Uncle Brent...

... is coming to live with us! Hip, hip, hooray! After finally graduating from the University of Utah, Brent has been traveling across the country on his bike and recently ended up in our front yard. The kids have been super excited to have him stay with us (and so have mom and dad because now we can go back to man-t0-man defense for a few months!) He'll be with us for a few months while he's looking for a job - which means I'm torn between wishing him luck and hoping it takes a while...

shh, don't tell him!

Happy Halloween!

Here they are... Leah was Stephanie from Lazytown (a show on Nick Jr.) and Lincoln finally settled on Diego again, which was fine with me since I didn't have to make a new costume - although this year we colored his hair too. And Peter is busting out of our little duck costume. They got to wear their costumes pretty much all day since we had dressup storytime in the morning and our ward trunk or treat at night.

I think we did a pretty good job - don't you?

We managed to collect quite a bit of candy, so the kids each filled a little bag with a few pieces that they wanted to keep and left the rest out for the Candy Witch. In the morning they found some Halloween rubber ducks and pirate finger puppets in place of their candy and the fun started all over again! Hooray for the Candy Witch!

Help!

Mom, there's an M&M stuck in my nose!

This message has been brought to you by the committee for mini M&M safety.

Potty Party

Obstinance is a family trait around here - I'm told we get it through my mother's side (of course, that's my father talking... so not exactly unbiased... and sorry if I just got you in trouble Dad). And just in case you were wondering, this is much more than your run-of-the-mill stubborn streak - this is the I-know-I'm-perfectly-capable-of-doing-this-but-because-you-want-me-to-I'm-not-going-to stubborness... which as any parent will testify is then amplified by 10 in a three year old.

This particular three year old is no exception - in fact, I think he inherited a full quota of obstinance from both parents and, when he's not turning on the charm and being the sweetest boy around, he is not afraid to use that stubborn streak to his advantage.

Which is why getting him potty trained was a big deal around here! We tried every bribe and psychological tactic we could think of... but no dice. Personally, I think he was just holding out for the big score. He saw me making cupcakes one night for church and was bemoaning the fact that he couldn't eat them so Andrew jumped in and told him we would make cupcakes just for him if he would start using the potty. Hmm... a clever boy could turn this into another party, could he not? A sort of unbirthday birthday party?

With puppy and kitty cat cupcakes...

And Grandma and Papa and Aunt Lisa...

and Lightning McQueen underwear!

Our little man was all worn out by the end of the day,but it was worth it!

And now I never have to buy diapers again!!!

When?

When exactly is "tomorrow last week"?

Because according to Leah, that's the day I brought home leftovers from a dinner I made for church - so I think that means it was yesterday...

Which does make sense in a rather confusing round about way.