EVE

What a BIG day at our house today...Brady got his Eve toy from the movie Wall*E.

He has been working on pooping in the potty. And in the last week, he has really caught on. We have talked to him about pooping in the potty for MONTHS...maybe even a year:) He has been wearing underwear since Christmas because he is potty trained, but poop has been a challenge. We were tired of cleaning poop out of underwear, so we started to tell him to ask for a pull-up when he needed to poop.
In the last few weeks, Kevin has really worked with him. He would ask for a pull-up and Kevin would encourage him to sit on the potty. He would sit on the potty and sometimes poop, others not. This week he got it! He seems to be on a schedule of pooping every other day and he has pooped in the potty EVERY day this week.
The rule was 3 times in a row and he got Eve...so he pooped 3 times in the potty this week and TODAY he got his EVE toy.
We are smarter than we look...knowing that maybe he just decided he wanted to poop because then he would get Eve, we told him that if he poops in his pants, then Eve goes back into the box.
He LOVES her, so I am guessing that he will work really hard to keep her.

WAY TO GO Brady...mom and dad are VERY proud of you!

Besides that big news...
I have been going to Maverick Boot Camp at MSU and decided that during this process that I really enjoy running, so I started running. I got new shoes today and Kevin thinks they should run themselves because I paid too much for them.
Madie and Brady are in swimming lessons on Tuesday/Thursday. 2 weeks left...It is great to see them learning, but I will be happy to quit running to lessons twice a week.
Kevin starts softball again tomorrow. I am sure we will not hit the game because it is really cold.

Enjoyed spending time with friends last night at the Twilight Lounge...Jen/Ross; Tom/Rachel; Jake/Josie; and Deb/Koon. It was alot of fun!

Enjoy~~
Jean

Win Twins!

On April 19th we took the kids to their first ever Twins game and first time at the Metrodome. We thought it would be fun to ride the light rail train to the game. So we went to the Mall of America and tried to find where to park for the light rail, turns out we shouldn't park at the mall instead park at the station about a block away. After eating appetizers at TGI Fridays we bought tickets for the train. Turns out there was an accident with a train and a car nearby, so we had to get on a bus and drive about 15 mins to Fort Snelling to get on the train there. After squeezing in the train and a 20 minute ride we just got to the dome to see the first pitch. It was hard to tell if the kids enjoyed the game more or the hot dog, pop and cotton candy they had. They were amazingly good at the game. Brady played Leapster when we got bored and Madie drew pictures of the stadium. The highlight of the game was the ending. The kids after the game got to run the bases and after a long line got to take pictures with TC bear.
The ride home on the train was a lot better and a lot less crowded. We topped of the day with a visit to ToysRus. We found Brady a Wall-E Eve toy that he gets when he poops in the potty 3 times in a row. Madie got a new High School Musical alarm clock. We finally headed home but not before we went to Dairy Queen for supper. All in all, the kids and us had a great day and the Twins even won the game.

Our Fish

Madie and Brady are in swimming lessons at the YMCA right now. Madie is in Guppy 1 and Brady is in Pike. His first time at swimming lessons at the Y. They are both doing a really great job. It will be great to be done with lessons before the summer starts.

I am in "Boot Camp" right now at work. Jen is our trainer and she is working our butts off. My team is Kath Bill, Rochelle Ament and Paula Neinman. We are doing great. Today I did 10 more push-ups and 30 more sit-ups in 1 minute than I did 3 weeks ago.

Work is crazy right now. With the State of MN budget issues, they have made cuts at work. Both my bosses, Pat Lipetzky and Kathy Trauger have been cut. It is crazy....We are all just trying to figure out what our jobs are and go from there.

Happy Spring!!

Easter

On Saturday we had a busy day. Marsha decided to host Easter for the VanLoys at the Americinn up by campus. We only had about 25 family members there but we had enough food for 50. The kids went swimming while I went to Quinn's birthday party. I was the only non family member there, I guess I must be important to his family. Got Quinn a noisy toy that goes on the frig, hope he likes it. Spent about an hour at the party and went back to the hotel. The kids enjoyed swimming and Madie got used to jumping in the deep end of the pool without a life jacket.
On Sunday we went to church. Think we only made it to church 3 times during lent. After church we had Grandma and Papa over for lunch. We had ham, scalloped potatoes, corn, bread and desert. Needless to say I ate to much. Dad took our old gas grill off our hands and it's no longer a eye sore on the side of the garage. He'll take it to the cabin, maybe we'll see it again if we ever get up that way.

Well that's all I have for now. The next blog will have our trip to the Twins game, the kids first game ever. Hope they can sit through it all. Kevin

April 4th and 5th

This weekend we did some more fun stuff with the kids.
On Saturday we picked up Madie's school friend Sydney, and we all went to Drummer's Easter Egg Hunt. It was a fun time for the kids. It didn't take long for them to find their eggs. Afterward, we came home and made our own pizzas. Sydney went home about 4:30 and we headed out to buy a lot of groceries. During our trip Madie started to have tummy aches, didn't even eat anything at HyVees buffet. We got home and she laid in bed. Threw up once and was fine the next day. Tough girl gets over sicknesses fast!
On Sunday after church and after lunch we went to open swim at MSU. The kids loved it. Madie and Jean swam 16 laps in the pool while Brady enjoyed hanging on my back while I swam. I topped my excerise, by going to play basketball at the Maple River high school with Father Sutton. Needless to say I'm still sore from the activities.
Sunday night we decorated Easter eggs with the kids. They always enjoy coloring eggs.
This week Madie has spring break so no school and I get my daycare helper back. It also means more kids in daycare for the week.

Kevin

Where does the time go???

Just an update to fill everyone in on the last 2 weeks. Brady still is not poop trained...I am SO tired of changing poop on a 3 1/2 year old I could puke! Today I took him in to the Doctor and he has pneumonia, so trying to nurse him back to health.
Madie is having a play date with her friend Sydney on Saturday and is so excited. They have been planning this for weeks!
This weekend we went to my sister Kerri's in SD...what a long drive! The kids were really good. Thank GOD for travel DVD players in the car. We watched Mitch play basketball, did a little shopping and just hung out.
Friday night on the way to SD, we listed to the MSU Maverick Women's BB team win the Division II National Championship....GO MAVERICKS!

Thursday of last week, Madie has her last session of Swimming lessons. She passed Polliwog!! GO MADIE~~
Madie and Brady both start swimming lessons next Tuesday. Madie will be in Guppy1 and Brady will be in Pike.

Stressful week for me at work...our Dean's position was eliminated last Monday and we are being reorganized, but yet to know what that really means. It has been stressful, lots of anxiety...just the not knowing is driving me crazy!

Ok, so that was all random! Hopefully it will not take so long to post next.

My Life would Suck Without You

My new favorite song...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bap-oZI-Grc I was walking around the house the other night singing "My life would suck without you" and Madie asked why I was singing...I said because I like the song. She said, well mom...my life would suck without you too!

This weekend I played Volleyball in the cities with the girls. It was AWESOME. We had just the right number of goldschlager shots! We took 3rd place...yeah for us!!

Monday I had the day off and got a body wrap, lost 7 inches! Too bad they came back plus some:) (just kidding).

Another day in warm sunny Minnesota!