What a day!

Is this not the funniest picture you have seen all day long? Steve was working hard at getting whatever animal (we thought it might be a pack rat) that was under the pool equipment out so the dogs would stop digging around there. The poor guy was stuck like that for at least 30 minutes:

Riley helped a lot, too:

After Steve finally got the chipmunk out, Riley grabbed it, Steve yelled 'drop!' and Riley dropped it, then Gracie swallowed it whole...  She looks SO happy here:

and here she is after getting her well-deserved 

drink of pool water after it all:

Just in case you needed a laugh...  This is our CERTIFIED pack rat 

(and chipmunk) removal team in action:

"Jackisms" of the day

I was at the doctor with Jack today.  He went with me to the foot doctor and when we checked in the woman at the front desk gave him a coloring book full of National Landmarks and military vehicles.  While we were looking at it, he asked "Does the Vampire (Empire) State Building have Vampires in it?" which got quite a laugh from the people around us.   A few minutes later, he asked "What does the Stachaio of Liberty have inside of her? Pistachios?" He was a hit with all of the older people there!! 

We have a problem...

If you haven't yet heard, we have a small pack rat problem.  I guess they are common out here. Steve has been putting little poison packets out at night and we have been asking Michael to pick up the dog poop a little more frequently...  but we still have them.  Good news, though! Yesterday, Steve found a HUGE dead one out in the backyard!  I almost took a picture, but was trying to make dinner and didn't really want to get that close to it.  Today, though...  I had to take a picture of what I found today.  

A little massacre!  Three little dead rats that Riley and Gracie got... and Riley had another one cornered by the trash cans.  I haven't figured out if I am happy about this or not, but wanted to share.  Oh, and the rocks? That was Jack's contribution to the war.

Update: Upon further inspection, we believe these sad little guys are chipmunks and not pack rats. The one that Steve found in the yard was a pack rat, though...  the battle continues.

Missing Daddy

Last night as I was tucking the boys into bed, they each found notes under their pillows from Steve (he left yesterday for a short business trip). They were SO excited to read their notes - after Michael read his, he opened his pajama drawer and slipped it inside.  Tonight I looked in there, and look what I found:

Tons of notes saved from Daddy, and a few there from little brother, too.

Who's the cutest 8 year-old in the world?

Stolen basket

Jack woke up this morning and went out to the coffee table (where he left his Easter basket last night) - when he saw that it was missing, he asked me where I put it. I promised I didn't touch it, and then he got very sad because it was STOLEN!!  I was able to get the last few seconds on video:

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! The boys woke up this morning at 4:00 AM!!  We got them back to sleep and then had to wake them up at about 8.

   

After they found their baskets and eggs, they were allowed to eat as much of their bunnies as they wanted...  (SO hard for Mom and Dad!)

Ouch!

This picture is of ONE of Michael's bruises that he got while riding in his first BMX practice race - I swear it looks much worse in person:

And then the poor kid ran into a cactus tonight while he was riding his bike - 

Ouch!!