Christening the New House

We experienced a "first" today at our new house--a plugged toilet. My eldest son did the honors this morning. Only problem--no plunger. It's still at the other house. Despite having sworn to myself NOT to forget the plunger when we were over there this afternoon, I did forget it. My next plan was to borrow one from our friends Brian and Julie since we were going over there anyway. Forgot to do that, too.

Driving home, I remembered, "Oh, yeah--the plunger." I called Matt and told him I'd stop at Lowe's to buy one before coming home. As I was walking to the car, plunger in hand, Matt called. "Where are all the rag towels?" Great. Lydia had decided to use and FLUSH the toilet. Well, when I got home the smell was overwhelming. I threw the towels in the washer, Matt unplugged the toilet and then I started the disinfecting process. I've spent so much time on my hands and knees scrubbing floors lately, I could qualify for it if it were an Olympic sport. Two buckets of Mr. Clean and a thorough spraying of Lysol brought the bathroom to more normal smell levels. I plan on leaving the bathroom fan on all night.

As predicted, Joel did have a great time at the pool. He was pretty scared at first, but after five minutes he more than warmed up to the idea of having fun in the water. When they say two year old boys are the most common drowning victims, they're not kidding. Matt had to keep a constant hand on Joel in order to keep him from slipping under the water. He had no fear. He even copied Lydia in blowing bubbles and putting his face under water. I'm guessing swimming lessons with the other kids are going to become a lot more interesting now that Joel has decided swimming is such a blast. He bawled and bawled when we finally pulled him out of the pool tonight. Here he is in a happier moment: