breaking habits

Last week was a productive week at the Hoover house. We decided it was time to try and break Colton of his binky sucking habits. I trimmed the tip of his binky and told him it was broken. I've heard this is the best way to break the habit and I'd have to agree! He definitely didn't like sucking on a binky with a hole in it so it just took about 24 hours for him to decide he didn't want it at all. He thought we should "throw it trash". I think he also thought it would be a matter of time for us to go to the store and buy him a new one...but that didn't happen. Poor little guy. He fell asleep really well without it. The hardest part was getting used to waking up without it. We had a few pretty early mornings and some short naps. It seems like he is used to being without it now and it only took about a week!

Since we were torturing Colton with this at such a young age we decided it was not fair for Ellie to STILL be able to suck her fingers. We suggested to her that maybe it was time to stop sucking her fingers since Colton was going to bed without a binky and she seemed all for the idea. (amazing) We bought some athletic tape and put it on one of her fingers so that she wouldn't start sucking them while she was asleep. We made her a reward chart and told her that if she woke up and still had the tape on her fingers for 5 mornings, we would let her go to the toy store and pick out a new toy. She was so excited about this chart and reminded us every night that she needed tape on her fingers. I think it took her a little bit longer to fall asleep at night but she did SO well and had no problem sleeping all through the night and waking up at the normal time. She filled up the chart, got her new toy, and still asks for tape on her fingers at night. I think we will continue with the tape or bandaids on her finger for a little while just to make sure the habit is completely broken. We are so proud of her and thankful that it was an easy habit to break!!!

ha ha, I probably should have brushed her hair before I took this picture!

Happy Birthday Dan!

We made Daddy a cake for his birthday. While Mommy was trying to get it in the oven, and help Ellie make a birthday card, and get lunch ready, I snuck some licks of the batter. It was YUMMY!

Labor Day

We had a fun weekend at my parents new (to them) cabin in McCall. We walked to town, played on the beach and in the lake, had some ice cream in ice cream alley, checked out the old little town of Roseberry, napped, read, ate, ate some more, and spent some quality time with family. We sure are going to enjoy spending weekends at the cabin. Come see us sometime!

Preschool!

Ellie's first day of preschool was today. After I picked her up from school we met Dan at McDonalds for lunch. I think she was more excited about having lunch with daddy than going to school...BUT...she also had a great time at school and said she wanted to go everyday. Sorry babe, only 3 days a week.

Roaring Springs

One of our goals for the summer was to go to the water park with Lanae before she left for college. Colton had fun in the toddler area and also in the wave pool with Lanae. Ellie had fun on a BIG slide where she slid down on a mat all by herself. Her other favorite was the lazy river. It was pretty $$$ but probably a fun thing to try to do once every summer.

Huckleberries

We love huckleberries, and yesterday we were able to stop and pick a half gallon on our way home from McCall. = )

The kids had fun "picking". I think they enjoyed stomping and sitting on the huckleberry bushes even more. They didn't do this on purpose but it seemed like every time I started eyeing a bush full of large berries one of the kids would come barreling over to see what I was up to. We all had fun though!

creative girls

Ellie was playing outside with her neighbor friend and they came running in the house to show us what they had been up to. They found some tape and made these cute little costumes. They said they had a show for us but then ended up being too shy to perform.