Too many toys

What's a boy to do when he has too many toys? Thank you cargo shorts.

Toad Adventures

Anna achieved her dream of capturing a toad one night last week and then promptly lost it on the back porch before I packed her off to bed. It was no doubt her plan so she could play with it in the morning. No time to brush hair, had to rush right out to traumatize the toad! They found several big ones a few days later with the help of Joe Joe the Great. I would assume that our yard is toad free now, word has spread...

Girls made their bed...

I told the girls to clean up their room so Jay could sleep there his first night back in the US and this is what I found. And then we had to hide the baby. And then I packed up all the toys and put clean sheets on the bed because really, we didn't need to scare the guy.

Pure Joy

Sean's cousin Jay returned from eleven months in Iraq last night and the girls and I were honored to witness the big event with his parents, Mo Mo the Great and Uncle Joe (Joe Joe the Great?). They even scored some VIP seats so I guess retiring as a BG and a COL pays off at times. We were by the door where the soldiers filed in and Jay was the only one to look our way, I think perhaps someone yelling his name worked. The girls were so tired and crabby by the time it started at 12:30am and I was afraid that the families in the stands who were waiting for their dads and husbands to come back were just looking at the girls like, what is wrong with them? Why aren't they going crazy with anticipation? And why are they VIPs?? It was very exciting but I do hope to never be there to welcome Sean home. We are quite happy with him taking care of the soldiers at the hospital here.

As a sidenote, it is also Jay's birthday today, what great timing! Army must not have realized that because this sort of thing rarely works out.

Bye Bye Bonus?

We finally realized that the van is leaking something when I cleaned out the garage a few days ago, so we took her in for a little look-see today. Waiting for that dreaded call and here are the things we don't want to hear:
1. Why don't you just stop by the new vehicle lot instead.
2. Did you say, "leak" because we think you must mean "smell"?
3. We heard you get a July bonus, what a coincidence because we could use that money!

Ah, every minute that passes, the suspense builds...

Out of Retirement

I know, everyone is wondering how awesomely I golfed today. Yes, I've come out of retirement, watch out Broadmoor because I am crashing the next golf trip. For the record I only lost one ball and I found two, so right there the round was a success. I won't tell you how many balls Sean lost because I lost count early on. Now I know why his trunk was full of empty ball boxes last summer. (I know it's a Civic, but it can still hold a ridiculous amount of boxes.)

There were a few holes there where I felt like I was living in the Sawyer montage before the Lost finale. Son of a b*tch means it's time for another ball apparently. I find it is much more enjoyable to have really low expectations when it comes to golf. It never occurs to me that par 5 means I should be able to do it in 5 hits, strokes, whatever. Par 5 just means it's going to be a workout. Sean said that Grandpa Keek would have said I was at least making forward progress. Good job me for not hitting the ball backwards! At least no one else was on the course with us to witness that mess. Oh well, until all the kids are in school I'm not going to worry about it. Sean is planning on heading out to play each day after the kids head to school, once he can ditch his day job that is (just under 4 years now) so I will have to get some more lessons. Ha ha, like I am going to just have loads of free time once they are all in school! Don't burst my bubble.

Ah, July 1st

Remember to avoid teaching hospitals starting today! So glad to be off that schedule, 4 years of life post residency is grand. Now that Sean has to be in charge of his department he is implementing Operation Bagel to improve morale. I have assured him that coming from the other side, we always appreciated food bribes and had a better attitude when in a food coma, so we'll see if this works. Sweet Emily has slept through the past two nights, which hasn't happened in almost 4 months, so I actually had the energy to get up early and get stuff done today, include raid Panera. Also, the bread machine is broken and poor Anna is wasting away without her energy source (bread and butter), so I am going to try and tide her over with Panera bread. In the meantime, if anyone knows how to make bread dough in the kitchenaid, let me know. The thing came with a dough hook, you'd think I'd be able to figure this out.

Next up is cleaning in preparation for guests, one of whom is a living legend when it comes to an organized garage. I fear that he will break out in hives if he accidentally sees the mess in ours, so today I will attempt to line up the chaos. As for the porch, there is no hope unless a tornado to rips it off. Out of desperation I have allowed the girls to do art on the porch and of course Patrick has joined in.... paint, playdough and even worse... clay. It of course evolved into a clay fight at the end, with little wet balls of clay being hurled around. So there are clay streaks on the screens, the floor, the wicker furniture. I guess a power washer would help but we don't have one. Maybe a big rain storm?

Patrick has his morning routine as a boot lackey so after making sure Sean is awake he gets the boots out and removes the belt (better than removing all the laces which he did for a while there). Then he assumes his position 30 feet away where he waits for his turn to run with the belt to give it to Sean after he put his boots on. Not sure how this routine started but there's no stopping it now. He also had advice for his Daddy today, "have fun and don't cry at work". Good tips. Whenever I get home after leaving Patrick with the sitter he will report to me about whether or not he cried so I guess that is where the advice stemmed from.

4 day weekend starting tomorrow so Sean arranged a tee time. Apparently I am going with him, mostly to see the course since I haven't really golfed in 9 years, so we'll see how that goes. Based on the driving range last night, I think it may be ugly. Not that it was ever pretty.... but 9 years later I at least appreciate the break from the morning routine with demanding children.