Day 3

Day 3: A picture of you and your friends

I don't have many good recent pictures.  This was in June, and I'm really sad we didn't get a good picture of us all lined up.

Here's some older ones of us

I really wish we all lived closer together.  We've all spread apart.  That's life though, right?

Ward party and day 2

Day 02- The meaning behind your blog name


My previous blog was "Erin's Life."  Once I conceived Patrick it wasn't just about Erin anymore, so I created this one. The url is actually "mbcannadykids," and the mb stands for Matt & Brittanie.  So not only are they our kids, but they are currently the only kids of their generation that carry the Cannady name, so they're also the only Cannady kids in the family.


On to the fun part!  It was our ward chili cookoff, costume party and trunk or treat.  Apparently there wasn't a costume contest this year, which made me sad.  But everyone said that if there had been we would have one so I guess that makes us the winners of the unoffical costume contest?  lol

Erin loved trick-or-treating.  She was so excited.  Patrick stayed with me and "helped" me pass out candy (which actually meant he stole the car decorations and made me feed him candy between trick-or-treaters.)

Company party and pumpkins

Matt's company party was this morning.  We had a lot of fun

Sadly, we didn't win the contest.  Because this girl did.  I'm not too upset, she totally deserved it.

We carved pumpkins today too, for the first time in a few years.

Patrick decided it would be a great snack, apparently.

 Erin stole one of my large pumpkin pieces to carve on with Matt.

 and the finished products

Day 1

Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself


Here's my most recent picture of myself, taken Sept. 19 (Talk Like A Pirate Day)

1. I hate listing interesting facts.  I don't think I'm that interesting.
2. Of the 9 blogs I'm listed as an author on on my blogger dashboard, I only post on 4 with any regularity.
3. I have belonged to the mommy forums I'm on for 4 years, 3 months and 3 days, and have made 28,900 posts.
4. I apparently have no life.
5. I don't actually like to sew at all.  I just love the being able to answer "Oh, I made this." when someone asks "Where did you get that?"
6. I don't really think I sew all that well either.  But by the time I'm done with something you haven't seen how many times I've had to take seams apart! lol
7. Erin and I share the same Chinese Zodiac sign.
8. My doctor says I have a high tolerance for pain.
9. I love fresh from the garden tomatoes.
10. I don't particularly enjoy cooking either.  But I do love it when people say "This is so good."
11. Apparently I need a lot of positive feedback from people.  lol
12. I'm terrified that since Erin and Patrick are so positively adorable, our next one will be really ugly.
13. I'm reading "Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson right now.  It's 1001 pages long.  I'm tempted to leave him a message on his facebook page telling him just how hard it is for a mom of 2 little kids to make it through a monstrosity like that.  lol
14. My favorite pair of shoes right now are a pair of high-heeled boots Matt picked out.
15. My chiropractor's office is one of my favorite places to be. (and I have an appointment in half an hour so I'd better get off!)

Okay, I'm going to do it.

So, I've seen this going around some friends' blogs, and decided to do it.  lol.  Maybe I should have started Nov. 1st, but oh well.

Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself

Day 02- The meaning behind your blog name

Day 03- A picture of you and your friends

Day 04- A habit that you wish you didn’t have

Day 05- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to

Day 06- Favorite super hero and why

Day 07- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you

Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why

Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past few days

Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends

Day 12- How you found out about blogs and why you made one

Day 13- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently

Day 14- A picture of you and your family

Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play

Day 16- Another picture of yourself

Day 17- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why

Day 18- Plans/dreams/goals you have

Day 19- Nicknames you have; why do you have them

Day 20- Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future

Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy

Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else

Day 23- Something you crave for a lot

Day 24- A letter to your parents

Day 25- What I would find in your bag

Day 26- What you think about your friends

Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge

Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?

Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned

Day 30- Who are you?

He didn't want to be left out

I decided to paint my nails for Matt's company party tomorrow this morning, since I won't have time tomorrow morning and who knows if I'll have time later today?  Which meant that Erin wanted hers painted too.

And then Patrick wanted to be included in our party.  I didn't paint his fingers, since not only will toes not show, but he still sucks his thumb, and I don't want him sticking painted nails in his mouth.

Playing dressup

He needs a name!

So I don't normally name fish.  But this is the most personable betta I've ever had.  He comes over every time you pass the bowl, and will sit and watch you as long as you sit and watch him.

But I'm no good at naming fishies.  So please, I need suggestions!


Edited to update:  Thanks for your suggestions!  A forum friend suggested Finley, and it felt like he was telling me his name.  So Finley it is!

The Potty Chronicles vol. 3

So lately I've been doing a lot of thinking, reading, talking to people about potty training and things I can do differently, praying for inspiration and ways to keep from being frustrated, and thinking about why I'm going about things the way I am.

Well, it all sort of hit me this afternoon.  Erin wet her pants.  We went into the bathroom, I helped her pull off her pants, and then went to clean up the trail on the carpet.  When I got back into the bathroom, Erin looked at me with tears in her eyes and said "Pweeze diaper Mommy?  I not want panties."  I admit I teared up myself, poor thing.  I'd been so focussed on how stressing it was for me, I hadn't thought about what it's doing to her.  And she gets incredibly upset when she has an accident.  So I put her in a diaper.

I've spent all afternoon thinking about it some more.  So many people have said that going cold turkey to panties will help, that after wetting for a couple days they'd get the idea.  And Erin truly does love her panties. But I just don't think we can keep going the way we are.  I also put her in panties because she's still battling the same rash she's had for several months (though no more boils since we switched brands thank goodness), and she's been doing so much better since spending most of her days in panties.  And there are other reasons, but I'm not going to go there.

Anyway, so I've decided I'll still use my timer, and still take her to the bathroom every so often and have her sit there, and give her chocolate, and celebrate when she goes in the potty.  I'm just going to have her in diapers in the interim so that she's not so traumatized by the accidents.  I'll put her in panties again when she's going in the potty fairly reliably.

I hate to say my dad was right, but yeah, you were right Dad.

Sunny fall afternoon

The weather is gorgeous today.  So I opened all the windows and the screen door, so obviously the kids went out.

Also, I had the kids draw in Nyssa's birthday card.  Erin drew a cloud, a marshmallow and rainbow.  So I had to take a picture and share.

My day so far

Well, Matt bullied me out of bed at 6:30 this morning, just in time for him to leave for work.  I guess it's better than me sleeping in until 9am again.  Especially since I had a chiropractor appointment at 9:30, and had to do all my grocery shopping as well.

 Well, we were out the door at 8:30 am and went down to Sunflower to get all our fruits and veggies.

Erin likes to carry the bag and put our stuff in it as we walk (and make weird faces)

Patrick just enjoyed fruit snacks

I was really tempted to get the cauldron cakes.  Think there's a Harry Potter fan on staff?

Yummy yummy fruits and veggies (yes, we're going to make guacamole!!)

So then we drove up to the chiropractor's office.  I've loved driving this road 3 times a week.  So pretty.

The kids love the playroom in at the chiropractors office.  Erin gets so excited to "go back doctor and pway wiff toys!"

Then we took a quick trip to petsmart to get some more snails for Erin's tank to replace the ones that died.

And then to Sam's club.  I love the double seats on their carts!  Spent a lot today.  Occasionally I have to replace everything that lasts for a while, lol

And then to Walmart's MickyD's for lunch (I wish they had something better there, but hey, can't argue too hard.  It's better than going home for lunch and then going out again).

Yes, that's Patrick dipping an apple dipper in barbeque sauce.

And I forgot to take pictures of our Walmart cartful.  Erin was melting down.  She was done.

While I was putting stuff away, they found the grapes.  Grapes are a hit at my house.  Makes me feel better about the junky lunch.

We got home at 2pm, and watched How To Train Your Dragon (which was hiding under my diaper bag in the cart and I didn't actually pay for it, so it set off the alarm and I had to go back).  And now I need to load the dishwasher and do some laundry....*sigh*  I'm tired!