Potty TRAINED!

I'll probably jinx myself, but I need to brag. Cole is finally potty trained. He's been doing well for quite a while. I wasn't going to push the night time thing until he was maybe entering high school. He's been dry 3 nights in a row! I've been holding back the liquids after supper and that seems to be working. Last night, however, Grandma and Grandpa took the boys into town to buy candy and bug juice, at about 8 o'clock. I though there was no way Cole would be dry this morning, but sure enough, he was. He was very tearful this morning, but dry in his pullup! If that wasn't enough, I managed to finally catch Tate in the act of pooping and got him to go in the potty! Whoo hoo! I'm not pushing the potty with him. I put him on before and after bed and nap time and if I catch him clutching his diaper and saying "pee!"

Speaking of bm's. For the few guys that may read this, why is it that guys cannot poop anywhere but at home? Cole refuses to go anywhere but here, including Grandma's house and Grandma R's house. He's very familiar and comfortable at both places. I just don't get it.

Name That Kitty Contest

This guy showed up at our farm on Thursday. He's very friendly and we aren't sure where he came from. At any rate, we are hoping he sticks around, but he needs a name! So leave your favorite name choice in the comments. Winner gets bragging rights! I know, what a great prize!


Since I had the camera out, I thought I'd take a few pictures of our spring crop of kittens. This one is my favorite. He's only semi-tame. When we found him, Cole claimed we should bring him inside. I almost gave in, but one house cat is plenty. He doesn't really have a name either. I was going to call him Sam after our old house cat (not positive if he is actually a he or a she), but I keep calling him Tabs.
These next two are very tame. The black and white one was actually adopted in by the mother cat. She started with 2 kittens, but lost one.

These next kitties made their blogging debut back here. She started with 4, and is down to 2, but these two are looking really healthy. They are all fairly wild and the momma cat is really protective when the boys come around.
Don't forget to name our kitty!

Not Me Thursday

This morning I most certainly did not allow the TV to babysit my 2 children while I attempted to take a shower. But if I had, said TV would have certainly done its job and not allow the following to happen:
1) Oldest son would have not come into the bathroom fake crying (he's not going to be an actor) louder and louder until he realized I was not responding and then finally in fake crying voice proclaimed "Momma, Tate hit me in the head again!" and promptly left the room

2) Upon exiting the shower and discovering youngest son was no where to be found but the old basement playing in a sand box. Only the sand box was actually the litter box and he would most certainly have not been scooping the litter out with the pooper scooper and dumping it into the dehumidifier water.

Nuff said.

Happy Birthday Jenny!

Ok, so technically her birthday was yesterday, but I'm only a day late. Anywhoozle, Jenn, for your birthday I'm writing a blog post.

So what's new on the farm?

• School is kicking my butt. 3 education classes in one semester was not a good idea. The work isn't hard, there is just a lot of it. I have 2 final papers, 3 take-home finals, 2 educational philosophies to write, 30 hours of class time to reflect on, interviews to type, and a math portfolio to put together. If I have time I can also do some extra credit that would be a big help.
• Cole is doing fine. He's excited to turn 4 so he can run in the sprinkler. Sunday he was upset because he wanted a balloon with stars on it. Guess what his birthday present will be :)
• Tate is potty training, sort of. He wakes up dry, so I've been putting him on the potty. He doesn't like to have his play interrupted, so we're having a tough time that way. I'm hoping to have some time to work with him this summer. If not, he's only almost 2, so I'm not too worried about it. Besides, I spent the better part of a year on Cole, what's another year of potty training!
• Church has been crazy busy too. We got our hotel assignment for our trip to New Orleans. Can we say roof top pool! We got a great hotel, but I'm afraid we'll end up on the top floor and I'll end up sick from the elevators. Anyone know of a way to treat motion sickness besides dramamine and the wrist bands?
• We are also planning a fundraiser for playground equipment at church. I'm really excited about that. We have a huge field with nothing on it. Right now we are looking at Rainbow play systems and they just happen to be having a sale, until Monday.
  
• Pat has been busy getting ready to get crops in the ground. It's a little early for that yet, although the weather has been gorgeous. We are enjoying it, yet waiting for the other shoe to drop and a huge snow storm to hit. My strawberries are greening up and my tulips are blooming. The boys even got a little sunburned today from playing outside.
• April has been full of calves. Unfortunately all but 2 were bull calves. We had a calf every day from the 1st until the 10th, then another born on the 13th. Fortunately all but this last one were pretty smart and broke to a pail pretty easily.
• Tomorrow night I take off for Brainerd for a youth leader meeting. I'm looking forward to the meeting, but it means 8 hours in the car (round trip) and a hotel stay for a 3.5 hour meeting.
• I've been spending the last couple of weeks in a middle school classroom. It's been kind of fun. I've been going to a local Catholic school. The first day one of the kids told me I should teach there, but I didn't want to out myself as a non-Catholic. I'm only there in the afternoons for math. It's reminded me a lot of how I grew up.
  

That about sums it up. You may not hear from me again until May and all my school work is done!

Preschool Advice

Preschool registration was tonight. I felt like crying on the way home. Not because my "baby" is growing up so fast, but because I don't know what to do! Here's my dilemma. Our preschool has 2 options: 2 full days or 3 full days. I chose 2 full days and here's why:

1. My plan is to send him through the preschool program twice. He's young and small, so my thought is that it will be better for him to be older than younger. (Pat strongly disagrees with me on that so much that we haven't talked about it in a long time.)
2. It's FULL days. If it was half days I'd have no problem doing 3 days, but he'll only be 4. That's a lot of school for a 4 year old.
3. We're broke and milk prices aren't projected to improve much at all this year. More days a week means more $$$.

Here's my problem:

1. I will student teach next spring. I refuse to send him on the bus and with milking that leaves no one to take him to school in the morning.
2. Carpooling would be an option, BUT all the other families we know and are nearby are doing the 3 days a week option.
3. All the other kids he knows are doing the 3 days a week option. This doesn't concern me a whole lot since he isn't particularly attached to any of the kids, but it would still be nice to know the families of the kids he goes to school with.

So bloggyland, what would you do?