SAUCER SCHNANIGANS

Well we made our first ER visit today. Daniel received a call from his sister, Kristine, that said he needed to come home right away because Eddie's nose AND mouth were bleeding. I saw Daniel run out of the building and jump in the car where I was waiting. He said Eddie was hurt and call Kristine as he sped off base. Everything was calmed down and cleaned up by the time we made it home, but we couldn't get a good look at Eddie's mouth so Daniel took him to urgent care where they sent him to the Emergency Room because they didn't have the right equipment for such a small child. I'm glad I sent Daniel because he said it took 3 adults to hold Eddie down for x-rays and every time anyone checked his mouth he SCREAMED!!! Nothing is broken and no stiches necessary. He has some cuts inside his nose and mouth and some bruising on his face. It really scared Alan too and thankfully he wasn't involved in the big spill off our small toy tractor. Needless to say he i...

Congratulations Daddy!! Today Daniel pinned on the rank of Major. This is a very important rank because it takes you from Company Grade Officer to Field Grade Officer. Daniel is the first in his family to become a Field Grade Officer!!! We were honored to have his Aunt Joyce, Uncle Harold, and Cousin Rachael come in from Pensacola. We were also honored and most pleasantly surprised to have my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Neil drive non-stop from Green Bay, WI!!! Below are some pictures from an amazing day. Alan and Eddie pin on Daddy's new rank. Daddy takes the Oath Aunt Kathy and Aunt Joyce put Daniel's new rank on his shirt Aunts Give Daniel a congratulations kiss!! The Rechsteiner visitors

Today Alan turned 3!!! When he came into wake me up I started to say "Good Morning" and Alan said "Stop Mommy. Birthday me." He went right for the presents and was disappointed to find out he had to wait until Daddy got home from work to open them up. Maybe next year we will wake him up before Daddy goes to work. We started our day trying to make Alan's cake for tonight and I spent the rest of the day explaining we couldn't eat it until Daddy got home. Here is how the cake turned out. Here is a picture of opening presents after the cake.

Sunday was Daniel's birthday. We took Daddy to the beach to celebrate!! When we got home from the beach Alan was eager for Daddy to open the presents that he and Mommy bought together. For Daddy, Alan picked out Sponge Bob pajama pants and the new Disney Herbie DVD. For Daddy??? Not sure, but they have been a real hit at our house. The afternoon, evening and night were not so pleasant as Alan was very sick and threw up on Daddy 4 or 5 times. Enough to not have any clean pajamas left so he opened one of his birthday gifts a couple days early. Mommy knew it was Sponge Bob pajamas, but what I didn't know was the pants were identical to the ones Alan had picked out for Daniel :)

The boys are really into dressing up in costume wear. Hint Hint you can do your Christmas shopping after Halloween sales. Here are some fun pictures of them in the cowboy wear.

Today we had a science lesson. Alan found some party balloons so we took advantage of a teachable moment. I taught him how to rub it on his hair and stick it to the wall.

Our newest neighbors have 3 little dogs. They are just the right size for our little boys to LOVE!!! They also have a very tricky back door. Yesterday David managed to lock himself out while letting the dogs out. He came over to borrow our phone and phone book to call Lisa's work and get her cell number. He then found an open bathroom window and crawled through to get in. This morning I was loading the van to go to MOPS and there was Lisa with all the dogs. She had done the same thing only on her way to work. What an awful way to start your day. Her work happened to be close to the MOPS location so I offered her a ride. They don't have a fence so there was no where to put the dogs who were still getting used to the new neighborhood. Problem solved our yard is fenced in. So we put the dogs in the yard, buckeled up the boys and headed out for the day. When I got home for lunch 2 of her dogs were in her driveway. This was confusing as I just talked to her on the cell...

Wow the month of August is really flying by. I apologize to those of you who check our blog on a regular basis. We have been traveling and getting ready for several birthdays in the next couple weeks. Big August news was Daniel's cousin, Heather, got married on August 12th. We had a great time and really enjoyed visits from Grandpa Bear and Aunt tine, pronounced teen, aka Kristine. She was given her new name by Alan of course and he had a blast being spoiled during the visits.

Alan and Mommy had a date tonight. We went to see Elmo's Coloring book live!! We had a blast, but the show was nothing compared to the Wiggles. I guess once you have seen the best. . . . It was well worth the price of the ticket and Alan was very excited to see his furry, red, friend :) When we got back from intermission Alan noticed we were right in front of all the spot lights. He decided it would be fun to try to catch the light beams!!! Below are pictues from our date.

What a BLAST!!! We took the kids to visit our friends the Tuckers in Alabama and on Friday night we ALL went to see the Wiggles in concert. Alan and Madison were dancing and signing right along. Alan was so disappointed when the concert ended he was crying and even tried to get out of the van to go back to the arena to see the Wiggles!! Here are some pictures from the concert. Even Daniel enjoyed the show!! The Wiggles up close!! Who knew it would be so emotional to see your favorite TV characters live on stage!! It almost made me cry to see them in real life instead of our life size TV :)

Today Alan awoke to a great surprise. Mommy buckled him in the back of Daddy's car (riding in Daddy's car always means we are going somewhere fun). An hour later we crossed the Alabama state line. I told Alan we were in Alabama. He said Bama and laughed. Then I asked him who lives in Alabama. He guessed Grandma and kept saying Bama and laughing. Then we pulled up next to Madison in the parking lot of Walmart he got very excited. I told him Madison lives in Alabama. We followed Madison to the water park and they had a grand reunion complete with joyful screams and hugs!!! We spent the day playing in the water and sliding down the Elephant slide in the kiddy pool. About half hour before we were gonna leave there was a huge clap of thunder and the pools were evacuated. We ran to the bath house to get dressed. By the time we had dry clothes on the huge downpour had turned into sprinkles. So we said our goodbyes and headed for home. I asked Alan if today was a happy d...

Okay, so the beginning of potty training seemed to go pretty smooth. Not for the big "butt". Alan seems to thinks it's perfectly normal to poop in his pants. He is a bit confused about what "poop" is as he always says he pooped when really he peed. Daniel thinks it's because he sits to pee and when Daddy sits it's to poop. Anyway we have started calling poop "stinky" but is hasn't really helped. Any suggestions on what to try to help Alan realize that it's not good to poop your pants are greatly appreciated. That's the straight poop!!

I recently learned about something called a "One Sheet Wonder" (OSW) in the stamping world. You take one 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of designer paper. In my example I happened to stamp and create my own designer paper. Then you follow a map to cut this designer paper up in to pieces to use as accents on the fronts of your cards. You should be able to make 10 unique cards from the "One Sheet (Wonder)" of designer paper. I used my favorite stamp set from Stampin' Up's summer mini catalog to create the cards posted below. It's called "Cowboy Kid". #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10

I am happy to report that potty training continues to go well in the Saucer house. Alan is especially good at staying dry through the night. He even came to wake me up at 3am yesterday to tell me he needed to go potty!!! We are still working on taking the time to go poop, but today we were very successful after I introduced Alan to reading while he waited for the poopy to come. He really is ALL boy!!! We reinstated the "potty treats" for poopy only and hopefully we will continue to make progress.

I finally broke down and cut Eddie's precious locks this evening!! His hair was really getting in his eyes and I guess he was starting to look like a girl. So even though I really didn't want to. . . It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Here is the before picture Here is the after picture Here is the after the bath picture The curls are still there when he has wet hair!!!! Mommy is a happy camper :)

Alan has been doing a great job with potty training. Yes, he still has accidents, but they are very few. Today he was playing at the new neighbor's house and I had to take Eddie home for a new diaper. While I was changing Eddie's diaper I hear a small knock at the door. I hurry to finish and answer the door and there stood Alan with the saddest look and tears in his eyes. He cried wet and peed right there on the front porch. He had tried to come home and use his potty chair, but it was just to far. He was very upset with himself and it was heartbreaking for me. The only other accident he had in the last 2 1/2 days was when he was too busy playing and didn't want to take the time to go poopy. Considering we have only been working on this a little over a week and he originally was against using the potty at all we have come a very long way in a very short time.

Potty training today started off great!!! When Daddy got Alan ready for bed last night Alan tore the diaper off and handed Daddy his underwear saying "no beeper, Thomas" (he calles diapers beepers and the underwear had Thomas the Train on them). I thought I would be in for a bad morning, but he woke up dry and he was dry all day, but the evening is another story. I went scrapbooking at the local scrapbook store with a neighbor. Daniel says Alan did a great job going pee pee, but he was extremely constipated and had 3 poopy accidents in his pants. Alan also managed to shatter the glass jar his "treats" are kept in. How he got his little hands on the jar I still have to find out. Anyway this was very upsetting. My new friend, Robbin, had some little candies to send home to get us through until tomorrow. Alan was extremely upset when I came home at 1am he was crying and pushing me away telling me not to look and not to touch it. I guess the little guard on th...

Well the first two days of potty training we were home all day so if Alan had an accident we just clean it up and went on with our day. Today, however, we had to run errands and in the evening we had a retirement party to attend. I didn't stress long before I realized I could just put the whole potty, a towel, and some extra clothes right in the van. So each time we were getting in the van we sat on the potty chair. He didn't go the whole time we ran errands, but we had no accidents. This afternoon he peed and pooped in the potty before we headed out to the party. We attempted to use the big potty at the party, but I think he felt like he was going to fall in so he asked to go in the van. He went potty in the potty chair in the back of the van. I watered some weeds and we went back to the party. Ironically we received a potty training sticker chart in the mail from pampers today and he was just as excited about writing his name and hanging that in the bathroom as he wa...