Daddy's Day

We woke up early, before church and made a big breakfast,

then it was present time!

 

Boys couldn't wait to watch Daddy open his presents,

nothing big, a collage of the boys,

and some special crafts Case and Rhett helped with.

I think those are the ones that we always
remember, and cherish the most though.

 

 

Wishing our amazing Daddy a WONDERFUL Father's Day, on his day,

and every single day.



Slow Progress

Last night, we heard, "I neetogo pee pee!" 

He's Mr. Independent, so we usually check on him 

after he's been in there for a few seconds, you know 

to get himself situated. 

("I do it myself! I do it! I try it!)

Then I walked in to see this, such a silly little stinker! 

Hey, I don't care how he goes, as long as he's going! ;)

So here's the update. 

This kid knows how to go on the potty. 

It's totally up to him now. 

If you have met the Rhetter man, 

you know he marches to the beat of his own drum. 

He'd rather be exploring the rock wall of escape, 

than playing with the 12 kids on the playground. 

He'd rather be running around full speed, 

hands in fists, and sprinting than sitting down. Ever. 

He'd rather climb the kitchen drawers...

or completely disassemble the childproof door covers...

or figure out how to unlock every single lock in the house...

or explore every corner of the ball park than watch Case play t-ball...

or wake up in the middle of the night, put on his baseball hat, 

put every toy he can fit into his Halloween bucket 

(don't ask, we don't know) and wake us up to say "Hi!" 

That's our Rhetter man. 

I'm going to have SO many stories for his future wife. 

So here's the thing, 

he goes when he wants to go. 

The first couple of days, he had lots of accidents, 

but slowly through the week started to have a few more 

successful trips.  

Just this past week, he has been telling me, 

even when we are out. 

I haven't changed a pull up, or cleaned up an accident 

in the mornings in a while now! 

Little man usually gives up after nap time,

but we are getting there. 

We have good days and bad days, 

some days he just doesn't ever tell me, all day long. Nothing. 

Then the next day, he uses it 5-7 times! 

 He's getting there though, 

it's funny how different our boys have learned how to use the potty. 

Rhett is muuuch more relaxed about this whole thing. ;) 

Proud of our cute little crazie. 

He's getting so big. 

Sometimes Parenthood is Really Really Hard

...like when you are potty training. 

After a few failing trial runs, 

and talking to my big sister, 

I decided to take the plunge.

I was going to start full on potty training Rhett,

right after Case was out of preschool. 

That way we would have minimal distractions, 

and we could get down to business. 

Day 1: 

We tried the naked route. 

(It worked really well with Case)

Equal parts of accidents and successes.

& several pull up mishaps, he's still very comfortable in them. 

Day 2: 

Rhett went successfully that morning, 

then played at a friends house for a few hours, 

and went in his pull up. 

That evening, he had a few accidents, 

then on to bed. 

Day 3: 

That morning, while washing dishes 

(our dishwasher is broken, ugggh) 

I heard a little voice say, "Uh oh! Mommy!!!" 

I searched for him, 

and found him in the bathroom, 

standing in a puddle of pee...

Hey he was in the right room right?? 

Then about 10 minutes later he went #2 in the potty! 

I was SUPER excited, except that the rest of the day went WAY DOWN HILL from there.

We went to the library and the park after that

(I should have known this was a bad idea, it took us off course)

Rhett took a teeny cat nap on the way to the park from the library, 

and apparently that was enough sleep to completely refuse his usual 2-3 hour nap.

So, a few pull up mishaps happened in that nap time window

while wearing a pull up. 

While Case was napping away, Rhett was getting into everything. 

(He has been super duper clingy, and whiny, 

and downright destructive lately)

Not to mention he has been waking up several times a night, 

I'm talking 5-10 times a night, it's exhausting, he hasn't done that since he was a month old)

SO...

add all of that together, 

then enter 4 accidents in the living room 

while I was sitting right next to him playing leggos, 

I was just down right mad. 

Frustrated. 

Exhausted. 

Matt came home, right after another accident happened, 

and I just felt like crying. 

I couldn't understand why he didn't even seem to care, 

he had been doing pretty well the days before...

then I remembered, 

"Oh yeah, he hasn't had a nap today, and we are both exhausted"

So, I calmed down, put a pull up and pajamas on him, 

popped in a movie and sat down on the couch with him. 

& 2 minutes later...

 Bless his heart. 

We kept pull ups on the rest of the night, tomorrow is a new day. 

Potty training ain't easy.

Last Day of Preschool

Although I can hardly believe it, 

this year of preschool has come to an end! 

This was the first year for Little Blessings, 

and it has been an awesome year.

Amazing teachers, fun field trips, 

& adorable parties

He's made some sweet friends along the way.

and we are in awe of how much he has learned this year! 

Our teachers enclosed a few papers,
showing off their progress from September, January to May
in writing their name.

How precious, and so fun to see the difference!

The last day, we came in at 10am for a party and reception.
(My friend Kelly watched the Rhetter man for me, 
since we all know he wouldn't have sat still for 1 minute :)

We arrived, and the kiddos went to their classrooms,
and the parents went into the little theater room & waited.
Then they all walked in, all in their Sunday best,
and sang a few precious songs to us!
It's so sweet to see their shy, sweet faces up there on stage!

After a few songs, they were each called up to receive their
Preschool Certificate!

 

Then is was lights out,
and a PRECIOUS slideshow of pictures taken throughout the year.

Followed by treats and Good-Byes, and plans for pool dates.

We are so thankful and blessed to have wonderful teachers,
Ms. Jennifer & Ms. Susan
were just absolutely amazing.
I'm also thankful that I was able to help, and sub some this year,
I loved working with these sweet ladies.
(Including Ms.Heather & Ms.Jamie in the 3 year old room)

So after some deliberation, and advice from our teachers,
we have decided to send Case one more year,
as opposed to sending him on to kindergarten this fall.
(Oh my word, how he is old enough to be talking about all of this?)

I know Case will miss his friends this summer,
and I know Momma will miss her days with just one kid for errands. ;)
We are looking forward to summer fun though,
and hopefully have lots of play dates at pools and parks with our school friends!

See you again this fall Little Blessings! 

The Zoo

I love the zoo. 

We don't go nearly enough. 

The last zoo trip we took was July 2010, I was 6 months pregnant with Rhetter, 

and Case was 2! 

The weather around here was finally starting to come around to sunny, pretty days. 

So, one day after church, my friend Kelly and I started to talk about a zoo trip. 

We are both stay at home Mom's, so we decided to head up the next week, on a Wednesday. 

We decided on the Cincinnati zoo, we packed snacks and lunches, 

and headed out early that morning. 

(Oh and Matt and I finally figured out our DVD player system in my truck the 

night before...woo hoo!)

It was HOT, the high that day was 82! 

Even with the heat and the HILLS, oh my holy hills...

...we had a blast.

 This is how we roll... 

Sweet babies. 

They were such troopers. 

Thankfully the zoo has lots of animals inside buildings, 

which gave us lots of breaks from the heat and the sun. 

They all loved the manatees! 

...and Rhett LOVED the snakes. 

The only thing he cried at when we left them! Funny because his Daddy hates snakes.

After eating lunch, and walking up the biggest hill 

I have ever walked up pushing a double stroller IN MY LIFE...

Kelly and I were starting to give each other the Mom looks, 

that this trip needed to start wrapping up. ;) 

The Cincinnati zoo is just too big to see everything in one day, 

at least with little ones that are all under 5. 

We decided to stop quickly to take some pictures in front of the zoo's 

GORGEOUS

tulips, before the kids were all completely wiped out. 

(My big boy wasn't really feeling it though...stinker. :)

Sweet girl...

 

 Case's face...CRACKS me up. 

Best one I got, of course one kid has to be mid blink right? ;) 

 

 Trips like these are always much more exhausting than I realize, 

but always so much fun. 

 

So thankful that I can take the boys on random trips like this, 

and I absolutely love the memories we are building. 

 

Hopefully it won't be another 2 years before we make it back to the zoo! 

Trying to talk Matty into a fall trip... 

:)

First Spring T-Ball Game

After a few weeks of adorable t-ball practices, 

it was time for the real deal. 

First Game of the Spring Season. 

With "real" Indians gear, complete with his last name and number.

Oh man. 

Love this boy. 

Go Indians! 

This kid loves baseball. 

Visiting With Family

Since Granny has moved to a nursing home in Lexington, 

our cousins and family back home in Leitchfield (where she is from) 

have been planning to come for a visit. 

With Spring break, it was a great time for my cousin Caleb, his wife Shea and their sweet girls to come up. 

I received a text early that week, and they came down Thursday and spent a couple of nights at the house. 

That night the kids all piled on a bunch of blankets and pillows,
we let the boys stay up WAY too late watching movies and eating popcorn,
while we played cards and talked in the kitchen.
They were having SO much fun though,
we just couldn't break up the party,
and besides I believe the every now and then's are what they remember.
I think they are the ingredients for priceless childhood memories.

Gorgeous girls!

It was also the week that Amy, Tim and the kids went down to Florida with Cy's high school baseball team.  
We were watching their sweet dog, Sydney Lou for the trip. 
When they came by to pick her up, 
they were able to see Caleb and his girls before they headed back home! 
I didn't think Case was going to let them have Sydney back, every single day, he said, 
"Mommy, I LOVE Sydney. I just love her Mommy. I love Sydney." 
Sweet boy. 

Well about the time Sydney got to go back home with her family, it was time for Caleb and Shea to pack up and head back home. They had a good visit with Granny, when they walked in, 
Granny was around the corner and yelled "Caleb!" as soon as she saw him. 
I think it broke their hearts a little seeing her in a nursing home, as I know it did all of us. 
We all agree though, that Granny is well taken care of, and safe though. 
Granny still has that feisty in her, which I love! 

During the days we had fun playing at the park, and staying up late talking and playing cards. 
 Case was in heaven playing with some bigger kids, so much fun.

We can't wait for their next visit! Hopefully this summer! 
Love y'all!