Hot August Memories

August was a month of mischief for our kids...mainly Adrian. But it was fun mischief and definitely memorable.

Aug 8th
What is Patrick doing?? Well the boys wanted their frog pool blown up so instead of doing it with the hand pump (which takes manual up and down labor), Patrick hooked the vacuum up to the pump nozzle which was in the pool valve (caught that?) and filled up pool. Only a man would think of this contraption.

Aug 4th
We went to the Arizona Museum for Youth (AMY) with our friends the Glenn's and the Hedges. The kids had lots of fun playing, and us moms were glad to supervise our kids inside away from the scorching sun.

Adrian "picking" the corn

Adrian "planting" the corn and carrots

Anthony has really gotten into pretending...here he is playing house

Our boys love markers. Adrian is cleaning his art place.

then draws. So cute, I love his chubby hand!

As if there aren't cars at home...Anthony can never have enough

Anthony's turn with the markers. He has such good form holding his marker. This is also a good shot of his hair. We convinced him to have Jayna Hedges use the trimmers on his hair. He actually liked it and can't wait to have another hair cut.

Anthony's hair cut from the back

Aug 12th
And the mischief begins. Meagan fixed the boys a sandwich and went to the computer. Then she heard a "pit-pat, pit-pat" of feet into the bathroom, then toilet lid open and close then a quicker "pit-pat, pit-pat" running out of the bathroom. When she went to investigate. This is what she found.....

Adrian: "Can I still eat it?"

A little video of Anthony explaining what happened

Aug 19th

A few days after the toileted sandwich, Patrick was running late for work and Meagan was hurrying to fix his lunch while he got ready. Patrick entered the kitchen just in time to see Adrian pull the pitcher of juice out of the fridge and throw it on the floor. The entire pitcher of juice (crystal light actually) spilled.

The vegetable door was opened so juice spilled in it...
And of course Adrian slipped in the juice when it spilled
In a hurry Patrick put Adrian in the sink so he wouldn't spread juice all over the house while we cleaned up :) Adrian didn't seem to mind, he sat in there for quite a while

Aug 22nd
When Anthony was about 18months when we introduced him to finger paint. Anthony still loves to paint, so when he asked to get the finger paint out we figured it was a good time to introduce Adrian to finger paint also.

Of course the first thing Adrian did was stick his finger in the paint then taste test it...explaining his blue lips. But he quickly got the hang of the paint brush.

Anthony is all smiles. This is the first time they've painted all summer

They painted so nicely
Then it got interesting as Anthony started to use the wrong side of the brush

And Adrian tried to paint the camera (love the lips!)
and then Adrian figured out the true meaning of finger-body paint
He even painted his hair :)

Aug 24th
The boys love to read, but they love to read with Dad the best. After dinner they usually read a couple books with Dad. Meagan loves this picture, there is just nothing like listening your husband read books to the kids!

Earlier that day, the A/C fan on the Jetta broke, so Pat had to remove the part. Anthony was BIG HANDS, I mean he was a Big Helping Hand
Adrian marching in the rocks
Just love his Charlie Brown head shape!
Anthony is getting excited as Dad pulls out the fan
Adrian is too little to help with the Jetta, so he thought he'd exercise his super powers and unscrew the lug nuts on the Pilot by hand.
All that waiting was worth it, now Anthony can play with the broken fan
Adrian discovered Dad's tool box

Aug 27th
Adrian's mischief continues as he sneakily steals Anthony's Go-Gurt off the table.

Adrian didn't squeeze all yogurt in his mouth, a lot ended up on the floor, which he happily played in
Adrian is 100% satisfied

Aug 28th
Patrick went with the scouts and the Kaufman's on a triathlon trip. No, Patrick didn't compete he was the bike mechanic/driver for the trip. Since both Don and Shara Kaufman went, Meagan watched Kaitlyn for the night and the next day. Saturday morning, Meagan put Kaitlyn to work cleaning up after breakfast...

Kaitlyn was so good. She behaved better than our own kids! She just loved the dogs, especially Denali. Kaitlyn would laugh every time Denali licked her hands.

Aug 29th
Meagan finished cooking dinner, strapped Adrian into his chair and went to get Patrick and Anthony. While we was telling them dinner was ready, she heard "clang, clang". Knowing she hadn't given Adrian a plate, she ran to the kitchen and this is what she saw....

Apparently, Adrian is chunky enough to bust his buckle on the booster seat. He discovered this, climbed onto the table and started picking at the corn off mom's plate.

Aug 30th
Well, we started Anthony potty training, and he wasn't doing too bad. But it had been a week and a half and he had only pooped in the potty twice. Yeah, do the math, that is a lot of poop that ended up on the floor or in the undies then on the floor. Gampa Child send Anthony this big gumball machine for motivation...and it worked! Anthony pooped in the potty and he got to play with the gumball machine. Of course, Adrian joined the festivities

Anthony turning the dial

and out comes the gumball

"Cheese!" or should we say "Gumball!"
Adrian got a hold of a gumball and is licking his lips
Anthony was so excited he kept carrying the machine around

Here is a video of their teamwork and Anthony's triumphant dance

We also decided to throw Anthony a Big Kid party. We explained how Big Kids use the potty and babies wear diapers. First he threw away his pull-ups (because he thought they were diapers so we got rid of them completely and just went cold turkey to undies)

then he got to open his Big Kid gift...
which was underwear! He seems excited
Anthony told Mom what kind of cake and icing he wanted and helped her make it. We gave him three candles and he blew them all out
Anthony triumphantly yelling: "I'm a BIG KID NOW!"

The party seemed to work. It has only been a month since we started and he hardly has accidents. He still regresses sometimes, but he is doing a lot better. Anthony will tell us when he has to go, though he won't run and do it himself, he does recognize when he has to go. Surprisingly enough, Anthony stays dry at night too! Here's to Big Kid Freedom (and Mommy having to buy less diapers)!