Passing, Potty, and Potter

Hello All,

Well its been a hectic past month with lots happening in our small little Webster clan. So after putting it off for a while, I'm finally back at the laptop to update everyone on what's been happening with our lives. First of all, for those of you who haven't heard, I had to take the 1st part of my national board test on July 2nd. After 8 hours of test taking and guessing on what seemed like every other question my brain had turned into tapioca and I was sure I had failed and would have to retake it. But it turned out my fears were unfounded as I found out I passed the test and would not have to worry about retaking anything. It feels great for all of us to finally have that test over with, and we're finally getting to spend time together again as a family without Daddy having to study all the time.

Of course the really big news this last month has been all the changes Brooklyn's been going through as she is making her official transition to becoming a "big girl". Yes folks, potty training has begun in the Webster household and it's not for the faint of heart. Shan decided if we were going to do this, she was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and go 100% which meant switching right over to underpants from diapers with no intermediate. After about a week of just underpants, Brooke still hadn't learned how to "use the potty" entirely (she currently about 3/4 of the time) so we switched to using Pull-ups and she does well with those. Probably more than you actually wanted to know, but there it is.
Brooke also wants you to know that she has finally made the transition to a big girl bed. A few weeks ago Brookie decided she had had enough of sleeping in a glorified cage so she started doing Evil Kenevil Kamakazi death drops over the side of her crib during the night which almost always ended with a crying little girl. Needless to say Shan and I finally caught on to the very subtle hint Brooke was giving us and we converted her crib into a daybed so she can get in and out as she pleases. She generally does pretty well with the new arrangement although we have had a few am bedside wakeup calls as she has discovered she now has the freedom to actually come and see Mommy and Daddy whenever she wants.
And then last but not least, Pottermania has flicked and swished its way into the Webster household full force and is still thriving. It started out with the 5th Harry Potter movie for which Kenny dragged Meg to the midnight showing so he'd have a Potter buddy. Shan actually wanted to go too, but the with a 2 year old who's been known to wake up at 5:00 am in the morning she felt she needed some sleep so Brooke wouldn't wake up to 2 zombie parents. Then of course came the release of the final Harry Potter book. Shan thought we should go to a midnight release party at one of the bookstores and being stylish girl that she is, decided she wanted to dress up like a witch to get in the full Potter mood. It was a really fun night and wouldn't you know it our emotional little Shannon even shed a tear or two during the final countdown to midnight. So we finally got our book at about 12:45am and went home and immediately started reading it. Unsurprisingly Kenny had finished it by about 7:30 pm the next day and Shan (having had to wait for Kenny to read it. Isn't she great:-) is already pushing page 200 only 2 days after the release of the book. For those of you not interested in reading the book, but still want to know what happens highlight below.

Anyway, hope everyone's well and enjoying their summer. Life down here in Vegas is still blazing hot but survivable, and we're all healthy and happy and loving life. Love you all and we'll check in again in a few weeks.

Love,

Shan, Kenny, and Brooklyn


Harry Potter Quick Spoiler Summary
(Only highlight below if you want to know who dies and what happens)

Hedwig, Mad-eye Moody, Fred Weasly, Lupin, Tonks, Snape and Voldemort die
Harry dies but comes back to life to finally Vanquish Voldemort in the end
Snape actually was a good guy and killed Dumbledore on Dumbledore's orders since Dumbledore was actually going to die anyway due to the curse in Dumbledore's withered hand from Book 6
Harry marries Ginny and they have three kids named James, Albus, and Lily
Ron marries Hermione and they have two kids, Rose and Hugo

Basically everyone lives happily ever after `