Birthday party

Last Sunday we had Zach's first birthday party. It was a lot of fun with family and friends from all over coming up. We watched playoff football and played the handheld poker game that Mark gave me. I, since then, have finally beaten it once. There were lots of presents and toys flying everywhere. I had wanted to spend some time with Cassidy but she was too busy playing in the blow-up castle the whole time. That castle was the big hit of the party. Kids were in and around that thing the whole time. Zach had a fun time eating his cake and ice cream. It was the typical all over his face, head and hands deal. He reached for the candle but we caught him in time unlike Olivia's first.

We've had water troubles. Our toilet upstairs which I thought had fixed started leaking from another place. Doh. So the kids and I worked on that yesterday and we fixed what was wrong but now it needs a new fill valve. And I was thinking to myself the other day that I should have picked on up but didn't. Oh well.

Our water softener died as well. So that was another big project yesterday. I bought the water boss 900, some fittings and said a little prayer that this would work and went at it. Magically it went together as it should and it seems to be working. I haven't tested the water yet with the test strips but we should be good to go. Now what to do with the old one.

We have the day off today and Mark is coming in from California to the Twin Cities so we'll see him as he heads south.