Yes, I’m ignoring you!

 

Tonight as Michelle and I were downstairs reading the newspaper and relaxing, we called up to the kids…

Time to get ready for bed!

Of course, our perfect children all responded “OK” and we went back to reading and relaxing.  About 10 minutes later, we realized that we hadn’t seen any of them actually heading down to get ready for bed.

So, we repeated…

Time to get ready for bed.

And again, they replied with the familiar consent. 

But a few minutes later, there was still no movement towards the bedrooms.  So Michelle called up and asked…

Are you guys ignoring us? 

To which, our first born said, unsurprisingly, “No.  Sorry, Mom… I’m just finishing this level. (on the xbox, of course).

Our third-born, unsurprisingly said,

Yes.

But he said it in such a sweet, and kind way that we laughed rather than actually disciplining him or explaining that it was not OK to ignore instructions from Mom & Dad.

Ahhh… the life of the youngest…

Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Monday night as the kids prepared for bed we heard an awful noise.  It sounded like a very angry, and very large cat meowing...or hissing...whatever.  It occurred about four or five times in a row.  I heard it from the kids rooms and on my way up the stairs. 

Then, I heard it again after I was upstairs and went to the back balcony to investigate.  It was dusk, so I couldn't see anything very clearly.  However, I heard and saw several deer hopping away rather quickly from the backyards immediately behind our house and up into the "tree line" of the mountain above.  Of course, the quail took off once the deer arrived, so it was rather noisy.

Then, I heard the MEOWWWWWwwww again and noticed that one of the bushes in the yard diagonally behind our house was shaking violently.  Rather odd, no?  I went in to get a flashlight, but as you might expect, Marcus had taken them all to who-knows-where for some kooky experiment or something.  So, I came back in and didn't worry about it.  Madison ran up and asked in her sweetest eight-year-old-girl-voice...

Do you think that was a mountain lion?

To which, I in all my paternal wisdom, replied,

No.  It just sounded like a big cat.

Duh.  That's exactly what a mountain lion is.  So about an hour later, we receive a call from a concerned mother in our neighborhood alerting us that one of the new fawns was attacked and killed by a mountain lion!  Right behind our house!  The guts and stuff were still in our neighbors backyard. 

Now that is not an everyday occurrence back in home.