Aiden's first steps

Of course I missed it. But am so thankful that Mike got some good video! He starts off a little slow, but really gets the hang of it after a while. YAY Aiden! My favorite part of the video is the very end, when he laughs at his cousins squashing acorns on the sidewalk. More laughs in the next video. :-)

aiden laughing

OMG His laugh just KILLS ME! SO CUTE!

Princess Camp

It's a 4 year old's heaven. For real.

For the first time, I hired a Cinderella to come make an appearance on our last day of camp. She wasn't exactly the perfect Cinderella, but she was cheap, came through in a pinch, and the girls bought her hook, line and sinker.























Notice how doggie's posed in all of these pictures. This meant the world to Addy.


























































The girls were SO EXCITED to perform their princess dance they'd been practicing all week. Again, just the cutest! Here they are after performing. (look at who's IN Cinderella's lap)















So NOW I feel guilty because I took individual pics of all of the campers with Cinderella and need to email them to their parents. And instead I just blogged.

And I think I'm about to blog again because I now finally have the video from Mike's phone of Aiden's first steps. I really, TRULY believe that these videos are the cutest ever in the history of the earth.

TOTAL CHEESE

But I love my sister.

We are working closely right now, selecting songs for our new teams for competition season. I love being with her, she always makes me laugh, and makes me happy. She really does make me happy.

I just really love her.

Dance!!!

So these are actually out of order. The last video posted is my favorite. The second to last is my second favorite. Etc, etc.

Loving dance and am feeling inspired :-)

SYTYCD 6/22/11 Flying Hip Hop Routine

SYTYCD 6/22/11 Sing, Sing, Sing Routine

SYTYCD 6/22/11 Turning Tables Routine

SYTYCD 6/15/11 Statue Routine

ummmm

So You Think You Can Dance is SO GOOD y'all.

WATCH IT!

I'm posting videos of my favorite dances as soon as I have enough energy and/or time.

WATCH IT!

The Adairs Visit

Grandpa (Marshall)'s parents came in for a weekend visit. It's always nice to visit with them.

All Kinds of Out of Order

Yeah, Aiden turned one almost a month ago, and I've still not blogged about it. I'm just waiting on some pictures, and to be honest, that blog seems so LONG and descriptive, I'm just not sure I'm up for it right now.

And don't even get me started on recital.

So, here are some pictures of recent swimming adventures.

Bath time

If I'm being honest, I'm not sure why I'm doing this. I'm exhausted. But I feel like it's been so long since I've posted.

Here are a couple of pics taken during bath time lately...









































Of course I need to blog about recital, but I really wouldn't know where to start. So I'm going to sit on it for a while and blog when I'm ready.

I AM a good mom! I AM! See???

This is a little activity I picked up from a blog found here. Very cool website for creative activities for you and your kids.
I made crayon rubbings of different textures around the house, and then sent Addison on a scavenger hunt to find where each rubbing came from. It was lots of fun!

The Final Chapter (I hope)

I am so tired.

So Imma get right to the point.

Addison has not had any accidents in 3 days now. Has pooped in the potty two times a day for the last three days.

As brief as I'd like to keep this, I'd just like to point out that none of the strategies I tried were what made this happen. I think she just woke up one day and decided to cooperate. No joke.

The Update You've All Been Waiting For

Here's a potty update. Let's see... where to start. I guess I'll start by saying that I think we've attempted every approach that exists. The suggestions of having her sit on the toilet with a diaper. Yep, tried it. A new potty seat. Yep, tried it. 3, in fact. ...

After Addison continued to poop in her panties, we decided (contrary to what I said in an earlier post) that it was time to put her back in diapers. Because she did NOT want to wear a diaper. We told her that it was a diaper all the time- ALL THE TIME. She was not happy, but finally accepted it. Because not accepting it meant she'd have to poop on the toilet and she was not interested in doing that.

So. Addison expressed that she did not want anyone to know that she was wearing a diaper. So what did Mike and I do? Scheduled a sleepover with her idol/cousin Abigail of course! We thought- perfect! She does NOT want Abbie to know that she's in a diaper... the "shame" will fix this! Um. No. Addison said she felt poo poo, went to the bathroom, and we sent Abbie in with her. They come out, we're all on the edges of our seats, and it turns out that all that happened in the bathroom was that Addison asked Abbie to "fix" her diaper (whatever that means), and Abbie obliged. Addison conquered her fear of Abbie finding out, and then it was no holds barred. We decided to let her wear panties to bed (not sure why), and what does she do within 5 minutes? POOPS IN HER PANTIES.

We had Melissa come get Abigail, told Addison that only big girls can have sleepovers. She didn't care. We took toys away from her with each "accident". The toys became larger and more beloved with each stupid accident.

So now we're making her go commando 24/7. She's missing playtime with cousins, dance class, trips to the store, EVERYTHING. She has to stay home all the time. Twice now she's pooped in the toilet, but both times, later in the day after we rewarded her with panties and one toy returned from the banished toys in our closet, she POOPED IN HER FREAKING PANTIES. So undies were thrown away, she is back to nude, and she lost more toys.

Currently the toys that are in our closet are: Her favorite new barbie with crazy cool fairy wings, ALL of her My Little Ponies (including the two "big" ones that talk that she got for her birthday), her whole bucket of Barbies, her new Princess Couch, her new Pillow Pet, 4 Princess Baby Dolls, her Barbie House.

We keep telling her that at the rate she's going, she's going to end up with nothing left. "I know. That's ok."

I just want you all to know that I'm screaming on the inside. LOUD.