A Surprise Houseguest

After spending the last 4 weeks marooned in Ft. Wayne for a work project, I was thrilled to be able to come home this past weekend! It was so nice getting to spend some time relaxing at home and catching up with Evan.



Sunday was a lazy day and Evan and I spent most of the day watching football and doing odds and ends around the house, inclusive of laundry, tidying, etc. Both of us agreed that our house was overdue for a good cleaning, but not wanting to ruin a committment-free lazy Sunday, we both decided the cleaning could wait.



On one of my many trips up and down the stairs to get laundry, I walked into the kitchen, and my eye happened to catch something. I froze in my path as I noticed a tiny (but still very obtrusive) mouse sitting on my counter. Yes, I said mouse. Now, for all the other homeowners out there who probably think this isn't that big of a deal, this happens to be the first mouse I have ever had in my house. While the mouse was actually very small, he may as well have been Micky, complete with white gloves and bouncing around on my counter. He caught sight of me and scurried back behind the stove. I calmly walked downstairs to let Evan know that there was a mouse on the counter and did we need to have a family meeting? He kindly reminded me that we did live right near a field, and, uncharacteristically of us, we had numerous open chip bags, cookies, etc sitting on our counter. He said he would talk with his dad that night as to what the best course of action was and it was nothing we should really worry about. For whatever reason, I was very content with this answer and walked back upstairs to resume my laundry-gathering.



I'm sure most of you can see where this story is going....yes, I walked right back upstairs, not 3 minutes later, and the mouse was back and now aggressively going after crumbs on the counter! I could not believe the courage of this little guy. What did I do? Immediately start screaming Evan's name, as I was frozen with my eyes set on watching his every movement. Evan came upstairs to meet my furry little friend. His first remark? "Oh, he is really cute". Not quite the response I was going for. After much debate (in whispers, of course, because we didn't want the mouse to hear our plans) of what to do, we decided we needed to catch the mouse and make sure he did not make 1929 Maples Ct. a permanent home. Now, I believe every couple should have to go through this process - I promise it was better than what I imagine therapy to be like - lots of strategy, discussion, encouragement, positive thinking, etc. Evan was the designated "catcher" and my role was to keep my eye on the mouse, who was absolutely ready to move in. To protect himself, Evan donned my beautiful pink dishwashing glove on one hand and a cardboard box in the other. Once we realized that the box really wouldn't do any good, we knew that Evan just had to catch the mouse with his hand and then put in a bag of some sort and take outside. Or at least that was our best plan. Evan slowly snuck up on the mouse, and tried to grab it, but of course, it scampered away. Evan didn't give up though and he trapped the mouse in the sink and then grabbed it with his gloved-hand! I couldn't believe it! He quickly put the mouse in a plastic bag (provided by me) and rushed outside. I will spare the details of what happened to our temporary resident once outside - feel free to ask Evan for those details.



Once Evan got back inside, we both looked at each other as if we had been through the most traumatic event ever. We smiled and both agreed we were a little shook up about it all, but relieved that it was over. The thought of a mouse being anywhere besides outside where he belonged was too much for us. My only regret is that I couldn't get a picture of this momentous occassion as it was rather priceless. I was instantly reminded of when I was in gradeschool and my parents were trying to catch a bat in my bedroom with a tennis racket and brown paper bag, in the middle of the night.



Oh, and for those of you wondering - kitchen cleaning immediately got bumped to the top of the list and was completed that evening.

HE'S HERE!

Evan and I are proud to announce that we are finally Aunt Emily and Uncle Evan to our new nephew Keegan! Congrats to Brian and Meagan!!!!

Keegan Brian Kubala was born on Wednesday October 7th at 10:39pm. The little tike came in at 8lbs 9 oz and was 20.5 inches long. Both Keegan and Meagan are doing well, and I think Brian is still standing too!

We will get to meet Keegan next weekend and we cannot wait. He apparently keeps asking about us....

Happy Birthday Grandma!!

Last weekend was also a treat for us to be back in Nky to celebrate my Grandma Scheper's 82nd birthday. Nearly all the family was able to make it to town, including Uncle Joe, Aunt Lil, the Louisville crew, and even Grandma's brother George from Florida. I think everyone had a great time and it was wonderful to celebrate such a wonderful lady!

The birthday gal all smiles

Dustin was also excited for Gma's birthday. When asked what Baby G should be named, he quickly said, in all seriousness, "Michael Jackson".

Grandma with her grandkids and great-grandkids. We missed Ethan, Abby and Katie!

I love this picture, even if my belly is hiding the birthday gal


My favorite pic of the weekend! The soon-to-be-dad, the very-soon-to-be-dad (within hours!), and the soon-to-be-groom!

Sweet Pea Shower

Last weekend I had the pleasure of being the guest of honor at a Sweet Pea themed shower hosted by my girlfriend Jamie. It was SUCH a great time and wonderful to get to spend some quality time with some of my friends. I miss them all a lot, but we all stayed for nearly 6 hours, so I'd say we had pleny of time to catch up!



Jamie was such a gracious host - the food was delicious (especially the cupcakes...mmmm!), and decorations were great, and we got to play a very fun game that took us all back to high school. Unlike most high schoolers that have full social calendars, my friends and I would frequently have game nights (this should come as a surprise to no one), rotating each others' houses and staying up late playing board games, such as Catch Phrase, Scattergories and other fun games. My personal favorite always was (and probably still is) Taboo - and I would always get very excited and competitive during this game. My friends came up with the idea of creating "Baby Taboo", where they made up clues relative to all things baby, and I had to guess what they were trying to describe. It was super fun and took us all back 10 years to when we would spend hours playing this game. What a great idea!!




Another creative idea that Jamie had was to ask each guest to bring their favorite baby book, in lieu of cards, and have each guest write a little note to Evan and I, and Baby G as well. It was so fun getting a variety of baby books and hearing my friends reminisce about what they remember from being a toddler and their favorite books. I can't wait for Baby G to get here so I can share all the great stories with him/her.

Here is a shot of the group. From L to R: Beth, Jennifer, Jamie, Laura, Katherine.

I am so thankful for my friends - thanks for a great time!!