• Danielle, Noel’s sister, was in town on business and got to spend an evening with us. Ellen was taken with Aunt Danielle and kept bringing her books to read and even gave her hugs which is almost unheard of.

• Ellen has begun a rigorous training program.
• Noel and I went on a “date” to test drive cars since we’ve come to the conclusion that we at least need to start thinking about replacing our 18, going on 19-year-old car. I’m seriously coveting the Prius V, but considering our goal is to pay cash for a car we’ll probably go with something else. Is it weird that 40+ mpg makes me swoon?

• The kids have been getting along pretty well. It might help that Ellen gets to play freely with Cooper’s stuff and lounge smugly in his bed without reprimand four days a week while he is at pre-school.
• I also discovered that they feed the kids breakfast at preschool, so Cooper has been eating two breakfasts lately.

• While watching General Conference, Ellen disassembled the “intellect ball” and wore part of it as a hat just to show it who’s boss.

• Just as I was beginning to think Cooper might NEVER learn how to use the toilet, we had some really encouraging success over the weekend. A Conference weekend miracle! Every time Cooper goes in his little potty he says, “Ta-Dah!”

• In between Conference sessions we were able to get out and see some of the Fall colors. I love the crispness of fall, but don’t like that Winter is on it’s heels!

• People kept telling me I  had such cute little boys on our little hike. Poor Ellen, maybe someday I’ll learn to constantly dress her in pink and ruffles.

• Noel had a really good run at house projects: fixing the diaper sprayer that was leaking enough to soak through the floor and cause us a brief panic attack when we at first thought something was wrong with the sewer line again, removing the swamp cooler, fixing the faucet on our kitchen sink so we could actually use it (we used our camping jug for a week while we waited for the replacement part), and replacing the special light bulb on the staircase. Now we just have to fix the garage door, ugh. Maybe if we don’t fix it, nothing else will break 😉 Fortunately, the car was not inside when it decided to come unattached.

That about sums up life around these parts.