7 Quicktakes Friday - August 23

1. Let's start with the most exciting for Mama, here. Elise is doing AWESOME with potty training. In the last several days, she has even kept her diaper dry at night and nap times! She's definitely day trained, and I'm thinking that we will be able to officially consider her night-trained soon too!

2. Ava continues to be a great walker. She has great balance, and we put her first little shoes on her this week so she could walk more easily around the currently messy yard. Check out the video where she navigates some of the rough terrain and conquers! She also waves, says "Hi", makes kissy noises, gives the best hugs, and cracks herself (and all of us) up.



3. I have been pinning a lot of recipes, quotes, and ideas from Pinterest. Thought I'd share a few of the delicious recipes I tried this week. The first is one for Spiced Pear Cake with browned butter icing . Kayla insisted that the icing be pink, of course.


4. The second recipe was one for Oatmeal Flax Blueberry Muffins . I made them once by the recipe. The second time I added pears (we got tons of delicious FREE pears, remember?). Then I made some of them with blueberries and some with raspberries instead. I preferred the raspberry/pear muffins, but they were all simply delicious.


5. Remember how I trimmed the orange tree way back? Well, Chris took the day off today and dug and pulled the rest of the tree out. Shall I brag about him a little? What a stud! Seriously, how lucky am I? Here's how the space looks now...all ready for our new little peach tree.



6. Kayla is riding her scooter like a pro. When we go on walks, she usually rides the scooter now and does a great job of stopping at streets to look both ways before crossing and staying in our sight. She is loving all the amazing fruit sales recently too, because this girl LOVES her fruit (she's a lot like her Mommy).


7.
These quicktakes each week all seem like fairly little things, but I know that it's these little moments with our family that make us smile and bring us joy amidst the trials and struggles in life.