Thankful

I haven't really been in the blogging mood lately. I've got a lot to write about and some fun pictures to share, but that will have to wait until I'm back on my own computer.

I had a great Thanksgiving with Aaron's family. I'm grateful for both of my families! I really do feel like I have so much to be grateful for. I've been pondering on that a lot over the last couple days, and it's something I need to do more often. I have a good life!

Happy Thanksgiving. :)

I really can't complain

So the potty training hasn't been too bad. Elsie is a champ! We've had a few accidents, but overall she's doing very well. I have to ask if she has to go potty, and she'll usually tell me if she does. I wonder when she'll be able to tell me on her own. Last night she told me she had to go #2 but I think it's because she had already started and that reminded her. It was pretty funny!! We haven't left the house for a couple of days, and I'm starting to go a little stir crazy. I think I might attempt a one-hour trip to the gym tomorrow because she's doing so well.

Other good news is that her uriter reflux (what was causing all her urinary tract infections and the reason she's been on an antibiotic for the last year) is gone!! We did a little procedure this summer to fix it, and I just took her in for follow-up testing this past week. Everything is looking great. We are so happy and relieved. Plus now she doesn't have to take her medicine every night. Good for all of us!

The day I've been dreading!

We're potty training Elsie starting today...enough said!

Halloween 2009

We were really looking forward to Halloween this year because Elsie is finally at an age where she can enjoy it. When Grandma and Grandpa were up visiting a few weeks ago, we went to the Disney store to find Elsie a costume. She finally picked out the classic red Minnie Mouse dress. She's been excited to wear it ever since! (Cute pictures down below.)

We had our Ward Halloween party on Friday night. The night started out a little rough when Aaron decided he needed to take a nap when he got home from a long eight-hour day at work while I was trying to finish preparations for the party and get Elsie ready. But, anyway!! Our ward does games/activities in a bunch of the rooms for all the primary kids. The young women were supposed to be in charge of several of the rooms, which meant us leaders had to come up with ideas, buy everything, get it set up, etc. At least the young women were there to help run the booth. My activity, a candy walk, turned out really well. I didn't get to enjoy the night with Elsie like I would've wanted to because I was too worried about keeping that running smoothly. Aaron took her around the the other rooms, and I tagged along when I could.

We started Halloween off with a not-so-fun outing to get our swine flu shot. Aaron stood in line for about 2 hours, so we wouldn't have to. He redeemed himself from the night before!!

Then it was time to carve our pumpkins. We picked out some big pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, so they were kind of a pain to clean out and carve. Aaron used some patterns and did all the carving. I'm too wimpy! They turned out really neat. Yes, I had to post a picture of Aaron carving the pumpkin to show you all his concentration face. He doesn't even realize he's doing it!

I couldn't figure out how to get a good shot of the lit-up pumpkins, but this one turned out okay. We did a spooky tree in a graveyard and a witch stirring in her pot.

Now, the highlight of the day...Elsie in her Minnie Mouse costume. She absolutly loved it and kept saying she was a princess. (We did have to beg her to wear the ears for the picture so we could show Gma and Gpa. She kept saying they hurt her head.)

This is what she came up with when I asked her to do a different pose.

And another one!

We handed out a little candy before we headed out trick-or-treating. Elsie loved that as well just like she did last year.

Olivia, Adelaide, Christian, and Elsie ready to go get some candy!

Just as we expected, Elsie really got into the trick-or-treating. She had a great time walking around to each of the houses, loved knocking the door and saying "trick or treat", and she even said thank you to everyone. For the first few houses either Aaron or I would walk up to the door with her. After she got the hang of it, she told me, "I don't need help. I do it by myself. Stay here, Mom." I was dying!! Sure enough, she wanted to do all the rest of the houses by herself. But we did have to hold her pumpkin pail in between houses because it was getting too heavy. We went to a couple homes that we really decked out and kind of scary looking. It didn't even phase Elsie. She just walked right up and then loved to admire everything in the yard.

As soon as we got home, she dumped out all of her candy and found the things she likes. I opened two suckers for her, which she enjoyed while she admire the rest of her stash. (Most will end up in the garbage because she doesn't really like many sweets...and I do!!!)