That's my girl.

That's what Stone said to me as I woke up on Sunday morning.  I hadn't seen him, or Jonah, at all the day before because I was running around scrambling for a Mary Kay gig.  And then, I got to sleep in (thanks, Aron) on Sunday morning.  See, the kids are REALLY attached to me for the most part.  But after a day of not spending time with me, they get REALLY attached to Aron.  On most weekends, if I am able to sleep in (sort of), they are right at the door, opening and closing it, checking in to see if I am awake.  Especially Stone.  Especially him.  Usually, I can hear them (mostly Stone) asking Aron when I will be waking up, can they wake me up? Is it time yet? Can I go check, etc. etc.  But this Sunday was different.  I heard no little chatter of wondering about me, no open and closing of the squeaky 120 year old bedroom door, no patter outside my room.  It was lovely and earie at the same time.  And usually when I do wake up the sound of the door makes the kidlets come flying knowing that I have finally risen from what they believe is a golden slumber.  (When in fact, it's more like a toss-and-turn-flip-around-because-my-back-hurts-and-my-kids-have-been-loud-since-7am kind of sleep).  But not this day.  I woke up and was able to cross the 5 steps into the bathroom without being heard.  Finally, I heard Stone, before I could see him of course, come trampling up the stairs to use the bathroom.  I peeked my head out and there he stood, surprised to see me.  And his reaction-'Oh, oh, there's my girl.'.

Of Mice and Men

In so many ways, it's a good thing I'm not an elephant.

We had a fabulous day yesterday, after getting stranded in Eagan on Saturday night after my sister's birthday party at my aunt's house, we came home on Sunday morning. We spent the day in our jammies, not working on any chores, just lounging around. Aron and I actually cuddled on the couch for a good hour, just chatting and looking at each other, the way we had done at the beginning of our relationship. I know, it's sickening isn't it? The gushiness that was just written, try to hold back your vomit a little. We watched movies together, us four, back to back (Mulan 1 and 2), and ate pizza in front of the tv. It was glorious!

While Aron was giving the boys a bath I decided to do a little work on the cabinets I have been re-painting (and glazing them a dark brown, a project that is turning out to be as tedious and painful as I had imagined). While working on the cabinets, movement caught the corner of my eye, and I looked down, and saw none other than a chubby, tubesteak of a mouse tooling around my kitchen. I didn't scream or shout, just called him some names and had him run back under the dishwasher. About 2 minutes later, as I was working on a drawer near the floor next to the stove, I heard the familiar scratching of little mouse feet and claws against the stove. Then saw him come out for a second from the stove. Ballsy little sucker. I called the boys down, because I knew they would be so disappointed if they missed the national geographic that was taking place in our kitchen. The mouse wouldn't show himself for quite awhile. This mouse was huge. It was about 3 inches long and about the width of a pillsbury croissant, more like an inbred rat really. It's belly dragged across the floor, I knew this because after I enticed it to come out from the stove with cheese, it proceeded to scurry across the kitchen floor into the laundry room, hiding under the toy shelves and a pile of laundry. By this point the boys are gleefully cheering and laughing at this fat little (big) mouse running through our house. We've got all sorts of capturing mechanisms-plastic food containers, a broom and dustpan, two large metal bowls, all in anticipation of our new pet. After some time, we gave up our search, but not before listening to Jonah talk about how he could catch the mouse. His suggestion was to use the bowl upside down and put fake bunny ears on it. Then the mouse will see what he thinks is his friend and come out to say hi. Then, when he comes on the bowl, we'll flip it over and he'll think he's in a pool (no water in there of course), and once he's in the bowl (pool), we'll throw him outside. Unfortunately we did not get to try out Jonah's ingenius, foolproof plan.

We put the kids to bed, and went about picking up the house from what little activity occurred that day. I was straightening a rug that had been folded over, and as I folded it back to its' original position, who do you think was hanging out in the fold of the rug? Fat mouse was chillin in his hiding spot. I quickly covered him back up, called for Aron, who then put a clear plastic food container over the mouse. We called the boys out of their slumber to check out our little friend trapped underneath a Glad container. The boys laughed and laughed, they tapped on the container and were thrilled to get up close and personal. Aron then proceeed to use a dustpan to scoop up mouse and container, then flung the mouse outside our back door, far far away (we hope). Aron was very proud to be a humanitarian that night.

This morning, as I got breakfast ready for the boys and began the preparations for school, I looked at the door in the dining room, remembering our friend who was put out the night before, and unbelievably, another mouse came scampering out from around the rug/backdoor/dogbed area! Unreal. The boys got all gleeful again, excited and squealing. The mouse ran into the living room and hid under the tv stand. I was so over this idea of 'let's catch the mouse and set him free'. I grabbed a towl and a broom and told the boys-'I'm sorry if this upsets you, but mama's killing this little mouse today', along with 'Mama may say some swear words today too, and she's sorry for that too'. After a few minutes of monitoring the tv stand, I saw the mouse miraculously running in the dining room (all three of us were staring at the tv stand, I have no idea how we missed it getting out, well, maybe it's because my visual team consisted of a 5 and a 6 year old), and alas, the little mouse escaped us again. About an hour later, I heard the beautiful sound of the mousetrap snapping under the sink, and while I didn't check (that's Aron's job, btw), I do believe our little mouse friend met his fate by temptation of Skippy Natural peanut butter.

About Time

After spending so much time on CaringBridge this winter, I decided that it's high time we create a blog for our family. I love writing. I love sharing. I love people. So here we are. The ability to share our life experiences regularly with people who are interested is invaluable. Not to mention, the therapy that writing provides me is priceless. I'm so excited to start expressing and updating. Welcome to the Buchanan Family Playground.