What happened to the Bassetts?

In a nutshell:
The camera is down for the count.
The dryer situation: Dryer A died on us and makes a pathetic electrical buzz when we try to turn it on, no other response. Dryer B turns the drum but has no heat. Dryer C, which we were going to purchase, made no buzzing, turning, or heat at our house but works great at someone else's house. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Kailyn read 46 pages of "Reading with Dick and Jane" to me last night, without a single mistake, then another 15 pages from a different "Dick and Jane" book.
Jordan starts and continues conversations. She has started telling me about her days and the things she enjoyed. She has a new dress that a friend, Rachel, gave to her, which is absolutely adorable. Too bad the camera is down. She has worn it every day since she got it--4 days ago.
Caden pouted yesterday--his feelings were hurt when someone suggested he not chew on a rubber bouncy ball. It was cute, and the first time we remember seeing his feelings get hurt. We call him "echo" because he does a great job of echoing everything we say. His speech is improving tremendously. His prayers are especially cute. He is also getting really good at knowing his body parts, like chin, toes, fingers, as well as the usuals (ears, eyes, nose, etc).
More later.

Unusual

Saturday...what a day. So, we have been without a dryer for sometime cause ours broke down and we were waiting for one that someone was going to give to us. We finally worked it out to pick it up Friday. I was so excited that I had stopped doing laundry (I was sick of hanging things up to dry). We got the dryer home and.....it doesn't work (I had asked before picking up if it worked the person said it did, so not sure what happened). Can I tell you how bummed I was. I had waited all this time for a broken dryer and now have loads and loads of laundry that need to be done. So I decided to check out the local laundromat. I was a bit nervous about how the kids would behave but they did awesome. I think it was the novelty of it all.

When we arrived home we had no electricity. Which really stunk cause it was a hot day, thank goodness not as hot as the day before. There had been a really big storm that had gone through the night before and I think as they were repairing wires they accidently knocked out our power. By dinnertime we still didn't have power so the kids and I went and grabbed some $5 pizza and took it to the park to watch a baseball game and eat (Ken by the way was working a 30 hour shift). It really stunk having the power off cause we didn't have A/C or fans and I wasn't able to get a lot of things done that I had planned on. The power eventually came back on around 10:30pm (over 12 hours without power). By the way we were without power last Saturday too cause of a tree that fell on a powerline during a storm. I'm thankful though cause even though 12 hours felt like a long time in the heat, I know a lot of people didn't have power for days.

Caden helping at the laundromat.

Jordan

Kailyn

Caden wanted to paint with the girls. I don't know if you can tell but he has paint all over his face.

Jordan pulling Caden in the wagon.

This morning I went downstairs to find a chair knocked over and our garbage all over the floor (it normally is under our sink). There was a trail into the livingroom and out the back door. I think a raccoon got into our house. It's the only animal I can think of that could get it out from under our sink and would eat things like popcorn, watermelon, and hot chocolate powder (which is now ground into my livingroom carpet in 3 big stains). Ken was the last one to bed last night and didn't shut the back door thinking the cool air would be nice...not realizing that the screen had a big hole in it.

Caden checking out the mess.

Part of the trail leading out the back door.