three down, one to go

Exciting news: Tosh is potty-trained! I tried to force the issue in July and he clearly wasn't ready. I was asking him about every 5-10 minutes if he needed to go and was spending lots of energy bribing, coaxing etc. I gave up when he was kneeling on a kitchen stool and said, "Hey! Where did all of this water come from?" right after he had wet his underwear (about 5 minutes after he had just gone in the toilet). I decided at that time to wait a bit longer. For several weeks now I've been telling him that it would be time to wear underwear-only when we got home from our trip to California. So last Saturday we said "no more diapers" and it was literally an overnight process for Tosh! He has been awesome and totally independent about the entire thing (I never have to ask him if he has to go). He has been dry every night for an entire week and Rob and I are starting to wonder how he could be our biological child! Way to go, Tosh! I am starting to see the light at the end of the long diaper tunnel (and if it really is faster and easier for girls then we could be finished in a year!).

Thumbs up!



Woo-hoo! Diaper free!

My cousin Bob, and his daughter (Janae), son-in-law, and grandson are in town and came by to visit on Saturday afternoon. My kids love Bob and his dog, Carmella. Carmella is the sweetest dog and loves to play ball with the kids. They wore the dog out!

Janae's baby is so cute. He is almost a full year younger than Liv but is already bigger than she is and outweighs her by two pounds!

I woke Liv up from her nap so we could get a photo of these two cuties. (She seemed slightly confused at having another baby and dog in the house.)

Kason started pulling at her pigtails and ears. She wasn't quite sure how to respond.

After my cousins left, Rob's brother-in-law and nephew arrived. They were in town for a reunion and we were able to spend a few days with them. We took all of the kids to a "Harvest Carnival" at church. We were in a mad rush to get ready and get out the door and I only took a couple of photos (none of them great). In case you are wondering, Rob was an 80's rocker (he was actually wearing some of my guess jeans from the 80's) and I dressed up as a hippie.

Liv wasn't cooperating, but looked darling in her witch costume and hat.

Tosh had a blast with his cousin, just 20 days older. They played with construction trucks for hours outside, and did some skinny dipping in the freezing pool. We love cousins and were sad to say goodbye.

Here are some other random shots:

Getting ready for Halloween (the boys made lots of decorations for our windows):

Speaking of Halloween and the scary (ha!), we had some professional make-up artists come in to talk to the Young Women for an activity. They taught about skin care and some make-up basics, and then did some demos just for fun. They did "candy eyes" on me and it was a little shocking when I looked in the mirror (and it took about 10 minutes to wash off). It was a fun night, but let's just say that I (and Rob) prefer a more "natural" look. Is anyone else floored by the fact that this is the last week of October?! The month has flown by and I feel so disorganized and a little out of sorts. Time to pull it together (at least I'm changing fewer diapers)!