Batteries, Dinosaurs and Poop

This post's title pretty much sums up my past 24 hours. Ella, Mason and I went to Ella's kindergarten classroom yesterday to check it out. I had already seen it last Friday, but the teachers opened up their rooms this afternoon for the students to tour the class and feel more comfortable. Ella loved it and wanted to start school right there and then. Here are Ella and Mason in the housekeeping area:

And here's Ella lovin' her classroom:

From this point on, it was all downhill. We had about an hour til the boys were done with their classes, so we thought that we would just play on one of the many playgrounds around the elementary and intermediate school to fill up our time while we waited for them. We went to one playground, but that wasn't good enough. Ella and Mason wanted to go to a different one. So, we'd try another one, but then a class would come out to play on it, so we had to move to another playground. Meanwhile, Mason is potty training. And he had to poop. And he has NOT yet pooped in a toilet. We had about an hour at home before leaving for Ella's class where I sat with him on the toilet, trying to encourage him to poop. No luck. He just fussed and cried and rolled around on the bathroom floor. So, I got out scissors and cut his hair. I figured, let's not waste this time completely. He's almost three, so he is ready for 'little boy hair' instead of those big golden curls that are a tad on the toddler-ish side. So, all this non-pooping caught up with him on the playgrounds. We would move to a new playground, then Mason would say he had to poop. We'd walk all the way over to a bathroom, try and try and try, then go back to a new playground. This cycle continued until he finally started to poop. In his underwear.
"NOOO!!!!"
Luckily, I must have been a boy scout in a former life, because I was prepared with diapers, wipes, and new underwear in my bag. I knew he wasn't done, so I put a diaper on him and let nature take it's course. It had been a few days since he had done any serious business, so I knew this might take a while. Which it did. By this time, Colton and Jaxon were done with school and we were going to go home. Mason, Ella and I had been watching a movie in the car for about 15 minutes before school let out, then Jaxon and Colton continued to watch the movie while I ran into the commissary with the little ones for some birthday cupcake necessities. Jaxon turned on the air conditioner in the car during my absence. Any idea what happened when I tried to start the car 20 minutes later? NOTHING!! Yup, dead battery. Again. This is the second time in less than 6 weeks that my battery has died. So, what do I do? Who do I call?
"CHRISTY!!!"
Christy and Dennis were on their way on base anyways, so we head back to the playground so that Mason can finish pooping and Ella and Colton can play while we wait for them to come and jump the car. They are so WONDERFUL that they actually stopped at the store to buy me a new battery on the way, but guess what? True to AAFES fashion, the only battery they are out of, is the one I need. SO, Dennis jumped my battery and we were finally on our way. Mason had completed his business, I had cleaned him up, every one had spent LOTS of time playing at multiple playgrounds, and I was even able to impress a 4th grade girl by demonstrating my ability to do a pull up on the monkey bars.
Here are some fun pictures of the kids playing at the playgrounds:



As I was taking this picture, Mason was telling me the following:
"Mom, I'm a very strong boy. This is dangerous for little kids. I'm a BIG boy."

And here's my favorite picture of the afternoon. Just guess what Mason is doing at this moment:

We finally got home, having read scriptures in the parking lot while waiting for Dennis, so I quickly made dinner, read stories, and called it a night. Ella came into my room this morning and the first thing she said was, "It's morning. There's light outside. I can be awake!"
Glad she knows the rules! We had a really fun morning going to the Dinosaur Park to help out a ward member earn his Eagle Scout. The mission, should we chose to accept it, is to wash the dinosaur statues at the park. The park has been open since 2002 and the dino statues have never been washed. So, what better time than the present? There was a good turn out and at first only Jaxon wanted to do some scrubbing. It didn't take too long for Colton to get in the mix and then Ella and Mason realized how much they LOVE baths, so figured these dinosaurs probably felt the same way. Here are my kiddos cleaning and scrubbing some cool carnivores and herbivores: