12 down...

????? to go.

12 mice that is. GROSS. Yes, Mike has already caught 12 mice. 10 since yesterday. Mike bought various types of traps yesterday morning and set them up right away. All of the mice have been found on the second floor (which we can't really figure out how they are getting up there without having a bunch on the first floor). And with each one I get more and more grossed out. How can there be that many? Where are they coming from? How many more are there? How didn't I come across one in the past month that I've heard them scampering about?? The kids don't know just how many have been caught...Cal is terrified. Maddie is relatively indifferent. Kaycey wants to keep them as pets. I hope this ends soon...more interesting posts to come, like about our enormous Christmas tree we went and cut down ourselves!!

Dec 4th

So after picking up Maddie from school today, I decided to make a run to Target (though after the fact, I thought to myself, why didn't I wait to do this till Mike came home??? Was it really necessary to get boots and snowpants while the kids were at school?? What was I thinking??) Anyhow, after the Target run, we came home and Maddie said she wanted to take a nap. Hallelujah!! She never takes naps anymore, so to bed we went. Too bad Sadie started fussing almost instantly. Maddie fell asleep instantly, though, even without having lunch. Sadie was sleeping, but would randomly cry out. So I debated...do I wake her up and make her eat and hope she falls asleep so I could try to take a quick cat nap before Maddie woke?? Or did I let Sadie keep squaking every few minutes until she decided to officially get up? Well, I took my chances with the first of the two options...and it worked like a charm. Sadie ate, and went right back to sleep. I went to bed and got to sleep until the older kids came home from school--almost a whole hour!! Which means Maddie took a two hour nap. Wow.

Cal was supposed to have his first basketball game tomorrow, which he was totally psyched up for. This coach is awesome; very positive with the philosophy of just trying your best is all that matters. Anyhow, the game is cancelled because somehow the game didn't get put on the other team's schedule (how would that happen, I don't know!!) So he does have practice in the morning, but we were all looking forward to watching his first game of the season. Guess it will wait till next week.

Still haven't brought out the Christmas stuff. Kinda hoping my sister will come over and pull some of it out for me (she did offer!!).

Dec 3rd, A creature was stirring...

yes, it was a mouse.

So for a month or so, I swore I heard little scampering around. Nibbling of papers. Noises in the vents. Noises in the wall. Mike told me I was crazy. Last night, the kids discovered a mouse in Cal's room at bedtime. I had just gone to bed, 8:15 or so, because of the extremely rough night the night before. All of a sudden, shrill screams echoed through the house. Mike ran upstairs, and what do you know, a mouse in Cal's closet. Conveniently, the baby woke up shortly thereafter, so I got back up to tend to her, while Mike attempted to catch the mouse. After a good 45+ minutes, and destroying Cal's room, Mike did get the mouse. The kids swear they saw another one this morning, which wouldn't surprise me. How the heck did one or any get upstairs, is what I would like to know. Anyhow, so Cal's room is still destroyed, and guess who will probably have to be the one to put it back together. The whole house is rather disheveled. I think I am going on strike. So eventually I got to bed, close to 10 o'clock, though. So another tired day for me. I was hoping for a nap after I took Maddie to school today, but Sadie has been up pretty much since we got home, and not particularly happy. Take a nap? When? WHile I am on the way to taking Maddie to gymnastics? Or perhaps when I took all 4 kids to the doctor yesterday afternoon for flu shots. Or maybe on the way to Walmart to look for boots (it snowed!), which they did not have any sizes I needed of course. So, alas, my kids went to school with no boots, Maddie was late to school, and I am deleriously tired.

Dec 2nd

Today Maddie, Sadie, and I stopped at the Scrapbook Store to make a quick visit. It was so nice to say "hi" and to see all that paper again : ) While there isn't much new stuff to look at, it doesn't matter. Just walking into that store inspires me!! We also took a trip to the mall. Maddie wanted to ride the train and eat lunch there. Unfortunately, my double stroller is stuck in the open position (it's been through alot...) and I couldn't get it in my car. I had to take the single stroller (which actually is also stuck open...I don't know how this happens) which was none to pleasing to a certain 4 year old that she would not have a seat while going through the mall. I had to make a couple stops in the mall (geez, to think I go to a mall and actually want to go into a store, and NOT just to ride the train!) but Maddie was "too tired" and was not very cooperative. Don't fear, it has nothing to do with the new baby. Maddie has done this as long as I can remember. Even when she would be sitting in the stroller in the past, she would conveniently be "too tired" to want to go into any of the stores. She perked up a little when we bought a Christmas dress from JCPenney's for her. We also bought something for Cal to wear for Christmas. Little Sadie is set for the holidays, as she has 4 different outfits--I just hope they fit her! Kaycey on the other hand...don't know what I'm going to do. She is not the frilly poofy fancy dress type. She is not the dress type period. If she had her way she would probably wear flight pants and a sweatshirt. Hey, what can I say, she likes to be comfortable--which is totally me these days! Any idea of where to shop for this girl would be greatly appreciated!!

Tonight we are going to church. I love this time of year in church; especially Wednesday night services, as we typically sing the traditional Christmas hymns.

Perhaps I will bring out some Christmas things tonight. I said last year I wasn't going to bring everything out, but I ended up bringing most of the things out anyways. This year I really don't feel like hauling everything out, but at the very least we'll have the trees (last year we had 4 trees!!) Now we just need a tad bit of snow to set the mood...

Dec 1st

Tonight the kids "picked" out names...since they aren't doing a gift exchange amongst cousins this year, my kids thought it would be fun to pick each other's names. I figure, there's four of them now, so why not. They are very excited to go shopping ALONE with Mom and pick something little out for the person they chose from a hat.

There was a car accident on the corner by our house in the middle of the night. I was up feeding Sadie. I don't know how I didn't hear the crash, but I heard the oodles of sirens. There were at least seven squads, a fire truck, and an ambulance that I saw. It even woke Mike up. From our porch, it looked to us like the police were at or in the neighbor's house. It turns out they were parked there, but the accident happened along the road, which is next to the neighbor's property. It appears the driver was speeding (just by the marks on the road and ditch it seems obvious) and the car flipped multiple times and crashed into a tree. The person in the back seat died, while the two in the front seat suffered some injuries, but will be okay. Cal and Kaycey were fascinated by the whole thing, and the fact that it was on the news. I know they are young, but they had alot of questions about why and how it happened, and so I am just trying to instill in them how important it is to be a responsible person and that some people make bad choices (it sounds like alcohol is a factor, as well as drugs). Kids grow up way too fast...