Easter Egg Hunting

We went to the MOPS (moms of preschoolers) Easter Egg hunt the week before Easter. The boys really had no idea what they were doing. They would pick up one egg and just kind of look at it. James was not a big fan of the grass so at least he would stay put when we put him down so that made things a little easier. We also heard the Easter story by opening eggs and having something inside to help tell the story. The boys sat pretty still for this. It was nice to have the eggstra (hee hee) candy for potty training as well. They helped me fill the eggs that we took so they were super eggcited to see what was inside of the eggs they picked up. I just told Andrew I am cracking (ha) myself up. He will get it later when he reads this.

The Saturday before Easter (the day before), we went to the Twice and Thrice -twin's group Egg hunt and saw the Easter bunny. I was a little worried about how they would react because of years past and the fact that they would just wave at the bunny at the mall and did not want to shake his hand at the the mall. They did fine. We did not get very good pictures because all the kids were crowding the poor bunny. The boys would get close to the bunny when he was holding J. but would go no where near without J. being close. I think they were looking out for their little buddy.

This time when it was time for the hunt they knew what to do. They were good. It was very windy and cold so we were pretty quick about it. Andrew gave me a hard time about buying the 1.50 buckets but I think it was an investment for the future. They will use them again next year. I didn't tell him that I really wanted to get one for J. but did not this year. I will have to look for one on clearance now for him for next year. I am lucky to have such a frugal husband, but every kids needs an Easter bucket, right? Maybe it is just because I never had one and we did the plastic or paper bag thing.

I asked if they remembered what we were going to do yesterday morning when they woke up and Gavin said, "Go hunt Easter Eggs?" I said no take books back to the library, so sorry to disappoint the little guy. I guess he was beginning to think that was an every Sat. occurrence.

We are so blessed to have such beautiful boys and such a reason to celebrate. The death and resurrection of our Savior is something we want to remember at Easter and that is not about the eggs, bunny, and candy. I guess what I am trying to say is that I don't want to downplay that and that is a little harder to capture in a picture. I hope that we instill in our boys and our readers that Jesus is the reason we celebrate on Easter. Hope you had a good one!

It's POTTY Time!

After talking with a friend, I decided to start the potty training process. I am an all or nothing kind of girl and this halfway stuff wasn't cutting it. So, I cleared out 3 days that we could pretty much be at home and we began. No use putting it off any longer! I gathered all sorts of advice from those who have been there before us and set up a plan.

We went and picked out some big boy underwear the day before and got all excited about becoming "big boys". They chose Thomas the Train and a Disney variety pack. They told everyone in the store about their "underwears" and how they were going to pee and poop in the potty. I am sure everyone enjoyed hearing about it. The picture is of them the second day of training sporting their big boy pants when Mommy got tired of doing all the laundry and she just let us run around in our underwear.

So, they woke up the first morning and we put them on the potty. This was not new for Drew but up until this point Gavin would refuse to sit on the potty. We put the diapers in the trash and pulled out the BIG BOY PANTS. They were very excited. I decided to go with the timer idea. I set it and we tried every 20 minutes. I had also read to fill them up with fluids. This part did not work for my boys. I gave them REAL juice-something they never get-we always dilute it and then dilute it some more. Apparently it was too much because they were peeing every 20 minutes just not in the potty. I had several messes to clean up and luckily all but 1 were on the hardwood instead of the carpet. Lesson learned the hard way.

The other thing that needs to be said is that my boys poop a lot. When I say a lot I mean a lot like 3 times a day. I think that is what originally put me over the edge and got me thinking about the process. So, then the poop started. Drew did not get any poop in the potty and Gavin was not putting anything in the potty that first day. He did get a little pee in the potty and then 5 minutes later after celebrating he peed all over himself. That was enough for him. He has been dry and clean since that one accident. He did not poop at all the first day but he never had a poop accident. The second day he got poop in the potty but the smart little guy also pooped when he had a diaper on at nap time. He is a lot like his mommy he is all or nothing as well. The first couple of days we did a lot of running to the potty because he thought he had to poop and it was just toots. He has been a breeze- I almost hate to say that, I think I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop as they say.

Drew on the other hand, Drew, Drew, Drew. He is kind of bull headed-I don't know where he gets it :). He took a while and would get some poop in the potty and then a lot in his pants. I was really at my wits end for those 3 days and was ready to call it quits. He kept getting better and better and we are on day 3 of no accidents so it took a day for Gavin and a week for Drew. The total opposite as I would have thought. I guess I am still waiting for the other shoe to fall since it went smoother than I thought it would-if you asked me that last week I probably would not have thought that, but now I am trying to figure out how I can get a bus ride in since that is the incentive they are working towards now. It may be a first for all of us riding city transit. I guess I have gotten on city transit in Ecuador and Spain but not here in the states. I may be wrong there but I don't think that I have. Anyway, I guess they were ready.

We are still working on getting all of the poop out at once so we don't have to go several times a day but I think they like the multiple treats they get for each time they poop we will work on that at a later time.

They really are good little boys and I am so proud of them. If you asked them Drew will also tell you he is proud of drewgavin too. (Yes he says it as all one word-still haven't had the time to research to see if I need to stop that). The potty training has also sparked a new milestone. The boys are now praying without our help. It is amazing how good they are getting at it and what they are asking prayer for. Maybe they realized how much praying Mommy was doing during this time.

Something I failed to mention is that the pictures of them on the potty are simultaneous. It always seems to happen that when one of them has to go so does the other. Sometimes J. even goes then too. I guess that is what a schedule does for you-synchronized bowel movements-ha!

I will have to post more about Easter later because J. needs to get up and this has turned into quite the lengthy post. Thanks for reading!