Summer Happenings

 I found these ribbons in a dresser we got from my parents for our babies room.

They reminded me of a meme I saw on facebook the other day that made me laugh.

"I used to do cool things, 

but now days I find myself arguing 

with a miniature version of myself over using the toilet."

Isn't it true. :) The arguing has intensified as the she continues to age, but man I love her and getting to spend each day with her. Here are some of the little things we do each week during this summer so far.

 Eat lots of ice cream. This particular day we went to Baskin Robbins and as soon as I had paid I dropped my whole ice cream cone on the floor. Thankfully they were kind and replaced it for free. Clumsy me!

 Our library has an Ipad station kids can play on. Natalie loves this! She is a good sport about leaving when it is time, but man she savors her 25 minutes.

 This little girl is on a late night late morning schedule with how hot it has been during the summer. This particular day was a Monday after a long busy weekend and I think she slept until 9:45. Truly not a schedule I love, but the girls got to sleep sometime.

 She wasn't quite sure what to think about these billy bob teeth I had lying around. She tried them out as a hair clip.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

April Random Memories

 I am trying my hand at some container gardening this year since our back yard is still in construction mode. I am excited to see how it goes. So far I have planted a tomato plant, lemon thyme, radishes, and lettuce. I found several more pots at a yard sale for a couple of dollars and need to get them filled up. I am having a hard time deciding what else to plant. Definitely going to try some more herbs, maybe some more lettuce, and carrots?

 This is a really cute book about a duck who rides a bike on a farm. It is only blog worthy because Natalie has become obsessed with it. So much so that we returned it and had to recheck it out. I do love her saying "Duck on Bike," short and quick. We read it over and over again while potty training. I am getting pretty good at memorizing children's books these days. It is so great to have a library system that we can check these books out from. 

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Good Morning Monday

Sunday's can be a long day for Natalie. 

Yesterday was especially so as she woke up at 6:30 a.m. and didn't go to bed until 9:30 p.m. 

She slept until 9:30 this morning.

 Justin made pancakes for us, but had to leave before she woke up.

 This was her saying good morning for a picture we sent him. 

I love that she mostly wakes up with a big smile on her face.

 
Justin and Ruth Blazzard

This Week

-  My husband has been home the past two nights! It has been amazing and almost as good as vacation.

- I hit the third trimester and am feeling pretty good with the pregnancy. I have to do my glucose test on Thursday and am looking forward to getting it over with.

- Natalie is talking up a storm. She loves to copy cat and is a very agreeable child. We ran errands all morning and she was very content to sit in her stroller or cart and wait patiently for me. We will see if that lasts.

- Got the fourth book in "The Walk" series by Richard Paul Evans from the library today. My goal is to finish this series before the baby gets here. I need some good reading time.

- Have been working diligently on a wheat order for our Stake and doing lots of food storage research. I forgot how much time and effort it takes to learn, but it is always worth it.

-  I planted seeds in some pots on my porch last Thursday. They are beginning to sprout through. Last week at a Relief Society Activity the speaker described her seeds sprouting as "magical." I agree, it is amazing what something so tiny can do with proper care.

- Spring is here with warm weather.

- Natalie goes to her first dentist visit Thursday, it will be interesting to see how it goes.

- Looking forward to an impromptu Stake Conference this Sunday with a visiting General Authority.

- Made a delicious BBQ Chicken Salad for dinner tonight. It had black beans, corn, avocado, tomato, lime juice, cilantro and ranch mixed together, on lettuce with chicken as a topping. Justin had his in a tortilla as he never eats lettuce.

-My bathrooms got cleaned today and the floor mopped, which means I can check this off my to do list and rest peacefully tonight. Hope you are having a great week!

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Facetime and Potty

 When Justin was given the offer for his job in 2012, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. It has been a great thing for our family, but has been hard with all the travel it requires. 

Many of our nights are spent like this.

 Thank goodness for face time!

 One of Natalie's favorite games is to play pretend sleeping right now. She even snores! I don't know where she learned that, but does a great impression. Tonight she was happy to report to Daddy that she had went number 2 on the potty. I was happy too. 

The three day potty method worked really well for us.  (Let me know if you are interested I can send you the short ebook to read on it)

The first two days were really intense. Lots of accidents and only getting her to go in the toilet twice each day. The first night she also wet the bed and that was no fun for her. The second night she stayed dry though. At the end of the second day I reread the short book and realized I needed to improve some of my teaching habits. 

I made a few adjustments and by the third day around noon she really started getting it. That was good, because I was really starting to dislike the lady who wrote the method, haha.
No, really I was quite pleased with the method. It reinforces positivity, consistency and follow through. All things that I believe to be good traits of good parents.
 

We only had two accidents that third day and the second one was really because I wasn't watching close enough. 

She continued to have dry nights through the weekend and 95% dry days. 

This week she has done great and finally tonight mastered the pooping on the toilet. 

We have not used a diaper for 11 days now. It is wonderful! I am so proud of Natalie and am grateful she has caught on so well and wants to be big and use the toilet. I know that there will probably still be some accidents in the future, but am hoping for the best that this really sticks with her.

Natalie has been enjoying all the extra stories we have been reading while she sits on the potty.

I am starting to build my collection of diapers for our baby and buying for two would make me cry. I can't believe she is old enough to do it, but am glad we have got it done!

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Turning 2

This little girl turned 2 on March 9th! I can and cannot believe it at the same time. She has brought so much joy into our lives and I am so grateful to get to spend each day with her. This is how her birthday went.

Waffles with Strawberries and Whip Cream for Breakfast. She thought the candles were a nice addition, still not quite sure about blowing them out.

We hurried along with breakfast so we could make it to the zoo. 

Justin took the day off work so we could be together as a family.

I did a tiny bit of decorating to make the day a little more special. She appreciated the banner.

 We packed our lunch and took it in with us. We paused by the elephants to eat. She was packing around this apple and all I could think was, 

"I hope she doesn't drop it because she will still want to eat it." 

Well, I held it for her for a minute, and I dropped it. Yep, she still wanted it, but don't worry we threw it away. Clumsy mama...

 What to do for a two year old's birthday? I thought the zoo would be a nice outing since we had not been there in a year. Well, she did alright, but really wasn't overly enthused at it. Justin and I both got bored about 30 minutes into it. We were happy when we made it around the map.

 She did enjoy staring at this big kitty across the glass. I thought it was rather creepy.

After the Zoo we came home for a nap for the Birthday girl and food preparations for the parents.

 

 I have never been a very good cake decorator, but was pleased with my work here. Not perfect I know, but for me they were pretty. Those are Mickey Mouse stand ups in the center. She LOVES Mickey and Frozen right now. 

We had our good friends Garrett and Nicole, and Rick over for dinner that night. I didn't invite any of Natalie's friends because I feel like friend birthday parties for two year olds are hard. Our company was perfect for the circumstances and Natalie had a blast. We had hamburgers, french fries and fruit salad for dinner. Then presents, playing and cupcakes. 

We got her a baby doll for her birthday, and two of our friends did as well. Each is a little different and she plays with all of them. One can take a bath, one can drink a bottle, and one is little enough to pack in most places. She is a good momma to them and will be a great big sister. 

 Grandma Blazzard got her those darling pink John Deere Cowboy boots. She loves them!

This picture pretty much sums up her party and interests in life right now. Princess and Frozen gear, baby dolls, and chocolate cake!

This little red head has so much life and love in her. She is smart, loves books, is fairly obedient, loves her family, Jesus Christ, watching youtube videos, playing with other kids, driving the car, and playing chase. We continue to learn from her every day and I am so grateful she made me a momma. Happy Birthday Ms. Natalie. I look forward to celebrating many more with you!

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Monday- Potty Training

Today, Natalie and I started the first day of our 3 Day Potty Training Method. She made it to the toilet twice, and had several accidents. I do think she is showing signs of understanding better and I am hoping tomorrow is better. I have to admit this evening it was hard for me to keep up my intensity of watching for her signals because Justin came home. However, it is totally great that Justin was home! A Monday night with His presence does not happen very often. We even had Family Home Evening.

I gave a lesson on praying and Natalie ran around in circles and wanted to look at other pictures in our Gospel Art Book rather than the praying picture. Justin and I ended up coloring her picture for her. It was a great evening. I look forward to completing these three days of potty training and having my husband home again tomorrow night. Happy Monday y'all.


Justin and Ruth Blazzard

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Since I was too sick at Christmas time to deliver any neighbor/ friend gifts, I decided Natalie and I would have some fun with this holiday. I assembled these simple gifts for Natalie's little friends.

 

She looked like a cute little leprechaun delivering them with her red hair and basket. It was fun to watch her be able to do a little act of service for her friends. All she asked in return was to play with their toys. Most houses I tried to keep her on the door step, but a couple she sneeked in and began playing. 

She especially enjoyed eating the Lucky Charms for breakfast. We don't each much sugary cereal around these parts, so she was quite pleased with the 'magically delicious' marshmallows in her bowl.

On another side note, our baby is growing well. I think we have her name picked out, but I am not telling yet. She is a big girl and I am feeling rather round. I am grateful to have most of my energy back and to be doing pretty well with food again. I really hope to make it a point of getting more walks in. It has been a little bit harder this pregnancy to be really active with having a toddler and the time of year right now. 

Justin is wonderful, but was especially so this last weekend as he pretty much took care of Natalie the whole time. I had several meetings and responsibilities with my church calling that took me away from home Saturday and Sunday. This calling has given me a whole new perspective on how much time especially the Priesthood leadership in our church spends away from their family serving other. I am grateful for their sacrifice and always learn much from their example. 

We are excited to have Justin home tomorrow and I am looking forward to our Relief Society Birthday Celebration with a Tea Party as the theme. Happy Week to you all!

 

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Stake Conference

We had Stake Conference this weekend. I have to admit it is nice to not have to worry about Primary for one week. Sitting and being edified by speakers is a great change up to my Sunday norm. We were privileged to have Elder Baxter from the first quorom of the seventy visiting our conference. He was funny and has a British accent which was fun to list to. He also delivered the words of God and that was the best part of the weekend.

When he first stood up at the adult session, he asked us all to put a big smile on our face. He said, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about Joy and if you loose the Joy you loose it all. I hope I can always remember that and serve in my roles as wife, mother and right now in the Primary with great Joy. Joy for my Savior and His amazing Gospel. There was much more said, but just remember to have Joy and Hope. Never loose Hope.

Natalie made it through the 2 hour stretch today with only one visit to the hall. She was a real champ. We also brought M&M's to feed her the last half an hour. We are good parents like that. i have been trying to get her to pick out her clothes lately to help her be more independent. Sunday mornings we go through all her dresses until she says yes. Mostly her response to anything these days is "No." This dress was her pick this morning and good thing, because it is almost too small. She also just got these new white shoes and socks for the Spring and Summer time. She loves them and put them on first thing after getting her dress on this morning. Every morning when I ask her to pick socks she wants to wear these "church" socks, she was glad it was finally a "church" day.

Another great part of the day was we all got naps. It was a gorgeous day and it was nice to spend some time with Justin as he was busy most of Saturday doing service and attending meetings. We are looking forward to a busy week with Tuesday being our 20 week ultra sound day. Boy or Girl? We shall see.
 
Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Toddler Bed

We switched this little girl to a toddler bed two Saturday's ago. The first night we did our bed time routine, prayed, kissed her good night and waited. We did our best to be quiet downstairs. After not hearing anything for 20 minutes we thought it was safe to start a movie. Ten minutes later, a faint knocking noise was coming from upstairs. Justin went upstairs to investigate and Natalie emerged with a big smile on her face. She ended up falling asleep in our bed and then we moved her back to her bed. She slept the rest of the night.

The next night was Sunday and she doesn't nap on Sundays, so another success and this time she fell asleep in her own bed!

Monday night she fell asleep in her own bed, only to awake at 1 a.m. and knock on our door. I let her in and let her fall back asleep between us. I returned her to her bed and 20 minutes later she woke up again. She came back to bed with me, and this time she stayed. Then we were off to Ontario for the rest of the week.

The last three nights have been pretty good with her sleeping in her bed. Last night she woke up, but still went back to her bed. Truly, I believe the jury is still out on what she is going to like. Her favorite place is our bed though.

This is how her mornings often go while I do my hair. She lays on our pillows and rubs the corners of them. This is her way of soothing herself. Especially since she hasn't been feeling well the last couple of days. Guess where she is sleeping right now? My bed.... we will see where she ends up tonight.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Almost 2

She loves to ride her rocking horse as often as possible. Especially while she watches Maximus the Horse on Tangled.

Guess who insisted on wearing her pink tutu to story time last week? 

This girl.

The librarian told me exactly one week before that it will be interesting to see what types of clothes Natalie will choose to wear in the near future. Up to this point, she has never had a preference. Well randomly she found this in her bottom drawer the next week and asked me to help her put it on.

Then refused to take it off. 

Having a two year old is going to be interesting.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Reading

 

This girl loves books. Most kids have security blankets, she has security books. She always has one in her hand when walking up stairs, getting in the car, going to sleep at night, and it is the first thing she wants when she wakes up. It is a great habit, so I won't complain.

 

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Good things that happened today:

1. We made it to story time early!
2. Strawberries were on sale at Winco. These are Natalie and I's favorite fruit. We were both pleased.
3. Natalie and I took a nap.
4. I was able to find the house I wasn't able to find before, that I needed to go do a Primary Visit at.
5. Natalie got a giant bag of pretzel's from the house listed above and she ate the whole thing. She was happy about it.
6. Justin will be home tonight! 
7. We made it half way through January.

 

 Great things that have happened the last two weeks:

1. The sun has been out more than it hasn't meaning we were able to go on walks and play at the park frequently. A rare occurence on the West Side in January.

2. Justin and I were able to go listen to Elder M. Russell Ballard who is a Twelve Apostle for our church speak last Friday in a fireside for our stake.

3. I saw baby #2 on ultrasound again last Monday. So far I have not had the energy to come up with a better announcement. So here you go, We are expecting Baby Blazzard #2 on July 16th or there about and are really excited!

4. Morning/All Day sickness is improving most days.

5.  Lots of time for reading these days.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Christmas Time

I had been hoping to get a picture of Natalie with Santa this year, but since our ward party did not include one and I didn't have time to search one out I kind of gave up on the idea. Last Saturday Justin and I were finishing up Christmas shopping and while we were at Cabela's we spotted the jolly man himself. I think this picture sums up her feelings pretty well on the subject. She was only on his lap long enough to snap the picture. We got a good laugh at it.

This is how she likes to study her scriptures in the morning.

Actually, this was just while I ran up stairs to get her clothes after breakfast. She does love to look at the scriptures and the Gospel Art Kit book. This makes my heart happy when I catch her doing this.

I took some time to make this flannel Christmas tree in hopes it would keep her out of our real tree. She really hasn't been to bad about getting into our tree, or this tree in fact. The benefit is it stays looking nice at almost all times.

Tonight is Justin's work Christmas Party. Unfortunately we aren't going. Last weekend and Monday and Tuesday of this week Justin and Natalie have been really sick. Justin went to the doctor's yesterday and they told him he had bronchitis. Natalie just has a bad cold. We are staying home and resting. That sums up our Christmas parties for this season other than our family Christmas Eve Party. It is crazy that Christmas is in only about a week. We are excited and hope to be feeling better by then.

Grateful

 After dinner, I told Natalie that we were going to go for a walk. 

She quickly found her shoes, and then grabbed her stroller.

Her friend Ivy likes to push her stroller to the park, and Natalie and her 

had to learn about sharing the stroller last time we went to the park together. 

Tonight Natalie wanted to make sure she was prepared with her very own.

As we walked, an overwhelming feeling of gratitude came over me.

This little pink and black stroller is a reminder of just how much my Heavenly Father

loves me and my family and knows our needs and our wants.

In May I started searching a doll stroller at yard sales for Natalie.

We are on a tight budget these days with not a lot of extra for nice to have items.

I knew Natalie would love having her own stroller to push around 

as that was her favorite toy at any house that had one, 

but I wasn't able to get her one right away.

I didn't have much luck at any of the yard sales.

Then we went to Utah towards the end of June and my generous sister in law 

offered me several of her girls old clothes.

While we were in her basement searching through everything, 

she also offered me some toys.

I asked if she had a stroller.

She did, it needed to be mended, 

but she was actually going to get rid of it and it was all mine.

I brought it home, mended it, and it has worked wonderfully.

It brought so much joy to my heart tonight as I watched 

Natalie proudly push that stroller up the street. 

She clearly felt very 'big' and grown up doing it.

I felt a reassurance that God has a hand in my life.

I am grateful.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard