A tale of tails

I love boys. 
I live with a house full of them.

They cause me to grow in ways I never imagined. I mean, as a teenager with four sisters, I never imagined that I would delve into a world of slimy crawly creatures.


I remember the first time I squeamishly caught a frog in our flower beds in Memphis.

And the time I actually got bitten catching a lizard for a very curious four-year-old.

I consider it divine intervention that I have been transformed into a mom who finds these little tornadoes with mischievous smiles completely endearing.

Last Christmas, my mother-of-boys temperament was again tested when Dallin insisted that the only desire of his heart was a snake. Landon was just as excited to comply with his brother's wish. So a snake it was.

I don't know what came over me--maybe it was a void left when our sweet dog Molly died shortly after Christmas, or maybe it is just the unconquerable mother in me, but (as I should have predicted) it didn't take long to figure out that only I can dangle a frozen mouse by its tail with just the right amount of realism to convince our fussy King Tut to eat.

How did this happen? How did I become the life sustaining provider for a snake?

Feeding time is thankfully infrequent. Last week Dallin again got a mouse out of the freezer and submerged it in a cup of warm water to thaw it out--as is the usual procedure. And once again, he convinced me to take the unlucky dinner morsel by its tail and entice the snake to eat. All is well, King Tut is full for a good couple of weeks.

The next morning, as I began to clean up the mound of dishes waiting for me by the sink, I found myself overwhelmed with thirst. I mean, I guzzled three cups of water before I even stopped to breathe. 

Wait a minute...was this cup just...Oh it couldn't be...No I must be mistaken...

I think I might dry heave...

I'm not sure I can survive these boys after all.

Any one know if dead mouse water has any nutritional benefits?

Lucky 100!

This is my 100th blog post! That is kind of exciting I must say. It is really nice to be able to look back at pictures and posts and remember what we have learned and what we have been up to.

Jenna and I had a violin recital this weekend. Jenna played Lightly Row and I played Bouree from book two. It's kind of funny that I started playing again--with the same teacher who taught me years and years ago. Neither of us practice as much as we should but we are learning. (it was a costume recital--I was a witch and Jenna was a snow queen).

This is Benson flashing Rustin's favorite smile (cracks Rustin up every time...) and this is just minutes before he fell sound asleep.


I finally got sick of the horrible shiny gold 1980's light fixture in the dining room. I found some little lamp shades at Lowe's for $1.47 and a can of black spray paint. I took a giant box and held it up around the fixture and sprayed it black and wallah! a new fixture. The one I really want is $200 but the mere $11.82 price tag for this one helps ease the disappointment! I also hung a garage sale find shelf above the window to hold the curtains. Now that's it's (almost) Christmas I am ready to get some lights up there. One of these days I'm going to take an electric wiring class...
{by the way--I just learned yesterday that all this time Benson thought I was saying DYING room--like go get the plates in the dying room... No wonder he looked at me so strange whenever I asked!}
Everything else here is great. Benson got a pretty good sized burn on his hand when he ran up behind the 4-wheeler on Saturday. ouch. He doesn't seem to be hurting anymore though.
We measured Austin at my parents house on Sunday and he is almost a full two inches taller than Dallin and Landon were at his age. Hmmm. This boy is totally destined for football we think.
I have been working on getting the closets reorganized. I have determined that none of the holiday projects I want to do can start until I finish the projects. Me with organized laundry/clothing. That will seriously be worthy of a post all its own.

A few more halloween pics!

Boo!

It was a dark and stormy night...
Actually it was a dark and foggy morning. We left our house at 5 am. (don't ask me how everyone can hop happily out of bed at 4:45 if it involves a trip to Franklin but no one can wake up at 6:30 for school...). We had a little Spooky gathering in Franklin with all the Nelson and (Jot)Hatch cousins.
Witches' hair
Snowman noses and giant thumbs and a few other food items that will make me gag if I try to write about them. (Gross food names and my stomach don't get along. Seriously--how did I get four boys?)



Cleaning out the last of the garden...carrots and potatoes
Franklin


And for those of our friends who wonder where our children got their competitiveness, check out this video. It has to be genetic. This is the oldest cousin and the last to take a whack at trying to outsmart Grandpa and the pinata. How many of you have family parties like this!