The Day the Squirrel Went Berserk

I would love for this to be a post about seeing Ray Stevens in town and hearing him perform his hilarious song Mississippi Squirrel Revival. It is a song about a boy who catches a squirrel and sneaks it into church. The squirrel escapes and causes revival to break out when the church members are unaware of what has scurried up their pants. But this post is not about seeing Ray Stevens perform. It isn't even about a squirrel. It is about the day Rachel's classroom pet, Speedy the gerbil, got loose and went berserk in Rachel's room.

If you read this post, you already know that Rachel's class at school has two pet gerbils, Icy and Speedy. Each weekend one lucky student gets to bring the pair home. Rachel has already had one turn. I guess actually two. One of her friends was chosen to bring the gerbils home for the weekend, but her mom asked if Rachel could take over care on Sunday because her friend had to ride the bus to school on Monday and couldn't take the gerbils on the bus. I agreed. After all, the kids loved having the gerbils at our house. On Friday morning, Rachel called from school to ask if she could bring the gerbils home again. Again, I agreed.

I have had reservations each time she has asked to bring the gerbils home because I am terrified that one will get loose and we won't be able to find it. Rachel will forever be remembered as the kid who lost the class pet. Since bringing home the class pet is one of those things I think she will always remember, I always agree.

Friday afternoon I picked Rachel, Aaron, Icy and Speedy up after school. All was well with the world. I reminded her that if they were going to take the gerbils out of their cage she needed to do that in her room with the door closed. The gerbils each have a plastic ball they can run around in. Also in the aforementioned post, I talked about the kids having gerbil races while the gerbils raced across the hardwood floors in their balls. The kids would go to Rachel's room to take the gerbils out of the cage and place them in the balls. When they were ready to go back in their cages, the kids would take them back up to Rachel's room.

Saturday was very rainy and the kids and I settled down in my room to watch a movie. After the movie, I made the kids lunch. Rachel finished first and said she was going to her room to read. I was waiting for Aaron and Hannah to finish when I heard this blood curdling scream coming from upstairs. I don't think I have ever heard such a sound from any of the kids. I don't remember getting from the kitchen to Rachel's room. When I did get to her room she opened the door and was in total meltdown mode. I thought one of the gerbils had died. Apparently she was taking Speedy from the cage to put her in the ball when she jumped out of Rachel's hands and started running all over Rachel's room. I don't know how long Rachel tried to catch Speedy before she went into total meltdown. Rachel collects snowglobes and they are displayed on a table in her room. Speedy ran under that table and in an attempt to catch her, Rachel broke two of her snowglobes. I'm not sure which she was more upset about, the escaped gerbil or the broken snowglobes.

I closed the door and saw the gerbil darting all over the place like someone had spiked her nuts with caffeine. I asked Rachel who was the best at catching the gerbils to get them out of their cage. She said, "Aaron" so while I kept watch, she ran to get Aaron. Then Rachel attempted to chase Speedy in Aaron's direction. It was not funny to watch at the time, but now it is pretty funny. I so wish I had my camera handy. When Aaron would bend down to grab Speedy, she would run in the opposite direction. The pack-n-play (for those of you who don't know, it is a portable crib like a play pen) was still set up in Rachel's room from our company last week. I took out the mattress, removed the sheet and had Rachel chase the gerbil in my direction. The mattress fold in thirds. After several attempts, I managed to trap the gerbil between the wall and the mattress. The way the mattress was situated Rachel and Aaron were unable to reach the gerbil. I was not about to touch it because I am sure it was scared and I was not going to let it bite me. Fend for yourselves, kids! I took one of the plastic balls and scooped it up. Rachel then took her from the ball and returned her to her cage.

Rachel cried for at least 15 minutes after it was all over. The snowglobes that were broken were not her favorites, but I think the whole ordeal was overwhelming. The kids have less than two months of school left, so hopefully Rachel is NOT offered another chance to bring the rats, I mean gerbils home.

Hannah's Tooth

Hannah lost her first tooth this morning. About 2 weeks ago, while she was eating lunch I noticed her bottom tooth looked crooked. Upon further examination, I realized it was loose. It came as quite a shock.

I've been preparing myself for the fact that Hannah will start kindergarten this fall and shortly there after Rachel will hit double digits. It had not occurred to me that Hannah would soon lose her first tooth. Rachel started kindergarten just before she turned 5 because she has an early September birthday and the cut off for kindergarten in California is December. She lost her first tooth in kindergarten and Hannah is the same age now as Rachel was in kindergarten. My friend Jen still calls her "Miss Three" and that seems about right.

Hannah and I were sitting at the breakfast bar this morning while she ate her breakfast and all of a sudden she said, "My tooth fell out." She has enjoyed creeping me out by showing me how far she could bend it back and forth so I knew it wasn't going to stay in there much longer. She went into the bathroom to look at the spot where her tooth use to be. When she came back she told me that she noticed she doesn't have a little kid face anymore. Sniff, sniff.

Visitors

On Monday our friends Jim and Candace and their two kids arrived from Indiana for a visit. P.K. and I attended college with them. Their daughter Jessica is 11 (almost 12) and Landon is 2.

It was fun having a little guy running around the house. I almost had a heart attack on multiple occasions when I thought he was going to go head first down the stairs, but he managed just fine. He has the cutest little cheeks and when I told him I was going to kiss them he would put his hands over them. I got out Hannah's Dora couch for him and he loved it.

I didn't take a picture of Jessica. I'm not sure how that happened. She and Rachel played WebKinz together one night on separate computers. I remember thinking that would make a great picture.

We took them to our favorite park and let the kids run off some energy. I taught Candace and Jessica how to play Nertz. Nertz is a card game with rules similar to Solitaire, but with multiple people. I learned to play while living in California and have taught most of my friends. (Sorry, Kari. I really don't know how we missed that one.)

I got a pretty good picture of Candace and me at the park, but she may not want it posted. When we were playing Nertz I may have mentioned how that was a blog worthy moment. I asked P.K. to take a picture and Candace politely declined to be included in that picture. When I tried to make her feel a bit guilty she reminded me that I wasn't even in the family Christmas card. Touche'.

Cross, the snake Aaron named and which lives under our front step, even made an appearance to welcome our visitors. Candace got to see him, but the fact that she shivered made me think she was less than excited to be greeted by Cross.

Yesterday was a bit sad. They packed up and headed back home. I love having company, but it is always a let down when life goes back to normal. It is like the feeling after Christmas when all the celebrations are over and the decorations are packed away.

Jim said he had a very relaxing visit. That made me very happy because I really do want our home to be a place of peace and rest.

Fireproof

Maybe you've seen the movie. Maybe you've read the book. Maybe you've done a group Bible study. Maybe you've even gone as far as trying the Love Dare yourself. But have you been able to sit in a church service and hear the main character from the movie give his testimony and speak about building a stronger marriage? I have.

We were sitting in the balcony, I didn't want to take too many pictures since it was a church service and I was using my little camera, so it isn't extremely close, but that is Kirk Cameron.

There is a beautiful church that P.K. passes on his way to and from work every day. He has mentioned on several occasions that he would like to visit there and see the architecture on the inside. We both love the big beautiful stained glass windows found in some larger churches.

P.K. works most Sundays, but he took the day off today so he could attend at Boy Scout event with Aaron. He called from work yesterday and said he thought he would like to check out that church. He had been to the website and by chance Kirk Cameron was scheduled to be there speaking about Fireproof (I can't figure out how to underline in blogger).

If you haven't seen the movie, it is the third movie produced by a church in Albany, Georgia. The story of how God worked with a church and a bunch of volunteers with no acting experience is a testimony in itself. The first of the three movies we saw was Facing the Giants. Watching Flywheel, which was the first movie the church produced, and Fireproof were on our list. P.K. was gone for training a while back and he brought me the movies back from his trip. We loved all three movies. We enjoyed watching the interviews with the ministers and members who helped make these movies happen just as much as we enjoyed watching the actual movies. It is clear that these were God ordained and He showed up in marvelous ways during the production of these films.

Fireproof is about a firefighter played by Kirk Cameron who is a hero to everyone except his wife. He puts out fires and saves lives while his own marriage is failing. They are on the fast track to divorce when his dad challenges him to take 40 days and do the "Love Dare." It is a book that gives him a different way to show his wife he loves her each day. He is to continue the process regardless of how she accepts each act. He eventually realizes he has to turn his life over to the Lord. That is the very short version. If you haven't seen it, go buy it today.

Kirk shared his personal testimony with the congregation this morning and then talked about ways to improve our marriages. He was an atheist when he was invited to attend a church service. He didn't want to go to church but wanted to spend time with this family, so he went. God spoke to him and while he was driving down a highway in California, he accepted Christ.

It was a great opportunity for us to hear him speak.

Second Grade Performance

This is a video of Aaron performing in the second grade production of Lemonade. It is a story involving many of the favorite childhood characters such as Humpty Dumpty, Rapunzel, Jack and Jill, Little Miss Muffet and the spider. Aaron was the spider. His costume has legs sewn on the side and they are attached with fishing line so all his legs move. It was too cute.

The story starts out with the characters telling the bad part of their stories. Then Mother Goose shows up and teaches the kids to look at the bright side and when life hands you lemons to make lemonade. Aaron was so animated and didn't seem nervous at all. At the beginning he is toward the back on the left.

A Conversation With Hannah

Hannah: What do you think we will eat in heaven?

Jody: I don't know. We probably won't get hungry.

Hannah: Well, maybe we will still get hungry, but people just won't be starving.

Jody: Hmm?

Hannah: Well, at least you'll get to see your friend with the big bras there.

Jody: What? (I heard what she said and I knew what she meant, but I wanted to hear her say it again)

Hannah: You'll get to see your friend with the big bras.

Jody: You mean Grandma Stoneberger's brother who died and use to wear b i b o v e r a l l s?

Hannah: Yeah.

Birthday Wishes

Happy birthday, Kari! My friend Kari is celebrating a milestone birthday today. Most of you don't know her, but hop on over to her blog and leave her a birthday message anyway.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Here are the kids sporting their green for St. Patrick's Day. Aaron thinks his shirt is so funny. It says, "This is my lucky shirt." He also has one that says, "Kiss me. I'm Irish" which cracks me up when he wears it because he just looks so Irish. Wink, Wink. Hannah's shirt is hard to see. It has a shamrock, rainbow and a heart made out of pink and green sparkles. They made sure they had green in their pajamas when they went to bed last night so they would have green on first thing in the morning.

Each year at our house the kids make Leprechaun traps and set them out the night before St. Patrick's Day in hopes of catching a Leprechaun and getting his gold. Hannah told me if she got the Leprechaun's gold she would buy me a new Beth Moore book.

On Sunday afternoon we spread an old tablecloth over the kitchen floor and got to work making the traps. These are our decorating supplies. Lots of green and gold.

Hannah is hard at work. She worked for a solid four hours on her trap.

Rachel doesn't "believe" but she likes to have fun. Plus if you don't catch a Leprechaun he leaves a little gift. This year Rachel scored a High School Musical 3 dvd. She hasn't seen it yet, so all her hard work on her trap paid off.

Aaron's trap was probably the most thought out. His had a trap door and inside the door was an old jar. He put double sided tape all over the inside of the jar so if the Leprechaun fell through the trap door it would get stuck in the jar.

Last night the kids put the finishing touches on their traps. What does one use as bait in a Leprechaun trap? Gold and...

...Leprechauns favorite cereal.


Aaron and Rachel did such a great job on their traps they almost caught a Leprechaun. They each found a little shoe stuck in their traps.

After one of the Leprechauns ate all of the cereal out of Hannah's trap, he lost his hat.

They always leave the kids Leprechaun dust for breakfast.

Aaron thinks it is delicious and helps him to have a lucky day. Hannah was not about to eat anything left behind by Leprechauns. Those pesky little critters also turned the toilet water and the milk green.

Scripture Memory March 15

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen

I Peter 5:6-11
(NIV)

HOP ON POP

According to Hannah's teacher, when her class came back after Christmas several of them kept getting their clip moved to yellow or red. In case you are not familiar with this discipline system. that is not a good thing. Thankfully, Hannah has always stayed on green.

At the end of January her teacher told the class that if they all stayed on green for the entire month of February they could vote on something special to do. That was quite a challenge for a class of nine 4-5 year olds. They stepped up to the challenge and were very well behaved. They each got to vote on what they wanted to do for their special reward. Hannah couldn't decide so in true Hannah style, she just refused to vote.

The class decided they would have a "Dress as a character from your favorite book day." Hannah and I talked about it and her first decision was to go as the Very Hungry Caterpillar. I had the costume plan all in my head. On the Saturday morning before she had to dress up, I confirmed her costume selection before putting any effort into making it. She said, "I'm not sure that is what I want to be, but we don't have to dress up until Monday." Each Monday her homework is to bring in a picture or flat object that begins with the letter they will be studying that week. We have had many days where we have forgotten to do this until Monday morning. I had to explain to her that unlike clipping a picture from a magazine, I could not create a costume between 8-9 on Monday morning.

We started looking through some of her favorite books. We love Dr. Seuss at our house and she had narrowed our library down to Fox in Socks, Horton Hatches an Egg and Hop on Pop. She finally decided to be the little girl who hops on Pop. This is a true family favorite. One year at Christmas before Hannah was born I bought P.K. a Hop on Pop ornament because it reminded me of Aaron and Rachel attacking him. It is a wind up ornament and the two little kids actually hop up and down on Pop.

I can't sew. Well, I own a sewing machine and sew the kids' scout patches on their uniforms. But that is pretty much where my talents in that area end. This costume was all cutting and hot glue. I bought a hooded sweatshirt on clearance for about $3 at WalMart. I traced the hoodie on the material, cut it out and hot glued it to the hoodie. At first it was too tight, so I cut it up the back hot glued on some extra material and added velcro to close it. I wish I would have spent some more time fixing the hood and made it a bit cleaner, but it worked. We had planned to cover her pants in the material as well, but it took a lot longer to do the rest of the costume than expected. It looked pretty good from a distance.

Now Hannah and I are trying to talk the rest of the family into dressing up as Dr. Seuss characters for Halloween. I know it is over 7 months away, but did I mention that it takes longer to hot glue fuzzy material than one might think?

My 9th 29th

Last year I convinced Hannah that I was turning 29 when in actuality I was turning 36. We celebrated my birthday last week and I tried my best to convince her that I was turning 29. She wasn't buying it because she has counted to 167 by herself. At that point she grew tired of counting. So obviously 29 doesn't come after 29. This was one of those time when I wondered why I get so excited when one of the kids reaches a milestone such as counting by themselves.

P.K. planned a party for me. He even thought to order a cake in advance.

He had "Happy 9th-29th Jody" written on it because this is the 9th time I have celebrated turning 29. If you read my list of 100 things on my 100th blog post, you know that yellow roses are my favorite. I also do not have much of a sweet tooth, but I do love buttercream frosting. He even found some cute candles with yellow and green circles that coordinated rather nicely with the cake. He was nice enough to only put on four.

P.K. provided goody bags for the kids.

The goody bags included candy, balloons, those squishy ball things and the fireworks that shoot out confetti when the string is pulled.

Evidence of the fireworks already pulled is on the table and if you look closely you can see confetti shooting over P.K.'s head.

I suggest aiming away from people and lights.

And my gift...

Jesus the One and Only by Beth Moore. I started it the next morning and love it.

Great job, P.K.!!

The Book Fair

I often tell my friend Becky that she should start a blog. She always has the funniest stories. Yesterday we were talking on the phone and she had a couple good stories that were so blog worthy so of course I told her those were blog worthy. I think she even beat me to saying it once. She told me that she didn't think she would have enough things to write about. She also said she only checks three blogs and she is so disappointed when they are not updated. Ouch! I'm pretty sure mine is one of the three.

I have several things I was going to lump together in one post, but just for you Becizzle, I will break them up into several different posts. I was actually wanting some of them to have their own special post anyway so this will work out well.

That said, I give you my decorating contribution to the 2009 Spring Book Fair. The theme was Lights, Camera, Book Fair.

I was very happy with the way this sign turned out. It is made from foam board, plastic solo cups and white Christmas lights. There is a little hot glue and packing tape mixed in there as well. It was really easy to make, but a pain to hang. Someone else did the Oscar cutout and the area around it had some decorations attached later. I don't have a final picture.

This is the bulletin board I made for the teacher's wish lists. Scholastic had something similar on their website. I printed out the template for the popcorn buckets from their site onto red paper. I found the big pieces of popcorn at a teachers store and the 1, 2, 3 poster came with information for the book fair. The teachers put little slips with the names of books they wanted into the bucket with their name on it. This was put together on a trifold board so it stood up. This is laying flat on my floor, so it doesn't look just right.

Prayer Request For Angie

I received word this past week that one of my college friends has grade 3 breast cancer. She said that grade 3 means it is a fast moving cancer. Her specific cancer is Ductal Carcinoma (in the milk ducts) and Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (cancer that can spread). I received the following email from her this evening.


Hello to all.
We met with the specialist today. My surgery is planned for this Thursday at 2:30 in the afternoon at Blodgett Hospital.
I will have my left breast removed, as well as one of the lymph nodes. During surgery this lymph node will be screened for cancer... if it shows cancer then more lymph nodes will be removed.
In April, I will begin chemotherapy.
IF the lymph nodes show cancer... I will also have to do radiation.
I am asking of each of you to pray that the lymph nodes are free and clear!
I will mid summer do reconstruction surgery of my left breast, as well as possibly removal and construction of the right.
I TRULY appreciate the prayers, thoughts, concerns, cards, flowers... everything!!!!!
This has been two of the longest most emotional weeks we have ever undergone.
I KNOW that GOD is SOOOO much BIGGER than THIS! He is in control. Knowing that the next 6 - 9 months are going to be stressful... your prayers are greatly appreciated.
I will do my best to update by email as soon as I can.
Thank you again for everything. Please especially keep my girls in your prayers, and my husband.
God bless each of you.

I know she had an MRI over the weekend to see if the cancer had spread to the right breast so I am assuming since she is not scheduled to have it removed as well on Thursday that it has not spread to the other breast. She did say in previous email that her lymph nodes are swollen.

Each email she has sent has asked for specific prayer for her husband, Mike, and their two daughters. Mike also attended the same college. Her oldest daughter is around 14 (I think) and her youngest is about 11ish. The years run together so I can't remember exactly.

Please keep her in your prayers. Her name is Angie Cook. Besides praying for healing, I have been praying for courage and extreme peace to be over her and her family. She also teaches school so I'm not sure how this will effect them financially. I'm sure that is the least of their worries right now, but I would ask you to pray for that area for them before they even think to ask for it themselves. Like she said, God is so much bigger than this.

I'll update you all as I hear anything.

HANNAH IS IN CHARGE!

Rachel had gymnastics this evening. When we were ready to leave, I thought Hannah was going to be upset that she had to stay at home so I told her she could be in charge. The following video is her talking to P.K. while I was gone. She apparently was taking her Mom given authority very seriously. I know she was not on her best behavior, but this is funny and life with Hannah.