Pumpkin patch fun, AND birthday fun!

Lots of pictures this post! We went to a pumpkin patch and corn maze a few weekends ago, and the kids had a lot of fun! Adam was a bit apprehensive at first, but he came around. He was even okay with the corn maze, and I was really not sure he would be! I was happy when he joined in and picked his own pumpkin, too! All in all, a very successful outing:). We carved those pumpkins that we picked out on Tuesday this week, and the boys had lots of fun playing with the pumpkin insides while Brian, Lynsey and I carved the pumpkins! Lynsey did hers very much on her own, with a bit of assistance from Brian here and there. Yesterday, Lynsey had her friends party here at our house! My friend Jaqui (also Lynsey's friend Ari's mom) came and helped me put Jamberry nail stickers on all the girls (as in, she did most of them!). It was a lot of fun! Lynsey was really excited to start knitting with her knitting loom, and has quite a good start on the hat that she is making:). I hope it turns out, I really want her to stay interested in it and want to explore more of knitting and sewing! A lot of the pictures from the party didn't turn out great, the flash on the camera was having issues unfortunately which was frustrating.

Nathan did something very interesting today. We are almost 8 weeks into potty training, and he still doesn't poop on the potty. You can do the math and figure out that means we have rinsed out a lot of shorts in the last few months. Anyway, this afternoon, the kids were all playing downstairs and I was upstairs. Lynsey calls me to the bathroom downstairs because Nathan was apparently in there with his pants down and I'm thinking, this can't be good. I get down there, and the scene was quite something - there was Nathan with his pants around his ankles, and there were 4 or 5 fresh pieces of poop on the floor beside him (please excuse the TMI, critical to the point of the story!). The bucket from the little potty was floating in the toilet, and Nathan looked like he was ready to flush. I wish I had my camera with me, it was a sight to behold! I immediately checked his underwear, and the inside was completely clean! What? He didn't first poop in his shorts and THEN try and get to the potty?? Even that would have been a step forward from where he was in my books! Nope, I could only infer from the evidence that was available that he got to the bathroom, pulled down his pants, and THOUGHT he was pooping on the potty (hence the potty bucket floating in the toilet, ready to be flushed) but really only pooped on the floor and on his pants a little bit. I didn't know how to react! I was so excited that he was aware of the urge to go and TRIED to make it to the potty, but since he didn't quite make it to the potty, should I still give him the promised reward of a candy?? I didn't give it to him, but both Lynsey and I gave him lots of encouragement that he was REALLY close and next time he really should tell one of us and we would help him. We've noticed that he is trying more and more to take this matter into his own hands, going when we don't know about it and only find out when we hear the toilet flush. Are we turning a corner in this whole potty training area?? Let's hope so! It's been a long two months!

Not much else is new. We are going to Vancouver next weekend to meet up with Brian's parents, hopefully that goes well. Other than that, we don't have too many plans before our trip home for Christmas. Just staying busy with school and every day life:).