In a Nutshell..

Seems like it has been a long week! I already dozed off after tucking the kiddos in bed and had to force myself to wake up so I can go to bed properly in a few minutes!

*Eliana is still doing pretty awesome with potty-training! She has stayed dry to/from VBS all week and this afternoon we made our first foray out into "public" to meet some friends at the park. I brought her little potty in the car and she was able to use it and stay dry over the 2 hour period! One funny thing that happened was Ben helped her put on some new panties after a minor mishap earlier this morning and he said, "Boy, her panties are so tight! Poor thing." About 5 or so minutes later, I was walking by and glanced over at her while she was playing and noticed she did look pretty stuffed into her panties. Something wasn't quite right.....I went over to investigate and burst out laughing when I realized Ben had put them on sideways! I'm not sure how he accomplished that but it was pretty funny.

*The boys only have one more day of VBS. They are so excited because tomorrow the parents get to come 15 minutes early to hear the kids sing songs they have been learning all week. I think they are going to sing at church on Sunday, too. I am so glad they have gotten to take part in this! The theme this week is basically following God through the ups and downs and staying strong. A good lesson for all ages!

*Some good news I forgot to share is that Ben is now under contract for a book! His dissertation is being published and he is hard at work revising his monstrosity of a dissertation for book form. If he meets all deadlines by Sept 1st, then his book should be out by November, which is just in time for the big biblical conference held each year where a lot of interviews are conducted! He jokes that his book will be multi-purposeful. Good for killing flies, curing insomnia or learning everything you didn't want to know about the Books of Kings:)

*I finally got back into crafting today after a long break. I have been very unmotivated in the past months to work on projects for a few reasons so it felt good to be back at my sewing machine. I'm working on a (hopefully) cute outfit for Eliana. And I hope this will get me going to work on some gifts for some upcoming babies!

*I talked to my mom today and she sounded pretty good, although a bit "puny" sounding. She says she is doing well and is ahead of the game. By early this afternoon, she had already had 2 PT sessions and had walked a bit with her walker. Her blood pressure was pretty low last night but it was back to normal today, thankfully. She should get to go home tomorrow.

*I made a different dinner tonight and it was really good! I needed something quick to go with our fresh farmer's market broccoli. I went off of a recipe that I found on pinterest. You prepare linguine noodles and while they are cooking, you sauté some minced garlic in a little olive oil for about a minute. Take the pan off the heat and let it sit for a few minutes. Then add some breadcrumbs to the pan and put it back on the heat. I used maybe 1/3 cup of breadcrumbs? I added a little bit more oil and mixed it up well and browned it over the heat for a couple of minutes. Added a little bit of parsley and then when the noodles were done and drained, added the breadcrumb mixture and tossed it all around with about 1 TB of butter. We added some parmesan cheese on top and it was SO good! Eliana gobbled it up and she can be a little finicky about dinner. I will definitely make it again.

It's been much easier to cut down on meat than I thought it would be. And it's been very helpful to our grocery bill!

(picture from famfriendsfood.com)

Matching!

 I am sitting here basking in the silence of my home, waiting to inhale the scent of baking brownies and feeling pretty good about how potty-training is going!

Miss Thang is doing awesome! Only one minor accident that she caught, tons of stickers on her chart and more M&Ms to fuel her addiction:) I am hoping to wean off the chocolates soon. We are still waiting for the big #2, which she will receive a "big" prize for (a necklace from the dollar section!). She tried today but no such luck.

Pretty much all week she has pottied and played with Baby Anna. She is nuts about this little doll! Lately, she thinks it's pretty cute to wedge Baby's thumb in her mouth and then walk her around in the stroller, stopping everytime she gets to me and saying, "Aw, isn't she cute? She's sucking her tum!"

Mugga brought a special surprise for Eliana this weekend!! Matching dresses!! About a month ago, we were in Target and for whatever reason, were talking about clothes for Baby Anna. I told her that her jammies couldn't come off but maybe we could ask Mugga to make her a dress. Mugga went a step further and made one for Eliana, too! Aren't they a cute pair??

The boys are sad that they are over halfway done with VBS already. I'm sure all the volunteers and staff will be exhausted when the week is done! They have done such a great job! The boys come home with a fun new craft each day, new songs they learned and a new verse.

Today Samuel had a rough day. He feels emotions so deeply and doesn't always know how to put them into words. He was really missing his Daddy, who has been working the past 2 days, which caused a lot of tears. Plus I think all of our family leaving and doing VBS has made him more tired and a little more emotional. It was hard to watch him be so sad today:( I really hope he has a better day tomorrow ~ especially after he gets his Daddy hug!

And my mom is doing really well! She came out of surgery well, was sick for a while but they were able to correct it and get this, has already been up walking! I think that is just crazy that they made her walk only hours after getting a full knee replacement but I think it helps with the healing or something. Hopefully, she will get released from the hospital on Friday and will get to heal in her own home. Prayers for her and my stepdad would still be appreciated! And also for Ben's grandma, who is recovering from her own ankle surgery. My, we know a lot of injured people!

I tucked everyone in bed and came down to tidy up the kitchen. I heard Eliana yelling and talking about things like how much she likes her baby and where are her brothers. And then I heard something different and I paused in my cleaning to listen. And this is what I heard...

"Heidi? Heidi, are you there?! I need you, Heidi! I need to ask you!"

There are no shortages of smiles around here!!

I am Crazy. The end.

Ben and I were like little school kids yesterday, waking up and wanting to check his diploma to see the words "Doctor of Philosphy" in those big letters again! What a thrill. We are just so thankful for our family coming in town to celebrate with us. It wouldn't have been the same without them! They helped make it so very special for us.

Today when Ben checked his status at school, his degree was officially conferred on him in the computer system which was fun to see:) Hey, it's the little things in life!

This week is a fun week for the boys! They started VBS at our church. Both were a little nervous, not having been to VBS before but they came home so happy! They loved it so much and can't wait to go again tomorrow! They will go all week from 9-12pm. Eliana cried when we left them there:( She's loved having her brothers home!

They stayed at the hotel with Mugga and Grandma on Saturday night and she missed them then, too. I heard her call out from her room, "Bring da boys home!" before she collapsed in exhaustion and we never heard another peep til morning:)

And while big brothers are being occupied at vacation bible school, Eliana is being potty-trained! Oh, yes, you read that right. It should be alternately stated: Eliana's mommy is crazy! Everyone keeps telling me how easy it is to potty train girls and they can be trained so early and blah, blah. I have been putting it off because of the nightmare of potty training my sweet Z-man (sorry, buddy!) but she has shown so many signs of being ready lately, including not being able to keep a stitch of her clothing on when in bed (!!!) that I knew it was time.

We ran to the store to grab a little pack of M&Ms and stickers and headed home to begin. She whipped off her diaper so fast it wasn't even funny! Or it was:) We started out with some Minnie Mouse underwear and she plopped down on her little Ikea potty to watch some Sesame Street, in hopes of earning her 2 M&Ms.

Within a half an hour we had success! I made a big deal out of it and gave her the M&Ms, a sticker on a little chart (which she got to put on) and was SO excited! And then it went downhill. She sat on and off for awhile and then went and peed all over the floor. Then, by the time it was time to go pick up the boys, she was in melt-down mode and refusing to even look at the potty! I almost threw in the towel right then and there.

Now, I know you are not supposed to leave the house when potty training but I needed to get the boys and Ben talked me into making a quick stop to the store to get something. So, I loaded the car with a pad on her carseat, the potty chair, stickers, the M&Ms, the chart, etc. And Eliana, half-dressed. She sat on the potty before we left the parking lot, when we got to the church (didn't go both times), and right before we walking into the store.

And promptly peed all over the store floor literally 2 minutes later. So back to the car we went and got changed and sat some more and I felt so frustrated! She didn't nap because she kept stripping herself down to her birthday suit (which is awfully cute!) and threw her diaper across the room. The afternoon consisted of 2 accidents on the floor (including a poop that I didn't catch in time) and I was feeling SO done!

And then she went twice in a row in the potty. Go figure. We'll see if I can gear myself up to keep going tomorrow. I really wish there was a manual for this!!!!