Mischief

Mischief seems to be running rampant at our house the last few days. Between Sally the Wonder Dog and Hannah, I'm terrified to turn around and see what has transpired while my back was turned most minutes! For your reading pleasure, here's a small sampling of the mischief these two yahoos have come up with the past few days.

Sally the Wonder Dog: In one day, shredded a Verizon super pages phone book, a catalog, one of Hannah's froggy slippers, and Hannah's Easter basket that had arrived in the mail from Mamaw only the day before (major tears transpired after that one). She also jumped the fence and ran away, dug under the fence and ran away two streets over and we couldn't find her (someone found her and called the number on her tag), and slipped her collar and ran away from me while I was trying to wrestle her back into the house after one of the previous escape attempts. That's just one day people! Most days are fairly similar lately with the wonder dog. Do you think she hates us? Is she trying to drive me nuts? Maybe she's a secret agent and this is some exotic form of doggy torture (too much watching Chuck!).

Hannah: Escaped my bedroom on Saturday while I was out cold (stupid cold knocked me for a loop and I was pretty much unconscious) and snuck downstairs to open the package that Baba sent her for Easter. She got her craft scissors and expertly slit the packing tape on the box like she's seen me do dozens of times and then quickly unloaded the contents of the package. Then she slipped out the front door and was chatting with the neighbor girl from across the street! Kyle comes home to find her outside and me still upstairs sleeping! I'm still shuddering to think about what could have happened! Needless to say, there is now a hook and eye lock on the inside of our bedroom door near the ceiling to keep further escapes from happening if I'm incapacitated. Yesterday, after being told she could not have any M & M's before dinner, she quietly went up to her room. When I called up the stairs to ask her what she was doing up there she responded, "I'm just resting on my bed." That should have been my first clue that something was up. That girl NEVER voluntarily rests. When Kyle went upstairs to see what she was doing he found her sitting on her bed eating M & M's she had snuck upstairs from the Easter basket (same one that is now destroyed) Mamaw had just sent! Sunday on the way home from church she had gotten a time out for using mean words and each time she was released from her time out she would growl at us, thus getting herself put back into time out. After a few cycles of this she started reducing the volume of her growl to make it less menacing and then progressively increasing the volume until it earned her a time out just to see how far she could push it. Kyle was sitting in the front seat driving and trying his hardest to not dissolve into a fit of laughter. Put these choice incidents on top of the normal every day 3 year old defiance and disobedience and you've got a mama that's pretty close to pulling her hair out! I live in constant fear of what these two will come up with next!

For those of you who follow regularly, you know that we are currently living in Rhode Island. If you follow the national news, you also know that Rhode Island was particularly hard hit by the flooding that plagued much of the East Coast last week. While we escaped any damage, the flood came within a mile of us and devastated many of my husband's coworkers homes and properties. Several of our favorite restaurants, shops, and parks were under several feet of water. The damage done to our community was unbelievable. I would venture to say that many of the businesses that were wiped out by this flood will never reopen. Many, many people are currently trying to rebuild their lives, homes, and help others while also dealing with the stress of being out of work because the place they work is closed for the foreseeable future. In an area that was already facing economic hardships, this last straw may well be the death knell for many. I would appreciate prayers for my neighbors, friends, and community members who have a long road ahead rebuilding their lives. If anyone is interested in seeing photos of the flooding, check out the Rhode Island Flood March 2010 gallery on my website http://candidcaptures.zenfolio.com/ The images are shocking to say the least so please be prepared.

Despite the flooding, the closed roads, and crazy traffic, my aunts and cousin managed to make it out to visit us last week. We had a blast visiting with them. Both Hannah and the Wonder Dog were spoiled rotten. Maybe missing family is what has sparked this recent burst of mischievousness from both of them! While they were visiting we took Jo, Terri, and Becky to the dog park, Oakland Beach, Chuckie Cheese (doesn't everyone take their house guests to Chuckie Cheese?), and Provincetown, MA in Cape Cod. We weren't the most exciting hosts, but we enjoyed their visit tremendously. I hope they had fun too. The flooding definitely limited where we could go and what we could do, but still, I don't think we are all that exciting in the best of conditions! It sure was nice to have visitors though. We hadn't had anyone come out since before Christmas. Hopefully this visit will start a string of guests now that the weather is warming up. Anyone out there want to visit Rhode Island?

Photo Notes: Pictures are from an egg hunt Hannah went to at a playground near our house and pictures from our most recent house guests Jo, Terri, and Becky. If you are wondering about the TAPS sign, they are huge fans of the TAPS people on the Sci Fi channel and they just happen to be headquartered in Warwick, RI so we had to stop by for a quick photo op!