Random Pictures

licking the cake batter spoon, this is childhood

Eliška's face just cracks me up here

Emma's pants are constantly falling down since she's between sizes right now

my baby

our "pooter" as we call her

Emma thinks she's a big kid now because she can sit at this table

Eliška + a box of hair clips = one stylish toddler

Emma keeps climbing up this castle...

then screams till someone helps her down, we're trying to overcome this fear of sliding

dance party 80's style

I love it when kids fall asleep while eating

Since potty training, I've had a hard time keeping the girls out of the bathroom. Eliška will go in to use the toilet, while Emma runs down the hall & knocks on the door until Eliška lets her in. They think this shower is the funnest thing in the world.

Office Supplies

I know some of you are "office" fans. Head over to Target, they've got some fun stuff in their dollar bins right now. The new season starts next week, yay!

Potty Training: Day 3

Well I almost gave up yesterday after 4 accidents before 10 am! But, I got a renewal of patience and today has been better (only 2 accidents so far). Luckily they were all on the tile, so easy clean up. Potty-training is hard work! I know most of you have successfully potty-trained your kids, please help me, I need advice! How long does it take? I was secretly hoping it would be 1 day or maybe a week. Please tell me it gets better! We've been watching, "Elmo's Potty Time" which has helped her remember. Any other good videos or books you know of? Well, I am not giving up with this. Hopefully she will be trained by her Birthday next month, we'll see.

update

Well, we had a nice weekend once I finally got over a horrible head cold. It was not a fun week though, being sick & Dan working late every night. I am spoiled, he usually gets home by 4 pm. We went to our favorite ice cream parlor in Provo, "Leatherby's" for Dan's Birthday on Saturday. I should've taken a picture of the sundae we shared, they have the biggest portions! We played at the park, got some new T-shirts to support the new BYU football season. I finally put away a mountain of laundry. I've started potty-training Eliška now "hardcore". She's worn underwear all day so far with no accidents. I didn't expect it to be so easy. Training Pants just don't give her that extra motivation I guess. Now, I'm just waiting for Eliška's Birthday & trying to narrow down what I'm getting her. I have a serious problem with spoiling her. I've gotta say, I love her age right now, it's so fun!

Emma's Walking Debut

Sticker Chart

We have been trying out a sticker chart with Eliška, it seems to be working pretty well. Some of the categories are: being a good sister, sharing, listening to mom & dad, & picking up her toys. When she reaches a certain amount of stickers, she gets a little prize from the dollar store. I just got so tired of having toys everywhere & breaking up fights between the girls. They had these charts & stickers @ Target for $1. She'll do almost anything to get a sticker.

caught in a severe thunderstorm

Well, it has been an interesting week here with the weather. Tuesday night I took Eliška to gymnastics (in Draper), while Dan stayed home with Emma. It had been stormy earlier that day, but had cleared up. I decided to stop by Ikea before we went home because it's right next to gymnastics & I had been wanting to get a few things. Eliška had so much fun playing house with everything, sitting on the couches, etc. I had never been through the whole store & did not realize how deep it went, we ended up getting lost & going around in circles. Finally I saw the signs that led to check out.

At this point I started getting very nervous because I could hear the rain pounding outside, it sounded really bad. Dan then called me to tell me to go home right away because the weather was getting bad. I had finally gotten to the toys, which was where I wanted to shop in the first place, so I got what I wanted and finally pulled Eliška away from coloring. By the time we made it downstairs & checked out, the weather had turned downright scary (thunder, lightning, torrential rain, & wind). I was like, "Great, what am I going to do?" So we waited a little bit & I saw other people going out & it really didn't seem like it was going to let up. So I thought, "Okay, we'll just get a little wet, but it'll be alright" I just wanted to get home & our car was not far away.

As soon as we got out we were completely dumped on, it was as if we had jumped into a swimming pool with all of our clothes on. The wind was so strong, it almost knocked us over as we went down the sidewalk. As we headed down the outlet to the parking lot, a flash flood poured down and it was all I could do just to keep contact with the cart and the pavement. I was inches from losing control & Eliška being thrown with the cart across the parking lot. My adrenaline kicked in & my only focus was to get to the car as fast as I could. We crashed into the door and I kept pressing 'unlock' over & over, but it had gotten so wet that it wouldn't work. Plus the car alarm had somehow been set off, finally I realized I could just use the actual key. I got the doors open, meanwhile Eliška was completely terrified & screaming at the top of her lungs the entire time. I finally was able to shove her in & then went to throw everything in the trunk and ran to get myself into the driver's seat.

I just broke down at that point, realizing how lucky we were to have made it without getting severely injured. I felt so bad that I put Eliška through that. I tried to calm her down, gave her a blanket, a candy, read a story. I was too scared to turn the car on because of the alarm & the security light flashing at me. I thought it might freeze up or something. So we just waited & prayed that the storm would let up a little, and that we would be safe in the car. Eventually I went back out to the trunk to get my cell phone to call Dan. He was so worried about us, he could tell I was really shaken up & told me he was on his way to get me with his sister. It was a while until he was able to get to us. Eliška was really sweet, telling me not to be scared & that we'd be okay. The storm had let up a little bit when Dan came and we finally made it home and tried to warm up and calm down.

I just thank Heavenly Father that we made it home safely. When I think of how close Eliška was to flying out of the cart, it just terrifies me. Now I know to never ever go out in weather like that. Always stay inside and wait it out. It was so dangerous, I can't believe I thought it would be okay to do that. When I came home and saw the news, I realized just how bad it was. There was actually a funnel cloud that made its way around Salt Lake City. I'm still pretty shaken up from the whole night, but it's definitely made me so thankful for my life and my family. It wouldn't have been so bad if I was by myself, but It was so dangerous with Eliška. I've never been so scared before in my entire life. I'm just thankful for Dan and so thankful that we're all safe now.

here are some pictures of the damage (not our house) & an article you can read about the storm that night

end of summer

We had a nice labor Day weekend. Dan's parents were in town for the BYU game, so we were able to hang out with them. We had fun relaxing & barbecuing in the backyard yesterday while the girls took a dip in the kiddie pool. Eliška picked some flowers (weeds) for me. Dan made his first batch of ribs that turned out great along with his famous grilled pineapple & brown sugar (yum). We also enjoyed fresh corn from mom & dad Kondel's garden & tomatoes from ours. The girls are loving the cherry tomatoes! I am ready for Fall. I like living in Utah & having the seasons change, I'm tired of the heat.