Priorities

Many of you may have been wondering where the heck the Pollei family went, but really my priorities have been a little different this past month.

Blogging is not a relaxing activity for me, nor do I feel the need to inform everyone about every little thing going on in our lives because, frankly its probably boring to the rest of you. So I try to inform only the "necessary things." Although that can be a debatable topic, I do enjoy putting pictures up of my kiddos and updates that give the impression that we are all surviving the day to day life of the toddler world. The truth is, I do love being a mommy and wife and a stay at home maid, but this past month I finally followed through on a dream that has taken the back seat for a long time.

I am now a very excited and newly Certified Professional Makeup Artist. I just graduated from the Skin and Makeup Institute of Arizona. My course consisted of 80+ hours in all sorts and types of Makeup. It was a legit school program because I was constantly working on research projects and learning the history and science behind makeup. Including the replication of looks specifically from music videos, fashion designers (i.e. runway and print ads) movie makeup, and bridal makeup. I am also certified in airbrush. What is airbrush? Well it's basically the "new thing" although its not really that new, but is really the only thing that the big time makeup artist do. In fact most everyone you see on T.V, magazines, and in movies are all airbrushed. In short, it's a machine that spray's on your makeup. It's pretty sweet. If you don't airbrush these days you basically are not hirable, so that was a huge part of our makeup training.

So what do I plan on doing with this new certification? Anything and all things that I can. For now I am going to be breaking into the wedding scene and have already a few weddings lined up. So that is why I haven't been blogging, because I have been in school, finding babysitters to watch my kids, and playing with makeup virtually every day for the past 4 1/2 weeks. Yay for makeup!!!

Pictures of the kids and our latest happenings, will eventually get on here when I get around to it. Hope all is well.

Finally an update!

So much has happened since I have last posted.

First Zoe:
SHE'S TOTALLY POTTY TRAINED and has been for months now. We are so happy with her willingness to cooperate and she actually gets excited to go now. :) She's is 3, and now going to preschool! She's learning to read and is loving being a big girl now. She loves books and will read them for hours everyday during her quiet/nap time. She's very protective and very sweet to her little brother and they get a long very well. We love her little silly faces, sweet smiles and high energy for life. She's impressed with the simple things of our everyday hussle and bussle and is starting to help out around the house more and more. We can't get enough of her and love her so much.

Dane:
He is 1 1/2 years old and such a delight to have around. We are enjoying watching his new discoveries of the world around him and eating up all of his sweetness everyday. He too is learning to read and enjoying it too. He loves to look at books and have us read to him. He enjoys playing at the gym and having one on one time with mommy while Zoe is at preschool. He loves his big sister and misses her when she is gone.

Taylor:
Turned 30 in August and is in his 2nd year of his ENT residency, and enjoying his life despite the hard hours and call shifts. He loves to run to the kids when he walks in the door and embraces the hugs and kisses for as long as they will let him. He is enjoying the out doors when he can and we enjoy our date nights on the weekends when we can.

Me:
Also turned 30 this month (YIKES) and enjoying 5am runs and watching the sun come up. Discovering myself again through my passions of make-up, photography and my kids. I will be taking a make-up certification class soon and will be excited to be in the class room setting again. Enjoy taking pictures of my kids and learning photoshop elements. I love watching my kids explore the world around them and the simple things of life.

I will be blogging more these days since we are getting my computer freed up from all the pictures it's been carrying. More updates to come from our trip to Utah and our friends Ashley Marostica and her kids visit to AZ.

A Day at the gym

There is a really fun gym near our house, and a few friends from my ward invited us to join them on a gym day. For 1 hour they open the gym to all ages of kids to just jump, tumble and roll all over the place. The kids had a blast. I think we have two future gymnasts in our midst. We had a lot of fun, and now that Zoe is potty trained we might have to sign her up for a class soon.

Potty Update!!!

I am probably going to regret announcing mine and Taylor's very great news, but here is goes anyways: Zoe FINALLY figured out the #2 part of potty training.

So instead of screaming horrifying shrills of terror on the toilet, after finding her weak spot (JELLY BEANS, STARBURST, and M&M's) she is now willing to calmly preform her duties. The sticker chart worked wonders for the beginning, but didn't cut it for the entire process. Thank you for all the words of advice, who would of thought a single peice a candy would help her right along. Don't misunderstand here because I did offer candy, it just wasn't the right ones. Anyways, so YEAH for ZOE and yeah for going potty on the TOILET!!!

Dane has, believe it or not gone #2 on the toilet lately, but I will not be training for a little bit longer, he's too little, but anxious to follow in his big sister's steps all too soon.

Potty Training

IT'S TIME!!! After being on double diaper duty for 15 months!!! (and not having twins as my excuse), it is definitely time to Potty Train my almost 3 year old. (She will be 3 at the end of August.) After talking about it, reading books and testing the waters, I decided to pull the plug this last weekend.

It was actually a poor move on my part because I did it right after she was sick, and I (unaware of my own bodily workings) didn't realize that I was getting sick too. However, we stuck to it anyways, and although we all got this really nasty bug one after each other, Zoe is now almost potty trained. Almost meaning she listens to her body and knows when she has to go pee pee, she is going dry most of the time during her naps, and is waking up dryer and dryer in the morning.

However, my one problem is that she REFUSES, to go #2 on the toilet. I'm convinced that Zoe is totally freaked out about the huge gaping hole below her and is trying her hardest to not fall in. I think she thinks it will swallow her whole if she tries anything beyond #1. She screams horrifying screams if I try to coach her through it, so in the mean time we are still working on that part of things. On a lighter note, we are only 5 days into it, and she really hasn't had very many accidents. She is no longer using her little potty, which is good, but now is completely obssessed with going to the bathroom every 5 minutes (even when she doesn't have to go-- does that stop anytime soon?)

How we did it--THANK YOU to my cousin Kelli, and her great tips on the Elmo Potty Movie, and all the great guidelines she gave, we are on our way to a diaper free Zoe. We made a big deal about the movie and popped popcorn, got little panties, and a sticker book for her sticker chart.

Enjoy the pics, but if anyone has a tip on how to get them to go #2 in the toilet, that would be great.

Recent Service Project

In the little time I have between naps, errands, parks and playing with my kiddos, I occasionally have the oppurtunity to sit and quilt. Although I am starting to venture out and do other sewing projects, here is my most recent finished quilt. This I made as a little girl baby quilt. I gave it to the girl who won it at the auction and she loved it. It was hard to give away, but I am glad that she liked it.

Family Photo Shoot-April 2010

These were just taken, and although I need to update this blog with more vacation pictures, I couldn't resist these. Enjoy! If you want to look at all of them, you can go to this link.

http://gallery.me.com/taylorpollei#100287

Still on Vacation - Disneyland-

So even though the kids are way to young to remember us taking them to D-land, we all know that we go because of the parents right? I've been wanting to take Zoe since she was born, but I am glad I waited because it was much more fun now that she recognizes some the characters. However, rule #1- if your children have nightmares do not take them on the following rides: SNOW WHITE, MR. TOAD'S WILD RIDE, AND PETER PAN.

Our first ride of the day: Snow White. After Zoe saw us cruise on into the dark tunnel on a little car, scary witches started popping out from every corner. Tears and crying soon followed, and we were pretty much screwed the rest of the time. Any tears you see are due to her terrifying experience on Snow White. I tried to redeem myself by taking her on Mr. Toads Wild Ride, but that only made things worse. Then the ride I wanted to go on (Peter Pan), was completely out of the picture. We dragged her on It's a Small World, and then after that she seemed to lighten up.

All in all, we had a really great time with the kids, and they seemed to enjoy it too, (minus any scary witches). We came back to my parents for dinner and to drop off the kids, and Taylor and I went back for the last 2 hours. In an hour and half, we managed to ride, Indiana Jones, Haunted House, Splash Mountain, and Space Mountain. We even got thier famous ice cream cones on the way out. Tickets to Disneyland---$$, Food and Parking--$$$, Mommy happy to see kids at Disneyland-- Priceless.