Closet Auger/Snake...Huh?

So, what in the world am I talking about? A closet auger or a closet snake, what is that? Well, it's only the most amazing invention ever. See, with two little boys in our house, there's no telling what they'll do. And their most recent story is about an apple the stuck in the toilet. This actually happened a couple of weeks back. The toilet still wasn't perfect after lots of effort to fix it and finally this week, we had to close the bathroom. That's when Grandma emailed her sister to figure out if there was a less expensive option than installing the new toilet we purchased. Lo and behold, the closet auger! Thanks to Aunt Carol and the rest of the Bloob family for suggesting this wonderful piece of equipment. With it, daddy was able to totally unclog the toilet. We are now happy to report that the bathroom has reopened for business! And yes Grandpa, I think it's really funny that you suggested we keep the new toilet and put it in the playhouse outside...but we're still going to return it!

Oh, and for the record, I still don't believe that they actually put an apple in the toilet because they only had slices of apple not a whole apple, but Roo's sticking with that story so we will too!

Fun With the Grandkids

Last weekend daddy and I went to my 10 year reunion at W&M. We had a blast catching up with everyone and for the first time ever, enjoyed a little time away from the kids overnight. Grandma and grandpa watched the boys for the weekend. I checked in a few times via text message and then called after the kids went to bed to see how the day went. When we got home on Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa gave us a full report of all the silly things the kids did. One of my favorites was when Grandma and Grandpa were trying to figure out why it was "raining" from the play set outside. Well, that was another example of Roo needing to go. The kids were really well behaved, Roo was a good helper, Bug napped like a champ and Grandma and Grandpa had a blast playing with the kids and didn't seem worse for the wear. It was also fun during the week when the kids would randomly do something new and burst out in laughter and say that it was something that Grandma and Grandpa taught them. It was great to get away for a weekend and I'm sure I forgot to mention some of the funny things the kids did but I can always add them to this. Daddy and I are thinking quarterly nights away could be a fun thing to do! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for watching the kids for the weekend!

Pumpkining

We went to the pumpkin patch at Westmoreland Berry Farm yesterday.

We got there in the morning so it wasn't crowded yet at all. In fact, we were on the first tractor ride to patch for the day.

Before we went down to the pumpkins Roo and Bug had fun feeding the goat on the airwalk.

The boys ran around and played on the tractor's trailer before going to the pumpkin patch.

It was really windy on the tractor ride and Bug just cuddled in. In fact, I carried him around the patch as we picked out our pumpkins.

After we took the tractor back to the shop we let the boys run around and play for a bit.

I got some fresh brocolli for Roo and he's super excited to eat it. It was nice to get there before the crowds so we didn't have to rush or push through people to do anything. The store smelled like fall so we got a few more apples that I'll make apple pie with, yum!

We all had a really great time and are happy to welcome fall!

And Speaking of Speaking With His Teachers...

The October material that came home from preschool today made us aware that this month is animal awareness month. They'll be learning more about pets and animals and have a service project to bring in supplies for animals at the local animal shelter. And while I think this is wonderful, Roo is really missing Baxter. The last few days he's brought his huge stuffed dog downstairs and groomed it. No joke, he lovingly brushes the dogs hair (creating balls of "fur" everywhere on the carpet). And he's also been asking why he's the only one who doesn't have a dog. I'll have to let the teachers know that Baxter moved out and he's really sad about it. We're all really missing B!

I'll Need to Explain That One to His Teachers....

Every Thursday at preschool is show and tell. Some weeks the kids are supposed to bring in something that has to do with the letter of the week. Last week they could bring in anything. Roo decided to bring in a little Matchbox police car.

When I asked him how showing his car was at school he replied "my friends all said it would be ok."

And it only took me about a second to realize why his friends would say this. Remember on vacation when Roo hit the panic button on the alarm system and the nice police officer talked with him? Well, ever since then he's gotten it into his head that we're all going to go to jail!

Yeah, so I can just picture him telling his friends and teachers about a police man taking us all to jail or maybe he just said mommy or daddy or some other version that would sound like it needs way more explanation! Yikes!

Guess I need to explain that one to his teachers!

Landscaping With Children

We decided to build a path from the new deck to the fence gate. We had made the deck bigger and it's been an amazing outdoor space. We decided to make this path to put an end to mud. The grass didn't grow well in this area and we had just completed some landscaping around the deck and on the back side of the house. A path would be nice.

Except building a path with kids, well, it takes a little longer and involves a lot more dirt and sand management. The kids were great helpers and in less than 2 weekends we finished the path. It looks great and I love walking on it. Roo loves to try to dig up the sand on it. I think it'll be the last path we build for a while. But I'm glad we did it ourselves and the results were worth the effort!

That's Logical

Grandma and grandpa came over for dinner last night after spending the day doing things for their new house. I was supposed to have Roo call Grandpa on the first day of school to tell him about his day but Roo doesn't really like talking about what he did at preschool (I'm told this is very normal and I'll be lucky to ever get anyting out of him!).

Grandpa asked Roo why he hadn't called him to tell him about preschool. Roo said "because there isn't a phone at preschool."

Can't argue with that logic :)

Good Words, Bad Words

Roo is picking up every word we use in our speech now. There's a part in Toy Story where Woody says the word "stupid." I wish the movie didn't have that word in it because it's really hard to miss and Roo picked right up on it. So we are working with him when he picks up words like this to not say them. So we went for a walk after dinner tonight and Daddy said something was "stupid" to which Roo said to daddy, "no daddy, we don't say that word."

First Day of Preschool

Today was Roo's first day of preschool. I was so excited that I woke up super early. He was great about getting ready this morning and putting his nice shirt on (just like Daddy's) and making sure his shoes were clean for school. He smiled great for his first day of school pictures too. We ended up leaving the house later than we anticipated so instead of dropping him off at the sitter and then going back to get him, we took him out for a first day of school breakfast. He kept asking if it was time for school yet and then pointed down the road that his preschool is on and said that it is down that road. We asked him if he was excited and he said yes and if he was scared and he blurted out that he wasn't. When we got to the school he was so excited to go in, in fact he was so excited that he didn't even say goodbye! We didn't follow him in to make him say goodbye, he seemed like he was in really good hands with the teacher.

I called the sitter later in the day to see how he was doing after preschool and she said that all three of the kids were tired and napping! And the mommy who drove them home from preschool said that all three of the kiddos were silent on the way back to the sitters. Guess preschool is tiring!

We're so excited for Roo and can't wait to see all the things he makes and brings home. Today we put the bird he made at orientation on the fridge. Tomorrow is show and tell. Hopefully he continues to enjoy preschool!