The Great Pajama Adventure

It all started when Hailey woke me up at 3:15 in the morning. After playing soccer, her knees were hurting, and she needed a leg massage. The minute I left my room and headed for hers, I knew something was terribly wrong in the house. There was an unusually strong musty smell to it. Different from the regular musty smell of an old house that's been rode hard and put away wet, so to speak. It was like the difference from the smell of an old person, and the smell of the same old person, but dead.
So I took a few minutes and rubbed Hailey's leg while I decided what to do. I knew where the smell was coming from. While I was sweeping the hall that day I found that the baseboard between Caleb's room and the bathroom was wet. Shawn thought that maybe the water to the upstairs joke of a bathroom had been turned on somehow, and checked it. He turned it on and then back off. (we don't use the bathroom up there for several reasons. I'll explain later.)
With family coming over for dinner, we got distracted and never thought of it again.

*did you know that water leaks don't spontaneously fix themselves?*

Obviously, if the smell was any indication, it needed immediate attention.
After taking care of Hailey, I moved Caleb out of his room and onto the living room couch. Without waking Shawn, I went out to the shop for a hammer, a razor knife, and a crow bar. I cut the carpet remnant that lies on the tile floor, and began to dismantle the bottom of the wall. The baseboards were saturated and toast. The cheesy paneling on the bottom half of the wall splintered off in a million pieces. Then the sheet rock under it all crumbled off the studs. And there it was. A fine misty spray coming from the ancient brittle PVC pipe.
The water leak.
That's when I shook Shawn awake.
"Honey, I'm in a little over my head, and I need your help now."
"Huh?"
"I found the water leak in Caleb's wall, and I need you to shut off the water."
He took his sleepy, underwear clad self to the other side of the house. I think he might have been a little surprised at the sight.
After turning the water off, and climbing back into bed, I lay there tossing and turning. My brain was awake, and I couldn't go back to sleep. Realizing I was hungry now, and knowing by the sounds coming from the other side of the bed that Shawn was still awake, I told him I was in the mood for some rooty, and maybe some tooty. (IHOP speak, for those of you with dirty minds) Well Shawn was in the mood too, but not for IHOP. (okay, dirty minds) I had a fabulous idea, and with a little coaxing, Shawn went along with it.
I woke up each of the kids, handed them their shoes and told them we were going on a pajama adventure. I had them put on their shoes and get in the car. By now it was 5:15. We drove in silence to IHOP and had breakfast in our jammies.
I am a cool mom.
I had to make up failing Parenting 101 the day before. I'll tell you all about it another day.