Unfortunately, that meant Cashe waking up at 4:00 a.m. & ready to go Monday morning & that wasn't about to happen. Praise God, he fell back asleep, but it took a toll on us all later that morning, so he snuggled up on our bed to watch some cartoons while Shad & I shared a pot of coffee.
While on our Boise trip last week, I had forgotten to include the one & only picture of me with new, little Lily Belle. She is the sweetest, tiniest little peanut.
She was born on February 8th & we had just moved so this was the first time I had gotten to see her & hold her & snuggle her. She is so perfect. Bob & Jen make beautiful children.
Speaking of Mrs. Jennifer Bradley, when Jen & I first had children, we were those moms who always said, "My kid won't wear the Disney character clothing. They will wear basic, but simple & classy clothing with no embellishments."
She didn't get away with it because her children received many Disney character clothing gifts & once your child knows who the Disney characters are, you begin the daily battle of what to wear: tacky Lightning McQueen attire vs. cute Kids' Gap attire.
While we were in Boise, Jen pulled out Kohlman's old snow boots (secretly knowing what I was in for, I'm sure!) And while there are NO compliants because the Bradleys have been a HUGE blessing as far as hand-me-downs go, guess what we inherited?
Lightning McQueen snow boots.
Not just SNOW boots, giant MOON boots like from the 80s (like I had & loved & wore everywhere).
And, guess who LOVES his crazy new boots & INSISTS on wearing them everywhere, including all places that have no snow like: the house or bed, or even outside (which is more realistic, but we still don't have snow, so unncessary).
You guessed it. Cashe.
Here we were able to compromise with a little Gap & the crazy boots.
MUST wear the boots inside as well. I am sure he's admiring them in this photo as he has his snack in the corner (his choice to eat there, not mine). He could stare at Lightning McQueen paraphernalia all day long.Aside from the boot battle, we are also battling potty training & naptime.
I thought now would be the best time to get started on potty training as it seems that we're at that age & the sooner I get Cashe potty-trained, the sooner he can start preschool (potty training is one of the requirements at the schools here).
I hadn't done any research or reading, but we purchased a potty (Lightning McQueen, go figure) & I had heard enough through friends who have older kids how to get started. Supposedly, it's easy, but it requires dedication (at least a week or more) & patience (which I'm FULL of).
AND, it requires a reward of some type, so we chose gummi bears. Little did I know how hard it was going to be & how much dedication & patience I am truly lacking.
Cashe is somewhat interested in sitting on his potty, but as soon as he sits down, he stands up & says, "all done".
Cashe's teacher had told me when we were in Boise that he loved to sit on the potty there, so I figured it would hold true to home.
Not so much.
It's not nearly as fun to sit on a potty with your mom in the room. It's way more fun if you have classmates who will sit on toilets with you, apparently.
Needless to say, we're still working on that & I'm doing far more research than I had hoped to.
Bedtime is a whole separate issue. Naps seem to be no more. Cashe inherited his father's genes (yet again) in which, he cannot fall asleep, but once he does, he's a deep deep sleeper.
The trick is the first hour & a half of getting him to fall asleep. We must not wear him out enough during the day, so he lays in bed & talks & kicks & squirms & sings & counts & squirms & eventually gets himself out of bed to either:
(a) find Mom & Dad or
(b) find Mom & Dad's phones & play with them while they don't know about it.
(Be warned: If you receive calls from either Shad or myself after 8:00 p.m., it could be Cashe. Feel free to answer & tell him to go back to bed, please.)
Needless to say, we're still working on that & I'm doing far more research than I had hoped to.
In addition to being a parent, we're also working on making our home our own. We have more space in this home than we did before, so we've got more wall space & more room for furniture, so we've been playing around with where we want to put our current furniture & what we want to hang where.
This photo gallery wall is one of the wall space projects I had been working on. It's one I had before in our last home, but the pictures fit better horizontally, so I only had 9 frames.
Now, the wall is vertical so I need 10 frames & guess what?! Bed, Bath & Beyond (which is NOT in Twin) no longer sells this exclusive BB&B frame! My sweet husband was in Boise over the weekend & went on the hunt for me & found out it was discontinued. Grrrrrr .... gotta get creative, Nicole.
Needless to say, we're still working on that & I'm doing far more research than I had hoped to.
And this here is a big ol' gallery wall mess that I have to work on too. I plan to tackle this in the hallway that goes up the stairs, which will require some serious math skills, I think. Who said you never used math after high school?!
Aside from all the child projects & home projects, Shad requested I make him his favorite: chocolate chip cookies. I thought, I might as well make them since he's at home to eat them now (he's not leaving for Texas every week anymore so I eat them all) & we've been eating really well all week, I'd be happy to!
Little did he know I only had whole wheat flour, so they were fairly healthy & a huge hit with Cashe too, who sat up on the counter & helped me make them.
In addition to our healthy homemade cookies, Shad kept the theme going & surprised me one night with a family membership to Gold's Gym. I was so grateful. I love a good gym membership, not only for a good workout, but for something to do & some way to meet new people.
Even with all the projects & the new gym membership, the first half of the week seemed to be pretty quiet, so by the time Thursday rolled around, Cashe & I finally showered & changed into "real" clothes & went to Bible Study.
His new fascination (aside from Cars) is trains. He loves loves loves Chuggington & Thomas the Train. He has to either have a train in each hand at all times or one of his train books. Thankfully, he has learned that he cannot tote it all into Bible Study or Target or WinCo.
Nonetheless, Cashe's true passion right now lies with his love of Playdough. Auntie Kelly bought him his first tub of blue Playdough a few years ago & we had to expand his collection this year & purchase a few additional colors AND accessories.
He giggles & giggles when you press the Playdough through the Playdough-Garlic-Press-Thingy.
Friday mornings, the Twin Falls Library hosts a story time for kids, so we try to go each week, although I'm sure some of the other moms wish we would just stay home.
Cashe is NOT known for his sitting-still-skills right now & the older kids in story time (mostly their moms) are annoyed with the 2-year-old who likes to stand behind the teacher & wave at the class OR climb over the laps of all the other children.
Maybe story time isn't age-appropriate for my unruly 2-year-old, but he's really harmless & I just have to keep reminding myself, "He's two. He's two. He's two." And fellow Twin Falls Library Moms, your kids were once two too.
Cashe ADORES puzzles though & after story time, we hit up the puzzle tables & put the same one together 12 different times in RECORD time. My son is a genius when it comes to putting puzzles together. He may not be able to sit on a potty or go to sleep or sit still through a story, but he can put together a mean puzzle in no time flat!
Saturday morning rolled around & I decided to try out the spin class at Gold's. It was St. Patrick's Day, so when I got to class, the instructor was decked out in his green pajamas & a funky green hat. Bizarre. Even more bizarre: he never got on his bike! He just instructed class by walking around & chit-chatting with everyone. Wow, this town is laid back. (This rule-follower is going a little nuts.)
After class, I ran home, showered & went to my Bible Study's Fellowship at one of our local coffee shops, Zulu's. It was so nice to meet up with some of the ladies & get to know each other on a little deeper level since we normally don't get to during the week.
Our Bible Study is strict (thankfully, because again, I'm a rule-follower & I don't want someone taking up my whole Bible Study hour with their prayer requests for their hairdresser's dog). We just answer questions about the Bible every Thursday morning & then listen to a lecture. Each month we get together separately to chit-chat. Saturday was truly a great time though & God placed me in such an amazing class.
When I got home, the boys & I went to Costco for no reason, except to eat samples & share a $2.00 piece of pizza.
Instead, we came home with a new TV stand for the bonus room. Cashe kept tormenting Dad while he opened the box in the garage & hauled the pieces upstairs (again, notice the train in hand).
Saturday night, Shad drove to Boise for his last poker tournament of the year. (He also managed to squeeze in the trip to Sizzler for dinner & Bed Bath for me too.)
Cashe & I had planned on just hanging out & tackling a new home project, but we were invited to a Cookie Lee jewelry party instead, so we went!
It was SO nice to get to know a couple of the girls who just took me in & invited me to all their weekly playdates & their birthday dinners & their couple's nights. God is so good for bringing these sweet people into my life here.
Shad got home at 2:00 a.m. that night with the news that he wouldn't be playing in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas this year. Darnit. I was glad he was able to participate though, because he loves it & he's good at it.
Sunday morning, we all got up & went to church & then had lunch with the Assistant Pastor & his wife at Gertie's.
Gertie's is a cool buffet pizza place where they walk around & offer you slices of different pizzas (instead of walking up to a buffet line). They have every type of pizza you can imagine & a super yummy salad bar too. The best part is the arcade where the kids play. Cashe can be entertained for hours with no quarters at this age.
Afterwards, I went back to Zulu's to meet a friend of a friend (who is a friend now, not just a friend of a friend) for coffee. I met Jessica through my BFF, Angela in Bozeman at her wedding 5 years ago in Missoula. Jessica & I were both bridesmaids. Angela met Jessica when they worked together at The Bon Marche in Missoula.
I knew Jessica lived in Twin when I met her 5 years ago, but little did I know I would live here too & she has been a tremendous blessing as far as finding a good area to live, good schools, where to grocery shop ... etc. It was fun to meet & catch up again after so many years too.
While I was at coffee, the boys played tag in the yard while we had a tiny glimpse of sun. We are so ready for Spring.
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