Catching Up Part 2

My niece, Emily, who is 11, decided to come to Omaha with us for 6 weeks or so and we're having a lot of fun playing with her. Eden is having so much fun and it makes it easier for me to get everything done. I'm trying to convince her she should stay for the full year, but she's not going for that. I'm really glad she is here this month because Andy has a horrible schedule in July and I have hardly seen him at all. He's working 14 or 15 hour shifts and has been on call every other day doing neurosurgery, so it is nice to have Emily here for to keep me sane.

Emily generously shared her Nintendo DS with Eden on the long drive to Omaha.

She also threw Eden a 'Princess Party' one day, complete with princess snacks, appropriate music, princess coloring pages, and they made their own crowns. Emily is always willing to dress up with Eden and pull her around the house in her "coach".

Andy had the afternoon and evening off on the 4th of July so we set off a few fireworks. Eden loved the smoke bombs and they snappers but wasn't a fan of anything that whistled or was loud. She also liked the sparklers until she dropped one on her bare foot (she's okay).

For those of you who were interested in our landscaping, you can kind of see it here. I still need to take some better pictures. Also you can kind of see what the weather was like on the 4th. I think it was the coldest 4th of July I've experienced. We got rained on a couple times.

The biggest news of the month is this:

Eden is a princess! But it's more than that- she's a POTTY TRAINED princess. I wasn't sure she was ready for it, but we just started in one day and she's done great. She's only had a couple accidents and can do the whole thing from turning on the light to washing her hands all by herself. She's really surprised me with how enthusiastic she has been. I made her a potty chart that she could put stickers on and she gets a smartie for going. It was really much easier than I was expecting it to be and I'm really proud of her.