I don't have any photos to post today b/c I don't have the laptop and my desktop is over 10 years old and can't handle it. I could plug the card in, drive to the beach for the day, come home and it might have all of them downloaded. IF it didn't just lock up from nerves at the thought of having to download anything. It pretty must only works to do emails and the blog. I can't watch videos people post, hulu, youtube, netflix, any of it. Needless to say I've missed the laptop this week.

And more importantly, I've missed Brandon. It's never fun when your spouse has to go away and away he had to go. He's taking a tropical medicine course in D.C. and is really enjoying it. The residents get to pick a course to take during their time here to learn more about an area that they are particularly interested in. He has a passion for mission trips, especially medical mission trips. This course was a no brainer. I'm very glad that he has had this opportunity, even if it means going away to take it.

We've had a pretty good week here at the house. Monday we went to the Storeys' house and had breakfast and let the kids play outside. We've decided to make this a weekly event. Tuesday the kids both had mother's day out and I made myself stay out of the house the whole time. I know to most people this may sound simple, but I keep wanting to go home to sew, get distracted with things that need to be done and end up not finishing anything. I went to Target and just walked around as slow as I wanted. It was fabulous! Then I went to get lunch at Panera Bread and read my book. The mall is right behind there and I decided to go there alone too. It was great! Then it was time to pick up the kids. That night, the kids and I rode our bikes up to the big playground on base. I was so proud of Christopher b/c I wasn't sure if he would be able to do it without complaining, but every time he went over a curb without falling he'd shout as loud as he could, "I just went over that massive bump Mommy!!!" It was precious! We will definitely be doing this again.

Wedneday I had just Sophie and we went back to Target to return something that wasn't working from the day before and ended up buying more stuff. How's that? We stopped by a little water park and she played for a while, still in her clothes. Went home for lunch and I ordered iphones for Brandon and I (not the new ones) then went to pick up Christopher. We had Keenan and Moriah come over to play while their parents went to dinner with their aunt and uncle that were in town. We also had Chico come over and play for a little while with Brick. He's the adorable retriever puppy that lives behind us.

Thursday the kids had their last day of mom's day out for the summer. And I ran a few errands before going home to fold clothes. It would have been better if I actually put them away, but I didn't feel like it. We went to the big playground (drove) and let the kids play around for a while. It was perfect b/c it was overcast and they actually got a little cold. We took Christopher to get his haircut and Sophie somehow was cute enough to not get us in trouble b/c she was into EVERYTHING! I was just praying that she wouldn't break the chair as she tried to pump it up and down. I never know what to say when she's misbehaving and people tell me how cute she is. I usually just say she a real handful or has a mind of her own or something like that so they know that I'm aware of how bad she's ignoring every command I give her and not just a mom that doesn't care. What do you do? My children flat out ignore me and she's always done whatever she wanted to in places she knows that you can't spank her. That's why I like walmart b/c nobody there will look funny at you.

Today we were going to go to the beach with some friends but Sophie has a little bit of a funny poop and the beach is not a place you want to go with that. Sand only makes changing diapers more difficult and the potty is always too far away when you have to walk across sand to get there. I will say that she has made HUGE progress with potty training. If it wasn't for this funny poop thing we wouldn't have had accidents this week. She doesn't want anything to do with a diaper, even at night. I'm so proud of her! Whoever said that girls were easy to potty train never had a daughter like mine. She was a little faster than Christopher, but it was definitely more than the "day" or "week" that I'd been told. Now, if I'd only not bought that pack of pullups last week I was afraid I'd need. Oh well! I have people I can pass them on to. (Correction, since writing this post we have used almost the whole bag of pullups b/c she keeps having little accidents and I wasn't about to go through that many panties. It took some SERIOUS convincing, but she caved.)

Hope you had a great week at your house and have an even better weekend!