Tate is 3!

Well I would have posted yesterday to wish him a Happy Birthday, but I am busy trying to get all of his crazy festivities for the birthday celebration ready. We are having a party for him Sat. It will be his first real Birthday with his friends and all. To make it as cheap as possible I am getting crazy with the creative and artistic side of me. I hope all goes well and I am totally going post some pics and tell you how it went when it does.
It is so amazing how the Lord has played such a big part in sending these children into our family. Seriously, both surprises and both sort of freak accidents in a way. I know they really just needed to come when they did and they will continue to bless our lives as we all try to build a home full of love and a safe haven.
So it seems so crazy that we have had Tate in our lives for 3 years now! He is such an energetic child full of so many surprises. He sure keeps life interesting. I love him so much and am so excited to see all he will accomplish in the future. He is such an awsome big brother and is always concerend for his little sister when she cries. Happy Birthday Tate and much love!

Tate, Tate and Tate!

So finally Tate is potty trained......I think! I realize there will be an accident here are there, but he is really doing well! So yesterday was a crazy day, Tate was on a roll of causing laughs. He loves to wear his PJ's all day. It is so hard to get him to change. Well As of Yesterday he tries to wear as many pj's as possible. He had three pairs of bottoms on and I chose not to fight this battle.

So now that Tate is potty trained he is very interested in his little boy part. Today he asked me if I had a "pee pee", (I really don't know what I should call it?", Anyways I said no. He told me I did and I told him again that only boys do. He did not believe me and said he wanted to see. Then he proceeded to try to pull my pant down. We then had our first discussion on private parts. I really don't know if he even understood what I was saying. But I tried my best.

Well poor Matt got stuck in a dilemma with Tate at the end of the day. I maybe shouldn't even share this one, but sorry it sort of is funny. So Matt took Tate to get some food at an "UNNAMED" food joint. As Matt was Paying Tate said he really had to go to potty and took off around the corner towards the bathroom. Matt hurried and payed and tried to go after him. By then Tate was already in the bathroom.......... but, not the men's. Matt then knocked on the women's bathroom and yelled out to ask if Tate was in there. No one answered except for Tate, so Matt opened the door. Tate said, "Daddy I peed on the floor". Poor Tate had tried to go in the toilet, but the toilet was too high for him and he totally missed. Matt did not know what to do, so in a panicked he ran in pulled Tates pants up and ran out of the bathroom. You will have to ask him personally if he informed anyone of the mess!!!

Watch your step in the women's bathroom!!!

Toilet Tales

I hate Potty Training. So Tate has shown signs off and on that he wants to use the potty. Once last summer when we were to take a big road trip to a family reunion, so it was not the best timing. The other time he hated the feel of underwear and wanted his diaper back on admidiatly, so we didn't push it. So we waited for him to tell us he was ready again. We also have had these two toy trains waiting for Tate whenever he decided to poop in the toilet. We will bring it up here and there just to remind him. So this last week Tate came down wearing his underwear. His diaper was underneath, but I figured this could be a sign. So we got rid of the diaper and went from there. Tate was doing awsome.

Day One: Tate went the first half of the day with out any accidents. Later that day he asked if he got to choose a train (of course he couldn't forget this!). I told him he had to poop first. So he tries all day with no sucess. By the time he went to bed and we put on the diaper he pooped. So no Train.

Day Two: Tate had accident after accident and ran out of underwear. Matt was with him most of the day, so who knows if that had anything to do with it. By the time I came home Matt had had it and put a diaper back on him. (Tate was mad he never got his train)

Day Three: Tates underwear was clean but he would't wear them. he wanted to go all natural underneath his pants. So why fight it. He did really well but never pooped. He tried, oh did he try, He really wanted that train. That night Grandma and Grandpa were going watch him. Tate had to wear his pj bottoms. Needless to say when he pooped, it did not stay in. He yelled for his grandpa and showed him his wonderful surprise.

Day four: Dirty Pants All Day Long!

Day Five: I know your getting sick of this but.....He finally did it and got his train.

Day six: Tate decides he got his train, why try?

Aaahhhhhhhh! I hate Potty Training.

Cupcakes

So my good friend Tanya is having a baby girl. Tanya and I became good friends when we lived in West Jordan. She and her hubby just lived around the corner. Luck had it that we both followed each other to Draper and now just live a few houses away from each other. So with her being such a wonderful friend and all, I helped put on a shower for her. It was so fun to get all creative and try out some new things. So one thing I was really excited to do was decorate cupcakes. I wanted to try something new so I found a fondant recipe and went from there. So here is what I came up with. It was so fun. Now with Tate's Birthday coming up I just may have to pull out the fondant again and try even more creations.
The shower went really well and it was fun to see some old friends from the old neighborhood and have some new ones join us as well. I feel so lucky to have so many great people I can surround myself with. So just a few more weeks and Tanya will have her little girl and Addie will have her first "Best Friend". I t is so fun when good friends have kids around the same time, same age group, gender and such.

Bird Video Works Now

Check it out!

Tate didn't get the memo about the Happiest Place on Earth

So Tate had been talking all week about how he wanted to see Mickey and how excited he was to go to disneyland. The day finally arrived and Tate woke up really early with much excitment and anticipation. Tate started getting really impatient because the park didn't even open until 10:00 and he had to wait 3 hours still. Finally we got out the door and got to the park. We asked Tate if he wanted to go on a ride and he strongly said, "NO". We practically dragged him on it. We made the big mistake of bringing him on Snow White's Scary Adventure first. I didn't notice the "Scary", in the title. Opps! He did not like it.



After that the rest of the day was a fight, trying to get him to go on any ride. He did not trust us. We did like Casey Jr. Circus Train and the Tea Cups though. Later on Austin, Tate's Cousin, joined us. That helped a little bit. Finally the time came to go theough Mickeys house and see Mickey.......Tate got scared. He wouldn't even walk near Mickey. Karen, Matt's sister, was extra nice and offered to watch Austin, Tate and Addie so that we could go on Hollywood Hotel of Terror, in California Adventures, That is one awesome ride. Good for us, by the end of the day Tate was exhausted..



The Second day went alot better luckily. We still had some scared issues, but it went much smoother. Tate especially enjoyed seeing the charactors this day. Things even worked out were Tate and Addie would be good for us so that one of us coulf leave and go on some more adult rides. Then we would swap turns. Over all though I still love Disneyland. It's just a little bit of a different experiance with kids. Well it's great for the memories, right?

Tate and the BIrds!

Tate kept chasing birds around and trying to touch them. We didn't catch this part on video, but we point out right after all the birds flew in right towards him. YOu can totally tell he was freaked out. We did catch one bird swooping right in front of him afterwards though and that REALLY freaked him out. We thought this was so funny! Here is the video below.