where did Quickfoot go?

Yesterday was a zoo. Between not waking up until after 7am and then the kids clambering to get outside in the snow, I was off to a rough start. Timmy pulled the typical toddler act of wanting to go out, but taking more time getting his snowsuit and boots on than he spent outside. I must have taken off 12 pairs of boots, dried 14 pairs of gloves, and swept the kitchen floor 6 times to get rid of the snow. I was certainly dreaming of a future mudroom with vinyl floors, hooks for coats, and a place to lay out mittens and hats to dry. One day I will have these things, but in Maine where they will be needed on a daily basis, not just once or twice a year.

The other thing that threw me off was the missing header picture on the blog. It just disappeared. Well, easy enough to fix, I'll just find the photo file and put it back in. No luck, I took that picture with my non-digital camera, it is stored on the old computer in Maine, and I have apparently lost the disk.

Plan B would be to take another picture of the two alligator bath toys. But.... I could only find one, even after looking all over the house two times, stooping uncomfortably to peer under beds, in toy chests, in the basement. Then I remembered that we had spotted the exact same alligator at the thrift shop last week and the kids begged me to get it. Maybe it is still there a week later?

So, after dropping off Will and Mary at piano we searched the toy aisle but of course it was gone. We did find a close substitute. I bet Will $5 that we will find Quickfoot (one of the two baby alligators in the picture book, No Fighting, No Biting by Else Minarik) when we pack up this house in 2 years, but until then, the lizard will have to do.

For fun read Creative Minority Report's adventure of Dad trying to get 5 kids to the doctor's office in record time and finding out 1/2 way there that 1 kid forgot his shoes... I haven't laughed so hard in a long, long time!