he's still alive?!

unbelieveable! the crushed red pepper must have had no affect on that darned mouse. he is still alive and eluding our efforts to end his sad little life.

we thought the red pepper would have done the trick (even though that wasn't a trap set by us- just the dumb little mouse being curious), but it didn't. so we set a trap the other night with fruit loops. when jesse came home on wednesday evening to check if our power was back on- there was the trap on the living room floor, with a dead mouse, and- get ready for it- dog slobber. YUCK! yes, our dog, jackson, whom we have been doting on the last few days ever since we saw the movie "Marley & Me", had a mouthful of nasty mouse germs. let me just say he has not been getting any attention from me since wednesday! thanks to jesse who was willing to wash the dog's mouth out with anti-bacterial soap.

so our mouse problem is taken care of...not! there is now another little guy that is making home in my cooking utensil drawer. oh disgusting! don't worry, my utensils have been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected and have taken up temporary residence elsewhere.

so last night jesse set 3 peanut butter traps for him. we woke up this morning- little terror had licked all the goodies off all 3 traps without engaging them. and to rub it in, he ran right past me this morning as i was at the kitchen sink, sticking his tongue out at me (i just imagined that last part- the tongue thing didn't really happen)
oh!! he is going to get it! we are buying a case-load of traps this weekend and all mice at our house are GOING TO DIE!!!

winter storm

we're trying to warm up from the recent storm that passed through kentucky the las 48 hours. our power has been out at home for almost 12 hours now, so we decided to bunk up at a warm hotel for the night (us and a couple hundred other people!) we got 5 inches of snow on tuesday morning, followed by 12 hours of freezing rain, follwed by another 4 inches of snow. it's been quite exciting!

so here's whats been happening around our house the last few days:

jacob got to play with mommy in the snow during our first round of snow (5 inches)

our pet mouse must have been a little hungry last night- but i would say that crushed red pepper is not the best midnight snack. his bowels are probably screaming right now! serves him right for trying to steal room and board at the pié house!

we were trying to keep the kids warm today and so they were both wearing their snow hats in the house. :)

some of you might remember when jesse had a little fun with photoshop and came up with this picture:

well, the other night we were wondering what kate is going to look lke with hair- and this is what happened:

and lastly- this one's for the grandparents- kind of a boring video, but i know you guys want to see what kate is accomplishing these days.

j-a-c-o-b

jacob is learning letters- loves letters! he only knows a dozen or so right now, and every word is spelled with those 12 letters. our tv has the brand name printed right below the screen - jacob will walk up to the tv, point at each of the letters, and spell "B - R - X - E - O" (VIZIO)



so we hung letters in his room spelling his name, and he has been getting lots of practice with that.

UPDATE on my mom:

thank you to those of you who have been praying for my mom and her recent surgery. the surgery on friday was a success. there were complications after her surgery, but God was good, and the doctors/surgeons were able to stop her bleeding. she moved from ICU to her own room yesterday afternoon and is now on the road to recovery. she is very tired and in a lot of pain. we still covet your prayers for her as she starts the recovery process. she will be in the hospital for another several days, off work for 4-6 weeks, and will be very limited in what activities she is allowed to do.

kate continues to be a cutie pie. she is smiling and coo-ing a lot and has just discovered her hands- they are in her mouth all the time!

december visitors: round 4 and happy birthday, jesse!

we celebrated jesse's birthday and rang in the new year with uncle josh and aunt heidi.



jacob and kate both loved having their aunt and uncle visit. jacob had fun playing with them and kate enjoyed sleeping in their arms (and having explosive poop diapers on uncle josh's lap)


jesse pretending to blow out his birthday candles (he had a cold on his birthday, so he didn't actually blow them out to spare us all from his germs):