"Lola, eat your octopus please, then you can have ice cream"

Wow. Chalk that up to another sentence that I never thought would come out of my mouth. We are on kind of a health kick here lately, so we were having stir fry the other night. I bought a frozen seafood combo, which had little bits of octopus in it. Sounds gross, I know, but they are kind of like eating a rubber suction cup that tastes like soy sauce. Lola thought she needed to eat some with us (she had chicken nuggets for dinner before Wil and I sat down to eat late) and she actually enjoyed her octopus. The tentacle sticking out of her mouth was a bit disconcerting, but she ate quite a bit.

Lola got to help Grampa drive the big tractor the other day. She loved it! It is funny, Lola can sometimes be such a little diva, and then turn around want to drive a big dirty tractor. Last weekend we went to the next town over to ride the speeder cars. These are tiny little 2 to 4 person railroad cars that come to town once a year. Since Lola loves trains so much we figured she would really enjoy it! After a 30 minute ride all she had to say when asked if she had fun was "I saw a horsey!" Well, she seemed to enjoy it, especially the part where there are no doors on the cars, just a sheer drop off. She was buckled in, but still, I was peeing my pants. Rowan actually seemed to enjoy the ride too, and watched the scenery pass by, eventually falling asleep.

After riding the rails, we went to a going away party for friends at the park. The kids turned on the water and created a huge moat around one of the trees. They were covered in thick slimy mud. Good times were had by all, except the parents who probably spent the rest of the day like I did....cleaning mud off their carseats and wiping up ring around the tub!


Rowan started eating applesauce yesterday, and really likes it! He is feeling much better after surviving a 36 hour 102 degree fever for no reason. He was down to only 24 oz of formula per day rather than his usual 36 to 40. I was worried, but he drank 8 bottles today, plus a big bowl of applesauce and cereal. Yippee!

Today was back to the grind. Poo. Well, big procedure at work tomorrow, so going to bed.

The toilet is NOT a wading pool

So the other day I escaped. It's not like I don't love my children and my husband, but sometimes a girl's gotta get outta here for awhile! I left the kids with Daddy for a few hours, planning on doing a little child-free shopping, followed by a dental appointment. For those of you who know my feelings on all things dental, you realize that this was nothing but pure torture at the end of an otherwise lovely day. Anyway, the shopping was lovely. I had lunch by myself, and it only took 15 minutes! I had almost forgotten what it is like to eat without constantly stopping to save a drink from hitting the floor, cut a hamburger into bite sized morsels, or wipe sticky hands before sending a kid into the playland. Even the dental appointment couldn't ruin my day completely.

Somewhere mid-day, I called home to check in. Wil told me that I would really rather be at the dentist than home.

"Why???" I said, not really knowing if I wanted to find out....

"Well," replied my exasperated husband, "Lola had to pee, so after awhile I noticed she hadn't come out yet."

"Uh oh" I interrupted, knowing where this was going.

"So I went in to check on her" he continued "and she was STANDING in the toilet trying to flush herself down to the tractors."

I must explain the tractors. When Lola was starting to potty train a month ago, there were tractors down our road putting in new sewer line for some housing above us. When she asked what they were doing, I told her they were putting in the pipes that our poop and pee goes through on its way to the sewer plant. She asked if that is where her poop and pee goes. Not wanting to shatter her little dreams, I told a white lie. Somehow I don't think our septic tank is nearly as impressive as imagining her pee shooting down the pipes and past the tractors.

Side note: Many times when Lola uses the potty, she says "bye bye plops (poo), have fun going by the tractors!"

Anyway, he found her standing in the toilet. Wil has little patience for these things, and she had already been warned not to play in the potty. So, she got a little spanking, and was told not to do that again. About that time Rowan started crying, so Wil went to check on him. About 5 minutes later, he went back to see why Lola was still in the bathroom, only to find her and the bathroom covered in lavender vanilla hand lotion. That was the final straw. Lola found herself put promptly in bed for a nap.

I'm glad these things don't just happen on my watch!

The Forth of July was awesome! We went to a friend's house in the mountains for a lovely party. This friend has a swimming pool, and Lola had a blast swimming around with her little life jacket on. Later, we bought illegal fireworks at the Res, and came home for a neighborhood get together at our house. We are on a big hill, so we could see the whole town's fireworks that night. Both kids insisted on staying up late to watch, and Rowan did great! He watched the artillery shells with big round eyes and seemed to have a good time. Lola got to hold a sparkler all by herself, and I tried not to wet my pants watching her twirl in circles with a flaming hot stick clutched in her tiny fist. All in all, the Forth was a blast!

On Saturday, we rested, as the kids (and Mommy) were cranky from staying up late. On Sunday, we took the kids crawdad hunting. We had aspirations of a great big crawdad boil feast later, but our biggest catch was about 2 inches long. Oh well, Lola had a wonderful time catching "crabs" and Wil even touched one or two. What a weenie! We brought a few home, and most of them went to be with Jesus, but we still have 3 left. Amazing. Not as hardy as hermit crabs in the hands of a 2-year-old.

Today was back to the grind. Lola and Rowan unhappily went to daycare, and I went to work. Well, have to work tomorrow too, so I had better hit the hay.