many hands make light work?

The first weekend of October, Bryan was home for a visit from Arizona. It was to be his last visit, although we didn't know it at the time.

The house, car and family were all in need of desperate attention. The budget dictated that he spend some time fixing Vanilla Bean's brakes. Our savings were dwindling after a week requiring repairs to both Pickle and Vanilla Bean totaling a couple grand.

Thankfully, Bryan is great at working with little helpers and Saturday morning found half our crew watching and "helping" Daddy fix the car.

Madelyn, 11, holding Evelyn, 8 months.

Mason, 5, driving. Nolan, 2 1/2 "working".

Nolan repeatedly tried to push Daddy out of the way, saying "Me do it. My turn."

He is actually quite dexterous for a toddler, operating the torque wrench was no problem. Well, except for exerting enough torque!

In the end, Vanilla Bean was repaired for a budget-friendly $9.97, with the added bonus of building relationships with Daddy-starved kiddos.

Back in the day, Bryan and I watched The Red Green Show, where a common refrain was "If she can't find ya handsome, she should at least find ya handy!" I am exceedingly blessed to have a man who is both. Besides fixing Vanilla Bean, he replaced an electrical outlet that was shorting out and magically fixed the bath tub drain lever in the front bathroom.

Before Arizona, I would have taken all these for granted. The experience of being handy-husbandless for 3 months gave me new eyes to see and appreciate all those little things that I can't take care of, things other people have to hire a professional to fix.

I am not sure that the work was accomplished

more efficiently with these many hands,

but it was accomplished more joyfully.

we've got trouble, right here in river city

*The management begs your pardon for the indelicacy of this post.*

We have had trouble all week with the... well, the toilet- to be blunt. It has repeatedly backed up, spilling its nasty contents all over the floor of the front bathroom. No amount of plunging or snaking has been able to clear the problem, and there was a rumor among the children that the situation wasn't due to "natural causes," if you know what I mean.

Today was the designated "deal with the problem" day. Bry bought a new wax seal last night in preparation. This morning, I confessed that this was one of those moments when I am glad I am a woman, happily ignorant of toilet mechanics and lacking the strength needed to muscle the porcelain throne off its pedestal. Bryan confessed that he would rather cozy up to a plugged toilet than face labor. We ended the conversation pleased with our respective gender roles.

So he drained the thing. Unbolted it from the floor and began investigating the depths.

He snaked it. He shook it. He prayed and pryed and finally retrieved this:

a ballpoint pen


It would appear that the rumors were true.
Ballpoint pens are not a naturally occurring phenomenon in toilets.


This leads us to the culprit:

He has apologized, but I am not convinced that he won't try again soon.

As I type, a sense of triumph prevails.


The plug is cleared. The throne reinstalled.
Three cheers for Daddy!
Hip hip hurrah!
Hip hip hurrah!
Hip hip hurrah!

I do so love being married to a man who can fix almost anything!

Sick

Sick

1) illness or pertaining to illness

2) disturbing

Sirena has thrush (a yeast infection in the mouth), and the simplest, least expensive way to treat thrush is with gentian violet. The problem with gentian violet, as you can clearly see, is that it stains everything, including teeth. We have been painting her mouth nightly, just before she brushes her teeth. It really highlights the plaque. I am told that it tastes quite nasty.

Daddy decided that the loving thing to do would be to join Sirena in her suffering.

WARNING!
GRAPHIC PHOTO FOLLOWS:

It's like Zion Lights gone wrong.
Quite frightening, if you ask me.

Love, true love.

Beach Photos 2005

Bryan and I with Mason, our youngest, at the beach last August.

Not my best photo, but at least I am in this one! More often than not, I am the one taking pictures. A few photos of the kids from our trip to the coast this past summer. We spent part of the day at Battery Russell, Fort Stevens. August is just before the "fall birthday season" at our house, so the kids whose ages are listed as almost are now officially the ages listed. (This is very important to Gavin and Sarah, especially. Sirena isn't too excited about 8, but Gavin loves being 10, and Sadie tells anyone who will listen that she is two.)

Mara Anne, age 11 going on 25

Gavin, almost 10! (in this photo)

Sirena, almost 8 as of this pic

Madelyn, 6 1/2

Sadie Eleanor, almost 2 (in photo)

And finally, my favorite picture of the family from the weekend...