Our house sits right smack in the middle of what was once a cow field and then later a Christmas Tree farm, so every once in a while we get those little field mice when the weather turns cold. Well, we had a trap under the kitchen sink and yesterday we caught a mouse. Dakota was telling me all about it and he said, "Mommy, it was definitely not a baby, it was a parent or a teen." Then he said, "How old would a teen mouse be anyway?" I just about died laughing, but he was serious.

Dakota told my Mom last week that watching too much tv can wash your brain. After he thought about that for a moment he said, "I think I need my brains washed".

Washing your brains

Dakota was at Nana's and Grandpa's house last week watching tv and he said, "Nanny, watching too much television can wash your brains." And then after a moment of pondering, he said, "but I think I need my brains washed!" What a ham he is sometimes!

Then this week, and I know he had to have heard it on tv, he says, "Mommy, I knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy's brother!" We just all laughed!!! Yes, he said who knew this guy 20 times! The expression on his face when he says brother is priceless! It's almost like he should really be a comedian when he grows up. He is just so funny sometimes and his laugh when he hears something funny is so contagious, you just can't help to laugh. And then there are times when he isn't so funny (yes, when he is really trying my patience) that I miss the laughter. I just try and remember the laughing moments more than the trying ones.

Mariah moved to college.......

and Dakota was kinda sad and cried a little. He misses his sister, but he's keeping busy with his lists of movies and books he wants for his birthday. I'm gonna have to rob a bank to pay for them all! lol. I think I'm going to take him to see her dorm room Tuesday after school.
Saturday, he went to his Dad's to spend the night. When he got home yesterday, he said he didn't like going over there because Daddy dog piled him! He's too funny. They were wrestling and evidently John didn't let him win!
Last week, Dakota and Mariah were together and for some reason he told her that if she needed to talk about stuff that he could be her therapist! I swear I don't know where he comes up with some of the things he says! He is so funny, but very insiteful, really beyond his years. Sometimes it's hard to believe he's only 9. I try to write things down that he says so I don't forget them. I had started a little book of things he has said or done that is funny and I ran across it again the other day. I will post some of those later in the week.

Pickles!

This kid loves pickles! We go through a lot of pickles around our house. He and Mariah both love them and I think they get it from me. My Mom always tells the story about when I was a little girl, I would stand with the refrigerator door open and eat pickles out of the jar, and then complain about how sour they were, lol! I still love pickles to this day. I think of them as one small pleasure in life and I think that Dakota does, too. It sure looks like he was enjoying one that day!

Yesterday, Dakota was evidently pondering very deep thoughts. He was real serious when he said that he wanted to be immortal. When I asked him why, he said that he didn't really want to die and go to hell. (he comes up with some stuff, let me tell ya!). I asked him why would he think that he would go to hell and he said that maybe if he was bad and robbed a bank, then he would go to hell! Well, I told him that no matter what he does in life, as long as he asks for God's forgiveness and really means it, then he would go to heaven, but that he should always try to be good. I think that satisfied him, because he changed the subject to whatever was on tv. He sometimes jumps from one random thing to another! I think that he probably gets that from me, though!

I feel really bad. My Mom's little dog (well, she's 9 years old, but she's still little), Babie, had a still born puppy last week and is really mourning for that puppy. She just cries and looks all over the house for her puppy. It is so sad and my Mom is just really torn up about it. Well, Mariah being the ever so sweet and caring person that she is, found out that my cousin's dog had puppies about 4 weeks ago and won't feed them, so she thought if she got one, Babie might want to take care of it. When she went to get the puppy, evidently she and Dakota went hog wild and decided that we needed one, too. Well, I can tell you that we do not need a puppy right now. So anyway, they get back home with the two puppies and Babie wanted nothing to do with either one. She bit the little puppy's nose! She was not happy and neither was I. We all decided that it would be best to take the puppies back, but Dakota did not want to hear that! He wanted those puppies so badly. He begged, he pleaded, he pitched a fit. He said, "But Mommy, I'm going through changes and I need a puppy!". What? Going through changes? Where does he get these things from?! Sometimes I wonder if this kid isn't really older that nine. He just says things that are beyond his years. Well, the puppies went back home and he's not very happy about it, but maybe one day soon, he will be ready for the responsibility of a dog of his own. Meanwhile, he's being a little nicer to Milo :)

Goosebumps Enthusiast!

This is the biggest Goosebumps fan in the world! This kid has Goosebumps books and movies coming out the WAZZZZOO! He just counted the books and he has 55 of them! He does "research" on the computer about how many books and movies there are, when they were made, where you can buy them, how much they cost, ect. He gets on these big kicks with certain things and almost obsesses over them. I think that they call that OCD? I think he gets it from me though, lol! He has almost as many Goosebumps books as I do stamp sets!

The only thing that I don't like about Goosebumps is that I've seen almost every episode about 19 times each. Really, 18 should be enough. I think that I'll probably get to see them many more times though. Wonder what the next big craze for this kid will be?

Wednesday was my birthday and I took Maiah and Dakota to Applebee's for dinner. Before our food came, I noticed that Dakota was picking his nose. (Gross I know, but what boy has never done that?). Well, we kept telling him to stop, but he didn't. Then, three police officers came in to eat and Mariah told Dakota that it was against the law to pick your nose in public and that the police officers would come over and give him a ticket or maybe even arrest him if he didn't stop. He had the most serious look on his face when he said, "Oh, take cover!" and then he crawled under to table. We laughed so hard! The whole time we were there, he kept asking if the policemen were looking over at us.

This whole past week, I have been quizzed about science facts. I swear my third grader is smarter than me! I don't think that I got any of the questions right. Like, what is the first thing that has to happen for a fossil to start forming? Um, I didn't get it, but it pretty much makes sense. The animal or living creature has to die first. Duh! Or how 'bout this one. What does dinosaur mean? Big lizard. This kid is so smart, it scares me! The doctors, psychiatrist, pyschologists, his teachers, they can all say that he has a learning disabilty all that want. But, to me, he is learning things in science class that he really retains. He is really interested in what they are teaching in this class, for atleast right now anyway. He enjoys math, too. Blows me away what he can do with numbers! I suck at math, so he did not get that from me.

Mariah has been taking Dakota down to the pond recently to take pictures and she lets Dakota take some, too. He is pretty talented with a camera! I'll have to post some of his pics on here soon.

Isn't this awesome?!! Mariah is so talented on the computer. She and Dakota love to go all over the property here behind our house (which is my brother's land, so we weren't trespassing, lol) and take tons of pictures. She's even gotten Dakota loving to take pics. It's funny to see his perspective through the lens. Most of his pics are crooked, or heads are chopped off, but he's learning. These pictures crack me up. They are both hugging and kissing that tree. Then she got the idea to make it look this way. She's probably not really happy with how it turned out, because she's like me, never 100% happy with what she creates. But I think it's cool. I also think it's funny how she made herself look taller in the picture, because in real life she and Dakota are the same height! She is 18 and he is 9, but people think they are twins when we go shopping. Dakota says that when he is taller than Mariah, he's going to be her big brother. These kids crack me up!

So Christmas has come and gone and now it is the New Year!!! Can't believe it's 2009! So Christmas was fun and exciting, but a little sad, too. With all of Dakota's questions about Santa and elves and reindeer for the whole month of December, on Christmas morning he flat out asked if Santa was a real person who really left him gifts or was it me. So I told him the truth, and he was ok with it. He is a very logically wired child and it started to not make since to him that Santa could do all the things that up until now he believed he could do. I told him that although St. Nicklaus was a real person a long time ago and that the American version of Santa is not "real", it is the spirit that lives in us that is real. The true spirit of Christmas and all the magic that you feel at Christmas time is Jesus. I have always explained to the kids that Jesus is the real reason we celebrate, not the gifts and decorations and all the hooplah that goes along with it. It is the celebration that Jesus was sent to forgive our sins and that is the most special gift of all! So Dakota is fine knowing that I am the "pocket book" that is Santa. While I was at it, I told him the truth about the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy and he was fine with that, too. Now it's time to start new traditions. We will make cookies just to enjoy and we will wrap all the gifts and not have to hide certain ones any more. I think that next year will be much easier.

Before I go, I wanted to tell a funny Dakotaism. The other day, he was at Nana and Grandpa's house and he told Grandpa that he was on a diet and that he had already lot 2 weights. He meant pounds, but he gets confused with words sometimes. If you lose weight, why not count it as weights, right? Makes sense to me!!