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!

Well, shit.

  Didn't have the greatest night's sleep last night. Andrew got more bad news yesterday, something I did not foresee coming at all, and it kept me up the majority of the night.  My emotions have been going through fits of rage, disbelief, and sorrow, splattered with a lot of not so nice words.
  I gave up with sleep at 6 and decided to distract my thoughts with mindless searching of the interweb. Mostly looking at places to move to. Far away from here. 
  I heard Kate making noises in her room at 7:45 but wanted her to play for a little bit before getting her up for the day. I decided at 8:15 that I was in need of one of her make-everything-better-hugs and opened her door.
  I was not expecting what happened next. A massive wave of the nastiest smell hit me square in the face. It smelled like Duke had exploded everywhere.  Everywhere! I looked around Kate's room and could not see a trace of poop anywhere.
  Then I looked down at Kate. She was oozing from her diaper. There was poop on her pants, her shirt, her blankets and her pillow. Oh.my.gosh. Worst blowout ever.
  I have now gotten her cleaned off and cleaned up, scrubbed her clothes, started a load of laundry and cleaned the bathroom.
  Even though it was quite the mess to clean up, it was exactly what I needed to start my day!  I had been dealing with an over flowing amount of shit, pun intended, in my mind all night and morning. I couldn't wrap my head around it all, still can't, and I couldn't get my mind off of any of it. Go figure I'd have to deal with actual shit.  Just what I needed to get my mind off of mine and Andrew's troubles for a few moments while I cleaned up my sweet baby girl! 
  I've always known that life is unpredictable. Heaven knows I could have never foreseen this coming. This mountain we are climbing in our lives right now seems pretty massive at the present time. I hope and pray that it will look just like a grain of sand in the very near future.
  For now, I will keep having faith in the Lord, that He is watching over us and that this will all work out eventually. 
   For right now, at least, I will be happy with sweet hugs and cuddles from my clean baby Kate!

Another boat day

  Went out on the lake again this weekend. Had a great time with the Strongs. It was perfect timing too. We got out around 2:30 and were home by 7. Not too long but still long enough to have a fun time.
  The Strong kids wanted to ride on our boat back to the dock so I hopped up front with them while Andrew drove us back.  It was rather nerve wrecking for me because I had 4 kids to be in charge of not falling off the boat instead of one.  My heart jump started a few times but the kids had a blast!
  

Birthday weekend

  We had a fun weekend with the Strongs celebrating the twins' third birthday. The weather was finally cool which I loved but it was accompanied with lots and lots of rain. I don't mind the rain but it did hold the kiddos back from playing outside as much as they wanted. Whenever the rain let up the kids would run outside to jump on the bouncy castle and have as much fun as they could before the rain would start up again.
  Opening presents was fun! I loved watching all the kids watch the birthday boys open their gifts, especially Kate!  She was very exited about everything they were getting and wanted to help open presents as well.

  At one point during the evening Kate allowed Brandon to hold her in his lap which is a huge step forward for Kate.  Usually she stays as far away as possible from Brandon, making it a game to run away from him and hide from him, peaking around the corner and then running away giggling.

  Cake and ice cream was delicious.  Kate enjoyed the "pink" ice cream and the frosting on her piece of cake.

  Kate played herself exhausted and passed out on the way home. I was able to change her diapers and put her pjs on without her waking up. Sunday morning we left early for church to stop by the Moseley's to meet their new baby boy, Campbell. Oh my heavens, he is so precious!! I totally could have held him all day. So glad he is doing well and that we were able to meet him!

Labor day weekend

  Had a wonderful 3 day weekend. We started off with a trip out to the lake on Saturday. We had a great time, as usual, but getting out to our little cove took longer than usual. We were waiting for some of Andrew's work buddies to show them the way. They told us they were only a little bit behind us on time so we figured we'd wait. Well, it was a good hour from the time we were in the water till we got to our cove. I was a bit annoyed and Kate being so ready to be in the water didn't help things. Poor thing was crazy hot with her life jacket on and all, ...I was not happy.
  Once we got the boat anchored and started playing in the water, however, things got so much better. Kate was having a great time, we were all cooled off, and, surprise to me, all of Andrew's buddies got into a big water fight with the older kids which was a blast for everyone involved and everyone watching.
  And Abby got in the water for the first time! It was a bit of a shock to her at first but after a couple of minutes she started to enjoy the water.

Right before heading out to the lake.  Abby was all ready to go, Kate...getting there.

Boating back to the dock with the Strongs

Beautiful sunset.  Not sure what Kate is doing, though.

  Sunday was good. Kate happily stayed in nursery which is always a good thing.
  Today we went and did some shoe shopping. Both Andrew and I were in need of new running shoes and Andrew also needed some flip flops. Mission accomplished.
 We had Burger King for lunch which we all enjoyed, including Kate. She is talking so much more now and the whole time we were shopping she kept saying, "ice cream, please." How could we say no to that? So off to BK for a yummy oreo shake.
  Once we got home all the girls, that includes me, took a nap, while Andrew worked outside on the Durango hooking up the wires that connect to our trailer. It took him a ton of work but saved us a good $500. :) He had to take off the back bumper, install the wires, line the wires along the under side of the Durango and hook them up to the engine. Love my hard working man.
  And to finish off our weekend, I went on a quick 2 mile run which starts off my training for a half marathon I will be running at the end of December! I've got quite the way to go but I'm determined to do it!

  Oh, and Abby just keeps getting better and better at eating solid foods.  She's starting to like both fruits and veggies!  Yay!!  Here she is enjoying some green beans.  Yum!