BBBBUUUFFFFF

I think I am having a dream. Someone pinch me! Is it true . . . is toilet training a girl this easy?? I thought all three of my crazy rambunctious boys were going to stay in pampers until the day they got married and had babies of their own. Yesterday, Jacqualynn Grace started putting her two lips together to make a little BBBBBUFFFFFFFF sound. I have discovered that noise is how this little lady implies she is ready to go potty. I love it! She is really toilet training herself. I don’t think it gets much better than this. I can tell you one thing is for sure . . . I wasn’t ready for another toilet training episode. The experience with Alexander and Barrett is still just a little too fresh. I have to be honest . . . we haven’t broke out the underpants yet . . . I’m still waiting to see if this is too good to be true.

Crazy Auntie Nana

After a long day in the heat nothing makes the Watson kiddos and their parents light up more than an unexpected visitor. The kiddos constantly ask, "Is a visitor coming over today??" What a surprise it was to see Auntie Nana. What makes it even more exciting was that she was in her bathing suit. . . . .that meant someone had to get wet. The more water the better. Water in the hose . . . . water in Auntie Nana's nose. . .it makes no difference. . . . water. . .water. . water. . makes the four Watson kiddos happy happy happy.

All In A Days Work.

Max is clearly almost one of the 'big kids,' at least he thinks he is. . . after all almost 5 is a pretty big number. To tell you the truth for the longest time, meaning until today, I have been considering him one of my babies. . . after all. . .all my babies are babies. I know pathetic. Today it just felt as though he was really growing up . . . and growing up way too fast. . . He decided that he wants to be just like his Dad when he grows up. . . Swim ~ Bike ~ Run! It makes me chuckle to think that Max really believes that participating in triathlons is what his dad does. There was a children's 1/2 mile run in our town so we signed the little aspiring runner up. Once we were at the starting line Alexander and Barrett couldn't resist the excitement and at the last minute they decided to jump in the race. Despite a couple of 'I tired's' everyone finished with big high fives and raced really well. As I tucked Max in bed tonight he was trying to squeeze a few extra minutes by telling me his leg hurt and he needed to ice it. LOL. . . Like mother like son. I distinctly remember icing my shins last weekend after a ten miler. :) Mom (that's me :)) fit in a little 5K this a.m. for kicks. . . I am pretty happy with the 30 second per mile improvement. Pretty mom can still run. Dad and Jacq were great sports cheering from the side lines. ;) Fun time for the whole family.

Everyone loves a Parade. . .especially my little ones. . . My favorite part of the parade was watching the children and their reponses. They eagerly stood for every American Flag, waved their little hearts out, and believe it or not stopped eating candy after I told them I thought their teeth were going to fall out. Not to my surprise, but everyone did have their 'favorite' part of the parade and it seemed so fitting. . .Max. . . the drums in the marching band. . .Alexander. . .all the RED cars. . .Barrett. . .anything animal, but he especially favorited the kissing Maggie Moo Cow.. . .Jacqualynn Grace enjoyed chilling in her personal soccer mom chair getting tons of attention from all the friends that passed by. Three cheers for the Parade. . . YEAH!

At our house a balloon is a highly prized possession. At the end of the parade the boys were all given a green balloon. The boys were so excited that they could hardly stand themselves. Everyone had the string tied around their wrist except Alexander ~ he insisted on holding the balloon in his hand. After being repeatedly warned that if he let go of his balloon it would disappear . . ..the little guy let go. He was standing in tears beside himself. Unprompted Max ran to him, reassured him everything was going to be just fine and tied his balloon to Alexander's wrist. I'm the first one to admit that my children are far from perfect, but this little incident made my little Mommy Heart Soar. Max is pretty religious about standing up for his brothers, calming a situation, and banning all the Watson kids together. This has been such a blessing in our home and I know that in a difficult situation Max will be the glue that holds the children together.

It takes a village. . .

When the Watty Watsons first moved to Utah I really thought that it was going to be the end of ME! I just wasn't sure that I would survive the "Utah culture," because. . .you know there is a secret sub culture in Utah they call those "Utah Mormons". . . sounds scarey huh? :) I was just sure that Utah was going to kill me. We moved in the middle of winter, no friends, a little family, lots of little children that had lots of little needs.. .There where a couple friendly neighbors that stopped by with goodies(ONCE), a fun Grandma Watson that volunteered to babysit fairly regularly, and a couple unexpected stop in's from Aunties (which we loved). . . .but for the most part I felt alone and on my own. After settling down a bit, I'd have to say that my perspective has changed and I'm excited about all the opportunities/friendships we have discovered here in Utah. . .it really has become a great place to raise our little ones (Sorry Brooke ~ I know you really don't want to hear that). While we miss our family and friends ~ we have managed to create an evironment that we can call HOME. I'm a big believer in the phrase, 'It takes a village to raise a child'. . . wether you are near or far. . I am grateful for the influence you are in my children's life and the fact that you are part of our 'village'. Thank you! And should you get the itch to move down to UT let me know- we will help find you a house!

Spank ~ Spank ~ Spank

To Spank or Not to Spank. . . .is there even a question?? LOL! I know that this is a pretty controversial subject . . . I am really not as one sided as that question indicates. And. . . well. . . .maybe don't watch the video of my darling 3 year olds talk about how when they occasionally get a spank. . . . .Oh . . and Please Please don't turn me into the local authorities, Social Services, or tell the neighbors next door. Every once in a while I can fool the neighbors into believing that I'm a pretty good mom. . . .I promise I am a good mom and I really don't spank that often. Every once in a while my little ones need a little extra reminder that I am the boss. ;) I am constantly wrestling in my mind with how to instill guidelines that will allow me to raise my children so that they are decent, productive, loving adults. Hopefully along the way they will be obedient children/teens and listen to their all knowing mother. (That's me. . I just had to add that. :)) I just thought I would weigh in and get a better understanding of how other mothers, fathers, Aunties, Grandmas, anyone disciplines their children. Anyone??

A Fish's Playground

The Watson's can not seem to get enough of the water. Whether the water is in our very own backyard, sneaking into Aunt Lyss's Swimming pool, or going to the local water park. . . it never seems to be enough. I'm pretty sure that the little ones should have been born with fins instead of feet. While these sinking fish are trying to figure out how to coordinate their little bodies underwater I have discovered that we (we as me and any one who dares to go to the park with me) have to keep an extra close eye on these fish. We don't want to be dragging any one of them up from the bottom of the pool. . . at least not today. :) Thank goodness we had four extra Auntie hands to help us at the park. The kids enjoyed the extra one on one attention and I can't tell you how much I appreciated their help and company. After Max slipped on a wet step and split open his chin, him and Dad decided to take a little visit to the Emergency Room. It was an unfortunate event, but when it was all over I think Max survived his visit. . . pretty sure that this was the first of many trips to the ER. Sounds as if Max might have even enjoyed his trip to the ER just a little bit and the secret treat he was rewarded for allowing four Nurses/Doctors to look at and work on his chin. Once a little fatty tissue was cut out and his chin was glued together he was good to go. Alexander and Barrett were pretty much unstoppable. They really believed that if they weren't bobbing in and out of the water that their world was going to stop spinning. They could not get enough of the bottom of the swimming pool. They were only saved a handful of times by helpful strangers that didn't realize that they were really 'just swimming' and not drowning. Jacqualynn Grace was quite unbelievable. As she eagerly approached the water slide the lifeguard noted her age and kindly indicated that mom could go down with her. I've been on those rough bumpy children slides a time or two and reassured him that she would be just fine and probably tickled pink to go down by herself. After one of her Aunts pulled her out of the water at the bottom she was grinning from ear to ear and immediately pointed back at the slide as to indicate she was ready to go again and again and again. . . . I haven't figured out what made my heart stop faster the tadpole pond (water slide) or the wave pool were sis would walk around and suddenly just bloop her little self at the bottom of the pool. She~just like her brothers~was sure she was swimming. . . it looked an awful lot like drowning to me. When I or one of her Aunties would go to her aid, she was just beside herself. She didn't understand why were pulling her out of the water. . .after all she was 'just swimming.' It's really hard for me to explain all the fun events of the day. . . . good thing we tried out all the new features of Aunt Jen's cool Camera. I posted some fun pictures, underwater pictures and I'll be sure to post some fun videos. :) The challenge for the upcoming week is trying to find a fun filled week that has nothing to do with the water. Max is officially on Water Restriction for the next 7 days. Pretty sure these sinking fish are going to go through water withdrawals. . . What on earth will they ever do?

A Treaty Treat!

Any one want a treat? This is a super common phrase in my house ... .FOR ME! Of course not for the children, I monitor the kids like mad and watch them like a hawk. I can eat chocolate cake and chippy chips, but the little ones can have a cut up apple and string cheese. :) I wish I could deceive myself and write that this little 'Treaty Treat' ritual occurs once a day, but to be completely honest with you it is a tad more regular than that. Should I be embarrassed to be admitting this little vice? I'm not sure how I even developed this nasty little habit. . .but. . . I eat when I'm bored. . .I eat when I'm sad. . I eat if it's Sunday (a lot . . after all it's Sunday). . .I eat when I'm frustrated. . .heck I even eat when I'm happy, I eat if I have a great run. . .I pick up a treat when I go shopping, Ah . . .I go to work tonight. . .better get me a treat! Sisters took me out for my Birthday. . guess who was the only member of the treaty treat and clean plate club. . .ME! It was way too much fun and I LOVE being 30, but I ate everything. . .I wish I could say that I eat when I'm hungry, but I honestly don't believe I allow my body to get hungry, because I LIKE TO EAT! Tell me your favorite restaurant and I can tell you my favorite treat. I'm a permanent member of the 'Treaty Treat' Club! I try to be good. . . I purchased whole wheat pancakes the other day. YUMMMY. There is only one little dilemma. . . I loaded it with peanut butter and syrup. All the sudden it's not so healthy. You are probably wondering why on earth I am divulging all my treaty treat secrets. . . I don't have anyone to tell me NO and hide all the treats (that's my job) and apparently I have no self control so I'm asking you, my friends, my family, and heck if you just happened to stumble onto my page, PLEASE HELP! Do you have any suggestions to monitor my treat intake. I am honestly afraid that I am going to wake up some day and be over 200lbs. Share your secrets . ..any amazing ideas? One thing is for sure. . .I could really use them. Look . . . .I just updated my blog. . .I think I need a treat! :)

Never a Dull Moment

Soul 2 Soul

Canyon Park BBQ

TRI Something New

I did it! I feel a little bit like Timmy Tim! I finally competed in my first sprint Triathlon this year. Even though it was just a little home town event I had a blast. The energy that is present at these events is unbelievable . . . I felt unstoppable and on top of the world. The event was extremely viewer friendly. I saw my little cheering squad plenty of times and they were darling. Thank you ~ Thank you to you all. I loved all the cheers, whistles, high fives, flowers, pictures, and cheesy grinning smiles.
Tim raced and placed first in the men's division and second overall. :) He's almost unstoppable.. . . just in case you didn't catch it. . .he did get beat by a GIRL! Maybe . . just maybe. . . . that will motivate him to start training. I have to admit I didn't do all that bad myself. I placed 3rd in my age group with a time that wasn't too shabby. Not bad for a "Pretty Mom."
Tim likes to say, "Tri Harder" I think I prefer the terminology, "Tri Something New." Heck. . .Tri something fun. . .spice up your life. . . live a little. . . . .put a smile on your face. . .add a little bounce back in your step. . . accomplish. . .LIVE! I know if your mind can conceive it ~ you can achieve it! What to do now? Start small. . . set a goal. Heck we can even set a goal together? I like the sound of that. What will I do next? What will you do? Want to do something together?