I took the kids to the Aquarium restaurant a while back to celebrate the end of summer, with some friends from the ward. It was a lot of fun, but maybe more fun for me than for the kids. They were completely straight-faced the entire time. We saw lots of cool stuff and rode rides, but I could not get them to smile! Afterwards Carson talked about it and the fun he had, so it wasn’t in vain. It was just funny how serious they were. (Oh, and that picture of Annelise in the shark-viewing tank where she looks amazed? Nope, it was just a yawn.)

But miracles happen. :)

Did I mention we’ve been potty training?

“mommy! i need you to help me put on my big boy underwear and pants!”

“okay, carson. then it’s back to playtime.”

“don’t open the toilet.”

[pause suspiciously] “why?” [open toilet to see huge wad of toilet paper clogging the whole bowl]

“carson! no, no! that’s very bad! why did you do that? you’re in big trouble.”

“but it was because of the water. don’t open the towel.”

“what towel?” [pull up a sopping towel over a huge puddle in the corner]

“carson! how did that get there!”

“i didn’t push it out from the toilet.”

“then how did it get there!”

“from the sink. out in the kitchen.”

“carson. is that true?”

“no.”

And now we’ll be telling-the-truth training…

…that won’t make it onto the wall because of the kids’ less-than-happy faces. But otherwise, a great family photo.