All About Food

One of the larger changes we've had since we've moved here has been the food. There are just a lot of mild subtleties in flavor and in availability. I wanted to share of few things about it. This is a long post.... #1 Because I love food and #2 Because I like to write and #3 Because I love food!

If I could...
There are a lot of things I would have people send over if they could... you know, like a Chilli's Restaurant, In-N-Out Burger, a fountain drink of Dr. Pepper, Rhodes Rolls. :)

However, because of all the things we don't have here, I'm learning to make a lot of things from scratch that I would have never bothered to try and do before. It's probably much healthier that way as well (sometimes).

Australian Food:

• Aussie Meat Pies are HUGE here! It seems like they have Aussie Meat Pies everywhere. They also sell these at Costco at the food court. It's basically minced meat (hamburger) with a pastry top and then topped with some ketchup (they call it "tomato sauce" here) or BBQ sauce.
• There is a lot of Thai and Turkish food places here. I see Turkish bread at the super markets a lot as well. We bought some the other day and really liked it. I am not sure what's different about it, but it was still good.
• Vegemite: We tried this one night for Family Home Evening and I wish I would've had a video camera to get our kids reactions to it. They both spit it out and wiped it off their tongue. It basically tastes like ocean water made into a brown paste. I'm not sure why people like it. I guess I just didn't grow up on it.
• Aussie Desserts: Pavlova (a hardened meringue with fruit on top), Lamington Cake (yellow cake with coconut and chocolate), Sticky Date Pudding Cake (a cake with warm sticky date pudding poured over the top right before it's served. so good!), Nutella Fairy Bread (fairy bread made with nutella instead of bread if you saw my previous fairy bread post)

• They use lots of Dates, Figs, Prunes and Passion Fruit (Yummmmm!)
• They use a lot of lemon, honey ginger, and pumpkin in stuff (stranger still since they don't have canned pumpkin)
• Chicken Schnitzel: Mmmmm! This is so yummy! I love that they have little butcher shops here. We can go pick up some fresh chicken schnitzel in any flavor we choose and have it made up right there for us. Then all the hard work is done and we just have to go home and cook it. Our favorites are "Honey Macadamia" and "Garlic Parmesan".

• Sausages: Very often they have what's called a "Sausage Sizzle". This is popular in the summer time. The sausages are as big as and look like hot dog's but are sausages and they eat them in between a piece of bread with some ketchup on it. I'm not a big fan of them myself because of how I'm weird with the whole meat thing here, but they are a big hit and everyone else seems to really like them. Plus, the smells here are different with all of the food. I haven't quite gotten used to it yet.

• Bacon: The bacon here is more like what we call Canadian Bacon in the US. Here is some bacon we bought and decided to make one morning. I actually happen to like the bacon here a lot.

Things I do like here:

• Uncle Toby's Hot Cereal: This is much better than just having oatmeal. I'm not sure why, but it's so good. It's creamy and filling... even if you make it with water instead of milk. We all love it. AND, it's one of the only ways to get some good fiber down my kids (and my big kid).
• Pancakes in a Flash: This is a regular here. The pancakes taste like crepe's to me. I like to make them a little thinner by adding more water and use them as crepe's for lunch and roll ham and cheese up in them. Jeremy likes to add a bit of baking powder to it to make them really fluffy. They are really good. They have a sweet, unique flavor.
• Smooze Fruit Ice: We get these at Costco and throw them in the freezer for a nice little sorbet treat. They are so good!
• Tim Tam's (Obviously)

• There is an awesome little bakery/ pastry shop near the Canberra City Centre called Cornucopia Bakery. It's just behind the hotel we stayed at for the first couple of weeks we were here. It is AMAZING! That is one place I will really miss when we are gone. The little bakery shops they have around here really remind me of Paris. Need I say more?

Fast Food or "Take Away" as they call it in Australia:

Macca's 

(a.k.a. McDonald's)

 

 Macca's has come out with some "creative" sandwiches in honor of the 2012 Olympics.

The Sydney Stack Burger: a burger the way Australian consumers like it, with a slice of beet plus lettuce tomato and pineapple. 

 It always weirds me out that they put beets on hamburgers here.

The Beijing Chicken has cucumbers on it. 

Interesting eh? 

What do you think that Hungry Jacks looks like? 

Does it resemble anything familiar in the US?

Since I won't eat hamburgers here from anywhere I have yet to try ol' Hungry Jacks. It just never appeals to me. Even at ol' Macca's I've started to cringe at their food... and I was raised on that stuff. :)

They have a Cold Stone Ice Cream here, but it's called "Cold Rock". ha ha

At kid's birthday parties they always serve:

1. Fairy Bread
2. Popcorn
3. Cheezels

Marshmallows: I really don't like the ones here. You can't make Rice Krispie Treats with the ones here. The Marshmallows have a strange flavor and don't melt down to the same consistency. It is much gooier.

Beef Jerky: I'm not a fan of the red meat here, so I eat a lot of chicken and have appreciated some of the "stow away" beef jerky we've received in some of the care packages from our family.

Chilli Powder: (Which I looked everywhere for and never found until after I had my dad send it. Go Figure.)

Ranch Dressing packets: You will never go to a restaurant here and have "ranch" on the menu. Most people haven't tried it before. The dressings are usually vinegar type dressings. They DO have ranch dressing bottles (not the packets) here at Costco now, but it doesn't taste the same as at home.

Tootsie Rolls/ Pops: They don't have Tootsie Rolls here.

BisQuick: There is nothing like that here. I used BisQuick at home to make a lot of different things. I loved it! I miss it here.

Kool-Aid: Just barely found some of these in a shop over by the airport that had a lot of different American Candy. You could buy lemon or orange for $0.85 cents each. 

Twinkie's: At the same shop where you could buy the Kool-Aid they had Twinkie's to purchase individually. They were selling ONE TWINKIE for $3. Can you believe that? What a joke! 

Reese's Pieces/Peanut Butter Cups: They don't have these here in Australia. I didn't know that until the limited time only 1 lb. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups at Costco were no longer.

Instant Pudding: Any time I've asked someone where the instant pudding mix is, they have no idea what I'm talking about. One person said, "Umm, we just make our own pudding." Ha ha... Ok, well, I guess that's a valid concept. ;)

Crisco: They don't have Crisco shortening here. When I asked people about it at the store they showed me this tiny, hard, refrigerated vegetable shortening that you have to use a chainsaw to break apart. I found a brand new baking store that was just opened up over by the airport (a different one than the one that sells American candy) and they were advertising Crisco in their window. I ran over to look at it and they were selling it for $35 for the can. No thank you! I know how it really only costs about $3! 

Cake Mixes: The cake mixes are so expensive here. They range from $4-6 per mix and they only make 1/2 of the size of cake it would make in America. So if you wanted to do a double layer 8 inch cake, then you'd have to buy two cake mixes, meaning you're spending $8-$12 for one cake made from a cake mix.

Fountain Drinks: They don't have many places that have fountain drinks here. Costco of course has them and I believe McDonald's has them. But most places you go to eat will only have 1-2 liter plastic bottles of soda. I'm not really sure why. It also makes it so much more expensive. It always costs about $3-4 for each drink when you go out. We usually share a drink (our whole family) or bring our own because if we all get a drink that's another $15-20 which seems like a total waste to me.

Shelf Reliance Food Storage: I really miss our Shelf Reliance food. I feel like I was finally getting the hang of incorporating all their stuff into my everyday life and really LOVED their stuff (not to mention that we had to get rid of almost an entire year supply of food storage). It made meal planning very easy, fast, and convenient. We can't get it here.

Canned Pumpkin: Just found out that there is no canned pumpkin here. For Family Home Evening one night I decided to make mini pumpkin pies (which I found an awesome recipe for on Pinterest). I asked the lady at the grocery store where the canned pumpkin was. She raised her eyebrow and looked at me like I was nuts and said, "CANNED pumpkin? I've never heard of that before." I said, "What do you make pumpkin pies with here?" She said, "We don't. We only make meat pies here." 

Canned Olives: We were making  mini pizza's one night and went to go get some canned olives. When Jeremy asked the lady where they were at the store she gave him a strange look and said, "We don't have olives that are canned, but we have some in jars."
 
Canned Green Chilli's: ...Still haven't seen these here, but don't think I'm going to ask about it. Pretty sure that they don't have them.

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

I love these three little beebers. I had to edit it a bit for little Stef-Man. Sadly, this is the best picture I got because they can't seem to all look at the same time... actually I should be proud that NONE of them are looking at me at all and they are all doing THAT at the same time. :)

Said the 3-year-old...

The other day we went to Toys-R-Us so that Teagan could pick out his big finale toy for potty training. He had TWO days with no accidents! Woo hoo!

While we were there Teagan held up a toy car and said with a lot of excitement, "MOM! Look at this car!" There was nothing special about this particular car and I just said, "Yeah, cool." Teagan ran up and got in my face with his hand on his hip and said, "Mom! I haven't seen this in FIVE YEARS!" lol

How do we be "real" again?

This last couple of weeks I've been playing nothing but classical music for the boys. We have had it on in the back ground through out the day and in the car if we go places. More specifically, we have mostly listened to music by Mozart. I've found that both of the boys have really enjoyed the music and Teagan even picked out a song that was his favorite which is "The Turkish March" by Mozart.

This is our conversation about it the other day.

T: This is my favorite song mom.
Me: Do you know what it's called?
T: No
Me: It's called "The Turkish March" and it was written by (or kids words: 'made up by') a person named Mozart.
T: Oh. What's Mozart doing right now?
Me: He's dead.

(Teagan has a look of horror in his eyes and his eyes get all big and eyebrows raise)

T: Why is he dead?
Me: Because he wrote that song a really long time ago and then he was just too old and he died.
T: Why?
Me: Because that's what happens when you get really old, you die.

(With a concerned look and some hesitation he says...)

T: But not us, right?
Me: Yeah, when we get old we will die too.
T: (asks again) But... not US, right?
 

*I tried not to make too big of a deal of it because Teagan is a 'worrier' and worries about a lot of things that he doesn't need to worry about.*

T: But then what happens mom?
Me: Then we go to Heaven and we get to live with Jesus and Heavenly Father again, so it's a good thing.
T: But... How do we be "real" again?
Me: Real again?
T: Yeah
Me: Well, we are still "real" but you have two parts that keep you alive here... you have a physical body and a spirit body that we can't see. When we get too old, our physical body dies, then our spirit body goes back to heaven to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus. Our spirit body never dies.
T: But... how do we be "real" again?
Me: What do you mean?

T: I mean... How are we going to drive cars and play with toys?


Ha ha! I explained that when we are spirits in heaven we will be able to do a lot 'cooler' things than driving cars and playing with toys. That seemed to suffice his "why's".

Teagan runs off to play with Tate and yells, "TATE! Do you want to play the game, 'Pretend You Are Dead'?" Teagan falls down in the hallway and pretends to be dead with his eyes closed and mouth open. Tate says, "Yeah!" I chimed in and said, "Um, I don't think that's a very good game. Why don't you think of something ele."

Tea: Ok Mom!

I'm a BIG Kid Now!

 

Here's Teagan holding up the certificate we gave him from Lightening McQueen and Tate wanted to hold it up too. Tate looks like a goober in the picture. 

Tate is a great supporter of Teagan going on the potty. Tate claps and yells, "Yay!" every time Teagan goes on the potty. The other day I was running off and Tate said, "Doing Mommy?" and I said, "I'm going to the bathroom." And  Tate yelled, "Yay Mommy!" and started clapping for me. lol Cute nut ball!

***Potty Update: Teagan only had two accidents yesterday (one pee and one poo), but last night when we put his training pants on, he still told me when he had to go potty and didn't even go in his training pants at all. Woo Hoo!

Overall, I actually have seen a HUGE change in Teagan this last week. I think we should've done this sooner. He really needed this step of independence. And on top of that, it has immensely made my bond and relationship stronger by being patient and encouraging. Teagan's self confidence has gone up 100% this week. The hardest part is over and it was well worth the effort to make it positive! I'm going to pat myself on the back to because it was HARD! :)  

 This morning they both took showers and tried to get dressed all by themselves. Teagan put his cool Spidey Undies on (compliments of Honey Lona & Papa Tom) and didn't realize he put them on backwards.

And Tatey looks like a beauty queen with his shirt. He kept yelling, "I DID IT! YAY!"

As you can see, NON of the pictures below turned out very well. I could never get all three of them to look at the camera at the same time. We got these new jammies from Honey Lona & Papa Tom.

Cutest Petut

I also have some more pictures to put up of Teagan and Tate, but am too tired and am going to bed. Hopefully I will have time to fiddle with it tomorrow.

Operation Potty Training Boot Camp Success

Well, it's 2pm today and we have had NO ACCIDENTS! ALL POOPING AND PEEING have ended up in the potty today! Wow! I'm so proud and impressed with little T-Man. Jeremy stayed home from work today and I'm glad he got to be here for the 'best' day of potty training.

Although I'm still planning on accidents here and there and maybe some more work through the night time, I'm going to consider Operation Potty Training Boot Camp (for Teagan) a Success!

We are going to give Teagan a certificate tonight from Lightening McQueen (which came in the training pants box) to let him know that he successfully mastered no accidents today. I know this is a little premature since the day isn't over yet, but we are going to keep encouraging him to achieve.

Status Day 5?
Complete! Success!

***Next Mission*** Operation Tate!

PS. Bless my husband for doing the dirty work today... but does anyone else cringe when they watch their hubby's clean up poop situation?

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day 4

Teagan still refused to sit on the potty this morning. I was feeling a bit defeated because this is now turning into something that is nowhere near "positive".

Honey Lona called us this morning on FaceTime on the IPad and I tried to get Teagan to show her how he could sit on the potty and he ran and hid in the curtains. We got off the phone with Honey Lona and I had a calm talk with Teagan. I asked him if he would go in his room by himself and say a prayer to Heavenly Father to help him go on the big boy potty. He quickly calmed down but said he didn't want to. I asked him again and told him I would leave him alone and reminded him how to start and finish a prayer and that he could ask for help. I shut the door behind me and he came out a couple minutes later and told me he had said a prayer. I talked him him for a minute and reminded him how he didn't try yesterday but today he could do better and that it doesn't take very long to go on the potty. I went on to tell him that it does however take a long time to clean up the mess and change his clothes and wash them. I let him know that if he pooped today that it would be a much bigger mess that he'd have to clean up and he probably didn't want to do that because it's very dirty and yucky. With in 2 seconds he said, "Mom I have to go." So he went and sat on the potty and peed. Yipeee! I told him to thank Heavenly Father for going and he said, "No... YOU Mommy" and he gave me a hug. (Those are the moments that make it worth it!)

Today I let Teagan write his own potty schedule and made him sign it (he signed two letter "T's" for TT, which is what I call him for his nick name). I let him know that it means that he is agreeing to what he put down. I asked him if he wanted to have the timer go off every 30 minutes and he was adamant about setting it for every 20 minutes. So, that is what we did. He never complained about getting on the potty one more time through the day. At one point he even did a potty dance singing, "I get to go on the potty!" Whaaaaaat?! Woo hoo!

I'm proud to say that although we didn't have an accident free day, Teagan still peed on the potty two times. On a different note, today and yesterday his behavior has been beyond exceptional. This is a HUGE deal if you know how much we struggle with him.

So... Today's status?
Success! Progress! Encouraged! Ready for tomorrow...

So Proud of Me!

Teagan just said to me, "Mommy I'm very proud of you for helping me. You're doing a good job!" He gave me a hug and a kiss and ran off to play.

That just made my whole day! Does that count as potty training progress?

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day 3

I feel like things are falling apart today. Teagan gets mad if we talk about putting him on the potty and refuses to even sit on it. We had zero peeing or pooping in the potty today.

Tate is also shying away from the potty. I kind of feel like he doesn't like that Teagan has gotten more things than him and so it's stopped being fun for him. Jeremy and I decided that we are going to hold off a bit until Teagan is done and start Tate again shortly after Teagan gets the hang of it a little more. So Tate started back in diapers again today (unbeknownst to Teagan for as long as possible).

I should've gone with my intuition a lot more today than I did. I can kind of tell when Teagan needs to go potty because he starts grabbing and itching and usually isolates himself in the other room. Instead of just saying, "Let's go to the potty and try..." I gave him the option to say no to my question, "Do you need to go potty?"

My visiting teachers came over this morning and Teagan was an absolute angel today. One of my VT's has two little boys about the same age as Teagan and Tate, so they played all morning really good together. ALL day (besides the potty training stuff) Teagan was so good and nice to his brothers and all the other kids he was around.

We also had the Primary Olympics today at church. Teagan won a gold medal and has been so proud of it. He even did the 3-legged race with his friend Micah and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. I wish I would've brought my camera. They didn't even fall once. I was so impressed.

But... back to the potty training - - I continued in big boy underwear today and Teagan peed in his pants every time today... two times at church during the olympics. I only brought one change of clothes so he had to ride home with no pants on. Luckily no other kids saw it. I didn't want anyone to make fun of him to add to the negativity of the process. Teagan began to beg for training pants (which tells you how ineffective they are since he knows they are just like diapers) and I told him he only gets them once he gets into bed to go to sleep every night. All the other moms at the Olympics today told me that training pants did nothing for them either and everyone has just had to stick it out with the mess. (ugh)

Teagan never pooped today, so I hope he's not holding it in because of the potty training. That will make me feel bad. We changed his clothes about 6-7 times today because of pee. I've been making him do everything for the clean up process himself including undressing himself, cleaning it up and taking his dirty clothes into the washer. AND... thanks to the anonymous commenter yesterday, we tried the cold rinse on his bum last night a couple times. He really hated that! We did it 2x last night and the second time he cried the whole time. (sigh) We weren't mean or angry at all when we did it. We just told him he's gotta wash it off with cold water in which I made him soap up and wash all the parts of himself he got pee on. Then he stood in the bath tub and we used a cup to poor cold water and rinse it off.

Still haven't gotten mad at him although today was really tough to stay patient when I KNOW he knows how to detect and tell me he needs to go. I'm trying SO HARD to make this a positive experience.


How the night ended:
Told Teagan that he is going to help me do a NEW schedule tomorrow so he can help me with when he is going to sit on the potty and try to go. Made him repeat it to me what he is going to do and also told him that the first thing he will do in the morning is sit on the potty and try to go which he agreed to. We will see...

Look for more of the potty training adventure tomorrow.

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day 2

I thought I'd wake up today and feel refreshed from yesterday, but I think I need to go back to sleep for another day. :) (Think Positive though, right?)

Teagan examined his training pants and despite my efforts in telling him they were NOT diapers, he said, "Mom these are like diapers." I told him they were not and how they are for accidents only. However, once he realized he could "go" in them, he just started refusing to go on the potty again.


Back up Plan:
I decided that he is going to wear normal underwear today... no training pants until bedtime. My gut tells me that this is the only way to get him to change; especially after that seemed to be the only way to get him to voluntarily go when he needed to yesterday. Ugh! I don't really want my kids running around too long with no pants and worrying where they are peeing in the house. I just had this conversation the other day with my friend Laura on how that is something I DON'T want to do. BUT... if I just need to do this for a short time and we are done with diapers AND training pants, then I guess I can be on guard for a couple of weeks for clean-up. :(

Also, he was so pumped up yesterday with all of the treats and prizes that I don't think it's realistic to keep that up. He just did it to get what he wanted and isn't interested today. However, I still wouldn't change it because I think it proved to both of us he CAN do it.


Today's Plan:
Tate still isn't quite sure what we are doing exactly... I will still need to figure out what to do for him. But, we are still keeping him in training pants.

Going to set the time to go off every 15 minutes (sigh) to go sit on the potty.

I think we are still going to do stickers and chocolate chips and treats today. It's not as new today so they aren't clambering to get all of the stuff like yesterday. I may start putting their treats in a bag and making them eat something good today. Although they still kind of snacked on it, it still deterred them from eating any of the healthy stuff I prepared yesterday when there were so many sweets and treats.

----------------------

How the day went:
Started setting the 15 minute time to go to the potty. About 10 minutes after the first sitting, Teagan ran in and told me he needed to poop. I was so happy he told me. We went in and he sat down but didn't want to wait and said, "nothing's there" so he ran off into the bedroom (which I should've been more watchful of why he ran off). He ran back out a few minutes later and told me he pooped in the bedroom... which means he actually had to pull his underwear off and poop. So I went in there and sure enough, a small pile of poop on the floor. ***ugh - - kind of like having dogs again ;) *** I didn't get mad or upset I just encouraged him. He kept apologizing and told me he was sorry and that he wouldn't do it again so I could tell he was embarrassed. I let him know that it was OK and that next time he'd do better. I had him sit on the potty after cleaning it up a bit and then it happened... "PLOP PLOP"! He pooped in the potty! Woo Hoo! We called and told daddy at work even though he was too shy to tell him himself. He asked me if he could go back to wearing diapers or training pants. I told him he didn't need them if he just remembered to tell me when he needed to go and not to be scared and to know that I would help him.

However, during the time I was helping Teagan, the next 15 minute timer went off. I turned it off since I was attending to the mess and trying to be encouraging and exciting and then I see Tate run off in the bedroom and I went in and caught him in the act of peeing. (sigh) I couldn't really help him while I was helping Teagan, so it got a little stressful for about 10 minutes.

The next 15 minute timer went off and I had the boys sit on the potty (which neither of them needed to go now), but none the less we sat on the potty. Chocolate chips and stickers all around. Set the next timer for 15 minutes... but then 5 minutes later Teagan said, "Mommy I pooped again". He asked, "mommy are you mad or not mad?" I told him I wasn't mad and just explained again how he needed to tell me like he did the first time. This time he needed a shower to rinse off and I decided to have him wash all the poop off himself. Someone once told me that this is what you're supposed to do. If they clean it up themselves, then it's likely to not happen as much, if at all. So he told me he didn't want to clean it. I wasn't mad or upset about it but just told him firmly and positively that he's a big boy now and could do it but that I would help him. I got a mirror for him to be able to see where the poop was and let him clean it up as best he could in the shower while he rinsed it all of with soap and water. I of course finished up where he wasn't able to. He didn't like having to clean it up.

I slacked a bit on the 15 minute timer because then we Skyped with grandma's to tell them of Teagan's success and then I needed to feed Steffan. Then Tate ran in and told me Teagan pooped again. I went in the living room and sure enough, he'd pooped again and hadn't bothered to come and tell me at all this time (not progress). He just said sorry and said he didn't know that he had to go. Was this because he was watching T.V. and so he wasn't paying attention? I'm guessing yes. We cleaned up again and I forgot to let him clean it up himself. I told him after that though that he would need to clean up from here on out and he agreed.

Teagan and Tate sat on the potty 2 more times in between all of this with nothing else to report there. We got lunch and then Tate and Steffan went down for naps. The boys haven't begged for any of the treats or even seemed to care about them today. If they remember the chocolate chip and stickers, I will give it to them. Since they are willingly sitting on the potty now with out anything, I'd say it was still successful to get the process started.

Teagan fell asleep at 4pm today and slept until about 7pm. The Young Men from church came over for dinner again tonight (but I was PREPARED with LOTS of food this time). While Teagan was sleeping I put some training pants on him just in case. He woke up just in time for Jeremy to take all the boys home. He wanted to go so he got up and went and peed in his training pants. He refuses to go on the potty again tonight. :( I'm not sure why! We've been praising him all day and Jeremy even brought him a special toy home for pooping today which he was so excited about. It's almost like he has gotten out of this process what he wants and is OK to stop now and just go back to diapers. We've done a quick 180 in just 2 days of training.

Status of Day 2:
Unknown

Stay tuned for Day 3...

PS. Sorry, I know these are long and detailed. I actually found it really helpful to read this info on other people's blogs. So if anyone came across this, I thought I would return the favor.

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day 1

All of you know how hard we have struggled with Teagan and the potty. He is 3 1/2 now and frankly he's just too big to be in diapers anymore. He is extremely "strong-willed" and beats to his own drum. So we've been building it up for the last few weeks that when he runs out of diapers, he is all done with them. And while we are at it, we are going to potty train Tate (2 years old) too.

(PS. no this is not my kid in the pic below. I thought it was cute and found it when I googled images for potty training)

Preparation: 

• MENTAL- Had to prepare myself mentally that this may totally suck and I need to be happy, make it fun and be positive no matter what happens. ENDURE to the END!
• Talk A LOT about it when ever we could. 
• We let Teagan pick out his own potty, which he actually picked out a plain toilet seat that fits on the regular toilet. 
• We've been telling him for the last month that he when he runs out of nappies (diapers), that we aren't going to buy anymore and that it's time to start using the big boy potty. 
• A side note on this... so many people kept telling me to let him go at his own time, but I honestly don't think this was working for him because #1- He is smart and he is going to use up as much slack as we give him and #2- He is definitely ready, he is just plain ol' defiant.
• Bought Pull-Up Training pants with Lightening McQueen and let the boys try them on.
• Got Big-Boy-Underwear for both boys to see, and try on different fits to see which ones they like the most. (Even though Teagan was hesitant of doing this, I didn't give him the option to say 'no'. He just went with it, despite his last 6 months of complete protesting anything to do with the big boy potty process).
• GOLDEN NUGGETS: Bought some cheap toy planes, helicopters, and cars at KMart to let the boys see them . They were never allowed to play with them. We just kept telling them what they have to do to get them.
• Went to the library and checked out potty training books for me and the boys so we could read them each night. We started reading them a few days before boot camp started.
• Watched the Huggies potty training DVD, looked online at what others did and came up with a plan that worked for my two boys.
• Last night was the last night the boys get to wear a nappy (diaper) ever again. We made sure to tell them that before bedtime. And we made it sound exciting!!!

Tailoring "The Plan" for each boy:
I have two very different little boys to train at the same time.

1. Teagan- Teagan is 3 1/2 years old. As I mentioned above and I will say it again... He is STRONNNNGGGG-WILLED!!!! We are always looking for information on how to work "with" this kid. If you are familiar with the color code personality types, he is a RED. He is motivated by power and recognition. He likes to work towards something and is motivated by his achievements and is VERY competitive.
2. Tate- Tate just turned 2 years old. According to the personality code, he would be a YELLOW. He is fun loving and caring and just wants to have fun. He loves to be the center of attention and he loves praise. If it's not fun, then he doesn't want to do it. He will do anything that his big brother does. So if we can get Teagan on the band wagon, then Tate shouldn't be too far behind.

Supplies on hand: 

• Butcher paper to make a potty chart.
• Markers to let the kids color and decorate them
• Sharpy to write their names on it really big
• Stickers to put on the potty chart.
• Chocolate Chips.
• Potato Chips.
• Corn Chips
• Crackers
• Cookies/Oreos
• Ziplock bags
• Water cups
• Lots of fruit and vege's to snack on through out the day
• Hand Sanitizer

Well, TODAY (Monday) was the big day! The biggest things I'm trying to keep in mind for potty boot camp is:

1. Happy, Positive, Encouraging Good Attitude (Remember, no one has fun when it's stressful)
2. Make it FUN
3. Make the kids VERY involved in ever step for preparing
4. Be involved as their mom so that I can encourage, cheer lead, and recognize.
5. IMMEDIATE recognition and rewards. 
6. Start on a week day when you can be in your normal routine instead of a weekend when different things happen.

We started the day out by:

1. Getting up and taking off their last diaper EVER!
2. PEP TALK: Talking about it and telling them how big they are going to grow today because of how big of a step this is. Told them we are going to have a Potty Party today. (Any word with "party" in it makes Teagan excited). 
3. Teagan wasn't too savvy to sit on the potty yet, so we started to prepare for the big day with the kid's help.
4. After we took the diapers off, I left them off for a bit. We started off by getting out the papers for their potty charts. I let them decorate it as I talked about what the papers are for.
5. ***Tate peed on the floor*** Clean up on aisle 2. 
6. Then we opened up all of the "Golden Nugget Toys" and put them into two separate Ziplock bags (one for Tate and one for Teagan). On the bags we drew a toilet, a little person peeing and then some poop. Very professional! ;) This got the boys interested and excited to get them.
7. Got out all the treats the boys would love eating but I only give them sparingly. (See list above)
8. Put single serving amounts of each in a plastic ziplock bag.
9. Got out a water cup for each of them.
10. Got out potty training pants to see
11. Layed out the rules.

The Rules:

1. You get one sticker for your potty chart every time you SIT on the potty
2. You get one chocolate chip every time you SIT on the potty
3. You get one treat in the bag every time you get 5 stickers on your chart. Then we put 5 stickers on the bag of treats and counted them.  **When you use up 5 stickers for a treat trade in on the chart, I just marked each one with a Sharpie by numbering them and counting with the boys.
4. You get to pick one toy from the toy bag when you pee or poop in the potty.
5. You get 3 stickers for each glass of water you drink. (I gave them 4oz cups of water)

I had fruit and yogurt ready for breakfast to eat during the process. Cut up strawberries, grapes, pineapple and Go-gurts to suck down.

Tate was the first one to want to sit on the potty. We cheered for him and then he immediately got 1 chocolate chip and one sticker. He learned how to get a chocolate chip very quickly and then he wanted to sit on it 2 more times right away. When Teagan kept asking for a treat and I kept telling him how to get it, he scoffed a bit but saw that Tate was getting things so quickly that he walked in and sat down on the toilet and gruffly said, "I WANT A TREAT TOO!" So, he went and sat down and got a chocolate chip and a sticker.

Since Teagan is RED, I had to remember not to push him otherwise he retreats. So, it was helpful that Tate wanted to first. Tate thought it was fun to get some chocolate and loves to play with stickers. So it was "FUN" for him. Teagan was reluctant to sit on the potty again. So I went and sat down on the potty and said, "See I just got a sticker". I did it again right after and said, "I just got 2 stickers." I did it again and said, "I just got 3 stickers and only need to do it 2 more times for a treat."

Ahh.... Ok. So this clicked with him finally and then I had him begging me to sit on the toilet for chocolate chips and stickers. Alright!!! We are making progress! Then after he did it again he asked, "So, can I have a toy now?" I told him he needed to pee or poo in the toilet and he scoffed a bit. Then he sat on the toilet 5 times to get his treat out of the treat bag. I let him pick out a treat and he kept looking at me like, "I can really eat this right now for breakfast?" He was even cautious how much he ate of it. I told him that he could eat all of it (because I'd already portioned it out). Well, this was VERY motivating to him. He went and sat down a 6th time and PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE came out this time! Oh my gosh! Is this really true? We've been fighting him for months! We called his daddy at work and gave him a chocolate chip, a sticker AND a toy! He was so proud of himself. He kept asking, "Are you so impressed with me mommy?"

When Tate saw him doing it, then Tate wanted to do it more. We literally did the potty sitting for about 2 1/2 hours between the two of them. They were very excited to earn something each time. I'm excited to say that Teagan even earned a total of EIGHT toys and it's not even noon yet. He pushed out every drop of pee he could. I gave him a toy even if there was hardly anything. I wanted him to know that every effort counted. Tate thought the funnest part was pulling off the toilet paper and then flushing.

Tate earned 10 stickers and is still working towards his toy. He still isn't quite sure how it all works, but at least he is going through the motions and is still having fun.

After Teagan got the peeing part down we went over the 4 steps of pottying:

1. Go Potty
2. Wipe
3. Flush
4. Wash your hands

Since they weren't really pottying and wiping a lot I used hand sanitizer since we were going so often. After the 2 1/2 hours they were ready to rest and watch a movie. They'd been snacking on their breakfast fruit and yogurt all morning (and along with the potty treats). So finally it is time for resting/nap time. During this time I will set up a schedule with Teagan on when/how often he will be sitting on the potty (i.e. when he wakes up, at snack time, at lunch time, at resting/nap time, at PM snack time, before dinner and 2 times before bed). This basically works out to be every 2 hours thru the day.

Mid-Day: Naptime
We had about 5 more potty 'sits' right before naptime. Teagan peed once more and earned his 9th toy. Tate still just thinks it fun to sit, get toilet paper and flush.  We had an hour break in between all the potty time and the movie and found that both boys had peed in the training pants. Maybe I should set the timer for every 30 minutes right now. Will start doing that with Teagan. Thank goodness Steffan is being good playing to himself! I fed Steffan when the movie started and held him a lot in between helping the boys on and off the potty.

Tate pooped in his pull up pants about 5 minutes after I had him try to go on the potty.

About 30 min after Teagan tried to go on the potty I had him try again and he had also peed again in the training pants. (sigh) This is going to be a long couple of weeks. PERSISTENCE PREVAILS! (right?)

***Tate pees on the floor again*** Go figure.
***Let Teagan run around with only a shirt on, then he peed a little bit before he realized it wasn't going into anything and he hurried and yelled... "Mom, I have to go to the bathroom!" (Progress!)

Night Time:
We were asked to come over to another family's home in our ward for dinner and Family Home Evening. Teagan's friend Micah was having his birthday and since they play so well together, his family asked us over for the birthday dinner. Well, because of all the sugar and candy the boys ate through the day, it was an awful visit from the Green's. Teagan and Tate (mostly Teagan) were completely out of control and unruly. I'm rethinking the treats for tomorrow. But what can I do to keep them motivated.

Status of Day 1?
Success and Failure. We made large strides in the potty world. = Success! Broke my spirits with how the night ended. = Failure.

Stay Tuned for Day 2.

Once a fort night...

Without Googling what this means... Does anyone in America that reads my blog know what this phrase means (Once a fort night)?

I've heard people use it a couple times here and always wonder "what the?". I of course Googled it and asked Jeremy if anyone has ever said it at his work. He laughed and said, "Yes, why? Did you not know what it meant either?"

**Update**
Once a fort night means: "Bi-Weekly" or "Every other week". We found out the "Fort" came from the number 14 for 14 nights/2 weeks.

Tara or Terror?

One of the conversations I have most often is when someone asks me my name. I say, "Tara" (pronounced Terr-uh) and the other person always goes silent for a minute and then says, "Spell it". After I spell my name they say, "Oooohhh, Tara!" (Australian pronunciation: Tarr-uh). It's quite humorous when they try to say my name with the American accent and then they always say, "Do you prefer "Terr-uh" or "Tarr-uh"? I always let them know I will answer to both.

Finally someone told me that the reason everyone here asks is because the way my name is pronounced with the American accent is the way you pronounce "Terror" with the Australian accent.

Ha ha... OK, I get it now.

Happy Late Father's Day

I didn't get to do a post for Father's Day because of the crappy internet situation, but wanted to put something up even if it's late.

To my father who has helped us so much since we've been here. Thank you dad for running around doing our bank account junk and signing and faxing and scanning and mailing, etc. I don't know how we would've done it if we didn't put your name on one of our accounts. It would be even more hard for us to do it with out you. And thank you for being our landlord and fixing fences and hiring people to fix things... and... and... and... taking care of all of that for us too!

To my wonderful father-in-law who is one of the most thoughtful people I know. He is always thinking about our family and what he can pick up for us. He thinks of little treats to shove into our boxes, he records shows for us that he knows we wouldn't want to miss, he saves recipes for me that he thinks I might want to try and is just one of the kindest men I know.

To my mom's husband Jason who my children adore! They love flying remote control helicopters and race cars with him. He has been the best sport to let us invade his home to live there while I as pregnant and had a c-section and took over their bedroom... He let my kids jump on his face in the mornings to wake him up, he let his wife come to help us for two whole months and never complains about any of it. Thank you Jason for taking care of my mom and taking us in with no qualms.

And last, but most definitely not least... to the wonderful father of my children whom my children love so much. I love to see how excited they get every day for their daddy to get home from work. Their eyes light up as they yell, "Daddy's Home! Daddy's Home!" as they run to the window or run out the door to greet him. They love to do just about anything if their daddy is involved. He fills a roll in their lives that has made my testimony that much stronger in the whole plan of "families" and how you truly need a mother and a father to fill your children's lives with what they need. I'm so grateful for the daddy in our home!

Teagan & Tate Photos

Our friends Hisa & Jared came over last month to watch the boys while Jeremy and I went to go see "The Avengers" (which was awesome!). She took some pic's of Teagan & Tate outside in back while Steffan was sleeping.

Wonder No More

Have you ever wondered what snail poop looked like when it eats your mail?

Well, wonder NO MORE!

Isn't that gross? When we first moved here we asked them to spray for spiders before we moved our stuff in. When they told us it was done, they said that they also had to kill all of the slugs and snails in our mailbox because they were eating all the mail. This is what we saw when we opened our mailbox for the first time.

...I made Jeremy clean it out. :)

Parking Organization

Something that I really love here is the organization of the Westfield Belconnen Town Center car park (parking lot). In every row there is a green or red light if the parking space is vacant or not. In each aisle you can see a sign that tells you how many parking spaces are available down that particular row. The town center is huge. We live about 10 minutes away from it. It's nice to go there and get anything you need, but then again, if you HAVE to go there for one small thing, it's kind of a pain.

Boys can sure eat!

Jeremy got called as the 1st Counselor in the Young Men's Presidency a few weeks ago (which we knew was coming any time if you read my last post about it). Well, tonight we had the boys come to our house for dinner and to watch some sports. I decided to make something simple... just some spaghetti, corn and bread. There were only three, 14 year old boys coming over, but apparently I don't know what is coming to me in about 10 - 13 years from now.

2 packages of spaghetti
1 1/2 jars of spaghetti sauce
2 cans of corn
1 loaf of bread
1 bowl of shredded cheese
1 full container of cookies
2 packages of Oreo's
AND 1 pitcher of lemonade later....

...and they were full! :)

Ha ha. I love it! I'm glad those boys came over to eat. I now know who to invite over to eat our leftovers. I'm really excited for Jeremy's calling. I've never really been around boys growing up, so I have no idea what they do in Young Men and I need to know since I'm headed in that direction with my three boys.

BIG 50

My Mom & Dad BOTH hit the big 5-0 in the last few weeks. I wish I could've been there to throw a big double bash for them. I didn't get to make my dad my annual Ande's Mint Cake or his new favorite Skor Bar Cake. I missed out on my grandma's famous German Chocolate Cake for my mom and fully intend of having all 3 cakes at a party when I return home (wink:wink). Hope you both had the best birthdays! Happy Birthday from Oz!

Fun Stuff To Do

Since we got good internet, I have been LOVING Pinterest. I have made a goal this week not to get so wrapped up in it because it's like web surfing on speed! However, it's been good to get some ideas for new food, new activities and new things for me to do. I was feeling a little stuck in a rut with the same-o, same-o. Here are a couple activities we've done this last week.

 In the meantime, Steffan is usually taking a nap when Teagan and Tate are having all the fun.