ZOO

This past weekend was a fun-filled weekend, Friday night we went into Omaha for a surprise party for Brandon(Jared's brother).  The boys started the night there (a restaurant/bar) but then I took them over to my friend Kim's (from college) house and she was kind enough to watch them for the evening (a couple hours).  I didn't know how they would do since they didn't know her so I stuck around for a little while and we played and they were playing great with her kids and went potty and such but when I got ready to leave they were not having it.  They kept saying, "don't leave me mommy".  Talk about a dagger in the chest!  I almost didn't but Kim and her kids were so excited to play with the boys so I thought I would leave them for a little bit and come back.  After I left they did fine as I figured they would they were only there for a couple hours.  My brother Levi and his family were on their way to Omaha to join us at the zoo so we headed back to Janet's (Jared's moms).  They got in about 12:30, we got them settled and then went to bed for our busy Saturday.

Potty break on the interstate gotta love boys

The Rosenmeyer gang and the boys

The boys talked about this monkey and how he put his butt on the window and pooped a lot

We had lots of help which was nice Logan and Landon in deep conversation

Ella and Landon giving hugs and kisses 

the WHOLE group...FUN

Love this picture Landon was watching the monkey's, not even sure what he thought was so funny

Kristy and Logan and Levi and Tristan watching the Lions

Gracie adn I making funny faces except my face is not too funny

Tristan was BEAT!! 

Good picture of Grandma Janet and Tara

oops...we've got a problem here, Tristan adjustable waist was obviously loose and aunt Tara and  grandma were laughing to hard to help yep right in the middle of the zoo, don't worry daddy was right there saying get the camera:), poor kid but great photo op.

Saturday was a fun day at the zoo and ended the day at Dave and Busters for the kids(the kids loved them both).  The boys enjoyed all the animals again except a few got a little too close to the window and scared them but for the most part had a great time.  We had a big group that joined us which was fun!  Levi, Krisy, Logan, Jackson, Gracie, Ellie and the Tara, Hunter, Braeden, Ella, Janet and then the boys Jared and myself.  It was fun we packed a lunch so once we got there we were there and didn't have to spend a bunch of money on food, even though their ice cream was yummy.

After the zoo closed at 5, yes we closed it down we headed to Dave and Busters which is bar/restaurant with tons of games for the older kids.  By this time my boys were awful tired since Tristan had only slept at the zoo for a bit and Landon on the ride from the zoo to the restaurant.  Landon just wanted to keep sleeping and Tristan was just ornery and not listening.  After we ate and played for awhile we headed to Janet's to pack up and then back to Sioux City.

Landon loving the games, didn't even need to waste the money

Jackson was a big help and the boys loved him

Sunday, we just hung around the house, the boys needed a nap so Levi and his family went shopping for a couple hours and then back to our house for pizza before heading home.  We had a great weekend with family and hate to have them leave.  I am so grateful for the times any of our family (Jared or min) can come and visit and we try and go visit them often too.  Sometimes when we get busy in our schedules and they are busy in theirs it doesn't happen near enough but when it does we always have a great time!  I am thankful for our families God has blessed us with!

Tough Trucks

Tonight we decided to go to the fair even though we were still having accidents but potty training is going pretty well so decided to risk it. We went to see the "moos" at the Woodbury County Fair in Moville, about 20 min. from Sioux City. So not only were they going to be distracted by all the animals and such we had a 20 min. drive. They did great about half way they said they had to pee so we pulled over and it was raining so they did not want to get out and pee so we said hold it. They thought holding it was pretty funny so they literally were holding themselves:). We made it to Lawton with no accidents and Tristan went poop in potty and Landon pee. We got to the fair and went to see they cows and horses, then went potty and then ate and potty and then to the tough trucks. We would go to the bathroom periodically through out the night watching the tough trucks. Being from a small town I have never been to tough trucks. I didn't know how loud it would be for the boys, but it was not bad at all. It was jus told trucks that go over big bumps and get timed. The boys had a blast!!!!

Tristan and mommy enjoying the popcorn

Landon LOVED this!!

We went with our friends "Craigheads"

As you can tell by the pictures and video they Loved it!  Landon was so funny he laughed for about 20 min. straight watching the cars.  At the end there was a truck that flipped onto its top and they were all concerned until they saw him get out and they said mommy he ok?  I said yes he is ok!  They were happy.  They were accident free until about 10:15(yes way past their bed time but they were having so much fun).  Tristan said mommy me pee, so I said ok and tried to run through the crowd saying excuse me excuse as the race was just getting over.  Well about half way down the grandstands i felt warmth on my arm and looked down and we didn't make it to the bathroom:(  but I was very please how well they did!

Day 2 of potty training

We decided not to do the timer and to just remind the boys and watch for their signs today.  It was much easier today as Jared was home and around to help most of the day.  With two it is so hard if one has an accident and your cleaning one up and leave the room then the other one thinks now is a good time to go potty and it is a constant cycle.  It was nice to be able to clean up meals or cook meals without worrying about an accident happening and such!  Tristan is so funny he poops all the time and is so proud of it even if it is just a little turd, he wants to show everyone...even the dogs  He will have to go pee and can't so will push out a little poop we are trying to get him to not poop every time but it is a good thing that he has the pooping part down(or so it seems he does).  We have been doing Mini Oreo's or M&M's for potty's, but with Tristan towards the end of the day we would only give him one if he did the little poop so he would figure out that he needs to pee more too.  Tristan today had two times that he peed a little then went on the potty and then two other accidents and guess where those two were...yep outside, darn it!  Landon had two poopy accident two pee accident and I think one more that daddy didn't catch while I was mowing:)(yep all three pee accident's were outside.  One poop was right before nap when I put his diaper on, he came out and said poopy mommy, but was too late:(.  Both woke up dry from nap and went pee pretty quickly after waking up so thats good, I think.  I have no idea what to compare this to if it is good, bad or awful but we are going to stick with it and work again tomorrow hard before Monday and boys going back to daycare.  I really don't want to put them in pull ups but not sure I have a choice with daycare.  My plan is to have them naked or in underwear at home and while at daycare pull ups for a little bit and hope they are dry most days but we will see.

Wish us more luck!  Happy Saturday!

Potty Training Round 2!!

So we (I) decided to try potty training the boys again this weekend or start working on it harder.  This week I had the sitter just sit them on when she changed their diaper and before and after naps.  They sometimes went sometimes didn't.  But Tristan had not pooped in his diaper since Wednesday so on Friday we had no sitter and we had no plans for the weekend so I thought lets do this.  I know not a fun weekend but a good weekend with no plans to try and work only on potty training twin boys!!! They did really good while inside but when we went outside is when the accidents picked up.  It was hard because I wanted them to be able to play outside but didn't want them to have accidents so the first time we tried it for about an hour and two accidents so I said we could go out later.  We did and they had more accidents.  Tristan had seven accidents and four of them were outside and two were he went a little in his pants and then finished on potty, no poops in pants.  Landon had four accidents and one was outside and two were within 20 min so don't think he was done the first time, no poop in pants.  Today we did the timer every 15-20 min. which was alot when you are working on two at a time.  We will see if we stick to the  timer tomorrow or just remind them and have them try every so often.  Wish us luck and any advice for potty training boys or twins I would take it or just potty training in general.

Have a great weekend!  W

Minnesota Vacation

This past week we went to Ottertail Lake, MN with Jared's family a trip we do every year and we look forward to every year.  This year I was looking forward to getting away and some relaxing time but it wasn't exactly all that but was still a great trip overall. 

Great friends from college (basketball friends)

Jared and I had a wedding in Omaha on Friday July 12 (Lindsey Stineman, a good friend from college).  So we went into Omaha late Friday afternoon in time for the 6:30 wedding hung out until about 11:30 and then got back on the road to head back to Sioux City to get some sleep before getting up to finish packing and get on the road.  We left the boys in Sioux City with a sitter so they didn't have to be in the car any longer then they had to.  Our plan was to get up about 5:30 and on the road between 6-7 well we missed that time and got on the road about 8 but thats ok.  The boys woke up on their own so they got their normal night sleep and then we got going.  I drove first and was real tired but drove about half the trip to Watertown, SD.  It is about a 5 1/2 hour trip from Sioux City.  We were unsure how often we would have to stop but the boys did pretty good and only one stop for us so not too bad.  We got into the cabin about 2:30 and Jared's rest of the family were already there Thursday and Friday so we got unpacked that day and tried to organize stuff. 


Most of our days consisted of boys waking up about 7 or so and hanging out trying to be as quiet as possible while everyone else slept (older kids would sleep until 11 or so).  After the boys had ate I would take them on a morning run to burn some more time and get my workout in for the day.  We would get back boys would play outside or sometimes in water then eat lunch play outside and then nap time, once up usually water time and jet ski then dinner and bed.  We tried to stay as close to 8-8:30 bed time as possible because if not my boys are bears and are not happy campers.  The weather was great every day except Monday was rainy and gloomy so we just hung out in the cabin, napped, and caught up on our lives.  Tuesday was not a very good day for the boys or myself.  It was just one of those days were the boys would not listen and were off the wall ornery.  They were just being naughty and all I wanted to do was call my mom for some Motherly advice on raising ornery boys at this age.  She was always so good at telling me the right things and how to handle and approach them so I would not get so frustrated and upset.  I sat in my room on vacation a lot this day and cried and thought of What am I doing wrong, am I a bad mom, I just want to talk to my mom like we used too.  Now I don't want a pitty party at all and I know I have a ton of support out there and I am very thankful for that but sometimes I just want my mommy.  I asked Jared if we could go home, I have never in the 13 years I have been going to Minnesota wanted to go home but this day I was very serious about going home.  I know Jared's family would have been supportive if I needed to talk to them but at the time I didn't.  I just hated the thought of them thinking our boys were being naughty and I was a bad mother.  I thought to myself try one more day and if Wednesday is not better that the boys and I would head home.

Luckily Wednesday was a little better and most of days to follow were not too bad.  Our days again just consisted of lots of outside and water time and just hanging out with the family!  All in all was a pretty good week.

Our trip home was great boys did awesome they napped right away for about two hours then we stopped for dinner and then back on the road again and they did great.  Towards the end of the trip they were ready to be home and in their beds since it was after 8:00.

Many Emotions

 This weekend had many emotions in it.  My brother Ryan and his family were coming home from Arizona, a birthday party, fun family time, and something I have dreaded for awhile now but knew it needed to be done putting my mom into a “home”. 

Jared, I and the boys headed home Friday night to mom and dad’s and just hung out most of the time.  Saturday morning while everyone was gone my mom and I were sitting there playing with the boys and I told her what the plan was in a way that I thought my mom would take best.  I asked her how she would feel about going somewhere so she wasn’t alone all day while dad was gone?  She said well I don’t like to be alone (my thoughts phew that wasn’t as bad as I thought but we will see).  I said I know you don’t and this place where you go there will always be someone around and activities to do and they will take you places.  She said well we could try it…(phew again)  I said ya we can just try it and see how it goes.  Then I told her that we would be getting things ready for her new place and packing her clothes and such, she said ok.  Then we went on playing with the boys and about our day.  Alison and I started getting her clothes together and things around the house to take to her new place.  Kristy and Levi had went to the store before hand to get bedding, curtains, towels, and other things she needed.  While we were getting her clothes ready she came in the room so I just had her start trying on clothes and seeing what still fit and such.  (This was not too much out of the norm from back in the day as mom and I would do this often).  Then Mike, Levi, Steve, Kristy, Alison, Wyatt and myself went to her new home and decorated her room.  She was going to be going to the Windsor Manor in Algona, which is an assisted living with a memory care unit.  This place is new just opened in June 1 and you got to decorate your own room and bring things in that were “hers” which was nice.  We brought old pictures of us kids and some new ones but the old ones is what she remembers most! (Many may wonder but yes she still remembers all us kids and most of the grandkids most of the time).  We went on a tour (Mike, Alison, myself) with Scott the Manager of the place and saw the Memory care unit and such which is going to be so nice, but I had a moment and broke down in tears just the thought of it all, I had been trying to be so strong.  She is in the Assisted Living part right now because there is no other patients in the Memory care unit so she just has someone on her24/7 until she goes to bed and then they check on her and have an alarm on her door so if she wakes up and goes out of her room they will know.  Once they get more patients back in Memory Care she will move back there where it is a locked unit, only 10 rooms and always has a caregiver of some sort in there.  Then that night we went to church and to Johney’s to eat. 

LOVE these all these guys more then words!!

Gonna miss swinging with my mom 

Sunday was the day Ryan and his family got there and the birthday party.  So we tried to enjoy the day with all of us family there for the last time as a family “at home”.  (We can still take mom out of the home but we are not sure how the transition will go so we will see on that).  We grilled out, played bags, and kids played in the dirt for hours.  It was so nice to just hang out catch up and watch all the cousins play together.  They all played so NICE and got along, we hardly knew they were there.  Being around family is so much fun and since my family is far away and we were going through a tough time as a family it was so good to hang out and just be “us” again.

Tristan

Landon

Logan so good with the little kids... LOVE THAT!

grandkids missing a few

FAMILY!!!

too sweet cousin Stella and Gracie swinging in Grandma's swing

sisters

The ladies even played bags

Logan loving his cousins up!

the LADIES!! Love these girls so much

Birthday girl Stella wants her cake

two love birds enjoying cake

enjoying some cake adn ice cream

LOVE this funny, caring, loving, soft hearted man more then anything 

Boys love to wrestle

Logan being silly with cousin Walker

Of course we got the bags out...Jared loves this game

Monday was the day (we as a family were not looking forward to) we would put our mother, our sweet, caring, loving mother and wife into a home to get better care.  So as I got my mom ready (which I always did every day when I was home), got her showered make up on and hair done I told her again where she was going and such and her response, well we can try it.  So far so good as far as mom-taking going into a home goes.  She always told dad and I don’t put me “away” please don’t put me away, so you can imagine the guilt we felt as this day came upon us.  Dad asked if we could all go together and I said sure, Levi and Mike were already in town so mom, dad, Steve, Ryan and myself got ready to leave.  I got them all in the car and had to turn back to the house and RUN in as I lost it, again trying to be so strong so mom didn’t see and ask what was the matter.  Danielle was there holding Stella so I hugged her so tight I prolly broke her!  I went into the bathroom and had to gather myself before getting back into the car.  Mom had her bear (kid), she carries around dolls, stuffed bear, stuffed dog and thinks they are her grandkids, refers to herself as grandma. So those went along and things were pretty good as she hung onto it.  This is something that is a good ting for Alzheimer’s patients so as we learned this we went with it and took them with her.  As we drove there with not a whole lot of talking and dad crying we arrive there.  We get out and mom say’s I remember this place and talks about how nice it is how much they have done to it.  Now we don’t know if she really remembers it at all or just saying that but dad did take here there awhile back.  Then we walk in and meet Lisa and she walks us back to her room and she says lets see what you remember, mom walks in and sits down in the recliner and we all start talking.  Then we had to do some paper work so they started on that and mom got up.  I asked where she was going and she said bathroom and then I took her to the bathroom and Mike walked in after she was down and he said, this is real nice Ma and she said I know they have done it so nice!  That warmed my heart so much that she was adjusting ok with it thus far.  So then Mike, Steve, mom and I went on a walk around the place looked at the Memory care unit talked to some ladies and looked at the birds.  Then we headed back to her room and I helped dad with some questions as my brothers ordered pizza.  Then we were done and the ladies said “Judy are you ready for dinner” and she said sure.  So we all started walking to the front and dad turns to me and said I need to go… I said it is fine just keep walking it will be ok and he said no its not going to be(he was getting nervous). We all stopped to talk to Scott and then I gave mom a couple hugs(my dad kept walking) and I said mom I love you and the lady took her to dinner(lunch).  As she walked in front of us we followed her and then we got to front and I LOST it!!! I went to Levi and needed a hug then made my brother cry.  It was one of the hardest things I have ever done was see my mom walk away from me know what was in store.  I cried hard for awhile and then gathered myself and we talked a bit more.  Watched mom eat and she was getting a long just fine so made things seem better and it was going to work out good there.  So we left went back to the house had some pizza and as it was hard not having mom there and to be honest a bit weird it is all for the better especially for my dad and my mom’s care.  We hung out for a bit kids napped, then went to the pool with Ryan, Danielle, Caden, Mabel, Stella, Alison, Wyatt, Weston, Walker and us.  We had a good time playing in the pool with all the cousins.  Then we went back to mom and dad's and had dinner and then headed back to Sioux City late.  Leaving was a bit tough.  Leaving dad was hard, when I went to leave, he started crying and then of course I did.  I told him I would him I would be here for him and that it was going to be ok and was better but would just take some getting used to.  We got back late but I wanted to hang out with dad for awhile.

boys with Mabel and Caden

Boys climbing fence at farm, even got in the pen with the cows and horse

little ones playing with tractors and cars in the dirt, easily entertained and they got along SOOOO well!