Party Poopers

Disclaimer: This post is not for the faint of heart. Faint of heart being defined as those who don't appreciate any talk about bodily excrement (aka my father-in-law, Tim, and my husband, Joe). If you're bothered by this topic of conversation, skip to the next post.

As a mom, life is often filled with unpleasant things like cleaning bathtubs and poopy diapers. Life is even more unpleasant when you're forced to deal with poop outside the diapers and in the bathtub.

In the span of one week, I cleaned the bathtub three times, and all because of children pooping where they should not have been pooping. Theia pooped in the bathtub during bathtime twice, and our friend, Andrew took his diaper off and then pooped in his feeted jammies while waiting in his crib for someone to retrieve him. Thus causing more poop in my bathtub as it was the only way to clean him up.

Poop is gross. It's gross in the diaper, out of the diaper, in your bath water, all over a kids body, and it's gross trying to clean it out of a bathtub!

When I reported my string of bad luck with bathtubs and bodily excrement to my friend Christa. She exclaimed, "Trisha Pull, no one is supposed to have three poop stories in one week." I agree. Maybe next time someone could send these kids the memo on number of disasters relating to poop in one week.

On a related note, we've never seen Xandra exit the bathtub so quickly as she did when Theia filled it with poop. That girl can move.

No picture for this post. You can use our imaginations. We also don't have a picture. Who takes a picture of their kids poop in the bathtub, anyway?

When it Rains, It Pours

Last month, we not only put four kids in our bathtub. We put five kids in our van. You can't see them well (or at all), but Theia, Liyah, and Xandra are all in the backseat.

Joe took this shot just before unloading the five kids for a trip into the National Zoo. Each Thursday night in July the zoo hosts a sunset serenade. We brought a picnic and they provided the music. We arrived at the zoo with a little time to see some animals before the music started.

Just as we unloaded the fifth kid and caught up with friends, Brad, Lauren and their two kids, Faith & Jillian, it started to sprinkle. As we rounded the corner to see the Great Cats display (aka the lions & tigers) we found the animals all put away for the night. Then it started raining cats and dogs (ha!). This may very well be the reason the animals were not out. Those zookeepers are smart. They probably read the weather forecast.

We were soaked before we ever made it to a shelter.

So we just let the kids play in the rain.

When the rain stopped, we found another shelter changed some VERY wet kid clothes and ate our dinner.

The kids played some more in the twilight.

And we went home tired and mostly dry.

This is our second trip to the zoo this summer in which we did not see any animals. Who knew the zoo could be so fun with no animals in sight.

Happy Birthday Porcupine

Happy 3rd Birthday, sweet porcupine!

You've never looked better, baby!

Four to a tub, please

It's not everyday you see four kids in a bathtub.

Our family temporarily multiplied last month as friends, Ava and Andrew, spent a few days with us while their daddy was in the hospital.

Bathtime at our house has never been so exciting...

and the water has never been so dirty. Four kids find a lot of dirt in a few days time! If only Aliyah were big enough for the big kid bath...now that would be a picture!

Fingers & Toes

Aliyah has been grabbing her feet and playing with them for the past month. It's one of those 'classic' baby things that we've not seen in any of our other children.

Five Years and Counting...

Happy Fifth Anniversary Joey!

In five years we've:

celebrated the birth of Alexandra Ruth Pull;

enjoyed the Pull family Graham Cracker House tradition and started some traditions of our own;

finished Law School, substitute taught, waited tables, taught music, passed the Minnesota Bar, and worked as an attorney in DC;

welcomed Aletheia Miriam Pull to our family;

survived two camping trips together;

picked orchard apples, made apple pies with the youth group, and hosted Autumn Applelooza;

enjoyed fresh garden lettuce tomatoes, carrots, squash, basil, onions, and

grew pumpkins in our yard, on our trellis and from our trees,

added Aliyah Charis Pull to our family;

attended and participated in the weddings of many family and friends;

enjoyed watching three beautiful girls grow;

embarassed ourselves for free food, clipped coupons, and

made lots of fun memories.

Thanks for laughing, crying, living with, and loving me.

I love you.

Sunset Serenade

Each Thursday in July the zoo sponsors free music on the lawn for people to enjoy while they have a picnic dinner. We met cousin Katie Pull for the evening and had a blast. The girls always LOVE Katie and so do Joe and I. Thanks Katie for an enjoyable evening.

Chocaholic

This is the exact reason I usually eat ALL of the chocolate.

If I leave a half bowl of dark chocolate M & M's in our van, Theia will undoubtedly find them and shove as many of them in her mouth as she can before getting caught. Unfortunately for the van seats and her clothes she pays heed to the mess she is making.

Dancin' in the Street

After our expedition to Chick-Fil-A for free food, we walked to Downtown Silver Spring (DTSS) and ate dinner while we enjoyed some free music. Xandra and Theia further provided entertainment by dancing and running to the music.

They made a friend who danced with them for awhile.





And, to no one's surprise, Aliyah, slept.

Moooooooo

It's no secret. I like free stuff. I have been known to go to great lengths to obtain a free item here or there. So, when I found out Chick-fil-A was giving away free food a few weeks ago, I exchanged my apron for a new look that would earn me a free dinner out with my husband, compliments of Chick-Fil-A.

Despite an argument with the store owner about whether or not our cow nose, ears, tails, and spots qualified as a "real" costume, we did finally score some free food. Do you think he had trouble taking me seriously with that cow nose on?

Carpet Picnic

During a recent evening meal, Xandra proclaimed she was finished eating dinner and climbed down from the table to play. When next we looked at her, she had hauled nearly all of her play food onto this small pink blanket for a carpet picnic. If only she enjoyed eating real meals this much:

Another Year Older

It's Auntie Beth's birthday. We miss you and we love you. Have a GREAT day!