Scott and I had a very eventful evening last night. It began regular enough... We were rushing to finish dinner, sending kids to the bathroom, helping Erin get dressed for her soccer game, and trying to clean off the baby. How he manages to get food on the back of his head is beyond me. Richie had been sitting on the toilet for quite a while. I had, in fact, managed to get everyone except Russell finished and sent out to the van when Richie called out that he was done.

I went in there, wiped him off good, and flushed a very full toilet. The water began to run... and rise... and continued running... and rising... and I took off in a panic to find the plunger. I came back and began plunging the toilet, careful not to splash and careful not to throw up. It's so gross sometimes to be a mom. The plunging was working, but very, VERY slowly. Scott came in and offered to help and I bit his head off, telling him to go load Russell in the car if he wanted to help. I finally started out to the van. Erin was supposed to arrive at her game early so the coach could work with the kids on some stuff. And we were already late. I met Scott on the way out and told him it was fruitless work and we were probably going to have to take the toilet apart. He started towards the bathroom and promised to join me later. I told him he would miss Erin's game if he got too involved with that toilet. He promised he would get there on time. So I left. As I was backing up, I asked Richie if he had put anything into the toilet. He said, "Ya. Ruffie." That's his word for dog. AARRGH!!! I got after him pretty good about putting things in the toilet and told him he had ruined it!! Now it was broken because he had put Ruffie in the toilet!! I called Scott and told him what Richie had done. I was super upset and complaining about how we were going to have to take the whole toilet apart, but Scott just said, "It's ok. We love having kids." I don't know why he was so calm about it. I guess we can't both lose control at the same time.

So the gist of the matter is, he made it to the game on time. And after we all got back from Erin's game, we had to to take the toilet completely apart. It was a lot of disgusting, smelly work, and I think it made both of us a little sick. Here is a picture of the little bugger who clogged up our toilet:

And here is a picture of the "Ruffie" he decided to flush down the toilet:

Scott wasn't as easy-going about it with Richie once he had to dig this guy out of the bottom of the toilet. He kept getting after him and saying he was going to spank him. Richie kept saying he wouldn't do it anymore and "NO! Me don't like spankings!" I kept laughing and laughing. Scott was even able to get the toilet all put back together again and it works!!  He is such a great handyman to have around. And amazingly enough, I think that -- yes, we both still love having kids.

Wow. I have so much to say. This may take awhile... :)
First of all, SCHOOL HAS BEGUN!!!! Hooray!! As you can see from the picture below, everyone woke up early and was excited for this big milestone. Erin began 3rd grade this year and Zach began 2nd!! I can't believe how old they are getting. Wally will start Preschool in about a week and a half. He is very anxious to begin since the older two have already started.

So our fall sports have also begun. Zachie is playing football with his first game on Friday!! Erin and Wally are both playing soccer. Erin's first game is next Wednesday, but Wally has already played his first game and he was so excited for it. He kept reminding me that if someone on his team scored a goal, it was okay because it was like he scored a goal too since they were on the same team. I wondered if he was trying to convince me or himself.

He did a great job and ran hard, but all those little 4-year-old's were getting pretty tired by the end of the game. They just kind of stood there and kicked at the ball. Then one of them would fall on top of it and they would all stand there for a minute. A coach would help the kid up, and then they would all start to tumble. (It probably helped that a few little ones would shove their way through the throng of children gathered around the ball) I swear the last 5 minutes were spent just falling and getting up. Scott and I were laughing so hard. Afterwards, Wally told me that soccer games were really hard.



Ok, next on my list is Erin got glasses!! Towards the end of last school year, she began complaining that she couldn't see the board at school and things, and so we promised her that we would get her eyes checked out for the next school year. We were a little late, and she didn't quite have them for the first day of school, but we picked them up yesterday and she wore them to school today. It is funny how excited you are to first get glasses. It's the wearing them year after year after year that gets old... She is sooo incredibly cute in them though! She is such a beautiful girl. After school yesterday, she and I were just sitting and chatting about school and kids and her teacher. At one point we were both laughing so hard, tears were coming out of our eyes. I haven't laughed like that since I was a teenager. She is already becoming one of my best friends, and she's not even nine years old. I am so lucky to have her!