I love celebrating our Independance Day!  And I'm thoroughly looking forward to all of the celebrations tomorrow.  I hope that all of you enjoy a fun and safe Fourth as well.

I also hope that we remember how blessed we are to live in this great country.  We take our freedoms for granted.  I love the song in this video (though, my favorite version is sung by Hilary Weeks; this version is by Twila Paris, the songwriter):

(If the video doesn't work, here is a link to it on YouTube.)

What Did He Die For?

I'm the kind of person that likes to hear the bad news first, so everything will end on a good note, so here you go:

The bad news:  Aurora woke me up at 5:30am.  Then again at 6:30am, for good.

The good news:  It was to go potty in the toilet.

And even better news: She kept her diaper dry ALL NIGHT LONG!!!

NO ACCIDENTS TODAY!!!

Aurora did such a good job today!  We played at the park for an hour, went to the grocery store for a quick trip, attended a 2 hour baby shower, and then took Cadi shopping at three stores - and through that all, she stayed clean and dry!  :)

We absolutely love living in this great state of Washington.  And we LOVE celebrating the Fourth of July here because you can really celebrate in style; just about everything is legal and it's a BLAST! (Literally! lol)

Last year, we were smart and went to the Indian Reservation the day after the Fourth to buy all of this year's fireworks ahead of time.  We got such a good deal!  And we were set.  :)

As the Fourth has approached, Ryan started getting that look in his eye and all he could think about was blowing up stuff.  He started to get crazy ideas, like buying MORE fireworks.  I made him promise that he would pull out the supply he had stored up from our day-after shopping trip last year before he went out shopping, because I was confident we had enough and something of everything he wanted to have.  Thankfully, he agreed.  And when we did pull out all of the fireworks this week, I was right (of course *wink*) and Ryan had to admit it.  We did good!

But there was just one more thing he'd really like to get.  Just a few aerials, you know, fun little stuff for the kids.  Uh huh.  So, I went with him.  Ryan unaccomanied in a fireworks tent is NOT a good idea.  Even with me being "the mean lady who holds all the money", he still managed to get another set of tubes for his finale.  But we left spending less than $100 so I was happy.  We both got what we want.

*whew*  Crisis averted.

Or was it?

Yesterday when Ryan got home from work, the first words out of his mouth were, "How much do you love me?"  To which I responded, "I love you so much, I let you buy nearly $100 of fireworks even though we had a room full of fireworks already.  How much do you love me?"  "Well, uh...."  So, I worded my question differently, "How much did you spend?" 

"I stopped by this tent...  90% of the proceeds were going to soldiers (or their families, or something like that). And the family working the tent had a son/brother killed in action themselves.  Then, while I was there, my co-worker stopped by.  Turns out, his fiance is the cousin of this soldier who had died and it was her family working the tent..."

Again, I asked, "How much did you spend?"

"A lot."

*groan*

I committed him to staying away from any more fireworks tents/stands/stores.  "Even if there is a poor, starving, orphan getting all of the proceeds, YOU CANNOT BUY ANY MORE FIREWORKS!!!"

The survivalist in him flashed his smile (that he knows I'm a sucker for) and quickly agreed, along with agreeing that he totally owed me and was going to do some major kissing up.  He was done.  No more.  Don't worry.

Later that night, he and the girls went to return a couple of movies we had rented last weekend.  They took awhile longer than I expected and I suspected (hoped) that they were picking out a new movie or two to rent.  Instead...

The first thing I heard when the door opened this time was, "Don't be mad at Acadia, be mad at me."

"WHAT?!?!?!?!  Did she take her wallet with her?"

Acadia had spent her birthday money to buy more fireworks!!!  (He swears he tried to talk her out of it.)  I was flabergasted!!!  Are you kidding me?  We already have enough to have our own firework stand, why would she use HER money to buy more?  Ryan always lets her light some, so she didn't need to get her own for that.  And if she really wanted to have "her own", she could have given ME the money and we'd let her have some of ours.  This family certainly did not need more fireworks in this house!

But she didn't want to wait until Saturday, so she bought some to fire off in the meantime.  Last night she lit a few of them, but she saved most of them to light with her friends either tonight or tomorrow night.  She and I did have a little talk today about thinking things through and not just making decisions in the heat of the moment.  I pointed out that she could have gotten a huge Littlest Pet Shop play center, or several smaller toys, or cute outfits (she's getting more into fashion lately), or even taken a girlfriend to a movie and lunch or something... any of which would have lasted longer and probably been worth more to her in the long time.  I hope that next time she thinks a little more first.

I think she just got caught up in the heat of the moment.  Her dad's been going crazy over these fireworks and we are all looking forward to our own personal pyro show Saturday night.  I understand why she wanted to get them, I just hope she understands why she really didn't need to, and therefore it was a little foolish.  Harmless, but foolish. :S

Oh, and lest you think I'm exaggerating about how many fireworks we have...

Do you see what I'm saying?  No joke, we have PLENTY of fireworks and none of us need to spend a single dime on more!

But we are gonna have one heck of a firworks show this weekend! lol

Even though we spent half of yesterday at the neighbor's house, I don't really count it as an actual "outing" in regards to testing Rori's potty training skills.  So, today has been big! 

We first went to a park (that does not have restrooms) this morning for an hour.  When Rori needed to go potty, she told me, we got in the car, and raced home.  She made it! 

Then, the real test: we had to go to the grocery store!  It wasn't a big trip, just a few items I would need for this weekend.  We went potty before we left, I packed my purse with an extra change of clothes and some baby wipes, and headed out.  Again, she made it!  We didn't even need to use the store's restrooms. :)

These were both small trips but still a good sign.  This afternoon we're going to a friend's house for a baby shower.  Hopefully that will run just as smoothly. :)

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Today started off productive; I cleaned out the playroom.  There was one bag full of trash and another (plus) filled with toys to donate to the thrift store.  It looks great!  And as one friend already pointed out, all I need to do is keep the girls out of it and it will stay looking great. ;)

After lunch, the girls got their swimsuits on, we put on our sunscreen, and we headed over to our backyard neighbor's house to visit.  The girls played with their friends in their kiddie pool and I sat and visited with my friend, talking about the beach trip we're taking in a couple of weeks.  (Yay!)

Rori did pretty well.  She did wet her swimsuit once (that we know of, lol) so I ran her home for a quick change, but other than that, she had me running her inside for potty breaks fairly often. 

I took lots of pics, check them out:

After playing outside, it was wonderful to come home to a cool, A/C house.  I grilled ham and pineapple kabobs for dinner and the girls are now snuggled on the couch watching a movie.  It was a pretty good Summer day. :)

This afternoon, Rori began wearing big girl panties.  She did great!  She even stayed dry during her 2 hour nap on the couch!  (When I saw her getting sleepy, I slipped a waterproof changing mat under her, just in case.) 

She did have one little accident; when she was drinking some juice, watching a movie, she wasn't thinking and as the juice went in one end, pee came out the other.  She looked so confused when she realized she was wet, she turned to me and asked, "What happened?" lol 

But that was our only accident.  And get this - this evening, Rori pooped, WILLINGLY, on the toilet!!!  She was nervous, but she was the one to tell us she needed to, and she sat on the toilet until she was done! 

I am so proud of her!  I knew she was ready, but I knew she was scared.  I don't fully understand, why she is so scared, but I know she is.  She still is, but the more she goes, the less nervous she is.  She is being brave and overcoming her fears. :)  She has stopped asking to be changed into a diaper, though we will put her in one when it's time to go to bed.

I'm hoping that tomorrow will be just as successful (maybe even without ANY accidents) and then, hopefully soon, there will be no need for potty updates. ;)

A couple of weeks ago, while walking with a friend, she told me about banana bread she had just made - with strawberries added!  Wow, that sounded good!  So, I thought I'd try it. 

How did I not think to try this earlier???

It is SOOOOOO good!

So, I'm reposting my original banana bread recipe with the strawberries added:

Banana Strawberry Bread

2 large old bananas (3 or 4 if they are smaller)
½ tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
¼ tsp. Salt
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup egg substitute  (or two eggs)
½ cup applesauce
1 cup chopped fresh strawberries

Mash bananas in a small bowl and stir in soda. Let sit. Mix all other ingredients in another bowl. Add banana mixture. Stir in strawberries.  Spray bottom of bread pan with nonstick spray. Pour mixture in. Bake at 350 degrees for about 80 minutes. Makes 1 loaf.

(In case you're paying attention, the only changes are adding the strawberries and then adding 10 minutes to the baking time.)

That would be what Rori is wearing this afternoon!  :)

She's been going potty in the potty chair everytime we put her on it, but she's not loving it.  She'd much rather just go in her diaper. :S  Since I don't have anywhere else to go today, I thought I'd try letting her wear big girl panties instead of diapers for the rest of the day.  So far, so good!

She still would rather be in diapers, she asks for me to change her back into them, but she's keeping the panties on - and keeping them clean!  I have to ask her if she needs to go potty, she always says "no".  But I can tell when she needs to because she starts asking for the diaper more insistantly.  So far, she has held her pee until I put her on the potty chair and then she has peed, no problem. :)

I don't know why she is so opposed to being potty trained, she's really good at going potty in the potty chair and she's good at holding it until she gets there, when she needs to, so I don't know why she isn't more excited about having this control over her body and getting big girl privileges.

Ooh, she just came to me and asked to use the potty chair!  Gotta go! :)