Tidy Bowl - circa 1972

When this Todd was but a wee toddler, apparently I crawled into our toilet and was enjoying my personal jacuzzi. When finally my mom came to find me, she saw that I was puttering around and enjoying myself in the toilet. Realizing that this was the ultimate Kodak moment, she ran to get the camera. By the time she came back to take the picture, I had crawled out of the potty. In order to not let this moment be lost to history, she proceeded to stuff me back in there and take the picture. In the picture you can see that I was a bit upset to be thrown back in there in such an undignified manner by looking at the crying expression on my face!

Hidden Broccoli - circa 1978

When we were kids, we were playing hide and seek and my little sister, Brooke, who was about three, hid so well we could not find her. We looked for over an hour and then ended up calling the police. The whole neighborhood was out searching a couple of hours in. In the third hour we found her - Asleep under a pile of clothes in the laundry room!

Rascal

In the ongoing battle between father-in-law and son-in-law, FIL struck first. Over Thanksgiving, we stayed at some condos on Lake Coeur d'Alene. It is a beautiful setting, and we had a wonderful time there.

We were there for a week, and I had brought along a bunch of puzzles that I thought we could put together as a family. I started working on one a couple of days before Thanksgiving, and spent a couple of hours each night puzzling away. (Didnt get much help from anyone...) One night, I stayed up until midnight to finish it. I felt quite accomplished and was relishing the completion into the next morning. I had been reading a book in the bedroom, then came out at about 9 a.m. LeAnn's dad apologetically mentioned that someone had bumped the table and the puzzle had been broken apart. Disappointment washed over my face as I looked over to the table and saw a jumbled pile of puzzle pieces. My three children even looked over at me with sad expressions on their faces. I tried to remain stoic and played like it was no big deal, but they could tell I was a bit upset about it. I proceeded to take a shower and came out 15 minutes later. LeAnn's dad quickly told me that the kids had put the puzzle back together again. I look over, and there it is, all complete! He went on to say how it must not have been that difficult as they could finish it in that short of time when it took me four days! As the wheels are churning in my head, I realized that I had been 'played'. The puzzles I brought had five different puzzles in one box. They had all moved the completed puzzle into another room and pulled out one of the other uncompleted ones!
touché
After getting punked like that, I decided I had to get back at FIL! After my family had duped me before, I decided that I needed some cohorts in exacting my revenge. First, we waited until grandpa and grandma left the condos. Then we proceeded to toilet paper grandpas bedroom. We went through a roll pretty quickly, and then realized that we might run out of TP if we used another roll, so ended it there. It was funny to see his reaction when they got home. Since that was a pretty tame prank, I wanted to take it to the next level...
Grandpa has this bottle of super-spicy salsa that he brought along for the trip. It has habaneros, jalapenos, scotch bonnets, all of the super-hot chilies in it. It was a bit much for most salsa eaters. When we stopped at the store that evening, I asked LeAnn to purchase some mild Pace Picante sauce. Begrudgingly, because she knew she would likely be implicated as a partner in my crime, she bought it for me. Upon arriving home, I took FIL's special salsa bottle and removed its contents. This, I replaced with the mild stuff. The kids were so excited to see the show that night because we were having Mexican food and we knew grandpa would break out his 'special salsa'. As dinner preparations were being made, there was a bag of corn chips out on the counter to entice him. He took the bait. He got his salsa (what he thought was his salsa), and took a dip with a chip. We were all watching expectantly to see his reaction. He smacked his lips a couple of times, and looked quite confused. He took another chip, and tried again. His eyebrows scrunched down in consternation as he thought he was going crazy. He must have figured the third time was the charm. He took another bite, and then said: 'Something is wrong with my salsa!' The room erupted in laughter and he finally realized that he had been duped.
Now I just need to watch my back as I know he will be scheming to get me back again. :)

The Flap.

A couple of weeks ago on a Saturday morning, I was down on the couch in my 'lounge pants' reading a book. Jaylin and Austin came down and Jaylin took a look at my pants and noticed that there was a 'hole' in the nether regions. I tried to explain the purpose of that 'hole' in the most refined way that I could. She kind of made the big saucer eyes and said 'that is gross'.
Austin, on the other hand, was quite enraptured by the conversation. I noticed him listening in and told him that he would have the same type of hole in his whitey tighties. He said, 'No, I dont!'. I told him he should take a look. He pulled down his pj's a bit and said 'That part is sewn down'. I then told him he should go check it out in the bathroom. Twenty seconds later, I hear him screaming - IT WORKS! IT WORKS!
I guess I never thought much about teaching him about 'the flap'. So funny that he made it to ten years old before realizing that he could use it. Now, everytime he comes out of the bathroom, he tells me- "I used the flap!"