Progress

We have really been making some headway with the potty training. She has been really good about telling me. I am still using a potty reminder, just to help her remember. But the treats that really worked were candy corn (tanny torn in Irisese) and a bag of Spongebob gummy krabby patties (gummy hamburgers) that I got at the dollar store. She loves them. We still have a few accidents, but nothing like it was. Thank you for all the advice. I'm just so glad to not have to change the diapers of two children. Woo Hoo!

Any advice?

I've really been trying to get Iris potty trained and she does so good and then I spend an afternoon cleaning up accidents. For all of you who have gone through this before, any secrets that worked for you? Any tricks or methods? We got her her own potty, because the little potty seat on the toilet wasn't working. She was really excited about it for about a day and today ended with her wanting to go back to diapers. Help! I know that it can take a long time, and she needs to be ready, but are there any ways to make her want to go? Thanks.

And He's Off...

Just wanted to update everyone on a few things. First of all, Donevan is now walking! Both exciting and scary at the same time. Iris was always so good at not getting into things and just staying in one place. Donevan is the total opposite. He is always moving and into everything. He is so rough with things too. Boys.

Second, the winner of the giveaway on my craft blog is posted so go HERE to see if it was you.

And that's it really. Not as much as I thought when I started typing, but as I sit here that is all that I can think of. If more comes to me, I'll let you know. And I will get some more pictures on here too. We took some cute ones of the kids the other day, so I'll try and get those on soon.

My First Giveaway!!

I am attempting a giveaway on my craft blog. Go HERE and enter to win a fabulous prize. I'm pretty excited about it, so spread the word. Or I guess if you want to increase your chances, don't tell anyone. Either way, check it out.

Deelish!!

So I decided to go ahead and try to make some Drumsticks. They took a little more time than I thought they would with having to put them back in the freezer a couple times, but ooohhh are they worth it. They are just like the kind you buy in the store. Iris helped me. I think it would be a fun family activity. I took pictures as I was making them so I will give you the play-by-play.

First, the ingredients. Get some nice waffle cones like these. These are the store brand and were $2 cheaper. I bought a pack of 12 because I knew we had a lot of ice cream at home and would have enough for 12. Nothing to do with the fact that I would then have 12 Drumsticks.



Next is the Magic Shell chocolate. I was hoping there would be a store brand one of these but this was all there was. There was a recipe to make your own HERE, but I wanted to keep it as simple as possible. Plus, this one was S'more flavored! I couldn't pass that up.



I chose to put nuts on mine and make it more like a Drumstick. It's totally optional. I like the honey roasted ones so that's what I got and these were surprisingly cheaper than the store brand.



And of course the star of the show, ice cream!! We are usually pretty good about having a tub of this in the house. Okay right now we have two tubs. We really like ice cream. And this kind just so happens to be my favorite kind.



I poked holes in the bottom of an egg carton and used that to keep the cones upright. Worked great considering I had a dozen cones. Iris thought it was pretty fun putting the cones in there for me. She kept saying, "Hep oou Mommy" which translates into "Help you Mommy". She loves to help.



Now after shaking up the Magic Shell bottle really well, (also something fun for Iris to help with) you pour it in the shell and swirl it around so that it coats the whole inside. The S'more flavored kind has little chunks of graham cracker in it so it wasn't smooth but that doesn't really matter anyways.





Then you put them in the freezer to harden the chocolate. You can also get the ice cream out to soften up a little bit. This would be a good time to cut out the wax paper. Once I figured out the size and shape I folded the wax paper over a couple times to cut a bunch at once.



I chopped the nuts during this time, too. Iris tried but just ended up putting her hand on top of mine and pushed down while I did. Good thing I got the big jar because I ate a lot of these while chopping. I don't really like nuts too much, but these are REALLY good. Plus, the extra I threw in a bag with Craisins and chocolate chips for some homemade trail mix.





Donevan was giving words of encouragment while munching on Cheerios.



Now wrap each cone in wax paper and tape it. You want to have like two inches sticking above the cone.



Then fill 'er up with the good stuff. Leave room for more chocolate and nuts on the top. I popped them back into the freezer at this point because the ice cream was really soft and I wanted it to harden back up.



In the the other tutorial they had you make a core with more of the Magic Shell, but I like the Drumsticks with the soft carmel or chocolate, so I improvised. I took a straw and hollowed out the center a little bit.





Then I just drizzled the topping in. Some carmel, some chocolate syrup. Then back into the freezer again.





Once the ice cream is nice and hard again, pour on some more Magic Shell and immediately sprinkle the nuts on. Then of course, back into the freezer. It was really hard for me to wait until Evan got home to eat one. And of course when I did, I didn't take any pictures, so I'll take some pictures of the next one I eat.





Because I will be eating more.

Yum!

I totally want to try this! I love these. I found this via Crafty Crow. It looks so easy.

Sugar and Spice...

Since I did a post about Donevan I figured I should do one about Iris too. She is getting so big so fast that I look at her and hardly recognize her anymore. I wonder where my tiny little Sugar Pie went. She is so much fun. She says the funniest things. And she is so smart. I'm sure I've already bragged about this before, but she knows all the letters and what sound they make and numbers 1-10. She loves to learn new things. The pictures from her birthday are on the other computer so I will try and put some of those on later, but for now these will have to do.

Quite the little lady.


Funny story...she was coloring in her coloring books on the floor. I looked over at her and she was taking something out of her mouth. I grabbed it from her and saw that it was the tip off one of her crayons. I told that we don't put crayons in our mouths and she looked at me and turned around and handed me this neat little pile of crayon tips. At least she wasn't eating them. Just a little nibble.


Just bein' her cute self.


The ultimate summer activity. After playin' hard in the sprinkler, sitting and enjoying a nice cold otter pop.


Helping dad on the tractor.


Chowin' down on a nice ear of corn. Another excellent summer activity.


The next few are from our camping trip to Frenchman's Lake. This is Iris with her friend, Aspen, and the fish that they caught. They were pretty pround. Iris wouldn't hold it though. She was okay with just holding the chain.


S'mores are a must when one is camping.



She had so much fun fishing. I think pretty much anything dad does she wants to do too. How 'bout those nice red shoes. Perfect camping attire if you ask me. It was all I could do to get her take those shoes off to go to bed.



She reeled this in all by herself. She kept saying "Dad, dad" and when he grabbed the pole from her he realized she had hooked something. So he showed her how to reel it in and here comes a little catfish. She was a little freaked out by it at first but was okay with it after a bit.


Bein' silly with Daddy. Whenever Evan asks her "How much do you love Daddy?" she always says, "Huge Daddy". It's cute.



She loves her cowboy hat. She pulls it down so it pretty much covers her eyes.
Cruisin' on her sweet hog.


Playin' with Roxy. She loves any animal.


My little ragamuffin.



She took her flower girl duties very seriously. She LOVED this "pitty dess" and the flowers. They are fake flowers so she still plays with them. Thank you Matt and Janessa for asking her to be a part of your wedding. I thought she was one of the cutest flower girls I have ever seen.