Just in case you wondered...it WON"T flush!

So, just a question...what's the best thing YOUR kids have flushed down the toilet? Well, I'm hoping that I discovered the last of my exciting surprises for a while. It all started on Tuesday night...when the water heater stopped working. No biggie, right? Just re-light the pilot light and forget about it. Until about 18 hours later when you desperately need a shower...

As the toilet in the downstairs proceeded to flood everywhere...it got a little crazy here. I don't like messes...and germs...so you can imagine my happiness when I was questioning the kids and Kolbe and Kenna both said that Avery flushed the toilet paper down. Avery assured me she didn't, obviously...but I discovered something here. Just in case you're wondering...the spring-loaded toilet paper holder thingy(is that technical enough?) and the toilet paper roll, won't flush. At least not effectively. It just becomes a ticking time bomb...Nate was busy with Young Men's so guess who did the job? That's right...Julie Pitcher...aka...the Plumber. I removed the old toilet, hauled it outside(sure the neighbors loved that) and installed a brand new one all by myself. Yeah, I know, impressive...and disgusting. Probably the worst thing I've ever done. My dad can't believe I didn't just clean the old toilet up and put it back. Ummmm....no. It wasn't completely unnessary spending..it was an ugly toilet, rusty and it ran non-stop. It was just a ways down on my list of wanted repairs. Not any more. Its a brand new beauty. And it doesn't leak. (yet)

Then I tucked kids in and thought I'd shower to clean up. And the water heater still didn't work! So, the plumber came Thursday and the needed part had to be air mailed from out of state and it didn't get here till today-Saturday. So, no hot water heater since Wednesday. But we are back in business today on all accords...and this is a pic of my proud moment as a plumber!

More of this morning

Some more pics of the kids at their desks...yes I'm one of those moms! And then Avery and Eli wanted some pics...they felt left out. But by the time I took Avery's picture Eli discovered the fish tank and was on to bigger and better things. Thank goodness it was tall and seemingly Eli-proof!

The First Day of School

So after MUCH anticipation(most of which by me) the big day is over! Kenna couldn't get to sleep last night because she knew today she'd finally have access to the stack of new clothes she's been staring at in the top of her closet for weeks. After an hour and a half I finally threatened to put her laid-out outfit of brand new stuff back up top and make her wear old clothes if she didn't go to sleep. That did it...she was asleep in no time. Funny what motivates her.

Kolbe has been seriously counting down the time to wear his cool 'skater' outfit. Its amazing how the attitude of "cool" is just an extra bonus with these clothes. Like his picture? Straight from Great Falls, Mt. to the hood in two seconds flat! He's a kick in the pants.

Kenna had me braid her hair last night so it'd be curly today. She looked great..

Both kids reported they had "awesome" days at school...so the fun begins. Kolbe brought home football sign ups...dance starts next week!

Happy Anniversary

Well, its official...we're on the downslide! (hee heee)We've now become old married people, with 11 big years under our belt! I know...its not that long, but its amazing to me that its gone that fast. A huge thank you to my parents who watched the kids for us so we could escape. My dad came Friday afternoon and helped for a few more hours on the deck... and we got out of town and headed for Billings. The Super 8 offers HUGE discount for people going to the temple...so, we stayed there and it was surprisingly nice...it even had continental breakfast(which we didn't eat because-hello, no children, we slept in!) We did a session in the morning and one of the workers was a guy that we were good family friends with when I was way younger. So that was fun. Also President Rollins, who was in our ward when I was a tiny little girl, recognized me and said hello. Its amazing that people recognize you when you're all grown up! We shopped and ate ourselves sick on salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden, and then I drove the golf cart while Nate golfed(its as close as I'll come to golf!) We picked up the monkies today at mom's and are so so glad to be home again tonight. I love my family...the alone time with Nate was fabulous...but there's nothing quite like having the kiddos crawling all over you and telling you they missed you.

A quick side note...the deck is now well over budget and thank goodness its beautiful because it would be hard to love the money pit!

Posers

The girls are the hugest posers ever...Kenna makes me take a picture a few times before she's convinced that its just the right position. And Avery just started this particular pose...not sure where either of them came from! I am absolutely amazed at how different girls and boys are from the very start. The boys are content to wrestle and romp and the girls dream of glitter and lipgloss. Kenna thinks she'd like to nominate me(and my sister Cami) for that TLC show 'What not to Wear'. She gets all excited when I wear a colored cotton shirt...calls it my 'fancy clothes'. That's sad huh? There's a lady in our ward the girls' absolutely adore...she's very fashion-esque...and the girls dream of being just like 'Suzette'. Its a hoot-I'm curious at what age they'll outgrow their love of dresses and stuff? Hopefully not too soon, as it makes Nate and I laugh every day.

Only one week left

Today the countdown begins...one week til

school. Its been a crazy summer but I think the kids have had tons of fun. I totally caught all the kids' personalities in this pic...can you guess which two are my crazy-kiddos?

Say Cheese

Eli wanted his hair like 'Bo-Bee's', which is Kolbe for those who don't do baby talk. And he's fascinated with the digital camera, we could sit and take pics and let him look at himself for hours. He is a goof...he came flying in the house this morning and trudged over to me and just slopped a big wet kiss on my face and said, " I wuv you mom!" And then he was gone...he is the craziest kid but he is my little snugglebug, and I love him!

My "small" underestimation!!!

So, life just was too calm apparently, because I just keep ripping things apart. The only problem is I don't really fix anything before moving on. So, here's some pics of my latest and greatest project-the deck. Now, I thought we would demo the old one and have the new support beams up in a matter of a few hours. And, I thought(because all of you who know me know I'm super cheap and had priced this out) that I could do the deck for like 600 in lumber because I wanted to reuse railing and the stairs are for next year's project. So...perhaps I misjudged the project...or maybe my non-hired help is just slow(heee heee dad and jon). But it was a 12 hour job to just do what I envisioned to have been done by lunch time. Oh, and did I mention that the pine was a no- go and so we had to go with redwood...which doubled the deck budget...before I consider that I have to now also replace the railing with redwood to match. So, my deck that I was so proud of doing providently is now WAY over budget. Hope it looks nice when its done! Does anyone want firewood??? We don't exactly know what to do with the old decking that we've heaped along side the house where no one but us and the neighbor can see. Good times huh?

Mr Kolbe

Kolbe is such a good kid. I expect so much of him and he's the best. He's got the funniest sense of humor because his take on life is so different. He is still pretty apprehensive about new things, which I think saves him some trouble! He loves to wrestle his brother...and is totally willing to be a horse for him for as long as he wants. I love that Kolbe still wants to snuggle in my bed every night, and asks for dates with me regularly. He is one handsome kid and I'm sad that he's growing up so fast. Thank goodness he's promised to be my baby forever!

Here is Avery all dolled up for her dance recital...she lives in her dress up clothes, and cracks us up when she asks 'what world are we in today?' Not so sure what she means by that. She says the craziest things and is so looking forward to preschool this fall. She thinks she's so grown up, but she's so darn tiny. I love my teensie princess with chocolate eyes!

Miss Kenna

My gorgeous girl....I can't believe Mamma 'K' is seven years old. She is so much fun and so mature and lots of help. The other kids don't always love that she's my little mini...but I do. She is totally into looking cute( not sure where this comes from) and asked yesterday 'how many packs do I think daddy has?" Of course I was confused and so she lifted her shirt and patted her tummy..."you know, packs...does he have...like 2?" Love her!

The shower's broke~both of them!

Its been a wild day at the Pitchers! Yes, he is actually soaped up and scrub-a-dubbing on the back lawn...both showers are not functional tonight...hope to fix that by tomorrow morning, but until then it was funny!

Of course it seemed like it was naughty, so Eli was game! He is the craziest kid...and exhausting at times but his personality has completely added life to our family!

He is starting to talk alot more now so he said a prayer over dinner last night...and did the same thing the night before with cheese...anyways, I put his pizza on his plate before the prayer. He started and said the usuals...tank oo for dis day(thank you for this day...)and then he opened his eyes and looked at his plate and said in a funny voice "oooohhhh. I willy want to eat dis pizza!" So funny...we all died laughing.

We'll work on reverence next week!

So, thanks to my friend Melanie I may just figure out this 'blogging' thing after all. I am dying to find some friends' blogs but Eli just woke up a bit growly so it will have to wait!