Cannot think of a clever title

My computer has been getting dusty lately. Remember the days when I actually used it daily? When I had two hands to type? (Truth be told, it was dusty when I used it daily too but that's not something I'd like to share. oops, just did)
Here's our update:
THE BAD:
**Noelle has/had a horrendous cold that leaves her unable to make any noises other than "uhhhh" and "wanna watch Elmo". That doesn't seem very bad but say those two things with an incredibly pathetic whine that crescendos if you don't immediately respond and your nerves will start grating. Trust me.
**Syd seems to have been gifted with Noelle's cold and manifests it in gagging mucous and interrupted sleep habits. Lovin' it, I tell you.
** Went to register Ethan for Kindergarten and cannot find any of the kids' birth certificates. If you came to my house and stole them to sell on the black market please let me know so I can stop looking for them. Seriously. Where the heck could they be??
THE GOOD:
**Noelle is actually potty trained. After those first few days of He$$ she finally mastered that bladder and made her parents happy. (Sadly whatever money we would have saved on diapers has been negated by the incredible amount that Sydney goes through)
**We have new neighbors that seem nice. As evidenced by the fact they gave Hub a can of Sprite for helping them move in. There is a language barrier but I always wanted to learn Spanish so here's my chance!
**Sher gave me a ticket to the local scholarship pageant (it's not PC to call it a beauty pageant) and I actually went and tried not to think about leaving Hub home with 5 ornery kids. I only called home twice in an hour and a half!
**Dang. I really want to think of one more good thing....does it count that I'm excited we are just having a video night for FHE?
ciao.

What's one less hour of sleep?

Baby Sydney is 11 days old. But I don't really think of it that way. I think of it as it's been 11 days since I had any good amount of sleep. Add the time change and a toddler sneaking into my bed before she should be awake and you've got me borderline mentally insane. Good thing I have some great coping mechanisms involving lots of TV for kids and sugar products for me.

In other family news.......Ike participated in his first Pinewood Derby. Our designer extraordinaire let us down and he wanted no part of this rite of passage. He reluctantly designed a simple BYU car. Fortunately his two younger brothers had enough excitement for the whole pack and Ethan could hardly sleep the night before (he kept on calling it the Pioneer Derby, but we knew what he meant).
Here is Ike holding his awesome car like it might be contagious with the Bubonic Plague. His enthusiasm is palpable!



Then there is the potty training. It is amazing how changing a newborn's bottom can make your two-year-old's bottom seem huge. Hub took it upon himself to start potty training this weekend. Wahoo. This means that once he goes back to work on Monday Noelle's successes and failures rest entirely on me. Did I mention how this was a unilateral decision? Anyway, Noelle was as excited about this decision as much as I was as you can tell from the first photo.

Doesn't that break your heart? Maybe it was a good thing that Hub started this and not me. His heart is a lot tougher than mine I guess.
But by Day 2 Noelle was looking like this:

I guess all the candy she was getting for doing basically nothing started to seem like not such a bad idea after all....