How Your Cat Met His Match

Dear Holly,
How is Paris? All is well on the home front... except... I am sorry to report that your magnificent ceramic toilet brush cat has met its demise. Your daughter told me how fond you are of it so I thought you would like to know how he spent his last few hours (I'm sorry for the graphic nature of the next picture, but I thought you would like to know)...
About 3:45 today I got a phone call at work from Pops saying that 'Lil Chief had locked himself in the bathroom. He was in the process of taking the door off. That probably sounds a little melodramatic, but honestly the best option. As you recall, it is not your typical door. The lock is about 6 inches above the door knob and only on the interior. When I got home I expected a big hole where there was formally a door. But alas the door was spared because our clever little toddler unlocked the door and waltzed out. I shrugged it off and Pops left to visit some clients. About 20 minutes later 'Lil Chief was back trapped in the bathroom.

I figured he could let himself out so I finished the dishes and then went over to encourage him along. He wasn't interested. I went around to the outside window climbed up the step stool and scampered on top of the air conditioner to see what was so engaging. Of course! The "No! No!" ceramic toilet brush cat. Bad to play with for so many reason. Let's just say 'Lil Chief was only marginally interested to get out. I also discovered that the window latch was shut. Doh!


Taking the door off its hinges really wasn't an option for me either. Pop had tried that earlier. With his superhuman strength he was only able to bust the top part of the bottom hinge, rendering it useless. I basically hung out by the door trying to coax 'Lil Chief to play with the knob. Up until today, I thought he understood at least 80% of what we said. After tonight, I'm downgrading him to 10%. Here's me, "Lil Chief, where is your hand?" I could see him examining his hand through the keyhole. I then said, "Good, now reach out and touch the door. Grab the door knob , now go up, up , up until you get the little knob." I could see he was still looking at his hand. Argh! A couple of times he laid down to go to sleep, but since he was pretty much my only hope to get him out, he had to stay awake. Grandpa Bob called during the drama and he had lots of good ideas, but this old fashioned door got the best of me. And then I heard a crash. 2 hours have now passed. 'Lil Chief is barefoot. He is not happy now. Pops is not picking up his phone because you basically can't when you are visiting clients at the prison, so I called in the big guns from next door. It seriously is handy to have a neighbor who grew up in Detroit! We all have Anton to thank for sparing your bathroom door!

...and we all know who to thank for trashing the joint.
Anton is pretty much a genius. As soon as he got the door open, he grabbed a screw driver and took apart the lock. It now resides in a a baggy on the kitchen counter. We'll find a safe place for it until we vacate and return your home to its former luster!

...as for the cat. We are deeply sorry. He received a dignified albeit brief "burial". We had to be hasty so 'Lil Chief wouldn't go digging for remains.

All the Best,
Missletoes

Leprechauns Rule. Kids Drool.

We got a good one this year!
Not only could our Leprechaun scale walls,
but he had the power to *turn on* and *turn off* his cute little foot prints.
The children were mystified.
We were all pretty indignant about the situation our Leprechaun left in the potty, but Tad expressed it best when he saw the mess stating, "Why, that filthy little rascal!"
While we were delighted with the goodies the Leprechaun left, were were pretty disappointed that we didn't catch him. He evidently made a clean escape out the mail drop, darting through the grasp of 3 traps carefully laid out to snare him. It was a tough night for Superkid. He could hardly sleep he was so anxious. The whole world was at stake, if he caught the Leprechaun he said he would wish for the end of world pollution. Abizella and Tadpole slept much easier with only dreams of ponies and mounds of toys.
We drowned our sorrows in 'Lil Chief's Green Waffles.
Score one for the Leprechaun, and pollution. Better luck next year!
Happy St. Patty's Day!

I Want Sleep

Between Abz and her repeated nightmares, Superkid falling out of bed onto a stack of blocks (i.e. "Pig Tower"), Tadpole waking up (or not) and sitting up in his bed with a big cheesey grin saying, "I'm just such a happy boy!" and collapsing to sleep only to wake up an hour later not such a "happy boy" and wanting to crawl into bed with me where he kick kick kicked my hip to a pulp,
I don't feel very well rested.
Strangely, 'Lil Chief slept through the night.
I'm not sure if it mattered.
In the morning, we had a bed-head contest.
We had contestants who looked like they slept with their head in the blender, and others who woke up with actual rat's nests incorporated in their snarly tresses, but Superkid takes the prize with an entire "Flock of Seagulls" perched a top his head.

Puddle Love

I didn't miss winter this year and I am OVERJOYED with *early* spring. As much as I LOVE summer, I think I love *anticipating* summer even more. Spring is the time I start dreaming of my gorgeous lush garden which usually doesn't come to fruition, but doesn't stop me from snatching up seed packets and little seed starting trays. It is also a time for chilly damp walks. While there still is no hint of blossoms, there is that rich earthy smell of the promise of green. Pops and I used to wander around in the Spring time and chat about our future. These days there isn't as much time for chatting, but still plenty of fun chasing after kiddos.

A couple of Saturdays back we had one of those whako Spring days where it actually snowed in the morning, and was a fabulous 50 degrees with *sunshine* in the afternoon. That did it. I pulled the bikes out of their winter slumber and pumped up their tires and we headed to our favorite estuary for a spin. Much to our delight, there were spectacular PUDDLES!

The big Toads circled round and round to slice through this beauty...
WEEEEEEEEE!
While the little Toadies thrilled in good old fashioned stomping.
And there's nothing like bringing home a little Mother Nature...
We'll have to work on getting Abz some camouflage, that way the mud won't detract from her cute booty, right Superkid?

Π Anyone?

Okay, so if not pie, how about cheesecake? It still is a circle. THEREFORE it STILL qualifies, even if it is not a pun. Sure beats the year we had meatloaf to celebrate Pi Day!
If you don't believe Cheesecake holds true to the principle of Pi, test it out!
We have an in-house expert to assist...
Tad took it up a notch and started calculating Π for 2 circles at once!
While Superkid was determined to measure the teensy tiniest circles
(notice blue speck on the counter top)...
And as for me,
I have been waiting all year to wear these beauties!
Total geek love.

It is worse that I didn't buy them for myself.
It means that someone knew I was so geeky that I would love them.
Thanks Grandma Sandi, you're right!