Piggy's Birthday

We celebrated Piggy's birthday on April 3.  Ever since her birthday in March, Rhys has been asking when Piggy's birthday was.  As many of you know, Piggy is Rhys' very special friend.  We decided to just pick a day and celebrate Piggy.  

I had the table set like this before the kids got up that morning.  When they came downstairs, they were SO excited to see the birthday hats, but the balloons were the biggest hit.

The birthday girl wearing some preemie pajamas that Rhys wore when she was little.

We had planned to make some banana cupcakes (banana bread muffins) but the bananas got eaten (OOPS), so we made a last minute change and had cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  Rhys also told us that Piggy LOVES strawberries, so we added a couple to everyone's plate.

We even sang happy birthday...

and we blew out Piggy's candles for her.  She turned one year old, in case you were wondering.

Rhys was so proud and excited and I think she sang happy birthday to Piggy about 500 times all day long.

Daddy and Rhett enjoying Piggy's birthday breakfast.

The day before the party we took the kids to the dollar store and let them each pick out a gift for Piggy.  It was hilarious the things they considered.  Rhys ended up with a pink calculator, which she says is Piggy's phone, and Rhett chose one of those mini towels that you put in water and then it grows.  I think we were at the dollar store for over an hour choosing just the right gifts.  We kept telling Rhett that he could only hold one thing for Piggy.  Let's just say he had a lot of gift ideas!  

We had so much fun celebrating.  Happy 1st Birthday Piggy!

Potty Training Update

Many of you have been asking me how potty training is going, so I thought I'd post an update.  If you are not caught up on our newest adventure, you can read about the beginning here.  

Overall, the past 6 weeks have gone pretty well.  Rhett has definitely been easier to train, but I think he was more ready than Rhys was when we started.  But I really can't complain about Rhys either since she has done great!  

The first few days were a challenge for Rhys.  Please don't judge me, but I even put the little potty in front of the t.v. to encourage her to sit. You can see how well this worked:

So, we started using chocolate again.  You may not agree with this, but all I can say is that it worked for my kiddos.  I'm not planning on replenishing this container when it is empty (and we are getting close) so we will see how it goes.

Rhys needed some extra motivation one day.

Pink fingernails!

One of my fears when we began potty training was that we would be stuck at home all the time to be near a bathroom.  After a few days at home, I decided that we were going to need a traveling solution.  So we put a little potty in the van, and voila!

Pretty hilarious, right?

Overall, the potty training has gone better than I expected.  We still use diapers/pull-ups at nap and at bedtime but are staying dry during the day most days.  While I don't love spending a lot of my day in restrooms (especially public ones!), it is a welcome change to not be changing 147 diapers a day.   The extra money in our bank account is nice, too!

Way to go R&R!

The Life

Awwwwww!!  So sweet, right?

This lasted for about 2.8 seconds, and then it looked like this:

And this:

Sorry, baby girl.  You are living the life.  The twin's life, that is.

The Month Before Christmas...

December was a busy, but fun month!  We started out by putting up our Christmas tree.  R&R were sooooo very excited to help.  

Tim got the tree put up, but the kids were getting hungry so we decided to hold off and do the decorating the next night.  So we enjoyed the lights and made homemade pizzas.  I can't find my pictures from that part of our evening.  Or maybe I didn't take any.  I can't remember.  But the kids loved putting their own toppings on their own little pizzas.  A new, fun tradition, I'm sure!

The next night we pulled out the ornaments and we had a great time decorating the tree together.

Then we let Rhett and Rhys have their first taste of hot chocolate!  I'm not sure what they thought about the drink, but they thought it was so funny that daddy put marshmallows in their cups!

Most evenings in December ended just like this.

We also visited Bass Pro Shops Winter Wonderland in December.  We rode the carousel (several times) and even saw Santa!  

The twins had seen Santa once before this season and were not big fans.  We did not have high expectations.  But we were pleasantly surprised when this happened:

CONFESSION:  We told them that Santa was giving candy canes to kids who sat on his lap and smiled at the camera.  That was a true statement.  He was also giving candy to kids who screamed for their parents, but we left that part out.  R&R are highly motivated by candy....what does that say about us as parents?  Hmmm......

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the month:

More Christmas posts to come soon!

Potty Training

January 2, 2104:  First day of potty training.  

All my friends are thinking, "Wow, I'm surprised Misty didn't start yesterday."  You know me too well, my peeps, too well.   You know my love of all things even and organized and structured.  All things which are not associated with teaching two 2-year-olds to use the potty.  

And for the inquiring minds out there, I did want to start potty training yesterday, but Rhett woke up in a defiant and fussy mood, and I knew it would not be good.  So we waited.  We woke up today, busted out the Cars undies and Dora panties and just went for it!

Let me first say that I have a new respect and admiration for anyone who has ever done this.

Rhys was so proud of her Dora panties, and kept announcing "I keep Dora dry."  She did great and only had 2 accidents all day!  

Rhett would not pose for a picture for me, but I sure did love seeing this tiny hiney in those Cars undies today!  He did great and did not have an accident all day!  He cried when I told him he needed to wear a diaper for nap, but was happy when I let him put the underwear over his diaper.  He woke up from nap with a dry diaper, too!

We spent a lot of time in the bathroom, setting the timer, and doing the potty dance to celebrate.  I may even be sore from dancing around so much.  Did I mention we spent most of the day in the bathroom?

Don't think I will ever get tired of seeing these cute bottoms!

Rhys was so proud of herself and asked me to take a picture of her tonight.

And this is what Rhett was doing when I asked him to take a picture for me.

I had decided last night that I was not going to use any kind of reward system, that I didn't want to keep up with it, and that they just needed to feel proud of themselves and that my praise would be enough.  Let me say that this changed within the first 10 minutes of putting those underwear/panties on.  I sure did use M&Ms to bribe motivate them, and it worked.  I may have eaten a few M&Ms myself.  Okay, I ate a lot.  But we survived Day 1!  If you see me this weekend, which you probably won't because I'll be in the bathroom singing songs, reading books, and dancing....but if you do see me, give me a hug.  And tell me to lay off the M&Ms.

Tomorrow is a new adventure.  Stay tuned!