MY PICKY KID

Hampton is my picky kid. This is him doing his homework. He likes to write on top of his agenda because it is slightly rippled which would drive me crazy but he likes it. Also I try to get him to fold his papers back but he won't - guess it would cover up the rippled feel. Also he hates the smell of pencil lead. Never heard of this before. But I know that he has a very sensitive nose. He is very picky about smells especially when we travel. This is how I used to know he was tired when he complained about a smell. We couldn't even smell anything but he insisted there was a bad smell and then he would fall asleep and when he woke up he wouldn't complain about smells anymore.

TRICKS FOR A GUARANTEED SNOW DAY

Hampton used all the tricks to guarantee a snow day today. And it worked. Just a little snow and ice but enough for the county to close. This is what he did:

- flush ice cubes down the toilet
- wear ALL of his clothes backwards to bed
- flush salt down the toilet
- sleep at the opposite end of his bed

The last two were new to me but I guess doing all this helped to make it possible for us to have a lazy day at home. Of course, when I looked out the window at 9:30 this morning I saw no snow or ice.

THE GREAT GERBIL ESCAPE

Yesterday, I was getting ready to leave to run an errand. The boys were home from school. Hampton called me to come here - very nonchalantly. I said no - you come here then I noticed he was in Austin's room staring at the gerbil cage. He said again - come here. I went in and he said he could not find Peppermint. He was not upset but confused. I opened the cage and searched through it and sure enough - no gerbil. There was a tube at the top of the cage that we put up to block a hole. The tube was on the floor. Austin said he noticed it but did not think anything about it. We never thought that the gerbil could crawl to the top of the cage and push the tube out and escape. But she did. This was at 11:00 am and we know she had been out at least an hour but probably alot longer.

We proceeded to crawl around the floor of the entire house looking in every corner and under every furniture piece. I did not think there was any way we would ever find a tiny, fast moving gerbil. But I did find her under the couch in the bonus room. The next challenge was to catch her. She was under the couch and we tried to scare her out on the one side. She would come out and when we moved even a smidgen she would duck back under. We tried blocking the sides and leaving only a hole but that didn't work. We eventually turned the couch over so she could not hide under it and trapped her in a corner and finally caught her. Thanks to Emerson and his gerbil catching expertise.

I taped up the holes and covered them with cardboard. There is no way she can escape that way again. But I am still checking on her every chance I get. This can not happen again. It was 2 hours of panic, stress, and fustration that I don't want to go through again.

HAPPY 40TH PAUL

Today is Paul's 40th birthday. Hopefully, he is looking forward to this next decade of his life. We are celebrating with a family dinner tonight at Demo's - a great steak restaurant in Murfreesboro. We are also going out this weekend with friends to celebrate in a different way. We are trying Melting Pot for the first time and we will be honky tonking at the downtown bars in Nashville.

Here is a picture of Paul's present. He found the motorcycle on Ebay and it arrived today. Just in time for the big day. To bad it is raining today and he had to go back to work.

A NEW PET

Both of the boys have wanted a new pet for a long time. We thought about a fish but we've done that and the water is disgusting. So my neighbor Joy talked me into a gerbil. Emerson had one and she died. Hampton bought him a new gerbil for Christmas and was so sad that we could not have one. But I kept saying that we couldn't because of Brit.

On Christmas Eve, I wrapped up some gerbil bedding which is the easiest thing I could get to Michigan. Hampton knew what it was but as you can tell he did not understand why they were getting it as a gift:

But after we told them, they could get a gerbil they were very excited!!!

So when we got back from Jackson we had to rush out the next day and get our new pet. She is a little white girl with red eyes named Peppermint. Yes, it has been easy so far.

AUSTIN'S TEEN PRESENTS

MY OLD IPOD TOUCH

I tried to trick Austin. About two weeks before Christmas I bought an IPhone. I knew the first thing out of Austin's mouth was going to be "Can I have your old IPOD?" And of course that happened. I had to make up a story fast. So I said that I traded my old Ipod for the phone. He did not believe me. He asked me for the receipt and I had to tell him that I didn't have one. He even asked me what time I traded it. I told him that I had no proof but I did trade it. So I wrapped it up and put Paul's name on the box. Paul even told Austin that he didn't beleive me either and he thought that I was going to give it to him. So on Christmas Eve I gave Paul the box and he opened it. But I had to tell Paul that it was not supposed to be for him it was actually for Austin.



AN ELECTRIC RAZOR

From Paul of course... but he hasn't used it yet.

A JESSICA ALBA POSTER

In a bikini. He was really embarressed about this one. He did not want anyone to see it.

THE HOLIDAY IS OVER

The holidays have come and gone. Yes, we drove 32 hours. It was worth it.

In Michigan, the boys and I had our first white Christmas. The moms sent the boys sledding. It had rained the day before and then frozen like ice over the snow. They came back moaning and groaning. Jack had the breath knocked out. Hampton's face was buried in the snow. They still had a good time and got to tell the stories of how rough it was.

The cousins in matching Gap jackets from Papa Paul and Grandma Donna.

Pop's Park is opening back up after being closed for a year. We got an early ride on the new go-carts. It was fun because they are not officially open and there was no time limit. It was also Hampton's first time to drive a full size go-cart. He was not going to let anyone pass him and just kept going faster. He said his arms were sore after the ride.