Harvest Festival- Silver Dollar City

We spent Saturday at Silver Dollar City. It was the kickoff of their "Harvest Festival" and the park was decked out with fall decorations and pumpkins. Totally got me in the mood for Fall.

The weather was amazing. The high was 79 degrees and it may have reached that by the time we left, but it was so gorgeous the entire day.  We gad two buddy passes to use up before the expired so we invited Aaron, Steph and baby Blake to go with us. It was fun to spend some time with them!

I had to make sure we snagged some pictures in front of the entry with all the pumpkins.

Our first stop of the day was lunch. We ate at this awesome little place called "The Mine". It was actually underground and made to look like an old mine. It was buffet style and the kids devoured their lunches.
Then we went to "Geyser Gulch" and let the kids play in the ball area.

 

Then it was over to the water guns for some target practice. Tanner would push the button and Bailey would aim the gun. It was pretty hysterical to watch. Such good teamwork.

While the kiddos played in the balls and with the water guns, the dads (Chris and Aaron) went and rode some roller coasters. Steph and I stayed with the kids. After playing hard for a couple hours, the kids were ready for a snack. They must have worked up an appetite because they devoured their lunchables too.

After snack time, the dads came back and we took off together to ride some group rides. Our first stop was "The flooded mine". Unfortunately, Bailey didn't make it far before falling asleep in her Daddy's arms. So sweet!

The best part of this ride, besides the fact that its underground and cool during the summer, is the fact that everyone can ride it- even 10 month old Blake got to ride. Bailey slept through it all on her Daddy's lap.

Tanner loved it because you shoot at targets and everyone gets their own gun. He was one happy kid. Also, he scored higher than both Chris and I. Ridiculous!

The boy and I with our guns

After riding "The Flooded Mine" we went over to "Half Dollar Holler" and let the kids play. Tanner spent the entire time on rope tree house, while Bailey rode the carousel over and over again.

Then Chris and I took our kiddos and Blake to "The Grand Exposition" while Steph and Aaron went to ride a ride. Tanner and Chris rode the swings and then I took the older two kids on the caterpillar ride.

After that, we got "dippin dots" and decided to call it a day. Tanner was so tired he was actually asking to go home. You know they are tired when they ask to leave the awesome park to take a nap at home.

 

We had a great time and we couldn't have asked for better weather. We are looking forward to going back again soon and even more excited to kick off fall and enjoy more of this awesome fall weather!

The Last Days of Summer

Well here we are, the last few weeks of summer are here. We've had so much fun this summer and I can hardly believe it's almost fall. Don't get me wrong- I'm totally ready for Autumn but we are enjoying these last few days of summer!

On a Monday morning we met up with our playgroup and did a "Krispy Kreme tour". It was pretty adorable. Check out this pic of some of the kids looking at the machine making the donuts.

Love this- Tanner was totally enthralled and Bailey was trying to reach through the glass to grab herself a hot one.

Then one of the ladies took the kids into the kitchen and gave them a short tour of how the donuts are made. At the end of the tour, the kids got to make their own donut.

And of course, the kids got to eat their donuts afterwards. I love this picture of Tanner!
Pretty sure life doesn't get much better than this for a kid!

And Bailey was pretty happy too!

That night, we used our leftover donuts and had a donut eating race for part of our FHE lesson. It was so hysterical. I told the kids they couldn't use their hands and it was so funny to see them struggle. Bailey was too interested in her donut to mess around with the rules- she used her hands almost the entire time.
Tanner only used his hands occasionally. He really tried not to use his hands and that was the funniest part!

Later that week we finally got around to making "rainbow slime"

This was a big hit with Bailey. For being the little diva that she is, she loves playing in slimy textures.

We are also still doing swim lessons. The kids are doing great. Tanner especially loves swim lessons. He loves his teacher, Ms. Jo, and he loves wearing goggles. Bailey likes walking in the water, but hates getting her hair wet. Yes, she's my diva.

 

Then on Friday, we met some friends at the splash pad in Bentonville. It wasn't really cold outside but the kids still had fun. We packed our lunch and hung out there for a couple hours. I love days like this, when I can wear the kids out and have them take really good naps.

Last week our playgroup toured a farm. Tanner was at preschool, so I only had Bailey.

She was in love with all the animals. On the drive there she kept asking me "are we going to see animals?" "We see the chickens?" "We see the cows?" We see the elephants?"

Unfortunately, there were no elephants but she was thrilled with the rest of the animals we got to see.

She was particularly interested in this poor kitten. She would not leave it alone! 

Then we got to see the baby chicks. Bailey even got pet one. I was surprised by how gentle she was with the little chick. It was so cute!

Then we got to feed the chickens. Bailey mostly just chased the chickens around with the bread never leaving her hands.

I love this picture of the kids checking out the cow...

Then we got to pet the "Horsey"

We even tried some goat milk. It wasn't that bad, surprisingly.

 

It was a beautiful morning and I'm glad we got to spend some time with friends and explore the farm.

 

Then on Friday, we met some friends at a park. This park was awesome and I'm so glad we tried a new one. Tanner loved the curvy slides and the weather was amazing. It was like 75 degrees and we hung out for about 2 hours and ate lunch there.

 

Hopefully we will be enjoying more awesome weather and we begin the fall season.

We have some fun fall activities planned so I'm looking forward to that. Stay tuned!

Potty Training Miss Bailey

On Saturday, Sept 7th, I decided it was time to finally potty train Bailey. We had tried it around 18 months, but she wasn't ready. So when she turned 2 last month I decided it was time.

Following the same method I used on her big brother, I started the 3-day method and just took her to the potty every 10 minutes for the first day.

She did great. On day one she had 18 successful trips to the potty and only 2 accidents.

I literally pumped her full of fluids all day. She drank chocolate milk and juice boxes non stop on day 1. It made it easier when I took her to the bathroom non-stop.

 

We also spent a lot of time on the tile floor. We painted our nails. (one of Bailey's favorite activities)

We also did some coloring at the table. Bailey loves to color. This kept her entertained for about 30 minutes (with 10 minute potty breaks in between)

Every time Bailey went potty in the toilet she got a treat.

She also got to eat her treat on the tile floor.

Also after she would go pee, we'd go to her calling chart and let her pick out the person she wanted to call. When we called she would say "I did it. I went potty!"

It was pretty cute. She mostly wanted to call Nanny and Papa. She also picked Aunt Sarah, Uncle David and Uncle Phillip. Haha. She's so weird.

And if the calling chart and treats were enough motivation, we also added stickers to her chart each time she peed in the toilet. When she filled the sticker chart, she got a toy.

All-in-all, day 1 of potty training went amazingly well.

Also, I caught this little gem of a picture. Cracks me up!

 

The next morning we were all pretty sick with colds, but I didn't want to give up on our progress so we pushed on and she did great on day 2 as well.

Here she is at the start of day 2, with her nearly filled sticker chart.

Shortly after she woke up, she filled her sticker chart and got her first prize. She pretty much loved it.

Our stats on day 2 were as follows:  13 successful potty trips and 2 accidents. We worked on doing 20 minute intervals and that made life a little better.

 

Here is Bailey at the start of day 3- which was a Monday. She is also obsessed carrying her big girl panties around with her wherever she goes. So that's normal...

On day 3 we started 30-45 minute intervals. Unfortunately, she had 3 accidents on day 3 because they intervals were so much farther apart. But she also had 10 successful trips to the potty.

She is doing great.

 

So after the three days of super intense, timed-potty trips, we went to just going when she started acting like she had to pee. Now we are on day 6 and she has been dry and accident free for the last 2 1/2 days.

 

However, today (day 6) we hit another big milestone. Bailey pooped on the toilet and that made my day. So we went and got milkshakes. It's pretty exciting. We are now leaving the house wearing panties (no pull-ups) and she's staying dry. When she needs to go potty she says "I pee Mommy. Take me."

It's working for us and she is doing fantastic. I'm so relieved.

NO MORE DIAPERS FOR US!

 

Way to go Bailey! I am one proud momma.