Quick 5

The 17 inches of snow we got last week have created Lake Kimble in the backyard. Also, our new sump pump was a good investment.

1. These are the times of kids being raised early in the 21st century:

2. The girls had fun in the snow. Not as much as their dad, who actually made a snow man. But Bria enjoyed doing face plants. I have no idea what Joya and Alaina did. Snow time is their time.

3. One quirk of a newly potty-trained kid is the distraction factor. Sometimes it takes Bria up to three minutes to actually go in the potty. She'll sit there and mess around before she gets down to concentrating on the job at hand. I found a way to speed the process up, though. And it's this:

Do you see all the gold doubloons in my hand? All I have to do is ask her to hand me her gold doubloons. Then I hold on to them until she's done. When I'm holding her gold doubloons she gets down to business rather quickly, because she wants them back. I think I'll try that technique with other things I want her to do quickly.

4. We're gearing up for our trip to Tulsa. I'm actually feeling good about the road trip. I think I know enough about what the girls will actually do in the car and what they won't. I'm armed with Adventures in Odyssey and a few audio books from the library. And of course, the barf boxes.

5. Alaina is home sick today. She is in good spirits, but is running a temp. She's sad to miss out on all the Earth Day festivities her class has planned, but what can you do?

This Quick 5 was brought to you by the word "actually."