Moments missed

Two doors down from us live a family who have 6 kids. We call them "the kids". When neighbors hear me say "the girls are down playing with 'the kids' they all know who I'm talking about.

Well, today, I was across the street at my neighbor Lisa's house, in the garage, and one of "the kids" comes running over and proceeds to tell us excitedly that the cats (in my house) had a mouse and Sadie got them away from it and was trying to catch it.

Now, I remember once, a mouse in the house and Conrad tried to get it - and when I say "get it", I mean kill it or stop it from being in the house in some manner and ended up chasing it, armed with a broom, into Anna's room, while she was sleeping, and turned on the light, shut the door, flipped over blankets and the mattress and everything else in the room and we never did find that mouse (nor did he wake up Anna).

So, here comes Sadie with ziploc bags on her hands with the mouse. Lisa semi-freaks out and I am dumbfounded that 1) my child was brave enough to pick up a live mouse, 2) the mouse was pick-up-able, 3) I wasn't freaking out in anyway, except that I just didn't want the mouse back in the house and 4) I didn't have my camera to take a picture. I am sure that this is not the mouse that Conrad tried to capture, as it has been a year or so since that episode and that the cats had to have drug? dragged? that mouse in.

Eventually, Madeline ends up with the mouse, freaks a little, drops it and it semi-scurries under Lisa's car. Lisa wants NO part of this mouse, doesn't want it near her house, in her car, nothing. Phillip (Lisa's husband) eventually grabs the mouse and goes and puts it down the new sewer drains. We always knew they'd come in handy for something.

So, Madeline "has to tell Daddy" about this escapade. I had no idea the girls are now worried about the cats having rabies "because mice carry diseases" - they tell me with "duh" slobbering all over their words, until I come in and Sadie tells me that Puss and Rosie won't have to worry about rabies now because she has brushed their teeth.

I ask her what she brushed their teeth with and she says (as if I've only just now come to planet earth) "toothpaste". And before I can even get the next question out of my mouth she says "I used a toothbrush we don't use anymore". These are the children who, when I say "go brush your teeth" say to me, "I can't find my toothbrush". But, they can sure find one to brush a cat's teeth with.

Next time you visit my house, remember to bring your own toothbrush, and keep it well hidden.