A Few Good Things!

First, I can't beleive it has been almost 2 weeks since I posted. Jordan has been off the steroids for a while now and is doing alot better! He still has some joint pain and some stomach pains, but they are more things that he just casually mentions before going to bed. I have not had to give him anything constantly, only when he really needs it. Since he has been off the steroids, I have only had to give him tylenol 3 times. He had a follow up appt. today and there was still only a trace of protein in his urine, so that is good as well. He is still breaking out with new forms of the rash, but in much smaller sections. He will be seen again in 2 weeks for another follow up for his urine, but they expect that to be the end of it. This is VERY good news!

Last Saturday was very busy! We started out by cleaning the church, and then headed down to my cousin's b-day party (he is the same age as latoya). I actually have 3 cousins born on that day, but he is the youngest of the 3. Michael turned nine! Here is apicture of him with his b-day cake:


After the birthday party, we came home and got the kids dressed up for the harvest party at church. It was a last minute thing, but the kids did have fun and received plaenty of candy! I didn't get any pictures of Latoya because they split up the kids this year and I had to stay with the twins. We were so excited to see cousin Ben (the baby scarecrow). He enjoyed lookingat all the kids. We don't get to see them enough. We were also happy to see Miranda and her two kids. Here is a picture of my kids with Ben, and the slideshow is following:

on the actual halloween day, we went to visit grandparents and then went to a local nursing home. we found out about this about 3 years ago now and have done this ever since. They have 4 floors and take groups of people and take them to different floors. on each floor, they have the residents out of their rooms and standing in the hallway. the candy is donated by lots of people and they give each of the residents a bucket and then they get to hand out the candy. i love doing this for a few reasons:

1. the people in the nursing home really enjoy all the kids
2. it is a one stop place
3. it is inside (it's usually quit cold this time of year)
4. the kids still get their candy while brightening someone elses day

after the nursing home, we went to the mall and they did sometrick or treating there. we were late, so quit a few stores had signs saying they were out of candy, but the kids had plenty anyway. my kids do not eat candy really, we usually end up donating it to the church for their kids activities.

The rest of the week has just been kinda crazy. I haven't really been doing anything extra, but it just seems like this week left me with no time for blogging. Some of that has to do with the fact that I now go to the gym with my mom 3 days a week. I thoroughly enjoy it. I actually look forward to exercising and maybe someday you all will actually see a picture of me :). We got a really great deal and paid $99 down so now we only pay $10 a month for the rest of our lives (or for as long as we want to be a member). They also have child care which only costs $1 per child for 1 1/2 hours! We usually exercise for about an hour, and then we go in the dry sauna for 20 min. It sure is hot, but we do it!

The girls surprised me last night when she insisted that she go poop on the potty. Keep in mind that since the first time I tried potty training them (about a month ago), that I have not even tried at all to potty train and had put all their underwear away and the potty away and have never asked them to try going on the potty. Anyway, she said she had to go poop and i said so go. she said no, she wanted to go on the potty. i got down the little potty and sue enough she went. of course i made a big deal about it and gave her a treat (this is where the candy from trick or treating will be going now) and kelsey came running up and got all excited and said "give me high five kaylee, your a good girl"! it was sooo cute. kelsey then decided she would try. she sat on the potty maybe 3 times before she finally got a little bit of pee to come out so she could get a treat too. :) jordan also decided it was a good idea and ran upstairs and did his business then came running back down and said "i went potty, do i get a treat"? haha, nice try! needless to say i was very excited, but was not expecting too much from them. this morning they got up and immediately wanted big girl undies on (dora ones). kelsey went pee right away. i kept asking them if they had to go potty and making them sit on it every now and then. kaylee actually ended up peeing in her undies both times she went, but kelsey stayed dry all morning. the thing that shocked me the most was that while we were eating lunch, she just announced that she had to go. i put her on and she did her business and went back to eating. i put diapers on for their nap, and a pullup for when we went downtown to do our shopping. they used one pullup for the whole night! at each store, we would have them sit on the potty. kelsey went poop at walmart and they both went pee while we were out. they did not come back completely dry, but they weren't too bad either. i am going to take it slow and let them determine how fast we go with it. while i am at home, i will keep them in undies (as long as things keep going like they are), and when we are out either pullups or diapers. i have no problem bringing them to the potty even with a diaper on, they can be put back on! so, that is where we stand, sorry it was so long, but i am very excited and wanted to document it! i promise to try and be better about blogging! i hope everyone has a great week! :)