Never A Dull Moment

If you read my blog you know I HATE creatures and that includes any and all critters which includes any and all pets (sorry).  But most of all, I hate snakes and mice.  I am absolutely terrified of them.  While looking in the silverware drawer the other day I saw some small brown matter.  There were only a few of them, but I panicked.  I sent G to the computer to google "mouse droppings" and paced around the kitchen while he investigated.  Sure enough, we had mice/mouse.

I can't even express the panic that set it.  Luckily it was a Saturday so G could help me.  But unfortunately, it was a Saturday so we couldn't call an exterminator that minute.  I immediately began washing and sanitizing.  Over the next few days I scrubbed every square inch of my kitchen and washed every single dish.  We only found a small number of droppings in two drawers, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.  I couldn't think about anything else until I was sure there were no more.

That Tuesday we paid a guy an obscene dollar amount to come set traps and bait stations.  (My peace of mind is worth a lot.)  After he left, I had Sambo in the garage using the shop vac to clean up debris and leaves that had blown in.  All of a sudden, Sambo came running in the house telling me there was a dead mouse on the shop vac.  So it was confirmed -- we have mice!  I was both disturbed and relieved that maybe our rogue mouse was dead.  Apparently he died on his own and not because of the exterminator, which just figures.  Since then we haven't seen anything.  But the exterminator will be back to check things out in a few weeks to be sure.

It's a little surprising we haven't ever had mice in the house before, considering our two houses have both backed to a field.  I'm hoping it never happens again. 

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Here are a few recent conversations with the kids.  

Buddy suggested a "section for fat people" in the Costco food court. He doesn't like that the benches are so deep from the tables there at the food court.  After looking around and noticing most everybody was obese, he made this suggestion.  (I know this is rude -- and we told him so -- but is he not right????!)

Sambo calls homeless people "cavemen."  He has made the mistake now three times.  Last winter we did a service project with several friends making kits to hand out to the homeless.  Now that the weather has turned rainy, he keeps asking me when we're going to pass out bags to the cavemen again.  When I told him we'll be doing it soon, he suggested we give them a house "because that's what they really need."

Buddy spent a few years talking about "juvi" all the time.  "I have to sit in my carseat otherwise I'm going to juvi."  Now that he's grown out of that phase, Sambo is saying stuff like that.  Is it just my kids?  Or are all 5-year olds talking about juvenile detention?

Sambo is now insisting we call him by different names.  It was "Cracker" last week.  But if you called him "Cracker Jack" he got mad.  Just Cracker.  This week it's "Bob the Builder."  He doesn't even watch or like Bob the Builder.  ???? This child insists on controlling the family and will do anything to accomplish that goal.  At least this one isn't too disruptive.

We are still hoping to adopt and have had some serious ups and downs related to adoption lately.  The kids have been praying constantly for a baby.  Sambo's prayer at dinner the other night was especially cute. "Please bless that your daughter makes a baby to give to us."

I love Presidential Election time.  I love the debates, the drama of people sharing their political beliefs on facebook, watching the coverage on CNN while at the gym.  I just love it all.  I might feel differently if we lived in a state that was undecided, but Oregon decided their president 4 years ago.  But I still enjoy all the drama.  It's like a current events soap opera -- which combine all my favorite things.  In fact, Buddy came home from school with Time for Kids lately. I guess his class reads it and he enjoys it so much he actually reads them and saves them.  His teacher knows he likes them, so she gave him a couple random magazines she had leftover from this summer.  I couldn't be more thrilled.

Sambo enjoys looking at "Where's Waldo" books but he calls it "Where's Weirdo." And he's not saying that to be funny. 

Buddy's school has called three times in less than two weeks because he's gotten hurt at recess.  I asked the lady to please tell me my child isn't the only one that gets hurt every day at recess.  She nervously laughed and basically said "He is an active one, that's for sure."  But she tried to smooth things over to say she just adores him because he's always so grateful for her icepacks and he always thanks her profusely for patching him up.  An important note:  Buddy has told me all the rules they have at recess, so the fact he STILL gets hurt baffles me. 

Buddy told me I was "skinny for my age."  Nicest compliment I've ever received.

On the way to school this morning Sambo was telling Buddy he likes the part of the Madagascar movie when the "chickmunk" chased the "walking shark" into the hot lava.  Buddy corrected him, "It's not a chipmunk.  It's an aye-aye which is similar to a marsupial, lemur, and monkey."  I was extremely amused by this since I've never even heard of that animal.  Note:  It took me 10 minutes of googling to figure out how to spell it. And I'm really glad I don't live in Madagascar because that thing is CREEPY and having that thing come into my house would do me in. 

Christmas List

Last week the Lego store at the mall hosted a really fun event.  They had an outline of the USA on the floor and kids or adults could make a U.S. landmark to add to the grid.  Sambo made a spaceship and Buddy made a river with a salmon. I wish I would have gone back at the end of the 3-day event to see the final product.  It was really cool already when we were there at the beginning.

For the past 9 months or so, every time Sambo sees something at a store he CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT, I tell him to "put it on your Christmas list."  It's sort of unfortunate that both of the boys have birthdays near Christmas because the poor children have to wait all year for anything.  Unfortunately, Sambo doesn't know how to write and I'm not usually really listening when he talks incessantly about what he wants while we're shopping. 


Well today he confronted me.  He asked me where his Christmas list was.  I told him I lost it.  But he totally called me out and accused me of not writing anything down.  So I had him grab a piece of paper and we started the list.

After telling him that he is asking for too many Lego sets for Christmas (18 to be exact) -- and that Santa will think he's greedy -- he informed me, "You don't control Santa.  He can do whatever he wants."  

Here is what is on the list so far.  Knowing him, I'm sure there will be MUCH more added in the coming days. Unfortunately this doesn't really give me much to work with, considering I'm not buying him 95% of what's on this list.

Sambo's Christmas List:

• Camera
• Remote-Control Train
• Hello Kitty Mini Fridge
• Slushee Maker
• Dad's Remote Control Car
• Gun
• Circle Gum
• Kid Computer
• A Real Ipod
• And we narrowed the Lego list to: Batcave, Speeda Demon, Republic Striker-Class Starfighter, Ultra Sonic Radar

While he and I were looking through the Lego catalog, I noticed Buddy had written me a note on the Ninjago page of the catalog that said, "No Ninjago's, OK mom!"  He has been wanting a Ninjago Lego boat for months and has even tried saving for it.  He said if he couldn't save up enough he wanted it for his birthday, which is in a couple of weeks.  But at the Lego store last week he saw other things he apparently likes better, so he told me about them. I kept telling him, you are sure you don't still want the boat?  You've wanted the boat forever!  Apparently he didn't trust I understood.  Hence the note in the catalog. 

Related:  We will be doing a lot of talking about giving this holiday season so my kids understand the true meaning of the holiday.

Is It Just Me?

....Because I find these pictures hilarious!  G just recently found these and emailed them to me.  I can't stop laughing.

G, age 3 (we assume)

G and me before we even got engaged.  Hanging out at his house in Reno.  This was 15 years ago!

Zoo Trip

Thursday was the last sunny day of the year, so I decided to do a little outing with the boys after school.  I suggested either a pumpkin patch or the zoo.  We went to the zoo less than two weeks ago, but Buddy loves it so he strongly voted for that option.  So that's what we did.  Not surprisingly, nobody was there.  Nobody was there the other week we went either.  In fact, nobody is ever there when we go late in the afternoon.  It's so nice because we can stand around for as long as the kids want to watch the animals without being rushed by other kids that want to get up close too.  The animals must know when the crowds are light because they were all out and very active.  Buddy was so excited to be there.  He was frantic -- like it was the first time he had ever been to the zoo.  He looooooooves animals. 

We hung out in the otter and beaver area for about 40 minutes. First, Buddy realized that the river otter was willing to play with him, so for ten minutes he ran back and forth as fast as he could racing the otter.  When Buddy would stop running the otter would stop swimming.  It was interesting because sometimes the otter would show off and do a flip and Buddy would win.  Other times the otter would swim quickly and beat Buddy.  Sambo thought this was hilarious (and actually thanked God for helping Buddy think of this fun 'game' when he said his prayers later that night).  A few people wandering through the exhibit stopped to watch.  I couldn't tell if they were amused or perplexed over this kid running back and forth in front of the glass.  

Sidenote:  G is really mad I don't have a smart phone so I could have recorded this game.  It's true, it probably would have went viral like the video of the lion trying to attack a baby through the glass at this same zoo. 

While we were in that area, Buddy struck up a conversation with a 65-ish year old man there by himself.  After their conversation droned on for awhile, I texted G telling him I really hope Buddy gets married and has kids someday so he doesn't have to go to the zoo by himself to talk to random kids about animals.  Buddy and the man discussed beavers then frogs for 30 minutes.  It was slightly creepy, but I was standing there the whole time, so I wasn't really worried.  It was more awkward, I guess you'd say.  After we finally ditched him, we ran into him again at the monkeys and even Buddy mentioned he was tired of talking to him, which is saying something.  I had no idea Buddy ever could tire of talking about animals.

While in the monkeys we watched a male and female monkey hugging and kissing each other.  Buddy was convinced they were mating.  I told him they weren't, but he couldn't be convinced.  Later that night when Sambo was telling daddy about this he kept saying how "cute it is when monkeys mate."  I asked him if he knew what that meant.  He said yes, it's when they have babies.  Fortunately/unfortunately my kids know way to much about this topic, thanks to their interest in the life cycle of animals.

Slightly related:  Whenever we go to the bats exhibit I have to stand just outside because I'm terrified of them.  As the kids were walking out to rejoin me Buddy said, "I don't know why you are scared of bats. They are actually really cute.  Haven't you ever been on a romantic date with dad, or your high school boyfriend, what's his name, R***?  And didn't you see birds flying around in the night sky? Well those are actually bats and not birds."

The one complaint I have about the zoo is they make the railings too high for little kids to see over, so my kids always climb up to see.  As Buddy was climbing over the fence to the bear habitat which had a bear wandering around 15 feet from the railing Buddy said, "I'm really glad they tame these black bears."

Happiness

Another craptastic week/month.  But there were a few good things from the past few days:

• Glorious fall weather.  We've had temps in the mid-70's for a few weeks and it's been so nice.  I put my face in the sun every afternoon and I think that vitamin D has seriously prevented the loony bin.
• How much joy Halloween decorations bring my boys.  They LOVE everything about Halloween and have taken great care to make our front porch the scariest on the street.
• The candy bouquet that appeared on my porch today.  (thank you)
• Speaking of candy.  The large amounts of candy, caffeine, hamburgers, and pizza I've consumed in the past few weeks.  
• Weight loss despite all the crap I've been eating.  Unfortunately, stress is the only way I lose weight, but I'll take it, I guess.
• Our dinner conversations with the boys.  So, so funny.
• General Conference weekend.  It couldn't have come at a better time.  Wearing my pajamas all weekend, snuggling on the couch with my family, and listening to uplifting messages from inspired leaders.  Honestly, what could be better?
• Tickets to see The Killers in a few weeks.
• And this is probably a really bad habit, but I've been taking epic naps every Monday after dropping Buddy off to school.  Maybe it's the Monday nap that's prevented the loony bin actually.

Creativity

I was born with zero creativity.  I imagine all kids are creative (besides me), but mine are especially so.  They both are "out of the box" thinkers.  I'm amazed at what they come up with on a daily basis.  Yesterday they rigged up a "water slide" in our backyard.  They've dug a 7-foot deep hole in the field behind our house and play all sorts of games out there.   

Every day Sambo usually works on some sort of "surprise" project for Buddy while Buddy is at school.  The surprises range from "look at how I did my hair today! Isn't it cool?" to a new rock to a castle out of blocks waiting on the living room floor at home.  He is super into making masks too and frequently surprises Buddy with a new one.

 Castle Surprise

 Bird Mask Surprise.  (He made this entirely by himself.)

The Tron Legacy Mask Surprise.

Sambo checked out a book from the library with all sorts crafts.  The boys love it so much we've renewed it 3 times.  Sambo saw one in there with colored water, so we rounded up some Mexican Coke bottles that we just so happened to have lying around.  We filled them with colorful water and lined them up in the kitchen window like a rainbow.  The picture below does NOT do them justice.  They are so pretty!

And I can't leave out Buddy, since he comes up with cool and crazy stuff all the time too.  He made a "Gaboon Viper" for his Raingutter Regatta boat for Scouts last week.  He designed it and besides some of the basecoat painting, did it just how he wanted it.  He also has been drawing a lot the past few months and has quite a collection of dinosaur drawings.  My friend, who is a real artist, mailed him some sketch pads a few weeks ago and he's been filling them up quickly.

Today I picked Sambo up from preschool. The teacher let me know they learned about "mice" today.  She said the kids worked on making a "mouse house."  We both laughed when she told me most of the kids made a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  But she said, "It was really funny because Sambo actually made a computer instead of a house.  He was very intent on working on it and really wants to finish it at home."  As I got in the car, it came to me.  He made a computer because he was instructed to make a mouse house.  Get it?  Computer?  Mouse?  I asked him to show me his computer he was working on.  Sure enough, in the middle of his "laptop," was a trackpad (or mousepad). 

My kids are so awesome.