One crazy evening

Tuesday night, we had great friends Evan, Heather, and Jude Blackerby over for dinner and kid's playtime. As we were all in the kitchen ready to load-up our bowls, we noticed Maddie (our 3 year old) standing inside the refrigerator holding high above her head a completely full pitcher of lemonade with no lid. All four adults began a barrage of "Maddie, no, wait, uh!" but our voices nor hands were quick enough. Down came Maddie, feet above her head, no-lid pitcher up-side-down, slow-motion filling every refrigerator shelf and drawer with sticky lemonade. I literally observed a rising water line of lemonade in one drawer. Maddie was okay, but soaked. The floor was a pond and we had a huge dilemma: eat or clean-up the lemonade while before it becomes fly paper? Evan and Heather were gracious, we pulled out the fridge, removed all the drawers, cleaned everything out. When else do you deep clean your fridge except when something like this happens?

Thirty minutes later, we sat down to eat and hysterically asked one another, did that just happen?

But that wasn't the end of one crazy evening. Maddie starts copy-catting Luke coughing ... but she has a tortilla chip in her mouth. She gets the chip lodged in her throat, can't get it out, making way for a 3 year old's gag reflex. Evan, sitting beside her, begins the assembly line, hands her to mommy, daddy is clearing the way to the bathroom.

She doesn't make it. Vanessa, as is her typical response to such insanity, starts laughing. At some point, circumstances just become comical and you have to laugh and profoundly enjoy their honesty.

We got it all cleaned-up, bathroom floor mats in the washing machine, but we never returned to the kitchen.

Twenty minutes later, 10-month-old Luke pulls himself up behind a push car and starts walking behind it, steering his way around the living-room like he's been doing it for weeks. What a way to end the evening.