Summer has come to an end.  At least as far as the Encinitas Union School District is concerned.  We are here at the second week of school already with our big kindergartner, Chloë.  We couldn't be more proud of how well she has done and how she seems to be handling the Spanish immersion program she's in.  To answer a commonly-asked question: she is in a regular public school within the Encinitas district.  This is not a private-school, charter school, etc.  The Encinitas Union School District happens to offer a Spanish immersion program at two of their nine elementary schools, and this is one of them.  It is not our "home" school, thus the commute is a bit further than it would be if she did go to the "home" school, but so far the drive has been very easy.  Takes about 8-9 minutes one way.  Not bad.  Chloë seems to really be liking the kindergarten experience so far...though I can only imagine how it is to sit in a class where the teacher speaks ONLY in a language that you don't know at all (besides "hello" and to count to 10).  We keep waiting for her to seem frustrated or to say she doesn't want to go back the next day (and I'm sure those things WILL happen at some point) but so far she is going with the flow.  She's more concerned about what I pack her for lunch than anything else at this point :)

I have to wake up early for a run tomorrow.  Going to sign up for a half-marathon in November.  I'm 35 now (eEEKS!) and it's time to get running before I'm attacked by middle-age spread issues!  I already have to deal with the no-more-nursing-so-no-more-300-extra-calories-burned-per-day-for-free thing.  Still trying to figure out how to fit running into the new schedule of getting Chloe off to school by 7:35am.  I like to get my running in in the morning.

Anyways, going to close.  I'll add some photos.  I KNOW I'm well overdue for a post.  We just had a very busy summer, Myke's parents were in town for a month, we spent part of that month visiting Myke's sister up in the San Fran/Sacramento area, Myke's back went to hell in a hand-basket so I basically had a 5th child for a time there (his words), etc.  There was NO free time going on to be posting blogs.  I wish there had been.  I don't like big gaps in my "online diary".  Oh well,  'Tis what 'tis.

Outdoor meals

Super-Baby

Thom at Llamapolooza!!!

Chloë and a chicken

Owen & the piggy

Chocolate milks in the pool!?!  At Legoland Hotel

Legoland Hotel visit 

Mom-Mom (Myke's mom) and the boys at the beach

Lunch with my girls

Everyone loves the iPad

Pop and the 5 youngest grandkids

Vegging on the couch with cousins

Owen & Eli in the cockpit of a KC-10 (their uncle Dan's plane)

In the cargo area of the KC-10

Maureen (aka Mom-Mom) 

Movie time at the $1 Tuesday movie!

Moonlight Beach Park

Cousins

Ella & Eli (love that they held hands on their own) 

Carousel

 At the beach (impromptu trip..hence Eli's "swimsuit" or lack thereof)

This is what 35 looks like!

JC Penny photo shoot.  Fun times!

She started!  

Us on the first day at drop-off (SELFIE)

Boys new bunk beds (make by Myke!)

Ella at her new baby gym class 

Summer Road Trip 2014- Starts Tomorrow!

Getting ready to embark on an 8 hour car-trip with Myke and the 4 kiddos.  We leave tomorrow in the A.M.  I think Myke and I are both a little anxious on how this will go...the furthest we've ever driven with all 4 kids was just over an hour when we went to Disneyland in February!

This time we are headed up to Vacaville (or is it Fairfield), CA.  Myke's sister and her family moved there from northern VA just last week.  We'll be going up to visit them and to attend her husband's promotion ceremony (he's in the Air Force- they are stationed up by Travis AFB for the next year or more).  Looking forward to my kids getting to spend some time with their (only) first cousins.  Also, looking forward to having all 7 of the Hines grandkids being together at one time.  That will be a first!  Myke's parents will be there, too, so that will be fun :)

So there will be seven kids age seven and below.  All in one house.  One house that just got moved into last Thursday!!  This will be an adventure, to say the least!

Less Than One Month...

Until Chloë starts kindergarten.  August 18th is the first day.  That seems so early!  I'm ready and not ready.  I'm enjoying having her around now that she is not in preschool.  I'm trying to do fun outings with her and just spend as much time with her as I can.  Myke and I are so used to being in charge of our own schedules (for the most part) and all of that will change when elementary school starts.  We've had the kids in preschool...but for preschool it doesn't matter if you show up 5-10 minutes after the start time.  With "real"school WE could get in TROUBLE for being late one too many times.  "WE" being Myke and myself.  AND, on top of that, we have to be on routine five days a week!  Sounds exhausting!  Chloë was in preschool only MWF and only 8-noon.  So this will be a change for us.  Not to mention the preschool we go to is literally around the corner (5 minute walk) and the elementary school is a 10 minute drive.  So, we're excited, but just knowing it will take some time to get used to this new routine in the week.  This is the first time we'll have one of the six of us have to leave the house for a set amount of time every single day Monday through Friday (Myke works from home).  So, it probably sounds like I'm making a big deal about nothing, but my point is, this is just going to be new for us.

4th of July-Neighbhorhood block party

Ella eating a 4th of July treat

Myke's Aunt & Cousin (and her new hubby) from the east coast came to visit

for the afternoon last weekend.

Aunt Patti & Chloë

Newlyweds with Owen & Eli

Watching a World Cup game with my girls

(catching a few minutes of it, anyways!)

Swings! 

Took the kids for a breakfast picnic (Jack N The Box) at the park

on my "final day" with just me and them last Tuesday.

We have family in town for the rest of the Summer.

More hands on deck!  

Check out these cheeky monkeys!

Chloë and her skate instructor, Ian

This month will be her final month of lessons as we're backing off all extra-curricular

activities when school starts (at least at first).  

Picnic with a preschool friend, Grayson

Legoland!

Our annual passes expired early July so we had to get in a few more 

visits before that happened.  We'll miss you Legoland!

5 Days Later

I know people must be chomping at the bit for a potty-training update, right?  :)

Well, we finished the three days of the 3-day plan.  Myke ended up having to take off work a big chunk of Monday so we could stick to the plan.  Shadowing two boys every second they are awake is exhausting...especially when you have a 16 month old and 5 year old as well.  The girls have basically been ignored for the past 5 days.  I kid.  Kind of.  Luckily, we have two great friends, coincidently both named Stephanie, who took Chloë on two separate days to play with their kids at their house.  That definitely helped us to focus on the boys more.

So, where are we at the end of day 5, you ask?  Well, Owen and Eli have NOT worn diapers during the day since they woke up Saturday morning.  We HAVE decided to do "nighttime underwear" (as it's labeled...aka a pull-up) for night time until they have the day time 100% down.  Neither boy has had a pee accident since day 2.  Eli actually only had one pee accident at all, and that was on day 1.  Owen had a little accident on day 2 and not again since.  So that is definite success.  The have got peeing in the potty DOWN.  At least when we are here at home.  Going out is still a work in progress.  Yesterday, I had to take them to their 3 year old well-check-up.  So we went.  In underwear.  They did fine.  No accidents.  While at the doctor's office I attempted to have them use the restroom so we would have a greater chance of making it home dry.  They WOULD NOT sit on the toilet.  There was no stool so they were way too short to reach it from a standing position...and when I tried to hold Owen up to the potty he kicked and screamed like I was attempting to throw him IN the potty.  I had a little portable potty (that we've had in the car since Chloê was in her potty-training days).  They each sat on that...but no one went.  Okay, I'm realizing that I'm giving you WAY more info than you want to hear.  Sorry..I tend to ramble and, as you know, my life is consumed with potty-training right now.  Consumed.

Finally today things are getting a little more back to normal.  We actually let the boys sit on our couch and weren't in fear of it being soaked in urine.  We let them run off to play upstairs.  No problem.

Overall, this has definitely been a success.  We aren't QUITE there with "numero dos" but we are definitely doing great with "numero uno", if you catch my drift.

I really hope this is my final potty-training post.  I really do.

End of Dia Dos

Day two complete.  In many ways it was worse than day one.  This potty-training thing is exhausting.  On top of that, the boys are exhausted from this new running-to-the-potty thing AND because they didn't nap yesterday.  How could they nap with the sides off their cribs??  And with their daddy laying on the floor next to them.  WAY too exciting for napping.  Today, however, they were TIRED. Myke was tired.  All three of them crashed at rest time.  The boys in their beds and Myke next to them on the floor.  He stays on the floor by them because part of this 3-day-thing is that you don't leave their sides.  You are always there to rush them to the potty if they start having an accident.  The boys woke up dry from naps.  We were excited about that.

Anyways, it was a long day.  How was potty-training Chloë SOOOOO easy and this seemingly SOO hard?  Maybe I just don't remember how hard it was with her?  Parent-amnesia, perhaps?

Chloë had a birthday party this afternoon and I couldn't get out the door and FAST enough to take her to it!  I got to take her since Myke took her to her skateboarding lesson earlier in the day.  We NEED breaks from this full-time insanity.  I was cornering anyone who would listen at the party and telling them about the potty-training-hell that I was currently in...and how this party was a 2 hour respite from the loony bin I felt like my home was turning into.  I had a coffee in hand (half-caff...cuz it was 4pm, after all), red eyes that burned with exhaustion, and most likely a crazed look on my face...people were slowly backing away.

Okay, bed time.  Owen has already come out of his room tonight saying he has to to use the potty.  Then he insists on getting the M&M treat, after.   Even though it's 9pm.  I can't believe we are putting them in big-boy underwear AND taking the rails off their cages cribs...all at the same time.  Not sure I'm ready for this.  I like my sleep way too much.

One Day Done

End of Day One.  

Watching "Dora" on the iPad.  

I won't let them sit on the couch or chairs!!

Potty Training Boot Camp.  Day One.  Complete.  Well, kind-of.  Myke decided to go full-throttle and do the no-night-time-undies thing for bed.  So the boys are wearing regular undies to bed.  Night-time undies, for those who don't know, are basically a pull-up.  They are just labeled in the stores as "Night-time Underwear".  I remember we used them with Chloë.  Until she told us she didn't want them anymore, that is.  So, I would be fine with the boys using "night time underwear" for awhile.  However, the 3-day-boot-camp-guide suggests just getting rid of all diapers and diaper-imposters right away.  Don't "confuse" the child by making them wear undies all day and then a diaper or pull-up at night.  The THING is, the boys have been in cribs since birth.  UNTIL today.  Myke took the sides off their cribs TODAY.  So not only are they suddenly in big boy undies.  They also are suddenly in "big-boy beds".  A lot of change going on for them.  Of course you have to take the sides off if you're going to have them wear undies.  For naps, too.  Obviously, they have to be able to get to the bathroom.  So we'll see how tonight goes!  They are EXHAUSTED, that's for sure.  No nap today as we couldn't let them out of our sight and they were so excited with their "new" beds.  Sleeping at nap time?? That's a joke.  

Anyways, they are in their beds now.  Myke is laying on the floor next to their beds as they fall asleep.  He just texted me from the trenches that Owen is already snoring.  

I'm pretty tired from today, but it was a good day.  I got to spend A LOT of time with my boys.  Chloë went to a friend's house for the day and Ella napped for something like 4 hours.  Myke and I were really able to focus on Owen & Elijah.  We didn't let them out of our sight all day (following the plan).  We let them drink all kinds of sugary drinks and have all kinds of treats as rewards.  Goes against all my mom-sense...but we spoiled them.  At the end of the day, Owen peed in the potty 10 times and Eli 9 times.  That's success in my book!!  We need to work on number 2...but that will probably be for tomorrow!  Fun times!  

Goodnight!  

Some pics from the past week or so:

Eli & Chloë

Making gluten-free banana muffins

eating the muffins

mmmmm!

Chloë's last day of preschool: Picnic in the park

Pre-K class of 2014

(some of them)

Ms. Monica is an amazing teacher!  We'll miss her!

Chloë, Laura, Paige

Enough is Enough

Not sure why I bothered showering this morning.  I'll be covered in poo & pee soon enough.  Yes, it's potty-training boot camp this weekend at the Hines household.  You can be envious of my life right about now.  I give you permission.

As the title states: enough is enough!  Myke and I are so OVER having 3 kids in diapers.  It's so expensive.  It's so gross.  The boys just turned 3 last month and are still not showing much interest in using the potty.  In fact, they will straight out tell us, "I don't want to wear underwear.  I wear a diaper."  Uhhhh...ok...  Eli even said that he doesn't want to move to the 3-year-old classroom for preschool because he doesn't want to wear underwear and use the potty (which is a prerequisite for the 3-year-old room.  They don't mess with diapers there).  So the boys are still in the 2-3 year old room.  They are supposed to move by the end of the summer to start Fall semester in the new room.  We are determined to get them there.  I will not have them be 5 years old and in the 2 year old classroom because they won't use the toilet!!  In fact, I think MOST of the kids in their current class are potty trained.  So they do see the kids using the teeny little potties that they have in the class bathroom.  This past Thursday I took all 4 kids to a birthday party.  Besides Ella and the hostess's newborn baby, they boys were the only other ones in diapers....and there were plenty of 2 and 3 year olds there.  AND I changed 4 diapers between my three diaper-clad children within a 2 hour period.  Two stinky.  Two wet. (if you must know the breakdown).  I felt like I was constantly on diaper patrol.  Such is my life.  Like I said, enough is enough.

So today it starts.  We are putting on the big-boy undies and throwing out the diapers!  Well, not really throwing out...Ella will still use them....for now.  She shows more signs of being ready than the boys.  She loves to sit on the little potty and clap for herself.  She grabs her diaper as soon as she wets it and whines.  Then she'll go bring me a diaper so I can change her.  Maybe we should potty train her this weekend, too.   Anyways, so we'll just pretend to throw the diapers out.  That's how the 3-day-boot-camp starts.  Get rid of the diapers.  No turning back.

Wish us luck!