The Ketola triplets made the paper!

We went to the Preschool Fair at the Adrian Mall yesterday to get information about preschools for the kids next year.  The local paper was there and snapped pictures of the trio, one of which made the paper.  Check it out here and here.  The good news is that we got lots of information about local preschool options.  The bad news is now we have to sort it all out and make some sort of a decision.  Thank goodness we have a little while...I never knew picking a preschool was so difficult!

Chocolate Milk

A few days ago, I decided to take a quick shower while the boys watched tv and Madelynn was sleeping.  During my short shower, Malachi decided to make chocolate milk...all by himself.  Here are the steps he took....it was quite the process! 

1. Drink the three cups of milk that mommy poured for the kids.

2. Climb on the chair and put Aiden and Madelynn's empty cups into the sink.
3. Get out the chocolate syrup from the fridge and take it along with the cup to the table.
4. Unscrew and remove the cap from the chocolate syrup, even though it has a flip top on it.
5. Pour syrup in cup and all over table.

6. Drink chocolate milk (without any milk in it).

When I saw him, I asked him what he was doing.  He told me "chocolate milk".  I asked him if he made it by himself and he replied , "YUM!"  I probably should have gotten after him, but it was so cute that I had to take pictures and document everything!  I'm proud of him for going through the process all by himself! 

Potty Training: Round 300 and something!

Potty training has proven to be a lengthy process for us.  It all started when the kids turned 2 years old and got these really cool potty chairs from Aunt Helen and Uncle Larry.

We let them play with the potty chairs for months until we started trying to potty train in the summer.  That time it was short lived.  We again started trying a few months ago.  We started with no reward, then moved on to m&m's, and eventually we started a sticker system.  Every time they earned 10 stickers, they'd get a small cheap toy.  Then once they got all four lines filled on their chart, they got a big toy, which usually ended up being a dvd since thats what they wanted.  This worked for Aiden and he filled his chart 3 times before we said he was actually potty trained.  Now he is successfully using the potty and we're thinking about not putting a diaper on him at nap time since he wakes up dry each time.  Go Aiden!

We even bought one of those padded seats that sit on the toilet.  That helped with Aiden too!

Madelynn continues to provide us with attitude about the whole process.  We are constantly telling her to go in and go potty.  She knows when she needs to go, but she's too lazy to do it.  Pooping on the potty is still a major issue and doesn't ever happen on the potty.  So tonight we started something new.  We bought a set of crowns, rings, bracelets, earings, wands, etc and put them in a tote.  We told her that whenever she poops on the potty she can pick one thing from the tote.  She is excited so we're hoping it will work.  She knows when she needs to go because she finds a hiding place and squats...very obvious!  We're hoping for the best.

Malachi has also been showing some interest in potty training.  He doesn't like wearing his diaper anymore and takes it off all the time.  He likes wearing underwear but he pees and poops in them and THEN goes and sits on the potty.  So, we got him a tote of goodies too.  He has a sweet tooth so each time he has any success on the potty, he gets to pick one piece of candy.  I know...I said I wouldn't do candy rewards, but hey...somethings gotta give!

So we start potty training, round 300 and something.  I've lost track as it seems like this whole process has been going on for well over a year! 

Cabela's with Grandpa Ham

Last Friday was mid-winter break for me so we spent some time with my dad, who the kids call Grandpa Ham (because Callahan is too hard to say).  We went to Cabela's to walk around and look at the animals and fish.  The kids had a blast and I really enjoyed spending time with my dad!

Checking out the fish with Grandpa Ham.

Sitting by the elephant

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The kids learned what a moose is. 

 

 My boys sitting together.

Snow Day Fun

What do you do when it's been snowing all day? You can.... Make snow angels!

Try to catch snowflakes on your tongue!

Play follow the leader through the biggest piles of snow. Try to overcome the Oscar the Grouch hat that keeps falling over your eyes!

Swing because every child needs to try to balance on a swing while in bundles of clothing.  Lay in the snow so mommy can take fun pictures like this one.

And when all the fun is done, you can shovel the driveway and sidewalks with the help of three littles ones!

Computer Problems

I have lots of info and pictures to update the blog, but my computer is down. Check back later this weekend and I hope to have it back up and running.

Teacher Mode

I had some time on my own with the kids tonight and what do I decide to do...get into teacher mode. I wanted to know how much they knew in terms of letters, shapes, numbers, and colors. I'm amazed by the results! We might be creating baby geniuses!!! If you are bored with random information that most likely only Josh and I are excited about, then you should skip this post. :)

Aiden knows...

24/26 uppercase letters
21/26 lowercase letters
10/10 colors (the basics...pink, red, white, orange, green, brown, blue, purple, black, and yellow)
8.5/10 basic shapes (star, square, octagon, triangle, circle, heart, oval, diamond, and he calls the cresant a moon...I think he gets half credit for that)
He also recognizes the numbers 2-8 and 10.

Madelynn knows...

21/26 uppercase letters
9/10 colors (struggled on black)
8/10 shapes (struggled on square and rectangle)
Identifies numbers 2-5 and 7-10.
Madelynn did not want to do lowercase letters, although I'm positive she knows many of them.

Malachi knows...

8/26 uppercase letters (we didn't do lowercase...he lost interest)
5/26 sounds (What a suprise!)
4/10 colors (red, green, brown, blue)
6/10 shapes (star, square, circle, heart, oval, and diamond)
He recognized the number 2.

We are so proud of the kids! Josh and I are very surprised with how much they know, especially Malachi who went into preschool not knowing any of those skills and uninterested in learning them. Now mommy will come up with a plan to target those problem areas that they don't know yet! (Sorry...I went teacher mode again!)