Super Saturday

You may be asking yourself what I was up to while Pops was busy wrangling toilets. 

I managed to keep busy. 

First up on the docket, our friend E's birthday party!!!

Yes, her dad built a real-live dunking booth. It was pretty much the best thing that ever happened. Ever.  It was a chilly day so it took a little convincing. Abz was the first to give it a try.

She soon looped Superkid in on the fun.

Then Abizella realized that if she sat a certain way she could casually scoop the ball thrower (almost always Little Chief) by subtly kicking the trigger with her foot.

This was major cool for Superkid on so many levels: the thrill of the spill, the mechanics, alternate model ideas, wet hugs for mom, and out-smarting the machine. Very cool.

Little Chief probably dunked every kid who cared to be dunked. He became a very good aim. 

Finally he submitted himself to the chair. Superkid was happy to oblige.

Another fav was the chocolate frosted chocolate cake donut eating contest, no hands. 

This is where the Toads shine. I think we aced all the heats.

Before Tadpole's turn, he stepped up to the moderator and confidently asserted, 

"No one keeps Tadpole from a chocolate donut!" 

He went in with the sure-fire shoulder-elbow move. 

When that move was banned, he simply bit the string and slid down to the donut which he chomped in two bites.

After the party and a brief pit stop we headed off to Ikea. Tadpole and Little Chief got dumped in Small-land while the rest of us cruised through the showroom. 

Abz and Superkid both added a desk to their bedroom wish lists.

It was all fun and games until we picked Tadpole and Little Chief up from Small-land. We then very quickly descended into hell. After a hot dog and a sip of soda we had a partial recovery. We pushed through the Ikea 6-person melt down (mine was the ugliest) into loony grocery shopping.

.

I am most grateful we ran into a fellow ward member when we were on the upswing and anyone who recognized us at Ikea kindly turned the other way.

Chain Saw Masterpiece

Pops has been going nuts with his chain saw. 

He has probably toppled over 30 trees this summer and drastically cut back some doozies.

My favorite pruning by far is the job he did on the enormous pine tree out front. We both agree it is ugly and must go. We've been devising ways to eradicate it all summer. This is where I will eventually insert a before picture (when I find it). The branches drooped all the way to the ground. Pops trimmed everything below about 15 feet and it really opened up the front yard and improved the appearance of the tree. Pops has planted some grass which is shooting up this week. Major improvement.

Pops has his apprentice there every branch and trunk!

I have taken on transplanting some of the bizzilion hostas from the front yard to the back hill. 

Here is the before pic I took in May before the hostas grew so big.

Here is the before picture for their new home...

And here is their new home!

16 Years! 2 Toilets!

Last Friday night Pops and I called the babysitter and celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. 

We enjoyed a delicious diner at our favorite local restaurant, the Square Cafe. We chatted about what fun, exciting, bonding activity we should do until the babysitter's clock ran out. No contest. Lowe's.

We were feeling brash and bold and so we finally took the plunge and bought a new toilet! 

Before I go any further, I'd like to send my apologies out to all of our house guests this summer for not doing this sooner! We are deeply sorry to submit you to the stinky, leaky, inefficient (a euphemism, at best) potty. We decided it was time to upgrade to our favorite model, the 24-golf-ball-flushing American Standard, which is about a 24 golf ball improvement to the stink hole that formerly resided with us. 

This was truly a big day.

The happy moment when we sealed the deal!

The next morning Pops got up and began the installation process. He's an old pro by now. The first feat was removing the old toilet. Instead of a wax ring, it was installed with some black goopy sealant. That is all I'm going to say about that. I (and I'm sure Pops!) will never forget the horror that lurked beneath that toilet so there is no need to say more. 

With that done, it was time to pop on our-24-golf-ball-flushing wonder! 

...except for one thing. 

It has a 12-inch rough in and our bathroom has a 10-inch. 

There is no way we could part with our dear friend now. Pops made the very rational and loyal decision to keep the toilet that has never failed us (except for just once) and replace both toilets. Time to go back to Lowe's for a 10-inch rough in toilet. After another round trip to Lowe's, Pops pulled the toilet out of the box to find that he had been the victim of the old switcheroo. Someone had placed a completely different toilet in the box, and it didn't have a 10-inch rough in. 

So Pops made another trip to Lowe's, had his honesty questioned by a sales clerk, forced a return and found that there were no other 10 inch rough in toilets in the store. He made a trip across town to Home Depot. There he purchased a 10-inch rough in toilet, brought it home, installed it and realized that the water inlet line was too short. One more trip to Lowe's for a new water inlet line, where he discovered that the sales person had taped up the toilet he returned and placed it back on the shelf. 

Lowe's is officially dead to us.

Pops then came home, finished the installation of the first toilet, ripped out the second toilet installed our 24-golf-ball-flushing-dream and left for his temple shift on time at 1:00. 

Seriously, I got the best one. I'm not talking about toilets either (although I am now the happy owner of two fabulous, fully operational wonders!). I stand in amazement of my wonderful husband. I know it everyday, I scored big time. He is both handsome and handy! He is the most loving, compassionate, caring, gracious, devoted man in the world. 

Every single day he tells me he loves me and how beautiful I am. 

I love you to pieces Pops! You are the best one. Happy 16 years!

OH! An Austrian Went Yodeling...

Okay, so we aren't Austrian and we don't have any mountains around here, but we can yodel! So we took this show on the road to practice our skills!

This is the other part of the show...

Superkid suggested a selfie, Jaws thought that was a GREAT idea!

We can't resist an open meadow for a game of tag!

And a little break to rebuild our strength for the trail...

And the payoff! 

We set off to check up on our little froggy friends at their lily pond home.

We figure there must be about a billion of them out there...

We also enjoyed the gorgeous, enormous flora. I wish I took a picture of the kiddos next to the flowers for perspective.

Little Chief spied a little teeter-todder to try out...

Then back on the trail and about 100 more versus of our Yodeling Austrian song!

Happy Luck #7 Tadpole!

I asked Tadpole what he wanted most for his birthday, he said he just wanted me to take the day off of work. Done. 

He's no dummy either, that means I was here to make his favorite breakfast,

*Blueberry Buckle*

Next up- Birthday presents! Why wait?! This kid has been working hard on his list for months, his top present changing every single day. 

Abz set him up with a cozy chair and a pile of gifts.

Superkid and Abizella helped wrap some gifts so when Tadpole opened a certain package Superkid said, "Brace for impact!" and ducked and covered. 

Sure enough he got bombarded with a brace of joy!

This is my favorite pic. Superkid is chanting, "Heavy, heavy hang-over" and getting ready to thump his brother's head. Abizella has placed a plush toy over Tad's head to soften the blow and Jaws stepped in the frame for a photo-bomb.

This time Abz is the thumper and Superkid is the protector.

Next up on the agenda was our date. 

Tadpole and I went to the Lego store to blow some birthday bucks.

And we stopped by our favorite pizzaria. This kid polished off two *humungous* slices. Honestly, it was more like 4 slices. He barely had room for his root beer. And if you know how much Tadpole loves his pop, you are impressed.

Then we came home to play. He picked up 3 Lego Chima racing pods at the Lego store so there was something for everyone to build and race.

Abizella and I made the cake!

We invited his best bud Matteo and his family over for dinner and cake.

Here's Tad contemplating his wish for the year.

The big moment!

And the magic show!

These two are a class act!

Tadpole, I am nuts about you!

Let me count the ways...
1. You have the best way to say everything. You are so much fun to talk with.
2. You are entirely devoted to me. You always tell me how much you love me, how you would never trade me for all the money in the world. You tell me that I am the most beautiful girl in the world. I remember grocery shopping with you and people overhearing you praise my beauty and declare your love. The shoppers stopped and told me how lucky I was to have you.
3. You have the softest cheeks for kissing. You refuse to go to sleep each night until I have the privilege of kissing your pillowy cheeks. I get 3 kisses, one for each cheek and one on the lips. I love how you hold up your chin to present your cheeks to be kissed.
4. You are a man of efficiency. You find the fastest easiest way to do any chore, whether house work or school work. You have a bright mind.
5. You have an amazing imagination and spectacular sound effects.
6. You are a lady's man. There is always a string of girls at school who adore you. I should know better by now, but I was driving you to a birthday party for your friend Brady this year. Somewhere along the route to the party you said, "I love Brady's long golden hair." I said, "Tadpole, is Brady a girl?!" You said, "Of course she is, Brady is a girl's name." I thought it was a boy's name and Brady got a Lego Ninjago set for her birthday.
7. You are a wonderful son. We are so blessed to have you in our family! We love you to pieces!

Happy birthday Tadpole! You are simply wonderful!

Best Intentions

Picture it. It is the end of July. The day is perfectly bright, warm and beautiful. It is after dinner and the kids are all absorbed in some mindless junk on the iPad. What a waste! Seize the day losers!

So I tell them to turn it off, put on their shoes, grab their library cards because we are going to the library and the park! Super-Mom to the rescue, right? Education and cardiovascular exercise, I am Mom of the Year!

...until...

Jaws spotted the new slide at the park. He is a kid who loves his slides, but this is a doozy. Since I am such an awesome, safety conscience mom, I ask Abizella to take him down the first time. He came off screaming his guts out. It wasn't a scared-cry, but a my-foot-hurts-like-hell-cry. I ask Abz if something happened on the slide and she told me his foot rolled under her. I check my phone and sure enough his foot got crunched.

He calmed down after a bit, but wouldn't get off my lap. He saw a kid playing with a ball and he just couldn't resist a ball. I put him down. He took a step and looked at me and yelled, "OWWW!" he took another step and said, "OWWWW!" and this time started crying again. He calmed down until we got home and the kids rushed past him on their way out of the minivan and must have knocked it. He was beside himself. By the time we got home I was completely frazzled and poor little Jaws was in some serious pain. Let's just say the evening ended with me firmly planting the kids in front of the iPad.

Poor little Jaws endured 2 doctor examinations, 2 rounds of X-rays, countless re-injuries and 3 weeks of the most pathetic baby limp you ever saw. Just when I was about to fashion my own little baby boot (did you know they don't make leg braces for toddlers?) he stopped limping!

I probably didn't learn my lesson though. 

I just can't stand to waste a day of summer!