brave...

I am sorry to report that the twins found a mouse in our shed this morning. I haven't seen a mouse around these parts for a few years. I am not happy about it. Not a bit. This is how things went down:

- I hear the phone ring. The kids tell me it was Dave, calling Emily back. I ask why, but they don't want to give details. That was probably a smart move, because they were reporting the mouse to him. It was found in a large, clear, empty storage box in the shed. I don't know how it got in there, and I'd like to think it was all alone. Dave told them to shut the lid and he would take care of it when he got home. I told them to shut the lid tight so there was no way it could escape, then I realized we would suffocate it, so I told them to take it out in the yard and crack it a tiny bit.

- Molly came in to see me...very stressed. She didn't like the sound of "Daddy will take care of it". It worried her. She didn't want him to kill it. Her lips turned down and her eyes got red and watery. Oh my word, it was cute. Cute and SO sweet. I love tender Molly.

- I decided we would take care of things ourselves. Actually, I decided I would drive, while Lizzy took care of it. Lizzy is my brave one. She didn't used to be. She would cry when snow fell on her jacket in the winter. She would scream when she saw box elder beetles through the back window. She is brave now. I told her I wanted her to put the box with the mouse in the back of the car. There were some rules though. I wanted to get in first. I did not want to see the mouse through the clear box. I then had to turn on the car and the radio so I couldn't hear it scratching. She was instructed to sit in the back seat, leaning over it, with the box in the far back, and hold the lid tighly shut with both hands. So help me...if that thing got loose in my car!

- We drove out to the trailhead. I had Lizzy climb over the back seat, both hands still on the box, and take the box out into the bushes. Not far enough. Go a little bit farther! She squatted down, tipped the box, and let it go. I probably asked her 5 times where it was. Is it coming back towards us? Has it run away yet? She smiled the whole time, then kept her hands in the air the whole way home, just in case mouse germs had gotten on them.

We disposed of a mouse. By ourselves. Without Dave. Who am I kidding?? Lizzy disposed of a mouse. By herself. Without Dave. Isn't she amazing? I did take pictures of most of it though.