Potty-Training

Archer has been randomly and sporadically using the toilet for a few months now, but to be honest, I haven't been very consistent with it. Yesterday I decided to put him in undies and see what happened...well, lots of accidents happened! But, I think he is on the right track. We're on to day #2 now, still with some accidents but less so far. We'll see how it goes.

Here is Archer in his potty-training gear...


He looks so cute and innocent, then he goes and does something like pee inside a ride-on school bus toy. (He put on the boots when I was cleaning out our coat closet, but I made him take the boots off after I took this picture - I was a little concerned about pee in the boots!)

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

It has been way too long since I blogged. We had a small computer issue (Archer pulled the cord out crooked so it doesn't want to charge properly), so I sent John to Best Buy to see if they could fix it and he came back with an iPad. Blogging from the iPad = a little bit cumbersome. The other computer still works on occasion, but it's no longer convenient since it has to stay in one place.

Anyway...the formatting on this might be a little wonky, but here are some pictures from the boys' field trip to the pumpkin patch.



Archer, on my back during the hayride


Preston racing around with his friends


B and Carter


Contemplating which pumpkin to get


The search for the perfect pumpkin

QOTD

Preston: Mom, that makes me so mad. It makes me want to say a bad word.
Me: (a little shocked...wondering what things he is learning in his tiny, sheltered, Christian school) What do you know about bad words?
Preston: I know one, want to hear it?
Me: (unsure if I should agree to this...) ummmm, okay, tell me.
Preston: Dumb. That's a really bad word.

QOTD

Preston: ...and Archie is going to be a crocodile... (for Halloween)
Archer: No, I'll be an Archie-dile!

Fall Funk

I just can't seem to motivate myself to blog.  I don't know why.  A Fall Funk, I guess.  I have a billion things to do, and yet I don't get anything accomplished.  So, anyway, to get me started again, here are pictures of some of the beautiful artwork my boys have been bringing home from school:

Preston's fireman hat

Bryton's apple (finger painted)...notice him in the background?  He refused to hold it for me to take a picture.  Little stinker.

Preston: Boys vs. Girls...hmmm...looks like Mommy is pretty outnumbered!

Family picture by Preston.  Daddy is to the left with the long legs, Mommy is next, then Preston on the top right.  Archer is the bottom left, and Bryton is the bottom right.  I LOVE drawings at this age.  It is just so cute!

This week B is learning about the letter "D" and one of the things they learned about is DINOSAURS.  B LOVES dinos, and I'm pretty sure this week was his favorite so far.  This is his dinosaur hat...he was so excited that they got to go into Preston's classroom and ROAR at the class.  And he even cooperated by reenacting a ROAR for me!

Dino egg!

This is what happens...

...when you wake up at 4:30 am two days in a row.  I was REALLY hoping he could make it to nap time but obviously that didn't happen.  Instead, he took a 30 minute catnap and probably thinks he is done napping for the day.  I'm sooooo hoping that is NOT the case, since I've been up since 4:30 as well (both days).

Zonked (and he still sleeps with his little behind in the air!)

Tomatoes

I was lamenting the fact that my tomatoes are taking their own sweet time ripening.  My garden has TONS of tomatoes, but they are in varying stages of ripeness, and the ripe ones start to get overripe before I have enough to can.  Anyway, I dried some a little while ago (in slices), but yesterday I decided to do a little bit of experimenting.  First, I sliced the tomatoes thinly and dehydrated them at 135 degrees until they were crispy (it took about 15 hours for most of them).  Next I stuck them in my vitamix on low speed until they were all chopped up.  Since I use my crockpot so often, my plan is to just throw them in with a little extra water in place of diced tomatoes.  The little tiny jar on the left was quite a few tomatoes...I'm guessing about 10 big dehydrator trays full!  I love that it takes up so little space in my already crowded pantry.  The jar on the right is actually tomato sauce that I made "tomato leather" out of, dried it until it was crispy, and chopped it in the vitamix.  It started out as about 2 cups of sauce, and is now probably only 1/2 cup or so!

Tomatoes!

So, even though I've been complaining about the lack of tomatoes to can, I'm actually not sure that I'll be canning them anyway!  I may have found my new tomato preservation method.  MUCH easier than canning, less time consuming (well, as far as active time), and less storage space.  What's not to love?!