Today is a day that will live in infamy in the mouse kingdom under the kitchen cabinet in the Hamilton household. We caught two mice in traps this morning. I hope they both had a good Christmas before their demise. They were scampering around being spotted by the kids for the last couple months. Back in October, Joe and Emma spotted "a little black mouse" in the laundry room. I set up traps but caught nothing, so we thought they were just imagining things or saw a cricket or something. Then this week Lindy saw a mouse twice. We set up traps a couple days ago, but they just ate the cheese off the trap without setting it off. So, we knew there was a mouse in the house. I went and got better traps (we lulled them into complacency with the "non-working" ones) and set them up again last night. We were woken up this morning by the "smack" down in the kitchen of one of the traps going off. We had actually caught two mice in separate traps in the kitchen. Maybe one saw that his comrade had fallen in the line of duty and could no longer go on alone (we hope) and solemnly laid his neck on the line.

Well, I guess I ought to talk about Christmas. Lindy got a guitar (which I think Mommy is going to use as much as if not more than Lindy). She also got a beautiful porcelain doll with long blonde hair. Joe got an electronic Star Wars battleship game and a huge electrical science kit. Lindy also got a water science kit. Emma got a Guess Who memory game which was very popular. She also got a magnetic Disney Princess dress up kit. Hopefully this will replace her sticker fetish. I got some Teaching Company courses on DVD and CD for myself. Deanne got some exotic skin cream and, of course, the guitar. The kids all got a bunch of other stuff as well.

Little Emma is finally potty-trained. I made her a chart to put stickers on every time she goes potty. Each row of stickers (6 of them) she gets a prize. I put her picture on the chart so that she knew it was for her. I took her to Dollar Tree to get her her first four prizes and Lindy and Joe wanted to come along. I told them I was only getting prizes for Emma and they said that was okay, but of course they ended up getting some prizes too. Joe kept telling Emma what she should pick out, but Emma held her own and got what she wanted. Such innocent and loving kids.

We went down to Grandma and Grandpa Thurman's house this weekend to hear their talks in church about their mission. Grandma talked about the need to study and know the gospel in order to teach it. She talked about going up to General Conference from California when she was 11 and visiting her uncle Carlos (who later became a General Authority) and watching the Saturday General Conference sessions on TV. He wondered how the speakers do it--how they teach with such a spirit of inspiration. She then recounted seeing him speak in General Conference years later and how he must have figured it out.

While we were there, Lindy looked for her cats. We took the cats down there a few weeks ago after our neighbor kept trapping them and sending them to the pound. Uncle Ray called a couple days later and told Deanne that Caley got run over by the neighbor's car. He saw it happen. He buried her in the back yard next to where they buried all the other cats they had over the years. Poor Caley was my cat. She was simply in new surroundings and unaware of the dangers. The neighbor just pulled out of her driveway when Caley was playing behind the tires. She was a smart cat. I remember lifting the lawn mower in the shed one time and she ran out from under it. She turned to look at me to see who I was and if there was any danger. When she saw it was me, she walked off more slowly. On the way down to Annabella, she sat in the back window of the car and watched the scenery. She took in a lot of experiences, for a cat, in her short life.

Ray said Tieler disappeared shortly after Caley died. They don't know where he went or what happened to him. Caley was the only thing familiar to him so he probably just left. Hopefully he is happy in another home. People in that neighborhood don't normally take cats to the pound.

Lindy looked around for the cats when we first got there on Saturday and looked again on Sunday. She was quite despondent when she couldn't find them Sunday before we left. She didn't spend a long time searching--it was snowy. We said that they hadn't seen them in quite some time and that they probably found a warm house where somebody took them in. They're not allowed in the house at Grandma and Grandpa's. We didn't tell her about Caley. We hope Tieler did find a new home. Deanne looked around in the neighbor's yard where Grandma thinks Tieler might have gone, but with no luck. Poor Lindy. This was her first pet. She was looking forward to seeing him again.

I took the kids to Lagoon on Halloween day (Saturday). Bruce at work had 4 extra tickets. Deanne didn't go because she had a really bad cold and couldn't even talk. We went on all the ride Emma could ride on. We went on the chair lift accross the park. Lindy was scared she wouln't be able to hop on the chair fast enough. We've always helped her in the past. But, she and Joe did really well. I had to go in a seperate chair with Emma. I let Joe take all the picture on the train ride through the zoo. He tried to get a picture of every animal. Got most of them, I think. We went through the Terror Ride and Dracula's Castle for the first time. Nobody got scared. Lindy just laughed and wanted to do the Terror Ride again. She was a little scared before we went. She did the ride by herself later (the other two didn't want to go again and I had to stay with them--Lindy is getting braver).
We walked all over the park and went through a children's trick-or-treat path. Emma didn't want to go through at first besause they had wierd distorted pichtures of kids on the walls leading into it. These were regular photos of kids that had been distorted in Photoshop or some computer program so that they had really big bug-eys or giant ears or a pinched face. They were quite commical (as they were intended) but I think they really disturbed Emma. She eventally went through with me and got some candy. She enjoyed it except for that entrance way.

We all went on the bigger bumber cars for the first time. I got in a car with Emma (since she was too short to ride otherwise) and Lindy and Joe shared another one. Me and Emma slammed into them head-on and then they got slammed from behind at the same time and Joe bumped his head. They had a good time though.

After Lagoon, we went trick-or-treating. We went up to Glena's house where Joe and Lindy have their art class. We stopped by Ruth's house where Bruce and Alex were haning out. Ruth and the other kids are in Disney land. Alex didn't want to go. (Weird kid.) Then we sopped by Grandma and Grandpa's house. We then went around our neighborhood. Lindy and Joe wanted to keep going all night, but Emma was getting tired. I carried her a buch toward the end, but she is getting quite heavy. They got a ton of candy this year. Lindy was a vamire-witch, Joe was a camo-ninjah again (I think this is the third time in a row) and Emma was a little dog. We had to convincer her to be the dog because it was a warmer outfit than being a princess-ballernia or something like that. She's pretty easy-going.

Little Emma has a shirt, a hand-me-down that Lindy once wore, with a Pokemon character on in it. I think the critter's name is Peek-achoo. Emma call it Chick-a-boom-boom. She is insistant that that is the little guy's name. Where she got that idea, I don't know.

Deanne organized a spook alley in our backyard over the weekend. The homeshool kids in the neighborhood get together every Friday for "game time." This is to give them some social skills like they would get in public school. It was Deanne's turn last week and she had the kids bring stuff to create a spook alley. The kids were then invited to come bak and bring their families and friends that evening to go through it. Some of the kids dressed up and played parts in the spookiness. Nate Hymas bought a fog machine and set it up by the back gate where everyone entered. It didn't work too well because of the breeze. Aaron Eckblad told a spooky story to participants by the trampoline pit. (We had removed the trampoline a few weeks ago because it was torn.) During his tale of some dead guy, another kid would poke his head or hand out from under a sheet of cardboard in the bottom of the pit and scare the little kiddies. They had strung a white yarn spider web accross the pit and put up gravestones in the bottom along with a red flashing skull.

Deanne put up the big three-room tent in the middle of the yard and little witches brewed yucky stuff in there as people walked through. The kids also used our great big plastic bug collection and spread them around behid the shed. They taped them to the walls and fence as well and made everyone walk through the narrow passage. They also made ghosts out of bed sheets stuck buckets on polls.

All the kids had a ball. Everyone wanted their own flashlight. We used up every one we had in the house. I even went a bought some more cheap ones along with candy to hand out at the end of the run.

The kids had such a good time, we had them come again Saturday night. Little Mason Hunting came dressed up as a dragon with a big stuffed tail.

We took our cats Tieler and Caley down to Grandma and Grandpa Thurman's house last night. We drove down at about 6 pm and didn't get back until after midnight. We left Joe and Emma at Aunt Ann's house to play with their cousins while Lindy went with us. She wanted to say her last goodbyes to Tieler and make sure he and Caley had a good home. She handled it pretty well considering that she cried all afternoon when we told her they had to go because our neighbor would just keep catching them and sending them to the pound. (Our neighbor has the law on his side in this so, unless we put them on a leash or keep them inside all the time, there is nothing we can do.) Cats are meant to be outdoors and free.

They will be well taken care of down in Annabella. Uncle Ray is there right now, but Grandma and Grandpa Thurman will be back home from their mission in just a few days and Grandpa will take good care of them. Uncle Ray will take care of them also.

They seemed excited and also a little jittery at their new home. There are a couple cats already there, but Caley hissed at one so I think they will be able to hold their own. The car ride down was not too pleasent for them. Tieler pooped twice and made a mess. Once in the litter box, but then he got it all over is paws and the seat and Lindy. The next time in the carring cage we placed him in. We had to stop at the side of the road and clean the car out. Cats are a real bother. Caley was well behaved throughout. She is a smart kitty.

Deanne said that the other day while driving down to Cornbellies at Thanksgiving Point for a homeschool field trip, little Joe counted to 1,000. It took him a long time and he was really pround and thought he was fast. Deanne told him he was not really that fast. Poor guy. I wish she wouldn't do that. Why did she need to "put him in his place"? When has she ever counted to a thousand? I think it was a great accomplishment, especiall for a six-year-old! Boys need to brag and be admired for their willingness to take on challenges and accomplish them. Deanne, growing up right in the middle of five girls, needs to understand this.

Yesterday we all went to a book signing event at the Tooele City Park where Bandon Mull signed copies of his Favelhaven book series. Deanne waited in line for over an hour get a copy of his fourth book that she just bought there at the fair signed. She also ge a copy of his third book signed for Tiffanie, her neice. The kids and I came with her and played in the playground and looked at Corvettes that were on display at the park. The kids were surprizingly patient so we stopped by my work and got some American Burger coupons and treated them to dinner. Joe always insists that the "kids meals" don't have enough food when we go to a fast-food restaurant. He will even forego the toy that comes with the kids meal to get a bigger burger. Fortuantly, the kids meal at American Burgers has a quite large burger, so he was satisfied. He still asked Emma for a bite of her corn dog though. Deanne made him give Emma a bite of his burger in exchange. Emma is too nice and doesn't yet get the connection between sharing food and personal hunger yet (I think).

Earlier that day Lindy and Joe had soccer games at the same time but at different parks. I took Joe and Emma to Linier Park in Overlake and Deanne took Lindy to England Acres Park. Joe followd the pack around during the game but never hit the ball. He started the kick-off once. I think the game was tied at arond 7 or 8 goals each. The coaches follow the kids around at this level and there are no goalies. Joe was in the thick of it most of the time, but he is rather slow at running after the ball. He doesn't keep his attention on the ball enough, but I'm sure he will grow into it. Deanne said Lindy actually kicked and blocked the ball a couple times in her game. I guess Deanne really cheers her on and shouts instructions to her. I've taken her to her last two games alone and Lindy never actually kicked the ball. She likes to play defender and hangs back with the goalie. I guess I need to give her more encouragement like Mom.

The kids all went to a Primary activitiy that Deanne organized after soccer. They put together kits for children at the Woman's Shelter. They had 40 kits and just about exactly 40 kids showed up. Quite lucky, they all got to do one.

Today is Emma Boo's fourth birthday. We celebrated by having cake and ice cream this afternoon. The cake was made in the microwave since we haven't got a new oven yet (our current one is broken beyond repair), but it tasted pretty good.
Later tonight we're going to go to McDonald's to celebrate. That's where Emma said she wanted to go. We were going to go to the Dinasaur Park in Ogden again on Saturday, but Emma was sick.
She got some Barbie dolls and a tea set as gifts from Lindy, Joe and Tamika (Mom bought them). They each wraped and decorated the wrapper of their gifts.

Last Monday, Deanne and I hiked up Mount Timanogas near Provo. We got Michelle to babysit and left the house at about 5:00 a.m. in order to pick up Deanne's sister Emily in Herriman and meet her sister Raelyn in Orem at their grandmother's old chapel parking lot. We arrived at the trail head around 7:30 a.m. and starting hiking. We were on the trail until 8:00 p.m. or so that nightmore than 12 hours!