Problem Solved

So late last night Chuck found the cause of our overflowing toilet. He went to Home Depot to get some Drain O because we assumed it was just a lot of toilet paper which had been flushed down. Sometimes kids go a little wild with toilet paper around here. The guy said a wad of toilet paper would harden up like cement and Drain O wouldn't touch it. He suggested we call a plumber.

Well Chuck is a pretty handy fix it yourself type so he decided he would just remove the whole toilet and investigate the problem himself. I decided it was best to just stay clear of the area, I'm sure you can imagine why! At one point during this process he called me in and said to bring the camera he was getting ready to discover the cause of the clog. So I made my way into the bathroom and it was not a pleasant sight or a pleasant smell. With pliers in hand he removed the cause of this lovely problem .... a giant plastic packaging wrapper from some athletic tape I had opened a few days ago. I was sorely disappointed! I mean if you're going to have to remove your whole toilet why not find something more exciting like a stuffed animal or missing favorite toy. Not garbage!

Well, I took a nice picture of the whole episode, but I won't be airing our dirty sewer picture - sorry!

I figure Jenna must have been the culprit in digging the packaging out of the garbage and depositing it in the toilet. She is fascinated with both the garbage and the toilet. When I told Samuel about it this morning he said, "Oh yeah, I saw that in the bottom of the toilet." My question to him, "Were you the one to flush it down." His response, "I'm just to excited about my t-ball game tonight to remember." We had a nice discussion about what we should do in the future if we see a strange object in the toilet.

A Good Laugh

So imagine my shock when I see this photo posted on my friends blog. I literally could not stop laughing! We were quite the stylish pair in 8th grade. Really, teenage years in the late 80's and early 90's was not a glamorous time, but it provides for some hilarious memories. My hair was actually looking pretty tame in this picture, relatively speaking of course. I actually got "better" at styling and it got a lot bigger! And the clothes - were my jeans really up past my belly button - I think so!

Maybe There's Hope!

We were all gathered around the table eating dinner last night when I had the overwhelming feeling I was failing as a mother. It was a noisy chaotic scene playing out before my eyes. Bella was literally standing on her head on the chair trying to eat her food upside down. Isaac was actually eating, but was making a huge mess. It looked like more food was scattered around the table then could have possible made it into his mouth. Samuel was talking loudly, demanding someone get him a drink and dropping pieces of food on the ground because he didn’t want to eat them. Jenna was having her usual fit in the high chair and had thrown all her food to the ground and was screaming with anger. I couldn’t help but wonder where I had gone wrong.

Then I remembered one of our family rules posted big for all to see right there in the kitchen was to be Polite.

I instantly declared that for family night we were having a discussion on one of our family rules. We talked about how to be polite we need to have manners and it’s not okay to act uncivilized at the table. The kids came up with lots of great rules about what we should and should not do at the table. Most of them were fairly obvious and I’m not sure why we need to have a rule to sit on our pockets instead of standing on our head, but I guess part of being a parent is teaching again and again what seems so obvious! As we ate our dessert we practiced proper behavior and the kids actually thought this was a great activity.

Then today was another typical day where you shake your head a wonder where it all went wrong. Our guest bathroom toilet was having a bit of an issue and Chuck wasn’t home to address the problem. For some reason, Samuel didn’t think twice about using the toilet even though the water was already nearly overflowing and then flushing it. Yes, it overflowed and created a huge mess I had to clean up. Not fun!


Then we discovered that one of the kids had ripped the towel hook in their bathroom off the wall leaving a big hole. At least Samuel was honest when questioned about it. The kid has been begging us to build a vine in the house so he can be Indiana Jones and swing across the stairs. I guess he thought if we weren’t going to get him a vine he’d just substitute and swing from the towel hook.



Then something really amazing happened and made me realize that yes life is often crazy and chaotic, but there are many sweet moments that make me stop and know I’m not really failing at being mom. I was cooking dinner and Bella without being asked got the table all prepared for us to eat. She loves being helpful and is so good at seeing needs. She often tells me she can’t wait to be a mom and lists all of the things she will be able to do when she is a mom and how fun it will be. We all sat down at the dinner table and with only a few reminders everyone was much better behaved. Granted Jenna was still screaming mad and at one point Samuel shut his toe in the door and was crying, but overall it was much improved. Maybe there’s hope for all of us yet!

A Wonderful Day

So many things I could write about today, but for now I'll just say I'm blessed to have these sweet little ones call me Mom.

What's Going on at Costco!

"What's Going on at Costco?"

Samuel must have excitedly asked this question a half dozen times while we were shopping today.

He is a HUGE Star Wars fan so you can imagine the excitement when we were walking through the parking lot and saw Captain Rex and a Tusken Raider standing right outside the entrance.

Today was our big once a month grocery shopping trip. After Jenna was a few months old, I just decided trying to take 4 little kids shopping was not very efficient and I'd usually come home with great stories to tell, but also frustrated. So I devised a new plan - we divide and conquer. Sometimes Chuck drops me off at Wal-Mart with 2 kids and then he takes the other 2 to Costco and we meet back up when we're done. Or, like today, we all go to Wal-Mart, but I split the grocery list, we divide the kids and go at it. Very Efficient and nobody is in a bad mood when we're done!

As we were leaving the house this morning, I kept having a thought run through my mind that I should grab our little point and shoot camera. I couldn't figure out why I needed to take the camera since we were just going grocery shopping, but decided it was easy enough to throw in my purse. And then wouldn't you know it, there were all these fun picture opportunities! Crazy how things happen sometimes.

You wouldn't know it by the picture, but Isaac was really excited to spot Elmo inside the store. And the kids all decided this must be the "real" Elmo since he was actually talking to them. And he did sound just like Elmo.

The little mermaid was also there and as you can see, both girls were thrilled to get a picture with her.

We never did find out "What was going on at Costco", but whatever it was the kids sure loved shopping today!

IronMan Fun Run

The words IronMan and Fun Run seem to be a bit paradoxical in my mind. But that's coming from a gal who's daily form of morning exercise includes pushing one or more kids in the stroller for a grand total of approximately 1 mile. Granted the trail by our house does have a bit of an incline and my legs have actually been sore a time or two, but really I'm not much of an athlete. So to me fun and run don't really go together!

But it is Fun for me to see my kids and their daddy running. And since Chuck likes to run, I hope our kids will like to run too and I can happily cheer them on from the sidelines.


Samuel, Bella and Chuck after the IronMan 1 mile fun run tonight.

In conjunction with the St George IronMan the city hosted a fun run where the kids got to run through the IronMan finish line. There were lots of kids and people everywhere so it was very entertaining.

Samuel did a great job and ran the entire way. He did tell me after the race that his legs got tired and felt like they needed new batteries. Bella on the other hand made it around the first block and then decided she was tired. There was such a rush of kids everywhere that Chuck just picked her up and ran with her on his shoulders.

Here they are coming around the corner to the finish line. It was HOT tonight and Chuck was a little worn out running with Bella on his shoulders. I actually almost missed them because I thought they would be near the back of the pack, but since Samuel was running pretty fast they finished a lot quicker than I thought.

The kids had a great time and we all especially enjoyed a shake at Marv's after the big race.

A Knight, A Dragon & A Table

I've thought an awful lot about "mothering moments" since I got back from the Power of Moms retreat. There are so many little precious moments in each day that sometimes I don't fully appreciate. I have been trying to notice these moments more, to capture them in my mind and heart so as these little ones grow I will be able to remember how special this time was.

This is one of those moments that I stopped and watched for awhile today.

The kids playing their version of the board game Risk with Bella dressed as a knight and Isaac dressed as a dragon. It just made me laugh.

It also made me laugh that I have 2 tables and 14 chairs in my kitchen. I honestly didn't realize we had that much space in the kitchen. We got a new table set yesterday and I'm really excited! We really needed new chairs - the tape on the old ones was just a little too tacky.

I also discovered something about myself in the process of picking out a new kitchen set. Maybe I've always know it, but it really struck me - I get easily bored with things. I like change. When we first started looking for tables I was thinking we should get something really nice that we could have for years and years. Then I realized - wait, I don't want something that I can have for years and years, that's not me! I finally found something that I liked, wasn't very expensive and probably won't last forever - everything I was looking for.

Something else that made me laugh.

I already have my every holiday present for this year (my camera), but I saw this add and really wanted this drink dispenser and thought it would be something easy for Chuck and the kids to get me for Mother's Day. So I cut out the add, put a nice little note on it that said, "Good Mother's Day Gift for Me!". I'm all about taking the guess work out of gifts. Then I put it on the very top in his money clip. I thought for sure he'd say something about my cleverness, but then I found the piece of paper just laying around. I asked him today if he'd seen my note on what I wanted for Mother's Day. He told me he hadn't.

Really - how did you miss this note!

He saw it, but just thought one of the kids was sticking junk in his money clip. So much for my trying to be clever!

And trying to haul this birthday cake I made today on my lap in the van so I could FINALLY take cake pictures with Jenna really was comical. We had a few mishaps on the way and it didn't look quite as good as it did at home, but somehow we miraculously made it without a complete disaster. I really wished I would have remembered to take a picture of the back of the cake because that is what looked really funny. The frosting on the back of the cake had plenty of handprints - that minivan of ours can sure accelerate!