Nixon's Preschool Field Trip

We have been looking forward to going to Black Island Farm for a few weeks now, so when the day finally arrived, and it was rainy and freezing outside we were pretty upset.  They called and said we couldn't come anymore, and asked if we could reschedule.  The teachers decided to just hang out and paint pumpkins instead.  We always do our field trips with the Layton High preschool, so we went to their school and hung out.  Our kids thought it was so much fun to be at a new place to play!  Since Jace was off track, he got to come too, and he was happy about that.  We were all bummed that we didn't get to go to the Farm, but we had fun anyway.  We got there and played for a while before going down to the common area to each pick a pumpkin and a 2 Liter of soda.  Then we came back to the room, watched some Halloween movies, and then painted our pumpkins.  Then we ate lunch, played some more, and then headed back to Woods Cross. 

All the Woods Cross kids in Layton's fun loft.

On our way to pick out our pumpkins Nixon and his "friend" Zizi were holding hands!

So cute!

Here's the one Nixon picked

And Jace's

And Leila's

Jace and Beckett sat by each other during the movies

Nixon sat by Zizi

And Leila sat by herself

Painting pumpkins

Leila stayed long after everyone else was done to perfect hers!

Lunch time!

And on the bus Jace and Beckett sat together again

And so did Nix and Zizi.   I got to sit by my sweet Leila girl. 

Although it wasn't quite what we expected, or wanted to do for our field trip, we still had lots of fun!

A Day at the Dentist

It was time for our 6 month check-ups at the dentist, and everyone did great!  We schedule everyone together, so we were there for a good two hours, but everyone passed with flying colors, so it was worth it!  Jace was up first, and was so brave.  His top two teeth are so so loose, and have been forever!  He won't let me or Brock near them, and every morning while brushing his teeth he freaks out when we have to brush those teeth.  Anyway, he let the dental assistant polish his teeth without complaining, but wouldn't let her pull them.  Then, when the dentist asked, he wouldn't let him pull them either!  Nixon was next, and he did great too.  It helps that they get to wear headphones and watch a TV in the ceiling!  Brock and I followed the boys, and there were no cavities! 

Leila is Potty Trained!

It is so great to have no kids in diapers!  Too bad it will only last two months until we have another baby in our house.  Leila has been ready for a while now, but we wanted to wait until we got back from Disneyland to do it.  We didn't want to have to worry about stopping 15 times on our long drive to and from California, and we didn't want to have to worry about her needing to go potty while we were in the middle of a long line at Disneyland.  Well, we got back from California at about 10:00pm on Wednesday, and started potty training in full force on Thursday morning!  I picked a bad day though because she woke up sick, and threw up twice that morning, so not only was I asking if she had to go potty every 30 minutes, and cleaning up any mistakes along the way, but I was asking if she needed to throw up, and cleaning up those mistakes also!  Talk about FUN!  Luckily, whatever bug she had was quickly gone, and after eating some lunch she was back to her normal fun self.  She made several mistakes that first day, but she pooped in the potty, and woke up dry the next morning, so I call it a success!  Day 2 was better with only about 2 mistakes, and another poop in the potty.  She woke up day 3 dry again!  She has only had one bad day since then, when I think she was trying to prove who was boss, but other than that she has completely gotten it!  She wakes up in the morning asking to go potty, and throughout the day she'll ask, "Mommy, can I please go potty?"  I decided to use a seat that just fits right on our own toilets so that I wouldn't have to clean out the bowl of the little potty - which we used with both boys, and was so gross - and it has been so much better!  She goes anywhere we are, whether it's the store, someone else's house, or church.  I am so proud of her!  She started with a chart, and when she filled it up with stickers she got to pick a fun toy.  She was pretty excited about all the stickers, and her "surprise", and I think that helped.  I am so happy to have no kids in diapers!!

Here she is in one of Nixon's pairs of underwear while hers are being cleaned

She thinks she's pretty hot stuff!

  This was the day that she was being rebellious.  She had peed in her underwear like 3 times that morning, so I told her that we were going to stay in the bathroom until she went potty in the toilet.  She cried and cried, and then finally gave in and fell asleep. 

California Days 6-7

A little of this, a little of that.

We started out our last day at Disneyland.  We got to go an hour before it opened, so we went on all the kid rides.  On our way though, we had to get all the traditional pictures.  Then we rode all the rides that the kids wanted to do for a second time.  Last year, Jace's favorite ride was Space Mountain.  This year he said it was Big Thunder Mountain.  We made sure to do that one again.  We did Pirates again, and Space, and went to Toon Town, and did Splash Mountain again.  Then, when we figured we'd had our fill, we headed back to California Adventure.  We did Cars Racers again, and Tower of Terror.  We had told the kids to keep their eyes out the whole trip for the one prize that they wanted.  Luckily for them, they have a pretty awesome aunt who said the same thing.  So they got two fun prizes.  One from Nanny and one from us. We went back to the hotel for one last day of swimming, and I actually took some pictures!  I took Nixon and Leila while Brock and Jace went back to Disneyland to buy Jace's prize by Pirates of the Caribbean.  While they were there, Brock took Jace on Big Thunder Mountain one last time.
We had such a great trip.  I am just so glad that I won't ever be pregnant at Disneyland again!  It was pretty rough on me.  I had about a million contractions, my back hurt so bad, and my poor feet had to carry 32 extra pounds and were killing by about noon every day.  I decided that any future trips to Disneyland will include days of rest in between!  Go to the beach, or even just spend the day at the pool.  3 full days in a row was a bit much, even for the kids.  They were getting kind of ornery by the end.  3 days waking up early to walk all day, no naps, staying up way too late was hard on them.  Luckily there were way more fun times than anything else, and that's what we'll remember forever.
Day 7 was really just driving home.  We left around 9 or so in the morning, and got home at 10:00pm.  Such a long day.  We were all beyond ready to get out of our car and get into bed.  Especially considering Nixon asked if we were almost home after we had been driving for literally 10 minutes.  LONG day.  

Some of the cute decorations for Halloween

It was kind of foggy first thing in the morning, but cleared up quickly.  I had to get a picture of Leila in front of the castle

Trying to get the sword out.  Nixon was sad it wasn't his turn

Jace making faces in the back

 

 

Natalie and Brock were the only ones who'd do the tea cups

While everyone went on Matterhorn I took Nixon and Leila on Dumbo

I had to get this picture on It's a Small World.  Brock had just been closing his eyes, and Leila was trying hard to keep hers open.  I don't know why we do this ride.

She finally did give in and fall asleep

Goofy was at Toon Town

And Mater was back in Cars Land

We wanted a picture with Radiator Springs behind us. 

I had to get a picture of the shoe exchange.  Getting his tall shoes on

Aunt Natalie bought him this yummy treat.  It might have been too big

Not sure why these pics are out of order.

Everyone wanted to go on Tower of Terror again except for Jace, so he rode the fun bumper cars again

Leila picked this cute Cinderella doll for her toy from Disneyland, and loves her!

Nixon picked Perry the Platypus

Swimming!

Leila is getting better and better about swimming by herself with her floaties

Nixon lasted about 2 minutes before he got too cold.  The hot tub was closed this night, and he was bummed

Leila lasted about 5 more minutes than Nix

I made Jace show me his prizes when we got back to the room.  He wanted this pirate stuff.