Holidays...the good, the bad, and the ugly....

hhmmmm...make that the good, the rotten and the horrific. Here is just a sampling of what we have been doing and seeing around the farm this holiday season.

THE GOOD

We have been enjoying lots of family time, reading, baking, cooking and game playing with an occasional Christmas movie thrown in. We have been going through our game collection, partially to play some things we haven't for a long time and partially because I am sneakily wisely taking notes to clean things out. Several years ago a bunch of us ladies grabbed all of our kids and spent a week at a beach house. While there we played a game called Cranium. Cranium involves charades, sketching, sculpting, spelling (forward and backwards!), knowledge of facts (useful and silly) and lots of other fun stuff.

We have been re-visiting that game (caution: you need to weed some of the cards out) and have thoroughly enjoyed it! Here Jeremy is doing a song and dance for the acting portion.



And Josiah is trying to make us say the word rodeo...(you can't see Elijah...he is on the floor doing an admirable imitation of a raging bull!).



And finally, Elijah is just being...well...silly George Foreman doing his "Buy My Grill...I have a hundred sons named George" routine. I wish I had that one on video!



Of course, all of this fun is accompanied by hot cider or eggnog and a lot of homemade Christmas cookies and must be carried out wearing p.j.s :)



Then we move on to....

THE ROTTEN...stinker that is :)

This little one shared with me that he had a "bad day". He was very "lonely" and shed quite a few tears. When I headed to sleep a few hours later to tuck him in...he wasn't where I thought he would be...like in his own bed....I found him in mine (Elijah likes to play musical beds and is known to sleep walk!). However, he is so cute....how could I be mad?

Please note that he is on MY side of the bed and on MY pillows!

And then there is ...

THE HORRIFIC

There has been much whispering among my older boys. I have just chalked it up to Christmas secrets...however...my suspicion was aroused when I kept hearing the word "grain" and there were multiple trips out to my little garden shed. I most distinctly did NOT ask for grain for Christmas. The night that there appeared to be much celebration between the two boys with high 5's etc., I finally grilled questioned them. They explained that they had been on a "quest" and had finally won....they took me out to show me their prize...YUCK! A rat...in MY shed! And, they have lovingly informed me, it isn't the one that they really hoped to catch...the really BIG one. Grrreeeaaatt...I have a freezer out there....guess the boys will be fetching and carrying for me until they catch the "BIG ONE".



Hold onto your hats ladies...it gets worse!!! Hard to believe but true!

A few weeks ago, we noticed some threads hanging out of what appeared to be a vent in the back of my truck. I thought it odd and pulled them off and threw them away. We had just begun to use the heat so I thought perhaps it had something to do with that. About a week later, I went to the grocery store and when I opened the back to put the groceries in, there were GOBS of threads hanging out of this vent. One word went through my mind...one horrible, frightening, disgusting word.....NEST!

I just KNEW that we had a mouse in my truck...my kids thought I was silly. They didn't say it in so many words but a mother can tell thank you very much. I was looking for proof. I found it this week. I lifted Elijah's booster seat (in TN he is still required to be in one) and underneath was what I was looking for (well not EXACTLY what I was looking for but it WAS proof!) lots of little mouse droppings! YUCK!!! Then, a few days ago I was at Sam's and brought home a bag of chocolate chips for some wonderful cookies. By the time I got home there was a little hole gnawed in the bag....double YUCK!

So...today, Jeremy *my hero* took the back apart and this is what he found...



A NEST! And you KNOW that where there is a nest...there are ...



BABIES!!! Beyond yuck! Although my boys kept telling me how cute they were....I didn't buy it. I kept thinking of what the newspaper would say...."Truck found overturned at the side of the road...reason for the accident unknown"...however they would figure it out once they did the autopsy and found the mouse up my pant leg!

It is amazing how much damage one small mouse can cause...



Look at all of that shredded mess. Insulation...straw...paper towels and plenty of food thanks to my "eat ALL the time" boys. The worst part is that we never found mama mouse. We left traps intact and hope to entice her tonight with some of her apparently favorite food...chocolate chips.

What happened to the babies you ask? Can you say kitty kitty?

*UPDATE* I hauled grain last night - something nibbled into the bag on the way home...mama mouse is STILL in my truck....can you guess what I want for Christmas?