This and That

~Potty training has officially begun! (For real this time.) I'm gonna be one of those Moms and share too much now. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Jaxon finally saw that he could benefit from a bribe and had his very first potty training success yesterday. WOOHOOO!!!!
We visited the dollar store yesterday and he found a package of six matchbox type cars that he wanted. I told him he could have them if he would go potty like a big boy. So we came home and he sat on the toilet for about an hour till it finally happened. He was so excited! He called to me in the kitchen and said "Mom! The pee comed out!" So we hooted, hollered, cheered and high fived over it for a few minutes and then he got to choose two cars to have. He did that twice more yesterday. Much of the day was spent in the bathroom waiting for the pee to come out. LOL He even started singing songs to himself towards the end of the day.
"Come on, pee. You can do it. You know how to do this."
He did have two accidents as well, but it was only day one.
Day one toward our family being diaper free FOREVER!!! Yes!!!

~The brakes all but "went out" on the van this week so I had to take it in to the shop. What does my vehicle say about me if the entire waiting room of the dealership was filled with people twice my age? Hmm.... I'll have to think about that when the time comes to replace the van. Which, thankfully, is not now. It was a fairly simple and inexpensive fix. Compared to, say, careening uncontrollably to our death on the highway.

~We have had a couple of family members receive some bad news about their health in the past couple weeks. To them (you know who you are) we send our love and prayers. And a plea to them and everyone else that we love to take charge of your physical health. Don't just leave it in the hands of pills and doctors when so much can be done to turn things around with a healthy diet and exercise. Choose to ~LIVE~ a great life rather than suffer through it on a grueling schedule of medication and doctor appointments. We love you so much and want to enjoy as much time together as we're blessed to have. Time is so short as it is. We all know that all too well.

~All of the recipes that I listed in my most recent meal plan were a HUGE success except for the crock pot veggie curry which wasn't bad. It just wasn't anything to get too excited about. I HIGHLY recommend them all and they are super healthy and delicious. I didn't get around to taking pics to blog them but I will next time I make them. And I definitely will be making them again. Especially the Spicy Chickpea Casserole. I've been sad every day at lunch time that there wasn't more of that leftover.

~I realized that I haven't bragged about Kenzie much lately. She is taking a special class in high school this year where she is earning her CNA. She commutes from her school to the training center every other day for half of the school day. And she also does clinicals for 5 hours in the evening once a week. Her clinical assignment is at a rehab center where she gets to work hands on with the residents there. They have different reasons for being there. Some have mental health problems, some are recuperating from injuries, surgeries, etc. She seems to really be enjoying that experience even though she comes home exhausted from the hard work. She wants to be a nurse midwife and these classes are giving her some good medical experience toward that. And the certificate should help her find a good part time job in the medical field. We are so proud of her for following her dream and doing hard things to make it happen.

~Good quote: "Family quarrels have a total bitterness unmatched by others. Yet it sometimes happens that they also have a kind of tang, a pleasantness beneath the unpleasantness, based on the tacit understanding that this is not for keeps; that any limb you climb out on will still be there later for you to climb back." ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
So true. The limb is here when you're ready to climb back in. ;)