Date With My Girl

For Christmas, my sister and I decided to take our girls and mom to the Houston Ballet's performance of the Nutcracker.

We've got a bad case of squirrels. Yes, squirrels. They have taken over our attic. At first it was amusing. We could go up and see them. Then we could go up and see them, and their babies. We'd watch them run across our roof and jump up into the uncovered attic vents on the underside of our roof. They are no longer so amusing. They're loud. They need to go.

Please don't think badly of me...

I bought some rat poison. Three bags. Each bag has little blocks of who-knows-what that are to be distributed around the problematic area. Since the boys are always willing to go into the attics I gave specific instructions and sent them on their way. "Put two bags around the lower attic, one around the upper attic." 1 minute later Tyler declares "did it mom!"

Now, I didn't think it'd take a great deal of time but 1 minute was mighty quick. I asked exactly what they had done. "We put 2 bags in the lower attic, 1 in the upper". I thought a minute, smiled, and asked, "boys, did you take the blocks out of the bag?" Nope. They had thrown the bags, still sealed, into the attic and were legitimately confident in the job they had done. Nice. Luckily they were able to retrieve the bags and get the job done right.

I'm morbidly, anxiously anticipating hearing little thumps coming from my attic.

3 years ago today...

...we welcomed this beautiful boy into our family. He brought sunshine that we were so desperately needing and has been shining ever since. He is simply delightful. 3 years have been so much fun, I can't wait to see what this next year brings!

Happy Birthday my Jack!

My Grandpa's Book!

I'd heard it was coming, and now it's here! This is the story of my grandpa, David Ririe, and his 13 month experience in Hitler's Nazi prison camp after his plane was shot down during World War II. If it's your genre of book, check it out!

11

11 years ago early, early this morning this sweet boy joined our family.
I am so proud of the young man he is turning into. He is kind and compassionate, thoughtful and respectful. I so very much appreciate the example he sets for his brothers and sister.

Happy Birthday my boy.

Squidie

Last week I was greeted at school pick-up with "Mom! I have a squid!" Half unsure of what I'd heard and half completely aware that with Trey, I probably heard right, I questioned his comment. Sure enough, his class had studied the squid and at the end Trey asked if he could have it. I guess there weren't any possible complications that crossed his teacher's mind when she bagged the thing up and packed it in his backpack.
The kid came home like he'd just found gold. I couldn't get rid of it, aside from the fact I'm not really sure how to dispose of a squid carcass. He had already named it, "Squidie". Darling, I know. We now had a dead squid, in a baggie, in my kitchen. I quickly googled "preserving a squid" (never saw that search coming) and Bailey and I ran out to get the necessary supplies. Squidie now sits in a mason jar filled with 91% alcohol on a shelf in Trey's room (details provided should you ever need to preserve a squid- apparently it's a realistic possibility).