This picture was taken before 8 a.m. mass on Easter. Are you impressed? Well, we did cut of the top of John's head, but it was the best we could do with limited time and personnel. By the time Grandma and Grandpa came over later in the morning, we were all back to grungy clothes.When John got Daniel dressed, his shirt was tucked in. This lasted about 2.5 seconds. I didn't even bother with Edward's. I think they look dapper anyway, though I realized later that Daniel's shoes were at least half if not a whole size too small. Oops! Put 'em away for a friend and dug out the next size from the closet stash.

This represents much of what the Easter Bunny deposited while we were at church. The only thing missing are the new swim suits in the sand/water buckets that served as baskets. When it came to hunting the eggs, the wheelbarrow was a handy conveyance. I was a little afraid there would be too much fighting over the lawn mower and wondered whether two mowers would be better than one mower and one wheelbarrow. So far they've been pretty good about taking turns. We'll see what happens when these are transferred to outside.

The biggest news from Easter weekend however, was Daniel's potty training success. We decided to stay home Friday and try the big leap from diapers to underwear with three days to practice before sending him to daycare this way. He was enthusiastic about the underwear until his first two pees of the day soaked him and he realized how unpleasant that was. Then he refused to be redressed. After a calming down period he tried again and had some good successes (with lots of cheering and M&M rewards) through the day (diaper for sleeping.) Saturday was a little better and the last thing he did before going to bed was announce without prompting that he had to go potty, took himself to the bathroom and accomplished the task (with directional assistance from Mom.) Sunday he was dry all day, including through church. He wore a Pull-up because who knew what would happen and Easter Mass is a BAD place for an accident. About mid-way through Mass he was squirmy and I could tell a break from the pew would be beneficial so I asked if he had to go potty. He said Yes, so we made our way to the farthest corner of the church basement where the bathrooms are. I had no expectation that he would go, but I held him up with his butt balanced on my knee and sure enough, he peed.

Now he'll basically pee any time we ask him and will occasionally announce his own intentions to go. We're still working on the other end of things and had one truly atrocious disaster, the details of which I will spare the blog audience. But all in all, I'm amazed at how quickly he caught on. I guess having an older brother to watch really does flatten the learning curve.


These are some outdoor shots from our one 80-degree day last week. The driveway was covered in chalk art, but then it rained for a few days and got colder. We're expecting another warm up this weekend and lots of sunshine. Hooray for spring. Hoping that forecast will hold through the week. We're just one week away from the Iowa City March for Babies, and it's so much more pleasant in dry weather. Not too late to donate or to sign up to walk! We're closing in on our $2,000 team fundraising goal thanks to many supportive friends and family members. Thanks to all!
This is what happens when Old Navy has an extra discount on only one style of boys pajamas. I actually have done very little "matching" shopping for the boys, but these were $5 and other styles were $9.50, so stripes all around!