Tiny Town

Tiny Town was tons of fun! I think Tristan could have stayed all day. Finally somewhere had all things his size. Most of the buildings you could not go in, but there were plenty that you could. He didn't even want to have a picnic with his friends because he was too busy peeking in all the windows. The buildings you could not go in were decorated with different themes inside. I don't know who thought to do this, but I'm glad they did. To top it off, they have a little train with a beautiful ride over the creek. We even had chance to talk about Great Grandpa Yuhas as we played in the Masonic Hall. The Hall's floor was a bit loose, so Tristan thought it made for a great jumpy castle. We had a beautiful sunny morning together before another afternoon thunderstorm is sure to come.

The Conway Boys

These days it is almost impossible to get a picture with all three boys in the shot. They may not all be smiling or able to breath well, but they are all in there and'm thrilled! Since the nonstop moving, crawling, walking, running, jumping, and climbing children are rarely all next to each other ever, I didn't realize how similar they all look. Looking at this picture, I think I am going to have those kids that people say, "oh, you must be one of the Conway boys." Those beautiful brown eyes, long lashes, cute little noses, and even their eyebrows are the same! Tristan has a few inches on the boys, but he only has about five pounds on Finn, so he better watch out. The twins already gang up a bit on Tristan, so when he loses the height advantage he is in trouble. Finn is now walking and after finding Ian's teeth mark on Tristan's calf as he changed for bed, I'm sure T can't wait for Ian to get up off the ground and start walking real soon.

4th of July 2011

It was a really hot fourth of July this year, but we still made it out for the parade this morning. When I told Tristan we were going to a parade and then to a baseball field where firemen would make him pancakes, he stared at me for a few seconds and then said, "Is it my birthday?"

The parade was too short and not very good, but we have found few good parades here in Colorado. I might just have to borrow my mom's parade file one of these years and organize a good old fashion home town parade.




My little firecrackers didn't make it very long, and I was just sorry that only one of the seats reclined all the way. The pancakes were terrific, but the heat made us leave the festivities early on. After some lunch and naps, we took the whole family to the pool for the first time. It was not a train wreck like I anticipated, so I think we might try it again. I know a lot of people let their kids stay up on nights like tonight, but we decided to send them all to bed early... Happy Independence to us!!!

To Infinity and T's Bedroom

Before I had children, I would look at kids that were decked out in all things Disney characters and thought I would hate if my kid's wardrobe looked like that and their room was that tacky. Tonight my son went to bed in his Buzz Lightyear pjs (wings and all) and in his Cars sheets with the ugliest Cars comforter I'm sure they make. He is so happy in all of it, and that makes me happy. That doesn't mean I won't take every opportunity to talk him out of that comforter though and I still have not caved on the character shoes. Maybe I can stay strong on that one!

Let's Try This Again

After the twins missed out on their big birthday party last weekend, my friend Kendra threw them a party yesterday! She made them an amazing birthday cake, hung balloons, had presents, and generally loved on them. She is just about the best friend anyone could ask for and I'm so glad that she is my friend!! Lucky lucky lucky me AND my kids! Tristan and Blake had so much fun playing in the splash pool and over watering Kendra's tomato plants, while Pipper hung out in her seat, Ian played around, and Finn parked himself in front of the cake and double fisted the forks. I vote that all picnics from now on have a cake!

(I put their frosting covered outfits in a bag to wash when I got home. Forgetting that I took care of this mess right when I got home and put them in the wash, I waited to unpack the rest of the bag until today. I guess there was a diaper I had changed at Kendra's as well that I put in a sealed up bag. I thought they were the outfits and set it on the counter for later. Neil saw the bag and threw it out. Later that night I asked him where it was and he told me the dumpster. I told him the birthday outfits were in there, but admitted it was my fault for leaving them out. While I was in the shower, Neil was being a good guy and went dumpster diving to find them. All he found was the bag with messy diapers. All I found were the clean outfits in the drier. Oops !)

Finn and Ian's First Birthday

I know everyone says, "I can't believe my kids are already (fill in the blank), but I seriously can not believe this first year with Finn and Ian is over! I am so thankful that these boys are a part of our family, but man that first year was tough. If you had asked me ten months ago if I was going to get to one year with my sanity intact I would have said the chances were slim. Guess what? I totally made it with what little sanity I had to begin with! These boys are seriously amazing! They are two of the funniest, happiest, and friendliest little boys I have ever met!


Their personalities are so different and together they pretty much cover all the best qualities of every baby you have ever met! That is why I was so sad that their birthday was not nearly as fun as they are. I envisioned us celebrating and crying and laughing, but instead we all got a stomach bug and had to cancel the party at Gymboree. There was a lot of bonding and family togetherness though. Hoping that tomorrow everyone will be well enough to take a short outing to the zoo for some fresh air and a small bit of birthday fun.





Because the boys are still getting over the stomach bug, there was no cake on the menu for them. No party, no cake, and feeling generally icky, but I was not going to let all the birthday fun get away from them. Turns out Cheerios hold up a birthday candle pretty well!

Another Blog?

Here is a link to another blog about my Africa trip next June. Feel free to check in there, too.

http://andrea-goservelove.blogspot.com

Flash Mob

Tonight Kendra, Cassie, Carolyn, and I danced in a Flash Mob in front of Coors Field right before the baseball game started. I had practiced all week and was incredibly nervous leading up to the dance. I can't say that I would have decided on my own to do this, although it was something on my "bucket list." When Kendra and Cassie decided that they were going, I knew I would always regret not joining in. Even if they did another flash mob later on, I would remember how I was too chicken to dance the first time. I have always regretted not being in the high school musicals because I was too nervous that I would mess up, oh and the fact that I can't really dance. So this time I sucked it up, learned the moves, and headed down to Denver tonight.

Once we started to dance, I was not nervous at all! It was REALLY fun! I was sad at how fast it went and wished that it was not over yet. I think I might even do this again. Good clean fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4TDx-oXW0g

Click on the link above to see use dancing. You can only see me at the 1 minute 42 second part. I am in the back and wearing a purple Rockies t-shirt, black pants, and sunglasses. I'm glad you could see me for a minute because now I can prove to myself that I really did it!

Gooooooooaaaal!

The other night I was laying with Tristan in his bed when he told me he had to go to the bathroom. I told him he could sit on the big potty in the morning if he wanted, but not tonight. He sat up, looked straight into my eyes and said, "Mom, it is time I start to use the big potty!" And there it was, he was on the path to potty training.

A few weeks ago, we got a cool looking non intrusive potty seat for our bathroom in anticipation of the potty training that was coming. After much reading, I found that he should probably start with something very easy for him to use himself, especially since we usually have our hands full. I was also on board with the theory of letting him pick his own seat to increase the "buy in" factor. The next morning came, and off Tristan and I went to the consignment store to find a cheap potty seat. I'm glad I brought him, because they only had one. It's the exact one I would have picked at the store. It was small, nice looking, had a nice place to keep wipes, and a soft seat to sit on. He sat down for two seconds, stood up and declared that he would never go potty on that. Okay, so over to Babies-r-us we drove. In the aisle of potties, there were many to choose from. I was ready to accept a lot of seats, Cars or Princesses, but I was not prepared for the ONLY one he wanted. It's shaped like a soccer ball and if he ever does enough in there at one time, it's supposed to yell, "Goooooooal!" Yikes!!

He has been so excited about this seat. He sits on it a bunch and pees right in front of it. He even takes wipes and cleans it everyday while proudly telling all of us how shiny it is. There was a new car staring at him from the towel rack for the last four days or so just waiting as a reward for Tristan using the potty. He wanted that car SO BAD! Tonight he did it!! Before bath he sat on his potty while we read a book to get his mind off concentrating so hard. He started to pee and got so excited that he couldn't finish. He jumped up, dumped his little potty bucket in the big potty, flushed, and jumped around yelling and cheering that he was going to get his new car! Once he got it and the next car went up in the rack, he returned to his seat right away with his eyes fixated on the new car. He said with the most determined face, "Mom, I sit here, pee, and I have to get that next car!"

By NO means is he potty trained, but it's a start. I thought about doing the three day and they are mostly potty trained deal... then I remembered that I have met myself and that really wouldn't fly with me. Then I remembered that Tristan is my kid and I KNOW it wouldn't fly with him. I can't imagine adding one more piece of laundry to my pile or more things to scrub during my day... not happening! We will use the pull-ups and take our time just like everything else we do. Tristan is a lot like me in that way. We like to ease into things. "Pulling the band-aid off quickly" might get the job done, but usually leave us more miserable than we really needed to be.



***Wrote this post a while ago and forgot to post it. Things are going great. He uses the potty about 5/6 times a day. It indeed says "Goooooal" and it thrills him every time. He used the potty at his Gymboree drop off class twice with a teacher, and tonight he finally got the guts to poop on the potty! Way to go Tristan!***

We Threw A Strike With A Perfect Floor Routine!

Happy ten year anniversary to us!

Top ten things about being married to Neil Conway:

He encourages me in whatever I am passionate about

He has more patience than any man I know

He is generous with his time and resources

He's funny at the most unexpected times

He's willing to admit when he is wrong

He loves his children and shares my love for more of them!

He is always up for trying something new

He eats my cooking

He gets up with the first kid so I can sleep a little longer

And he has put up with me for 10 years!!

Ten years ago today, Neil and I promised to be together till death do us part. Hands down, the best decision we ever made! We worked that summer, living in a room in the back of a barn, to save up money to move across country away from everything we knew. Hands down the second best decision we ever made. With no friends and family to run to when times got a little tough, we learned how to work our problems out.

What's our secret? Well, I don't think it's any secret at all. I married my best friend! In ten years that passion comes and goes, our interests have changed, we have hopefully changed and matured, and life as well as the two of us look completely different than we did ten years ago. If you change with your best friend then it's a fun journey instead of something that comes between you.

On a more practical note, it's the two separate tubes of toothpaste, Neil learning to drink his coffee black, and me changing the way I fold clothes that has been the compromise to keep our house a comfortable place to live. Compromise alone can not make a happy marriage, but it can make for a happy home. It's not about one person losing, it's about having a healthy perspective and realizing the small details are just not that important. The way your father did something or my mother did that, are just that... the way THEY did it. The last ten years have given us a start to finding the way WE do things. If we didn't find our "we", then what would our kids have to argue about with their future spouses, haha.

It wasn't in the cards for us to take a trip to Paris or even Napa Valley for our big anniversary, but I don't care. What really matters after all this time is that we still would want to spend time together! We decided to do something really radical and not like us at all. We needed to surprise ourselves and prove to each other that we are not done becoming who we will be. We did something radical, out of our box, meaningful, and most importantly together.

This tattoo design is from the cover of our wedding invitation . Mom, did you think when we chose this design at the table in Denny's eleven years ago, that we were actually picking out our tattoos?

I can't believe the amazingly blessed life we have been given these last ten years. It's almost overwhelming to me to think of more blessings in the next ten years to come! Year ten was a long and sleepless one that really tested us. Here is to smooth sailing into year eleven! (hey, we can hope)