Wal-Mart: where you can buy anything!

Tonight I saw one of these at Wal-Mart. It would have been a very fun solution to this problem. Thankfully the cool temperatures have taken care of my pesky issue. Maybe next year, though.

Splish Splash

The boys think it's fun to turn the water hose on in the backyard. While I don't mind a little water play I'm pretty much DONE with adding to my laundry pile for now. Not to mention Autumn has arrived in New England and she's NOT warm enough for getting wet.

Will does a pretty good job of not soaking his clothes. He just wants to fill the eleventy-hundred buckets and pails we have. Then he waters his "garden" (leaves and sticks he's lined up in rows). He drinks any water left in the pails. Yep. The pails he hauled dirt, sticks, leaves, and sand around in all summer. Needless to say they are dirty and some are growing things. I keep trying to convince him the water is also dirty but he's just not buying it.

Ben is a different story. He waters the bulkhead. (For you southerners who don't have basements, think storm cellar doors.) He stands on top of the doors at the highest point and holds the hose so that the water flows down the closed doors and makes a puddle at the edge. Ben then splashes in the puddle. What 2 year-old boy can resist a puddle?

Currently, turning the water hose on without permission results in immediate forfeiture of the offender's privilege to play in the backyard for an undetermined length of time. Will lost the privilege this morning once. Then he remembered to ask. Ben lost the privilege twice this afternoon. That means I changed both boys clothes, twice.

The second time I battled Ben to sit on the toilet to pee while Ellie crawled all over me and Will whined that his clothes were wet and he couldn't get them off. I finally pulled Will's dripping wet shirt off (Brother thinks it's hilarious to spray Will, with the hose, not pee. Though he probably would think that's hilarious, too.) and sent him to his room to change. Then Ben finished so we went in search of clean clothes. By this point I was frazzled and aggravated!

A couple of minutes passed and the thought crossed my mind that I had left Ellie in the bathroom. Did I close the toilet lid?! (Side note: We keep a small stool in front of the toilet so Ben can climb up without help. Ellie has also developed the ability to climb on the stool and then onto the toilet where she likes to play with the hand sanitizer pump on the back of the toilet.)

I hurried into the bathroom and found Ellie very pleased with herself. There she stood on the stool leaning into the toilet SPLASHING WATER WITH HER HANDS AND SCOOPING IT OUT WITH A SMALL PLASTIC BOWL!!! Water was everywhere. On the toilet seat. On the floor. Her clothes were soaked. Ewwww!!!!! Yuck, yuck, yuck!!! Needless to say I hollered, stripped her down, then wiped her down with a baby wipe and smeared Germ X from head to toe.

I tell you what. This child is giving me a run for my money. She's doing things her brothers NEVER thought of doing. And don't tell me it's because she has two older brothers. I don't think that's it at all. I think God has blessed me with a daughter full of spunk and sass. Whoo Boy! Pray for me, cause her teen years are going to be fuu-uunn.

Life this week - the short version.

Here's the short version of life around our house this week.

1. I am working on being more consistent in expecting obedience from the kids. This requires more effort and attention on my part. Thus the decrease in blogging.

2. Trying to stay on top of the laundry situation. Will wakes up dry about half the time which means washing sheets every day. Mostly he doesn't wake up until AFTER the deed is done. Sigh..

3. Ben is wearing "big boy" underwear this week. This requires more attention on my part. He does well as long as I remember to take him to the bathroom every 20 to 30 minutes. Although today he pooped TWICE in the underwear. NOT cool, son! Also a cause for our growing mountain of laundry.

4. Ellie has decided walking is fun. She's cruising all over the place. She still scoots a little but mostly she's walking. Very cute. But, again, requires a lot of attention from me.

5. Joel power washed the house Monday. Good-bye, mildew! At least until next year. The problem is our house is situation directly east-west. This means the front of the house never gets direct sunshine. It's a recipe for mildew! UGH!

6. We watched Will's best friend, Micah, and his sister, Mia, last night so their momma could go to a meeting with their daddy. The boys love playing together. At one point in the evening both Will & Micah were sitting on the bean bag chair with their arms around each other's shoulders. Young friendship is sweet to watch.