Brief weekend recap.

There was no time for sleeping this weekend. We were busy, busy busy. But, a pile full of pillows + your trusty pair of pliers, are a super combo for relaxing after a long day's work.

As you can see by the safari hat, we were off to the zoo. On of our favorite frequently visited spots.

The spring foilage was absolutely gorgeous. I wish we had a nicer camera and a cooperative kiddo. Posing among posies wasn't an ideal activity when there were gibbons and meerkats to be seen. (And, I do realize he is not posing in front of posies here. It was for alliteration's sake only.)

Beck was absolutely beat afterwards. We were too :)

I hope you are having a gorgeous Monday. I am off to the dentist at 3:15pm (and I HATE the dentist passionately) and am {gulp} bringing Beckham along with me. This will be a treat for both of us. In the most sarcastic way possible.

Friday Happies

We were at my parent's house last night and Becks was getting the biggest kick out of running around the corner of this couch, to which we greeted him with mass applause and cheering. Thus, he repeatedly performed over and over and over again. He thought it was hilarious. As did we, the ever-obliging peanut gallery. Anything to see that toothy grin. {Some shots are a bit off, as it was difficult to catch him on the move.}

Also, do you not love his Kelly's Kids leprechaun overalls? Thrift of course - $1. Love it.

Lastly, I am on spring break with an arsenal of ambitious DIY projects to complete over the next 8 days. You know I'll be taking pics to show you the play-by-play. Happy Friday!

The real {long} account of the mouse.

Saturday morning I decided to rise before the boys to get a head start on some spring cleaning, brew the coffee, and ultimately enjoy the quiet before our Saturday truly began. Quickly realizing that our sugar dish was a little low, I decided to root through our pantry in search of a half-full bag that I just knew was lost in the clutter on the floor. Clutter might be putting it mildly. Let's just say there were several half-full bags of various baking goods haphazardly strewn about, creating a large mound of forgotten surplus. There were probably 3 bags of flour. Like I'm The Pioneer Woman or something and need 15 pounds of flour on hand on any given day.

So, anyway, I'm searching for the sugar, and coming up with a Halloween candy basket, powdered and brown sugar, more flour, some toothpicks, and STOP THE WORLD something THAT MOVES WHEN I TOUCH IT.

A mouse you all!!!!! It was unmistakeably a mouse!!!!! And I TOUCHED IT.

When my brain registered the fact that I touched a MOUSE I screamed the loudest, most girliest scream I could muster and immediately squealed B, WE HAVE MICE!!!! With my skin crawling, I managed to dash to the living room and onto the couch (pulling my legs up of course), and sent B in the direction of the kitchen.

So, he headed toward the pantry, fully prepared to deal with our rodent visitor. I took up residence on the dining room table, newly clad in my Ugg boots for good measure, able to witness the disposal of this disgusting critter. Just writing about it, give me the heebie jeebies.

There I sat as B sorted through the floor of the pantry, scared out of my mind. I don't really think he had a plan, other than to be my knight in shining armor and locate the mouse. My plan was to stay out. of. the. way. {Sidenote: I can watch the scariest of movies, but -gosh darnit-I cannot cannot cannot handle critters of any kind - especially IN MY PANTRY. That is WAAAAAY scarier.} After tossing a couple random objects to the kitchen floor, out scurries the mouse HEADED IN THE DIRECTION OF MY BEDROOM. I scream again. Like a girl. And B laughs and scolds me for being loud enough to wake Beckham and the neighbors. I am about to puke with fear. Visualize the-squirrel-in-the-Christmas-tree scene from Christmas Vacation and I am the grandma passing out on the floor. At least B was channelling Clark and not Uncle Eddie, though a dickey really would have added some much needed comedy to the situation. Anyway.

By the time B made it to look around outside the kitchen, Mickey was long gone, and I was FOR SURE he was either in Beck's toy bins, the inside of my shoes, or in the sheets of my bed. Mostly, I hoped my Fairy Godmother bippity-boppity-booed him back into Cinderella where he belonged. FAT CHANCE.

Of course we couldn't find that fast little guy, and I continued to wear my Ugg boots during the day (despite it being 70 degrees) just waiting for him to dart out across my feet. We cleaned out the bottom of ALL of our closets, and luckily found no droppings or remnants of this mouse or his mouse cousins. We obtained some mouse traps and put one in the kitchen, the living room, and beneath our bed.

Fast forward to 12:30am.

I am in bed, reading the latest on Young House Love, and B is snoozing on the couch in the living room. Naturally, I checked all of the traps before I got in bed to assure that they were still in place and prepared to do their jobs if need be.

Well, need be you all, need be INDEED.

All of a sudden I hear the SNAP! of the trap BENEATH MY BED. BENEATH MY BED. BENEATH MY BED.

I was terrified. I couldn't even move. It took minutes for me to find my voice to holler for B. Because that rat wasn't dead as far as I knew, and was likely flopping around under me trying to climb up my sheets and onto my face. So, I finally yelled for B, who responded by saying What? and then apparently falling right back to sleep. I spent another three minutes trying to produce enough saliva to rid myself of dry-mouth so I could yell for my husband again. You have to understand, I WAS ABSOLUTELY PETRIFIED. This was a fear like no other. As I waited for B to come, I pulled the sheets way up over my face so that only my eyeballs were showing. Because, of course, that is the way to protect yourself from a dead mouse under you bed. That and Ugg boots, which were unfortunately located in the top of my closet at this point.

B finally comes and I mouth the situation to him as he peers through the door. I didn't know if speaking too loud might bring the dead mouse back to life. Wide-eyed at my announcement, he comes into the room and looks cautiously under the bed. He confirms what I had heard ten minutes earlier, and I make him get my boots so that I can move. I put them on under the covers, and remained in bed until B exhumed the body. I finally mustered up enough courage to get out of bed after he disposed of the remains, and then refused to leave B's side for the next 20 minutes while he cleaned under the bed and reset the trap. Lord have mercy, it was the scariest hour of my life.

Our traps have to yet to catch any other mice, but usually where there's one, there's more. Which is completely disgusting and makes me feel dirty. Which I'm not. And our house isn't either. We just have good mice food, I guess. Regardless, I still get the chills thinking about it, though I've moved beyond wearing my boots around the house. Except when I go in the basement, where I'm sure an entire mouse compound exists.

Oh, gosh, I hope not. Grrrrrrrrrroooooooooooooooooooos.

This post is NOT about my Easter mouse. But the next might be.

Did you have a hoppy Easter? We had more of a mousy Easter, but that is neither here nor there. Well, actually it is. I will just save that story for another post.

Becks started off Easter morning with a sugar cookie as big as his head. Purple sugar, no less. Only the best to celebrate our Savior's resurrection.

Then we all dappered up and headed to church. You have to use a word like dapper when you dress in seer sucker and wear Docker's. It's a rule, I think.

'Scuse the squinty eyes. Of course it had to go and be all pretty and sunny yesterday, so I had to wear a new sundress WITHOUT tights and the sun reflecting off of my ghostly legs was too much for me to handle. (Note to self: spray tan before wedding in two weeks.)

After worship, we headed to Nana & Papa M's house for Easter egg hunting and more sugary treats .

Obviously, Becks was pretty pumped.

Then we headed waaaaaay across town (2 miles) to Nana & Papa K's house for more Easter egg hunting, sugary treats, and Easter dinner. It should be noted that Beckham thought that everything that was inside the eggs was edible, including this rubber fish. He would "taste" everything after smashing the egg on the ground.

It was roughly 3:45pm-ish when the little man could take no more, and Aunt Aubz and Dino (otherwise known as Danielle if you don't understand garbled 2-year-old English) took him on a walk to put him out. (Forgot the pack-n-play! Doh!)




After a brief reprieve and a couple matches of cornhole, we went home so that the men could do manly things for the rest of evening. Fortunately, their manly activities involved only cutting the grass in unison and not beer and women.

And sadly, last night was the last time Becks would get to play in his supersize sandbox. As of lunchtime, it was no more :(

Have a mouse-free Monday!

I scream, you scream...

It was a Graeters night for Becks.

And a nice, long walk for momma and dada.

Elena's Blueberry Pie ice cream is a great way to end a Thursday.

Oh, boy. This is a glimpse of what we're in for.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

Have a Good Friday {wink, wink}.

Thinking outside the box.

This morning Beck's new sandbox was delivered. All two tons of it. Right in front of our house. My mom brought him home to nap this morning and she said he kept repeating Big dirt! Big dirt! So, as soon as he got up from his nap, we went on a run, and then I let him play in this crazy massive pile of sand. It's sheer magnitude awed him and he spent quiet awhile just staring at it, contemplating what to do first. Finally, he dropped to his knees and got to work. Also, a big thank you to our city and the 12 months of road construction we've endured to finally be rewarded with more than potholes and the incessant urge to wash our cars. Now I just have to bathe my baby instead.

So, the weather is finally spring-like, and I find myself referencing the days as sunny or gorgeous instead of plain old Tuesday or Wednesday. Life just takes on a different light in the spring, and we've spent hours outside taking it all in. It's so much fun to watch Beck explore.

However, what's not fun is trying to bring him back indoors. Cosmic ramifications, people. We're talking a helllllllooooo-mom-I'm-almost-two-this-is-called-a-tantrum kind of ramifications, involving back-arching, wailing, squirming-free-of-momma's-arms type moves and repetition of the word no! I just consider them patience-building exercises.

And, unfortunately, Beck doesn't limit these tantrums to the confines of our home. Nope, they are on full display at the grocery store (when I insist he ride buckled in the seat), at the library (when it's time to go home and he's pulled his share of board books from the shelves), and at the park (when I'm buckling him into his carseat). Need I mention the terrible twos and that Becks won't even be two for another THREE months. Oy.

When he's not busy playing in dirt or pitching a fit, he's still the sweetest little man around. Future preschool hearthrob, I'm sure of it :)

Just a regular old Monday

We were away this weekend. At the Lakehouse with the whole fam. The weather was absolutely gorgeous on Saturday, though I fully admit to lazing around inside watching The Blindside and basketball games for most of the day. Both were, ahem, semi-disappointing.

I know, I know, The Blindside is like everyones favorite movie, and while, yes, it was good, it wasn't near as good as I imagined it to be. Too much hype. However, how cute is the name Collins? Love that.

I also watched Precious today which was exactly as disturbing as I expected it to be. Shoo. Nauseating. It made me sad for all children that suffer any form of abuse. Absolutely absurd.

And then there was the Wildcats, who played literally the worst game of their entire season on Saturday night. The entire Bluegrass State mourned this loss together, and even Becks in his blue and white chanting Go, Cats! wasn't enough to warrant a win.

There is really nothing to report here. It's rainy and glum and I probably should be doing laundry, but what's new?

Also, Spring Break 2010 is only TEN days away. Thank. Goodness.

Tootle-oo!