Work has been busy so I have not been able to update the blog in a week or so. Sorry to deprive my devoted readers of an update on our super exciting lives. Well, brace yourself, we have exciting news: Sidney has pooped twice on the potty. The first time was on Friday after dinner. The second time was this evening after dinner. He also peed in the potty tonight, right after he pooped. He is beyond proud of himself and yells out to Cleo that he needs a sticker. She's the self-appointed sticker distributor. We are very proud of him.

Yesterday, we went to the kids' daycare's Harvest Festival. There were cupcakes for sale for $1, I tried a chocolate one with chocolate ganache and marshmallow frosting, it was tasty. There was a ring toss stand, a bounce house, throw the ball through the pumpkin mouth stand, and all kinds of other fun. Sidney's pumpkin won Prettiest Pumpkin in the pumpkin decorating contest. Roger constructed a Percy Train using a box and construction paper - check out pics at http://www.cjwynn.shutterfly.com/. Sidney won a knock-off Transformers toy and a gift card to Jason's Deli - a deli chain here in the Atlanta area (and maybe wider). Sidney was not that keen on winning; he would not stand near his pumpkin for a picture. He seemed interested in the Transformers toy. Cleo had decorated her pumpkin as a princess ballerina.

Cleo's two best pals, Zariya and Alexandria, were there along with another friend, Jada. They all ran around doing things together. They all got their nails painted at a breast cancer awareness stand. There was a dj and they danced a lot - Sidney joined them. Sidney danced some with Ms. Simpson - a floater teacher who helps out in the morning at breakfast so Cleo and Sidney see her every morning. Ms. Simpson always dances a lot at the festival. We were there 2:30pm to 4:00pm.

After the festival, we came home to relax. We discovered that Cleo likes soup so she had chicken and noodle soup with cheese and crackers and broccoli for dinner. She even put a little piece of broccoli between the crackers and had a broccoli and cheese mini-sandwich. Sidney had a few bites of his turkey burger and a bunch of his broccoli but would not eat the majority of his dinner. He copied Cleo and put little pieces of broccoli on his turkey burger. He's back to his dinner-time hunger strike.

Today we went to church then food shopping. We got the kids some long-sleeve shirts because their old ones either shrunk or they grew out of them - Sidney still wears 2T or 24M but his old ones don't fit. Cleo now wears XS - 4/5T so her 4T size shirts are all too short in the sleeve. Our babies are so not babies anymore. I know it's not right around the corner but I am already bracing myself for her to start kindergarten. I am going to be so sad and nervous. Sad because she's so big and nervous because the elementary school is so much larger and different than her nice, small, safe daycare that she's attended since she was 2 years-old.

Today, after the kids napped, Cleo wanted to dress up in all pink so she put on as much pink that she could. The picture above is documentation of the outfit. That's her version of having a relaxed Sunday afternoon - a tutu and fairy wings. Having a four year-old girl around is so much fun. Cleo played dress up games on my computer and Sidney watched Thomas the Train and played with his trains in the playroom. He's fairly good at entertaining himself when he's in the playroom.

Last week we put up a few Halloween decorations. At Target, I got those sticky Halloween images - they make them for all holidays. We put them on the window in the dining room so people driving up can see the decorations. The kids enjoyed putting them up. We also got two big pumpkins for $4 each at Walmart. We didn't carve them; when the kids are older we will do that. I love roasted pumpkin seeds so I look forward to doing the carving and roasting with them. We also got candy to give out to trick or treaters.

My dad is coming on Friday to celebrate Halloween with us. He comes every year. That will be fun. I bought a bag of pinto beans so my dad can make me a pot of his awesome refried beans.

We had a nice weekend. Saturday, I took Cleo to her art class. She made a flower out of clay. I made a tiny elephant for Sidney. Cleo also made a tiara shaped box. She will paint them in class next week. After art class, the 4 of us went to the Atlanta Parent Magazine Family Block Party at Mercer University's Atlanta campus. Admission was $4 each for me, Cleo and Roger - Sidney was free. For $12, we got an incredible value. Cleo got her face painted, we went to a petting zoo, Cleo got to sit in a police car and put on the siren, Sidney got to check out the exterior of a fire truck (he would not go inside) & Cleo got to check out the interior of the fire truck, play all sorts of games, create a colorful pipe cleaner tiara, make paper bat puppets, win coupons for mango/pineapple smoothies at McDonald's, color a paper tiara and crown and all sorts of other fun things. There was live music and Domino's handed out free pizza - their new artisan pizza isn't bad. We were there 11:30am-2:30pm. We headed home for naps.

After napping, we played, had dinner, baths and bedtime.

Sunday, we went to church. Sidney was very well-behaved; Cleo is always good. Cleo colored a lot in her "journal" (composition tablet) and Sidney put in a lot of stickers into his little journal. After church, we got the car washed. Both kids enjoyed that. When we got home, Cleo and I made brownies from scratch that came out really good. We put a lot of walnuts in them at the request of Roger. Cleo had one after lunch but wanted something else for dessert after dinner. She never wants to eat whatever we bake. A year or so ago, she insisted on making the Louis Alligator Cake out of the Princess Tiana Cookbook. She may have had one piece of the candy from the cake but refused to eat any of the actual cake.

During the kids' naps, I ran errands & did food shopping. The bulk of the errands consisting of going to numerous stores in order to cobble together a nice little manicure kit for Cleo. I couldnt' find one little kit with all of the things I needed. She will not stop biting her nails so we decided on this course of action. I got her this cute black zippered case with hot pink flowers on it. I got her a pink nail brush, a four-sided filing/buffing block (file, smooth, buff, shine), some Hello Kitty emery boards, a little wooden cuticle stick, and a little tub of lotion from the samples aisle at Target. The plan is that a few times a week, I will sit with her and we will clean her nails, file them, put lotion on them, push back her cuticles, and buff them. She was really into it yesterday when we did it for the first time after her nap. Let's hope it works to get her to stop biting her nails.

During the manicure, Sidney kept poking his face close to us saying, "Cleo, no biting nails." He's excellent at conveying rules that apply to other people but not great about following the ones that apply to him. As you can imagine, Cleo was not receptive to Sidney's reminding her of our rule.

Roger made ribs for dinner last night. Cleo enjoyed them; Sidney tried them but was not as into them. Roger also made kale which both kids ate but not with great enjoyment. I thought the kale was excellent. The kid like broccoli the most. I learned this weekend that Sidney likes corn and peas so we need to serve those vegetables more often. Cleo could eat broccoli every night. They both tolerate spinach as well.

That's all for now.

We had a wonderful time in Hilton Head, SC. We drove down Tuesday after work/school and arrived around 10pm.

Wednesday: Roger and I took Cleo and Sidney to the beach. We made sand castles, played in the water and had a lot of fun. There were little fish swimming close to the shore. Cleo and Sidney used their buckets to try to catch the fish. Cleo tried to catch some birds too. She ran after one yelling, "come here bird!" Sidney would yell after her "go, Cleo!" Cleo and Sidney love the water; Sidney cried when we had to leave.

Thursday: Roger golfed with his Aunt Connye. I took Cleo and Sidney to the beach. I taught Cleo how to make little drizzled sand castles. She is now a pro. Sidney kept wanting to go into the water to fill our buckets with sea water, "come on Mommy, more water." We had a lot of fun. Later, Sidney, Cleo, Linda, Roger, Connye and I got gelato at Pino Gelateria. There's one on Marietta Square in GA but the one in Hilton Head has a wider variety. I got a scoop of hazelnut and a scoop of Nutella. The. Best. Flavors. Ever. Sidney tried to ditch his scoop of chocolate and eat my flavors. I was nice and shared. Cleo really only uses ice cream as a vehicle for sprinkles. She LOVES sprinkles. She never finishes her ice cream.

Friday: Roger golfed with Connye. He got a birdie; yay Roger. I took Cleo and Sidney to see the horses and to the petting zoo. Cleo petted a deer named Callie. Sidney petted the deer and the other animals. Cleo claimed she wanted to go for a pony ride but later changed her mind. Sidney helped me feed the sheep and goats. I also fed a mule or donkey. Cleo was having none of that. Sidney laughed when the animals ate the food off of his hands because their lips tickled his palm. After the petting zoo, we swung by the house and picked up Linda (Roger's mom). We then went to a nearby playground. That was fun. There were slides and swings. Robin and Kaelin arrived that evening and the kids played together.

Saturday: Roger, Linda and I took the 3 kids to the playground. They loved it. We got cookies and pastries at a bakery that I had wanted to try out. We strolled around a little and looked at the yachts and boats docked at the harbor.

Sunday: We packed up and left the condo. We had breakfast at the Original Pancake House. There is one in Atlanta too but we have not been there in ages. Cleo and Sidney ate all of their silver dollar pancakes and bacon. I had strawberry waffles and homefries. Delish. We got home around 3:30pm. We unpacked and relaxed.

Pictures will be posted on http://www.cjwynn.shutterfly.com/ shortly.