was a nice break to have Mary spend some time away from us. We did miss her so though. Teresa missed her sister too. But Mary had fun and was a good girl.

New Addition To The Family

Today we have two kitties in our family. We have been wanting to find a kitten for Mary for a while. Corie sent me an email from her work saying someone was getting rid of two cats, so I called and got them. I picked them up today and brought them home. I got home about 9:30 and Mary has been outside with them since then. She has not left them alone, well the tan one in particular. She LOVES that one the most. She cannot leave it alone for more than one minute at a time. The poor thing is so good about it. Isabella, as she named it, let's Mary pick her up, drag her by an arm, hold it upside down, and you name it. AND it still stays by her. What a trooper. The black one, we named Syrah, stays to itself and just roams around. They were indoor cats. We cannot have animals inside due to allergies, so they are outside and adjusting. Syrah sits at the slider and cries to come inside or tries to come in whenever we open the door. They will adjust.
We have this playhouse, which was mine and my sisters when we grew up. My parents saved it all these years so their grand kids could use it. We used to keep our cats and many kttens in it as we grew up. Now, Mary is using it for her cats. Well, she wants to keep her cats in there with her. Well, the cats do NOT want to. So, she keeps the door closed and climbs in with the cat and plays. Then it will escape and she climbs out to go get it and bring it back. She will tell the cat that it needs to stay in the house wit her. I tried to tell her it was not going to understand and to let it do what it wants. Well, don't try to tell Mary what to do.

The poor cat is in there and looks up at me with it's sad eyes like "HELP ME, PLEASE!!!"
Teresa loves the kitties too. She was so excited to see them. She kept screaming with joy when they arrived and loves to chase and pet them. Both cats are really good with the girls.

About 2:00 Mary was laying on the grass and Isabella was laying next to her. Isabella was sleeping and Mary was about to, but was NOT going to.

2:30 Mary comes in the house and passes out on the couch. What an exciting morning it has been.

Ok, so while Mary is napping Kevin goes out to check on the cats. UH OH, only can find Syrah. Well, we shall see what happens. Mary finally wakes up and we do not say a word. We go out and BOTH are gone. OH SHIT!! Kevin starts calling out 'kitty kitty', then Mary does. Once Mary called out the name Isabella came out of the ivy under the tree. Kinda cute how he would not come out until he heard Mary's voice. SO, all is well again. Both kitties are around and the kids are happy.

Turning 4 and Celebrating the 4th

First of all, Blogger is having some issues and I can't seem to get pictures in the correct places. So, I'm going to tell the story and the pictures will be out of order to follow. Bare with me. = )
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This was our second year going up to our friends brother's house in Merced for the 4th of July and Mary's birthday. Mary turned the big 4 on the 2nd. She is a solid 39 pounds and 41 inches tall.
We got up at 5 on Saturday to start our drive up to Merced, AKA: Lake Tittykaka.
Mary had taken 3 swim lessons before we had gone up. We hung out in the pool all day long and Mary was a fish all weekend long. She did not want to get out. No matter how bad her teeth were chattering from being cold, she did NOT want to get out. It was really cute. She started with her floaty ring and her arm rings. Then she moved on to using her life vest. Then she was brave enough to just be with her arm floaties. And she even got good enough to use her kick board. We were so proud of her.
There is a man made lake on their property with ducks and fish. Mary was very excited to go fishing with daddy. We got her a barbie fishing pole for her birthday. She sat there and got bord w/in 5 minutes. It sounded more fun than it was. haha Kevin did catch one catfish. He was pretty proud of himself. I missed the picture of that.
On Sunday for the 4th we had a parade around the lake. It was decided, in April, that Kevin was to be the queen of the parade. So, he brought his wig and dress and was the queen of the parade. It was pretty funny.
We did a little quick celebration for Mary's birthday with cupcakes and singing. She got a Barbie big girl bike, which she loves to ride.
It was a fun fun weekend of friends and family. We had a great time hanging out. The girls were super good and had a great time as well. Can't wait to go back next year!!

Our New Little Swimmer

We have started Mary in swim lessons. She loves it. I think we may have a fish on her hands, a fish that doesn't like to get her face wet. So we are working on that part. The instructor, Amber, has gotten her to blow bubbles in the water and get a little of her face wet. So we are working on it. It's only been one lessons so far, so we have more to go.

She even was brave enough to do some wall walking. So proud of my little girl. I think she had a super death grip on the wall, but she did it.

weekend of cousin love

Since Thursday, 17th, we have had Brianna (14) and Stephanie (13) over at our house. These are Kevin's nieces. Mary and Teresa have loved having them here to play with. It has been a help to have the extra hands around. We mainly stayed home. It is kind of hard to do teen age things with Teresa. On Saturday Kevin took the girls and Mary to the Natural History Museum. Mary got pretty scared at the dinosaurs, but they had a good time overall.

It was very nice to have them come stay and play with us for5 days.

Mary got to help the girls make cup cakes. Yum Yum. I think Brie ate most of them.

We got Mary to takes naps in the middle of the day with the girls on the couch.