Columbus Day

  Today was a wonderful day! Andrew had the day off and because of the beautiful weather we decided to go have lunch at the creek. Best idea ever. We all had a blast!
  The dogs loved running around, eventually jumping into the water to chase some fish. After eating our lunch, we took a nice leisurely walk around the creek with Kate happily dragging Cleo everywhere she desired to go.
  Once back to where we had started, Kate and I got into the water as well. Kate had a great time but not as good as she was hoping.  She kept asking to swim in the water which was not going to happen. It was quite windy and only 70 out. We are Texans so those two factors together equals too cold for a swim.
  We still enjoyed ourselves and left with two happy girls, one totally asleep and the other almost to that point.
  At home, Andrew beat me at a game of monopoly for the third time this week, beat me at a two out of three game of Yahtzee, beat me at a three out of five game of candy land, AND beat me at a two out of three game of mancala. Gahh! Andrew is a nice winner and I do like playing with him so my losing streak might continue if I can convince him to play some more.
  Like I said, a great day!!

Wet spot on the couch...not necessarily a bad thing.

  So, Kate took a long bath tonight. She was probably in there close to an hour. Totally fine by me because she was having a great time playing in the water and Abby was having a great time watching her. However, whenever Kate takes a bath she drinks a lot of the bath water. Also fine by me because she is rehydrating. But...what goes in must come out. 

  After Kate was done with her bath, I wrapped her up in her towel, sat her on the couch and told her she must NOT pee on anything. She is only to pee in her diaper or on the potty, something she is terrified to even talk about.  Side note-I have attempted to start the potty training process many times with Kate. I have been stubborn for extended periods of time urging her to sit on the potty and refusing to give her any snacks, sweets or soda till she goes to the bathroom on her potty. It all ends in lots and lots of tears on Kate's part, so I give in.  Anyhow, last week she sat on the couch, naked as a jay bird, for a good half hour without peeing. I put a diaper on her once I realized how long it had been and not even 15 minutes later her shorts were wet. She had peed so much that her diaper could not hold any more. I was proud and surprised Kate could, and did, hold her bladder while sitting on the couch.
  Tonight I attempted to repeat last week's experience. I was doing dishes while Kate was watching a movie, naked, on the couch when Kate informs me that she has peed.  ...ummm, what!?  I checked and sure enough, her statement was true.
  Gahhh! I didn't want her to feel so bad for what she had done that she starts crying but I also wanted to take the opportunity to perhaps persuade her to sit on her potty. That way I could explain, again, where I would like her to start going potty.
  As soon as I pull out the potty Kate's tears start to flow. I attempt to distract her from what she is doing by counting with her. It works!! We count to ten, then twenty, then twenty again. After each sequence I ask her if she would like to try and go potty. Nope. Nope. Nope!
  Then I try explaining how her potty chair works. While showing her where she should aim to pee some spit falls out of Kate's mouth onto her seat.  I mistake it for pee and say, "Yay! Good job, keep going!"  So she does!!! Kate went pee in her potty!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  I was ecstatic which made Kate very happy and proud of herself, so much that she didn't want to get off the potty! I am hoping, oh so very greatly hoping, that Kate wants to keep going pee in the potty.  We shall see tomorrow!   :)

Hondo

  The last time I went to a corn maze was in Rexburg, ID with my family home evening group, about...6 years ago. Holy cow, that is a long time ago!!! Didn't realize it was so long till just now! Ha! Anyhow, we went this past Saturday with the Strongs and had a great time together.
  The corn maze was in Hondo, which is about 2 hours away, so we packed a ton of books, toys and snacks for the drive. Even though the girls didn't sleep almost the entire way, Kate passed out 10 minutes before we arrived, they both did great.
  Right when we got there we did the corn maze. There were 10 pages, all different categories, with clues to help you through the maze. We grabbed three pages; scouting, biblical facts and tiny tots. The kids had fun running through the corn and kicking up dust as they went. There was a ton of dust, everywhere!

  Once we were done with the maze we headed over to the slides. Oh my, how the kids loved the slides!  They would have gone down the slides till they passed out from exhaustion had we allowed it. We didn't. Instead we grabbed some yummy fair food. Smoked turkey leg, grilled chicken sandwich, the yummiest French fries I've ever had in my life, and a funnel cake. Oh.my.yum. 

  Afterwards we headed over to the hay ride which took us to the pumpkin patch. We did not buy any but the kids had a good time trying to pick them up.

  The rest of the evening was spent jumping, eating, feeding the goats, sliding and running around.

  The girls slept most of the way home which made for an easy transfer into bed.
  Spent Sunday morning doing a ton of laundry while listening to general conference. Man oh man, was that water dirty from all the dust. Extra rinse, Mr. Washing Machine? Why yes, please!