So last night was scrapbook night, and I got my family album for the year caught up to the end of June, whoo! Obviously, I can't start July until July is over and I can order pictures, so if I do any work this weekend or next week, it'll be on the high school album.

Also, I had the cutest idea for Penny's birthday party invitations. Though I need to get on with them, if I'm going to get them to people more than a week before the party.

The party will be a princess theme, of course. I'm considering doing a princess cake, if I can find the instructions and if I can think of a good way of doing the top. Alternately... well, I have several ideas. I should do some shopping this weekend to see what I can find.

Also this weekend is Becky's baby shower. For once in my life, I did all my shopping early. I just need to wrap everything tonight or tomorrow to be ready to go right after lunch tomorrow. Maybe I'll do my birthday party shopping after the shower, just because it'll be a good time when I'm out and about and won't have Penny with me.

Penny's really starting to get the hang of using the potty. For most of the last week, she's had a dry diaper when we go to change her for bed -- which is to say she's lasting at least three hours since the last change at daycare. We've been putting her on the potty before putting on her pyjamas (or before her bath, on bath nights), and it's taking her less and less time to figure out how to "go."

Pretty soon, we'll want to cut back on the amount of milk we give her before bed, to help her start to hold it through the night. And when the current packs of diapers run out, we may switch to pull-ups at home. (Daycare is already using pull-ups for her.)

I'm not sure I consider her in full training until she starts telling us when she needs to go. Right now, we're just prompting her at various points through the day to go give it a try. But it's only a matter of time.

I don't know if she'll be trained in time for our trip to Chicago in early October (though it'd be nice), but I dare to hope it'll be done by Christmas.

--Liz