Where have we been?

-At the library stocking up on books for the summer reading program and doing crafts.

-In the sandbox enjoying summer and pretending we're at the beach.

-At the store getting everything ready for Kate's 5th birthday parties (when the kids turn 5 I do a friend party as well as the usual celebrations with both side of the family)!

It's hard to believe that my oldest daughter if 5!! She is a spunky, caring, silly, imaginative, creative, smart, happy little girl and we are so blessed to have her in this family! On her actual birthday, Nana watched Peter and Maddie so I could take Kate (and Ella) to the mall. We got her picture taken, did Build a Bear, and went out for lunch. It was a really special time together!

-At the strawberry farm picking berries! Well, I picked. Peter sort of helped. Kate picked 10 berries and then dumped her bucket over. Maddie ate berries. Hopefully next year they'll be a little more helpful! Oh well, the weather was perfect and they all looked really cute in their baseball caps and rubber boots! I, however, looked about as far from cute as possible! After awhile I gave up on bending or squatting between the rows to pick the berries. I plopped down in the squishy, slightly muddy straw and picked whatever I could reach, moved further down the row, plopped down and picked some more. Thankfully my husband did the hard work of cutting the 4 buckets worth of strawberries for me. I had a rash up my arms from the picking and my hands were a mess as usual. Pete and I stood at the kitchen counter for nearly 3 hours cutting, crushing, stirring, and ladeling. We have 25 beautiful jars of jam to show for it- well 23 now :)

-In the bathroom. I started potty training Maddie two weeks ago. She is doing a FANTASTIC job! With all of my kids I attempted to potty train them right after they turned 2, thinking they were ready. They weren't so back in diapers they went and I waited until 2-3 months before their 3rd birthday. And Peter, Kate, and now Maddie have all been very ready and quick potty trainers at that point. I still really really do not like potty training! It is tiring, consuming and just plain not fun. I think with the rest of the kids I need to remember not to even try until soon before they turn 3. Maddie had a sticker potty chart and this morning we celebrated putting on the last sticker!! Yay for my big girl. I made a chart with 100 squares. The first couple of days I did a "pants check" every 15-30 minutes. If she was dry she got a sticker. Then she had to go to the potty chair to try to "make potty." If she made potty she got another sticker. If she made poopy, she got 2 stickers. The first two days she did great then the third she had a couple of accidents in a row. I was really frustrated and felt like I had to really focus on her so we did a little "potty training boot camp." I put her on a stool in the kitchen with a basket of books and lots of juice. The timer went off for pants checks and trips to the potty every TEN minutes! We did this for 2 hours straight which was very tiring for both of us, BUT I think it made a huge difference! We do diapers at naptime and nighttime and pull ups when we go out. I think she has had less than 10 accidents the whole time. And she's heading to the bathroom on her own already! Her incentive for getting the 100 stickers was her lion flashlight. This morning I was able to give her this prize that she's been able to see from afar, but not touch. She was a happy girl putting the last sticker on!

-At home celebrating Father's Day with my parents.