THIS BLOG IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!

We went two nights without catching any mice, so sweet Mike was convinced that his job as Eradicator was complete. I talked him into leaving the traps out- just in case! Last night we caught mouse number 6. Because this one did not bleed everywhere or require the use of the rubber mallet, I decided that a photo might be in order. I can't believe I am about to post this, but I feel like some of you weirdos really want to see this, so here you go. . . .

And as long as I am posting pictures of disgusting things, here is Carter trying his hardest to sneak up on and "scare" an already dead bug in the middle of the playroom floor. He kept yelling "BOO" at it and then laughing his head off! Who needs a room full of toys when you have a dead roach around? And before you ask, I did not let him play with the dead mouse.

Undee-wear!

Carter has been requesting "undee-wear" in the afternoons for the last few days and has actually done pretty well with telling me when he needs to potty! I would love to be done with diapers, so this is definitely a step in the right direction. I cannot get over how adorable he is in big boy underwear, but part of me almost feels sad that the last "babyish" thing about my baby is almost gone. Ridiculous, I know! Here he is proudly posing for the camera in his "train undee-wear."

And just for grins, here are a few more recent pictures that made me smile!

Carter all dressed up for church on Sunday:

Carter and Mai riding their "rody" horses with tremendous energy and enthusiasm!

Weekend Reflections

1. Mice do not like peppermints.

2. Girl time is good for the soul. Friday was "scrapbooking night" and we did everything but scrapbook. I came home exhausted from laughing and thankful for the women that God has placed in my life.

3. I ran into an old friend whose husband has been unfaithful to her and I came home all the more appreciative of my precious husband who chooses to love me even through the crazy!

4. I was invited to hand out awards at our district swim meet as an "alumni" and it made me feel both old and nostalgic all at the same time. And I forgot how hot it is inside of an aquatic center. Yuck.

5. I had my first attempt at matchmaking on Saturday night and I felt like it went smashingly well. I will keep the names anonymous in an attempt to protect the privacy of the future couple. I am giddy like a school girl about all of it.

6. I had forgotten how much I love the sound of birds singing outside of the kitchen window.

7. I do not rest well in chaos- I am certain that I have a touch of OCD. Mike just finished laying the wood floor in our front room on Friday and the house is starting to feel "complete" again and it is fabulous! (He did a terrific job on the floor- pictures will be posted soon.) Ahhhh.

8. Our Sunday night tradition is eating breakfast for supper, and while I know that it is a silly little thing to do, I find that I look forward to it all weekend just because it feels "special." I want to be intentional about enjoying the little things that make life fun!

Rodential Update

Our official mouse count is now up to five. I came home from work yesterday to find Mike with a trapped live mouse in a rubbermaid container in the kitchen. He saw no problem with any of this. I, on the other hand, was troubled by the use of my rubbermaid for such a purpose and the fact that the little rodent was now in my kitchen. His entire purpose was to demonstrate the "squeak" of a mouse to me, and I have to admit that I was wrong about squeaking. They do in fact make a sweet little noise.

So, the dilemma with catching mice is that more often than not the trap does not kill them- it merely maims them enough to make you sort of feel guilty. So, Mike has been escorting the live ones to the garage with a plastic bag and a rubber mallet. This, my friends, is why I feel like posting pictures on the blog would be massively inappropriate. However, I will continue to track our progress because I feel like so many of you are emotionally invested in this with me now!

And Ben, keep on laughing! We may just start a catch and release program at your house! Teehee!

Krisken

Every morning when Carter wakes up, he lays in bed and happily calls "Open the door, mom." He says it over and over again until I finally go open the door and then he says "HI" with the sweetest enthusiasm that you have ever heard.

This morning he started with "Open the door, mom." I had just gotten out of the shower and was not quite ready to trek upstairs yet. So, he then progressed on to "KRISKEN, open the door." I laughed so hard that I had to go get him in my partially clothed state.

Uninvited Houseguests

I hate to admit this publicly because it makes me feel so dirty and creepy, but Mike is insistent that I blog about the latest adventure in the Lewis house. We seem to have a little- strike that- a large problem with mice in our utility room. It all started with a few droppings a few weeks ago, and now I am convinced that an entire mouse colony is somehow nested on my property helping themselves to catfood and happily pooping in my floor. Mike swears that he heard some squeaking one night while I was sleeping. I seriously doubt that mice actually squeak and that on the off-chance that they do that he actually heard it, but he is convinced.

So, my hunter gatherer husband went to Walmart and bought every kind of mousetrap known to man. We have the classic wood trap baited with peanut butter. We have the glueboards in various shapes and sizes. And we have some new fangled and rather humane looking black plastic mouse box. He could not wait to show me the danger zone that used to be my utility room. I had been home no more than an hour when we found our first victim and that sucker was FAT. He had been living off the fat of the land for a while. Score one for the old fashioned wood trap. The down side of this first catch was that there was truly an alarming amount of blood and despite the fact that I desperately want these mice out of my house it made me really sad to actually see him dead.

Last night, or rather early this morning (4:30 am), I heard Mike up in the utility room. He had caught one on the glueboard and saw another one run for his life out the door. The best part of this story is that one had triggered the wood trap and somehow drug it under the washing machine. So at 4:30 in the morning Mike is in the utility room right next door to where I am trying to sleep and he is throwing the washing machine into the wall while he noisily shoves a stick of some kind under it trying to kill this mouse. Fifteen minutes later he had set it free and hacked me off. I was wide awake wondering why the loud assault I had just experienced could not have waited an hour until my alarm went off.

So, now we are on to night number two of the attack. I am hoping to either get several tonight or at least scare them off with all of the commotion that I am certain Mike will be making at an equally inconvenient time. The only comfort that I have in any of this is that they are only in the utility room and not in the kitchen or Carter's room, but they gross me out and make my skin crawl. Yuck. Mike wanted me to post pictures. I am not sure I need to subject you to that yet, but rest assured that I will keep you updated with our progress.

Top Secret Family Recipe

When we were little kids, my mom used to make hot dog men for us for lunch as a special treat every now and then! We knew that it would be a good day if it was hot dog man day. I am pleased to tell you that this "recipe" has now made its debut in the Lewis house. Carter happily ate his arms and legs giggling the entire time. While I am no Martha Stewart, I knew that my blogging buddies would appreciate my attempts at making dinner time an adventure! May I introduce you to my first attempts at "hot dog man. . . "

My Own Little 12 Step Program

I always use the restroom in the nurse's office at school and there is this poster hung directly across from the potty in there that you can't help but read while tending to business. It is a list of random goals like "smile more often," "enjoy sunsets," "eat more chocolate," - you get the picture. The one that always catches my attention says "overcome your addiction to approval." I love this statement. I don't guess I had ever really stopped to think about the desire for approval as an addiction until this outdated yet somehow classic poster grabbed my attention with all of its pink, floral wisdom.

Naturally I got to thinking about how much of my life I have dedicated to pleasing someone else either with how I look or how I behave or any number of other silly, petty, insignificant things. I had a clarifying moment under the flourescent bulb in the girls cot room as I read this poster yet again the other day. The only approval that I should be striving for is the Lord's. Is my life pleasing to Him? Do my words and actions bring Him glory? Am I focusing on things of eternal significance or things that are temporary and fleeting? I want to live a life that turns other people to the Lord. I want to want HIS approval more than anything. So, I am beginning my own little recovery program and making a concentrated effort to deliberately care less about what the world thinks about me and keep my focus on what really matters. I don't want to get so bogged down in pleasing humans that I forget whose pleasure I was created for.

So, there you have it. My name is Kristen and I am an approval-aholic. I guess you can consider that my first step to recovering!

Mister Clown

Today was a funny Carter day! He is fascinated with my scarf collection and always wants to wear one when he sees me put one on. Today he selected the pink polka dotted scarf from my drawer and insisted on wearing it to school! It was rather cold outside, and I wasn't up for a battle at 7:45 so I let him wear it! He actually looked pretty cute and I smiled all morning thinking about my "little diva." You can barely see it in this picture, but be assured that it is very girly! His teachers at school just giggled when he walked in.

When Mike picked him up from school he did not want to leave because his class was playing a game called "Mister Clown." Apparently all of the kids sit in a circle and they clap and sing "Mister Clown, Mister Clown. Who's the funniest clown in town? __________ come and do a trick." Then they fill in different names in the blank and that kid gets up and does something funny. Mike stayed and watched about 5 minutes of the game and said that Carter was clapping and singing and then happily performing when it was his turn. So, naturally we spent most of the rest of our evening taking turns playing Mister Clown with the three of us! Carter's tricks normally consist of putting both hands on the floor while he lifts one leg, turning in a circle, or running around in a large circle. You would think that one might tire of this game after a few minutes, but not Carter. He would have played all night if we could have kept it up.

And last but not least, here is the wild man wearing Daddy's hat. He kept pulling it down over his eyes yelling "Where is Tarter?" Have I mentioned how much joy this kid brings us? What did we ever do without him?

Random Thoughts

Mike and I were talking yesterday about how very happy we both are right now. We both love our jobs, are still crazy in love with each other, have an amazing little boy, and are really enjoying our new house. We love our church, our friends, and our family. I could go on and on. I decided that I feel the same way that I feel when I am reading a really good book. The last several years have been fabulous, like a good start to a book, but now I feel like we are in those chapters in the middle where the story really starts to unfold. You know- the chapters where you really start to understand the characters and feel really connected to them. I am excited to see what the next chapters hold, but I love feeling like I am living in the center of my own adventure. Maybe I sound ridiculous, I don't know. I just feel so blessed and so happy and had to blog!