Callie and the Three Bears and Trevy Gets Stuck

(Trying again.  Some was still saved.  Hoping this all posts this time!)

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Today blessedly got off to a later start.  Everyone else was already awake when I got up with Timmy at 8.  No idea how long they had been up but, since James was up, they were out in the living room with him.  Timmy also did really well last night.  (Might have been that I just put him straight to bed with me since I have so much stuff in his crib right now so I can paint.)

The kids wanted cheesy eggs for breakfast so we knocked out almost a full dozen eggs from our chickens in one fell swoop.  (They've only given us about a dozen or so.)  The eggs are small so it takes two to equal a regular large egg.  But boy do they have amazing color to them!  Timmy devoured his and Trevy ate most of hers so bonus points on both counts.

The rest of the morning was spent watching a movie and snuggling with kiddos while Timmy napped and working on getting the kitchen cleaned up.  Rather than embarrass myself with details on how this came about, let's just say that I've been bothered lately that our dishwasher often leaves at least a few dishes in a load looking like they were hit by a dust storm after a light rain.  The others will look clean, but cups especially seem to be a target.  Also, our clothes washer, which sits on our backporch and uses the same pipes for drainage, leaks out of one of the joints when the water drains.  James and I have both tried sealing the tube/pipe connection, but with moderate to little success.  Consequently, I asked James if I could call a plumber to see if they could clear the line.  He wanted to give it another shot.  So I cleared the sinks for him, got the dishwasher loaded, ready to start, and had my piles of laundry put on hold.

About 11:00, the kids wanted to go swimming so I told them that I would take them next door after the got their room picked up, firmly believing that they would play around in there for a while until I was finished bathing Timmy and could go help them.  What a shockingly pleasant surprise when I went back to their room and saw Trevy putting toys away.  She had most of the room already picked up.  (Landon was indeed playing.)  I was so proud of her!  I told her she had done an amazing job and could go swimming as soon as she had her suit on, I'd having Landon finish picking up the train tracks to earn his swim.

Sadly, Melissa had another swim date already scheduled so the kids had to wait a few hours.  But they were good about it.

James ended up taking the kids swimming while I took Timmy shopping. Today was bread day at the Evanses.  (They are a couple in our last ward that have a connection to a bakery up in Marana that supplies a lot of the upper echelon of restaurants in the Tucson area with fresh bread.  They make everything in huge batches and then whatever doesn't get taken by the restaurants is sold as day-old bread.  However, they are closed for the weekend and can't hold bread until Monday so it would just get thrown out unless someone takes it and so that's what the Evanses do.  Out of the kindness of their hearts, they make the drive late every other Friday night and haul back a vanload of bread to share with everyone.  Such a selfless blessing to so many!  Thank you so much Scott and Emily!)

I next ran to JoAnn and found the Neopolitan yarn I was looking for.  (With the side benefit being that I got to use two coupons to keep my coupons coming.  I know I'm not the only one who could spend a small (or large!) fortune in that place!)

After that, Timmy was starting to get a little tired of riding around in his car seat.  I only had a couple of things I wanted to pick up at Walmart and, since I was on that side of town and really don't get out that often without all the kids, I decided we would just run in.  Well, I couldn't find the Dryel, even after asking and it took me a while to find the flushable wipes.  (After asking.)  (Not sure why it is that little kids can't use toilet paper, but bless whoever came up with flushable wipes!  You're my hero!)  So that took a little longer than planned.  (We left the house around 1:30.  I had planned on being back by 3:30 at the latest.)

While we were there, James called and asked if I could run by Lowes.  Sure thing.  It's right across the street, so Timmy and I made the quick jaunt, going in about 3:15 or so.  Fortunately, I have no qualms with asking for directions in most cases, so, when offered assistance to locate the interior stain, I said, "Yes please."  Then Timmy and I went in search of thermostats.  There seemed to be Lowes employees following me around because I didn't get far before someone else asked if they could help me.  Good thing because I was going the wrong way!  (How do these people memorize all the aisles numbers and what's on each?  Amazing!)  As I stared at the thermostats, searching for one that would work with a swamp cooler without the heating portion, yet another person asked if they could help me.  Going three for three turned out to be a good move again because, apparently, those kinds of thermostats are seasonal so, consequently, I was, yet again, in the wrong part of the store.  Still, it was fun to get to walk by all the new refrigerator models and dream.  In case anyone is out there, sitting on a few thousand dollars, wishing they could figure out how to spend it, here's a suggestion:

(Just tilt your head to the left. ☺)

James called again during this part of our adventure to ask if I would run by Fry's for hot dog buns for the Elders' Quorum Social we were headed to at 5.  It was just after 4 when we got there.  Timmy fell asleep on the way and stayed asleep the entire time we were in the store.  I figured I might as well pick up a few other items while I was there.  They have been remodeling the store - looks really nice, but it's going to take me a while to relocate everything.  However, I noticed where the spices are now on my way toward the hot dog buns so grabbed a container of cream of tartar.  (We've been making a fair amount of play dough these days.)  I stuck it next to Timmy's car seat, got the rest of my things and went to check out.  I didn't even see the cream of tartar again until I got to the car.  Yep, walked right out with it.

I will admit that I debated for a few seconds.  It was already 4:45, it was hot, Timmy was asleep...  But, since all of his stuff was still in the cart, I unloaded the groceries and went back through the self-check.  I know there is no way I would have been able to sleep that night if I hadn't.  (This is the second time this has happened to me.  Moral of the story, don't put things next to Timmy's carseat!)

We got home and Landon came out to help me unload.  I love it!  He loves helping unload the cars whenever someone goes shopping.  I hope this trend continues at least until he's able to carry things heavier than bread and boxes of cereal!  (Wouldn't you know, the one bag he grabbed was the hot dog buns.  We did notice and got them to the Social.)

The party was fun.  Not a huge turnout, but enough that I think everyone had a good time.  The kids love playing on the giant tires in the sand so they would have been fine by themselves.  However, they did quite enjoy the little pools. (Apologies for the sound. It was pretty windy.)

I love little kids in goggles.  They look so silly!

This was hilarious. Callie kept trying to put Trevy's goggles on and they would fall off her face each time she bent over to put her face in the water. Don't know how many times she tried.

And this is how the Elders' Quorum throws a water party...

Cerise just had the cutest look on her face!  Couldn't resist!

The ever-popular water balloon volleyball.  (Those water balloons were hard to tie off.  Between the balloons and lots of little hands wanting to help, we had a bit of a challenge keeping the game going!)

We arrived home around 7:30.  Being Saturday night, we got the kids through the bath as quickly as we could and then I asked them all to get their pajamas on and went to the living room to check on Timmy.  I had just started talking to Melissa when Trevy popped into the room saying, "Mommy, can you help me?"  She had stepped into a plastic ring (I think it's from a frisbee) and couldn't get it back off.

Buttering up her hips.

(Sorry, had to lose the diaper to get the ring off.)  Trevy sat down on me a couple of times.  The underside of the ring was hollow so it didn't slide off quite the same.  I had to work one side over one hip and then use the butter wrapper between the ring and Trevy's skin to keep it from scraping her on the other side.

Success!

Pretty sure she's just glad that's over!

James and Bridgette had run to Fry's again to hit the milk sale.  (Limit 4.)  So they missed Trevy's little mishap, but they got right to work helping getting the kids to bed.  Bridgette does an amazing job telling the kids stories.  She lets them put in names and objects and do voices.  Here's Callie doing Callie and the Three Bears.

Love that girl!  What a fun way to end the day!