Friska Update

Friska has caught, that I can document, 2 mice. She is finally earning her keep. Yesterday Carter went to the garage to get in the car for swimming lessons. He came in with a huge smile and said, "Mom there is a surprise for you in the garage. Close your eyes and I'll take you out." You guessed it, he moved the cat food bag back to proudly display a mouse head. I kicked it out of the garage. Carter cheered. "Mom, isn't is awesome that ants are trying to eat it?" Awesome Friska. Awesome Carter. There is no doubt that I am the mother of boys.

Voles--post not for the weak of heart or stomach

I wanted to title this post a swear word. Pick any one you can think of, it will fit the situation. Horrible little voles made my yard their personal playground under the snow this winter. They have destroyed the lawn that took hours of hard labor and thousands of dollars to install last summer. I have been trying to be reasonable about the situation. We live by a field. I love that field, so I'm trying to be calm. That calmness is over now. The creatures presented me with a gross out, want to throw up dilemma today. I kicked one of their piles of dead grass and guess what flew out? Little pink babies. I thought they were dead. I called my dad. He informed me they were alive. AHHHHHHH!!!!!!! What to do? I don't want them out there, but somehow killing a baby, even if it is a destructive, horrible swear word creature baby, seems more than I can do. I'm leaving them for Jeff.

P.S. I tried to make a learning situation of this awful mess and took Carter out to show him the babies. I pulled the dead grass back with a shovel and told him they were the babies of the voles that had ruined our lawn...our beautiful lawn. He said, "cool..mom, maybe you should stab them with the shovel."

P.S.S. I swear he doesn't have emotional disorders. He is just very much a problem solver. Some day his wife will endure his endless logic.

Visions of the Future

Here is an actual conversation Carter and I had tonight as he was falling asleep:

Me: "Carter, even when you're a big daddy with little kids, I'll still love to give you hugs and kiss your head."

Carter : "Uh Mom, I won't be having little kids because I won't be married."

Me: "Why is that?"

Carter: "Because I want to stay with you" (awwwww...isn't that cute?)

Me: "Okay, that's fine."

Carter: "Mom, do you think they'll have different phones when I'm all grown up?"

Me: "Yes"

Carter: "hmmm...more new phones from the network Verizon Wireless"

and then he fell soundly asleep.

Please save me from the vision of a 35 year old Carter in my basement spending every penny on technological gadgets. Please.

Grrr..

So I walked out to my garden yesterday afternoon. The garden is mostly a failure, but the potatoes were growing. I noticed a giant pile of dirt in the middle of the garden. "What happened here?" I thought....I investigated further to see beets ripped to shreds and two lone potatoes scratched and scattered about. Then I saw the culprit...chicken bones given to Zoiee the night before. Apparently, she dug up the garden to hide them. I threw it out in rage and was mumbling to myself about how I wished the stupid dog hadn't wrecked the potatoes. This is what Carter said to me in the sweetest, most sincere voice ever, "Mom, you should be happy. She dug them up and peeled them for you. That is so nice of her." Oh to see the world through the eyes of a 5 year old.

P.S.---I brought the "damaged" potates in the house (I couldn't stand to throw them away.) Spike asked all day to "cook the dog tomato (AKA-potato)". I finally cooked for him and it was a big hit. Thanks Zoiee for providing a snack for Spike.

Post-it

So this is not really a post...more of a post-it note. Carter was sick this weekend and this is how it went down. He entered my room about 6:00 AM, looked at me with a total "deer in the headlights/panicked face" and yelled, "Mom, I don't think I'm healffee (Healthy)," and then he threw up. It cracked me up. Only Carter would announce sickness in that way.

In other news, Spike is now obsessed with monster trucks. He asks for "ucks.." (trucks) as soon as he wakes up in the morning. Between reading the monster truck program, watching Monster Jam recordings, and sending his trucks down the slide, he has as full schedule. As a note, Carter has had the same Gravedigger monster truck for the last three years. It was in perfect condition. Until this week when Spike started playing with it. It now has lost the body and has a bent axle. Go Spike.

Cow Part II

I was hoping the cow was a joke. I was hoping it, like so many other big ideas, would not come to fruition. I wish this was an April Fools Day joke. It is not. There is a cow in the corral. It's name is Dinner. Carter calls it a "steak cow" and is counting the days until we can kill it. Jeff and I have tried to be gentle about the eventual demise of the cow. Jeff suggested that it would go to a place, where it would "put it to sleep" and they'd turn it into meat. Carter's reply was, "that won't work, they need sharp things." He then asked when we would "shoot it". If you ask him now, "we are trying to see if we can keep it alive until Thanksgiving and then we'll turn it into steak. I love steak so much." Good for Carter. I, on the other hand, am not sure I'll ever be able to eat steak again.

Tickets and Prayers

Carter has been working on a reward program. If he does good things (as in going to bed without a tantrum, getting ready in the morning without me having a tantrum) he gets tickets. The tickets are redeemed for the various desires of a 4 year old. So far he has purchased lots of computer game time, a checkers game, and a trip to Chucky Cheese. (By the way, on the way home from Mr. Cheese, he feel asleep in the car singing, "it's the best day ever" song from Spongebob. )

Last night, as Jeff tucked him in bed, this was the prayer that Jeff and God heard, "Dear Heavenly Father, please bless Grandma and Grandpa. Bless me that I will sleep well and earn tickets so that I can see Monster's vs. Aliens coming to feeaters (otherwise known as "theaters") this Friday. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen"

Yes, he actually said, "Coming to theaters this Friday." So help me.....

John McCain

Heard in our car Saturday night:

Carter: "Mom, do you know who the next president of the United States is?"
Me: "No Carter, who?"
Carter: "John McCain is the next president"
Me: "Really? I'm not sure I support John McCain"
Carter: "Well, too bad. I'm a John McCain supporter."

How has this happened? My little Carter has grown up in a house of democrats, and yet at four years old, he's a John McCain supporter? I'm all for letting everyone pick their own politics, but I didn't expect him to pick so early!

The Jesus Store

On Tuesday I took the kids with me on quick shopping trip to Provo. We made it to three stores without a meltdown! The highlight of the day was the Distribution Center. We were walking through the store and Carter was, of course, bored. All of a sudden, he noticed there were pictures. This is what was heard by fellow shoppers:

Carter : "Mom, look, there is a picture of Jesus! Look, there is another one of Him! Mom, this is the JESUS STORE!!"

Me: (laughing) " Yes, Carter I guess it is. Do you know what is happening in this picture?" (picture posted above)

Carter: "Mom, see this guy and this guy (pointing to the two on the far sides of the picture) they are robbers. And Jesus, I don't know what he did to get on that cross. Too bad for him."

Me: "Carter, would you like to pick a Jesus picture for your room?"

Carter: "Um, no Mom...I would like a transformers poster."

I think it is time for us to invest in the Liken movies or a similar product. Any suggestions?

Shooting Stars

A few weeks ago, Jeff and Carter went to get the mail "in the middle of the night". (Code for around 10:00---after we got home from Bear Lake) Carter came upstairs today and told me that on the mail adventure, they had seen "two shooting stars!" He followed that up with this quote: "Mom, do you know that shooting stars are so powerful? They are so powerful that when you wish, any wish you wish will come true!"

Someone is watching too much Disney. Then again, here's hoping that Disney is right..I'll keep wishing on shooting stars.