A trip down memory lane...and toilets.

 Today was quite the crazy day! I had my three kiddos plus the baby, no car and workers coming in and out of the house to fix a leak. Oh and our adorable daughter threw many horrible, stereotypical two-year old tantrums. So fun!

I ask you, how someone so cute could be so strong-willed and so sweet all at the same time?! Yesterday morning, the boys were still super tired from their late night and Eliana was NOT, so when she got up at 6:30 yelling for us, as she usually does, I rescued her and brought her downstairs. I decided it would be fun to take a walk down memory lane while entertaining her!

So I dug out my precious box of childhood memories from the storage closet in the basement and brought it up to share. Not only do I have some porcelain dolls, my American Girl's doll and a special stuffed animal but I have BARBIES! Oh yes, I saved some of my awesome Barbies from the 80's and 90's, complete with really awesome 80's outfits and accessories like high tops and picks for their hair. So cool!

She had a lot of fun playing with the baby Barbies, while I did some much-needed hair-brushing and outfit changing. I saved some of the clothes my mom made, usually prairie dresses, and even found a few clothes that I must have attempted to make, crooked seams and all:) My sister and I spent literally hours every single day playing Barbies and I have the greatest memories of that. I hope Eliana will enjoy them as much as I did when she gets a little older!

Baby Anna is a Cubs fan, too, now:)

This morning, I spent a few minutes chatting with my mom and she could tell that some of my children were slightly cagey and she had the brilliant idea of a making a bike wash. The seed was planted when I caught the boys slipping in and out of the door with cups of water to "wash" their bike wheels.

So I set out two buckets of soapy water and several old rags and Baby C and I sat just inside the door watching my three shine up their bikes. Pretty soon the neighbor kids were joining in:) An easy, free and fun summer activity!

When I was lounging around the other night while all my boys were gone, the doorbell rang and by the time I got to it, no one was there. I heard some pounding in the basement shortly after which led me to investigate and there I found our maintenance guy standing under a gaping hole in the basement ceiling. (the common basement area just outside of our private basement.) He confirmed that he was the doorbell ringer and that we had a leak possibly coming from our downstairs toilet. A quick check showed that there was no visible water coming from our toilet so he would have to come back to check it out. He left a trash can underneath to catch all the drips and falling plaster.

Today he and his helper came and were in and out for hours trying to discover the exact source of this sneaky leak that was damaging the floor and ceiling. They were about to give up and replace the whole bathroom (which it needs!) when they finally found it. Some gasket or another that was leaking out of the back of the toilet down underneath and into the floor. Leading to a nasty, soggy, buggy mess.

So, out went our old toilet that has caused us much hassle for a long time now, and in went a brand-new one! The boys were thrilled to discover that it doesn't run any more and we don't have to jiggle the handle after every flush! It's the simple pleasures in life, right? ;) The new floor will come at a later date but for now, we're just glad they found the source of the leak.

And one more picture of our baseball crew!!