Mouse #2

Well, Cuddles captured his second mouse this morning. I can only hope he's finding these things in the garage and not in the house. I haven't seen any current evidence of mice like droppings or anything. But, Greg did install the cat door on the door between the garage and the house so it's likely he's finding them out there and bringing them in. This one was rather small, about the size of our last pet mouse, Comet. It was already dead when I saw Cuddles flopping it around in the hallway, at least. (For my sake, that was good. I didn't feel the need to run and hide that way.) It was 2:30 am and I was heading out to do my paper route at the time and couldn't coax the kitty out the front door. Greg was too asleep to get up and handle it so I figured we'd deal with it in the morning. Well, I forgot all about it while doing my route. Sammy found it, though! She was the first one in the bathroom and she walked in and right back out in a hurry. :) She was a good sport, though, and got a laugh out of it. Then we all gathered in the hall to watch Greg carry it out by the tail. What an exciting life, huh?

Nail Polish Episodes

One Saturday afternoon several weeks back, Sammy and Pejo were gone to their Nannie's for the weekend, and Susannah and Makaley and I were sitting around painting each other's nails. Greyson came up and asked if he could paint his, too. I hated to leave him out, but I told him that only girls paint their nails. Instead of being offended, however, he said then, "Can I paint your nails?" Well, of course, there was no way I could deny him that after he'd been so sweet and understanding. Plus, I was impressed with his line of thought! So, I agreed. Well, Greyson, as you may know, is quite the artist so he was not content to paint with just one color, nor was it a quick project. By the time he was done, my fingernails (and a significant amount of my fingers themselves) were pretty much tie-dyed. And of course, the finger nail polish remover is nowhere to be found. But hey, it was a good conversational piece, right? And I discovered that a shower will remove the excess polish so by the next morning, my nail job was perfect.

A couple of weeks ago on a Friday morning, Greyson and Pejo woke up super early, but I just had to get a little more sleep. I turned on a movie for them and proceeded to doze in the recliner. Apparently, the movie I chose didn't draw them in. I was in and out of sleep for a while, but was soon awakened by the boys with a request to admire their latest handiwork. A new drawing, you think? A tower of blocks, perhaps? Well, no, not exactly. With these two, you don't leave anything you don't want messed with in view, much less in reach. I guess we girls forgot this after the last nail-painting session and accidentally left some polish on the edge of the counter. When I sat up and looked at them, both boys were proudly sporting prettied-up toenails! They were positively beaming. I regret that I did not get a picture that very day, but alas, it is not too late. I still have not located the nail polish remover, but since they usually wear tennis shoes, I didn't search too hard and have left it on their toes to wear off. Surely it will, eventually ... Seems to me, the girls' polish hardly lasts three days, but of course, the stuff just will not leave the boys' toes. What am I going to do with those two? :)

Too Funny!

Yesterday morning in church, Susannah and Samantha were getting ready to start that game where you take turns connecting two dots at a time to make squares, then whoever makes the line that completes a square puts their initial in it, and the one who has the most completed squares when the grid is full, wins.  You know that one? Well, Sammy said, “I love this game.  Grandma always lets me win.”  Susannah then turned to Sam and said, “Well, I’m not Grandma.”  J

Rise and Shine!

Okay, now this is just gross! I'm sitting here at the computer in the dark because no one else is up yet, and I hear Cuddles (one of our kitties) growling. This is unusual for him, but I think that maybe he and Britt (our older cat) are having a stand-off. It continues so finally I get up to investigate. He is in our bedroom with me but I see that he is the only cat in here. Wierd. I walk over to turn on the hall light and upon doing so, I suddenly notice that he has a dark shadowy form in his mouth. Oh my! Sure enough, it is a mouse! I inform Greg of the situation and then head for the living room in search of something high to perch myself on. Cuddles is on the prowl, too, wandering with this wiggling thing in his mouth. Greg manages to pick Cuddles up, still carrying the mouse, and I open the front door so he can deposit them both onto the front porch. Patchy is all out of sorts now, too. She knows something is up and paces the house meowing constantly. Cuddles wants back in and we see that he has succeeded in killing his catch and has left it as a gift on the front doorstep. How sweet! Now we let Patches out to satisfy her curiosity. I've got the heebie jeebies, but nothing like an exciting story to get the girls out of bed for school! They can't wait to see the mouse for themselves!

Checking in ...

Hello, hello! Thought I'd check in. Life is speeding on by and soccer hasn't even started yet! We've been staying home more than before, but it doesn't feel any less busy around here. Five kids in the house gets a little loud at times. Well, okay, it stays loud most of the time. But it's usually happy noise of children at play.

Greg went on a week long business trip to Massachusetts recently, and during that time, my grandparents came and stayed with me. It was really nice to have their company (not to mention their help), and I hated to see them leave on Friday. Sammy and Pejo got to visit with their mom and nannie this past weekend in Oklahoma City. They hadn't seen Hannah for right at a month, so that was a happy reunion.

This weekend is the Garfield County fair. We are looking forward to going to the carnival on Friday night. It's always fun for the kids, albeit expensive for the parents. :) We usually go with friends so we all have someone to enjoy it with.

We are still appreciating the extra space we have in the new house, but I still can't say I've done much unpacking. I need the moving in fairy to pay me a visit. I suppose that's what I should be doing right now, huh? Perhaps it's a time management problem on my part?

Well, sorry to be brief, but I gotta get. My poor parents haven't heard from me in ages so I think I'll give them a call.

Till next time ...

Still Alive and Kicking!

Gee, it’s been forever since I’ve posted anything.  Sorry!  I know I have a few faithful readers out there.  Life has been crazy lately.  Sammy and Pejo came back on Thursday, July 31^st.  They are planning to stay with us until Andy returns from Iraq in December.  Having five kids hasn’t been too difficult, as they all play together really well.  As I’ve said many times, those boys are just two peas in a pod!  They can be a handful, though.  Like yesterday when the girls’ had dentist appointments.  I had to take everyone with me, and I thought we’d never get out of there.  The receptionists probably collapsed in relief when we finally did leave.  It’s a small waiting room and the boys really terrorized it.

The Friday morning after Sammy and Pejo arrived, I took all five kids and drove to Hot Springs, AR, to spend the weekend with my family.  We had a really nice time.  I missed a turn on the way there and drove a good 60 miles out of my way, but we eventually got there.  Greg stayed home to work around the house and also covered my paper route for me while I was gone.

I’m working Friday afternoons in August in addition to my regular Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday mornings.  I’m glad the extra day isn’t a permanent addition, but I haven’t minded it like I thought I would.  I like coming in at 1:00 instead of 9:00.  I’m always in such a rush in the mornings!

School started back yesterday, the 13^th.  All three girls were really excited about going and each had a good first day.  Makaley is in Kindergarten this year and doesn’t mind at all going all day.  Susannah did not adjust to the all-day thing very well so I’m glad Makaley seems fine with it.  Susannah is in 2^nd grade and her teacher is her 1^st grade teacher’s mother.  I thought that was pretty neat.  Sammy is in 4^th grade (wow, that sounds so grown up!) this year.  She will turn nine on the 22^nd of this month.  I don’t know if I can accept that.

Next week Greg has yet another business trip, this time to Massachusetts.  We won’t get to tag along on this one, but I am really excited because my grandparents are planning to come stay with us while he’s gone.  I needed someone to be here so that I don’t have to take all the kiddos with me on my paper route each night, and they volunteered!  It’ll be awesome to have them here, and they will enjoy getting to spend time with their five “great-grands.”  Hopefully they will still be sane when they head back home …  J

I have really gotten into listening to books on CD or tape lately.  I listen to them mainly while doing my paper route, and I think I’m addicted!  The other night I was in between books and felt rather lonely driving around with just the radio on!

Well, I had better end this update and get home from work.  Happy Thursday!

Status Check

Well, I am happy to say that our old house is very close to empty, FINALLY!! Did I say that in my last post? Well, we are really there now. There is one more truck load sitting in the living room waiting to go over, but it’s all boxed up and ready. There’s also one, maybe two, truck loads waiting in the garage, but they are out of the way and can sit there a little longer if necessary. Inside the house, I’ll just need to gather up a few loose ends, and then vacuum the floor and bring in the toys scattered in the backyard we almost forgot about. (Oh, and have we emptied the shed??) After that, I officially hand the reins over to Tricia to get done whatever she wants in order to prepare the house for her daycare. This Saturday she’s having a “working pizza party” where she’s invited friends and family to help clean and paint the house. I am not sure I was invited (because she figured I’d need to be unpacking now), but I invited myself and definitely plan on being there. She was absolutely instrumental in helping us get everything packed, and I figure the best way to repay her is to return the favor.

There is a town-wide garage sale next weekend (Aug 2^nd) that we plan to participate in. I know we have a lot to put out, but I’m not sure how much of it I’m going to be able to find. We may end up having another sale of our own in September. I need to spend a good part of next week focusing on it, though. We are going to set things up at the old house in the empty garage (it will be empty by then) and pair up with Tricia’s family, which we do every year anyway. They even buy sodas and water to put in an ice chest and sell. That idea usually goes over well in the August heat.

The kids and I will be leaving on Friday for my side of the family’s annual weekend in Hot Springs, AR. Greg actually volunteered to stay home and do my paper route and handle our part of the garage sale. While he will miss seeing family, I think he will get more relaxation out of being able to work on unpacking and his other projects uninterrupted and on his own schedule, than he would traveling 8 hours one way for a mini-vacation. The work waiting at home would weigh on his mind and stress him out to where he wouldn’t enjoy himself in Hot Springs. Me, on the other hand, I am the queen of procrastination. It won’t bother my conscience one iota to take this “break” and spend a weekend away doing nothing!

My brother Andy is currently home in Kansas from Iraq for his 2-week R & R. He was supposed to go back on the 26^th, but is expecting to get another 2-week extension. Due to some family issues he is dealing with right now, he has requested that he be allowed to stay home permanently and not finish his year in Iraq, but I don’t know that he is going to be granted that wish. In which case, Samantha and Pejo might be coming back to our house to stay for a while again. We are looking forward to having them, if it works out that way. Especially now that we are in the new house and have considerably more room!

Well, this is what we have going on right now. With a little work and other activities tossed into the midst. School starts back in three weeks on August 13^th. The s are both very excited about going back, which is good. They have really been playing well together this summer and using their imaginations to come up with new games. I’m always happy to see that. There’s been plenty of fighting, too, but we’d be worried if there wasn’t. Greyson has grown up so much, it almost makes me sad. He’s definitely a little boy now. I keep asking him to stay my baby, but he says, “No, I can’t be a baby. I’m Greyson!”

Have a great weekend!!