Visiting the Lapps Family...

...always provides good "blog fodder." You just never know what the kids are going to do or say. This time, they knew we were coming. We left Nashville at 6 a.m. so that we could get here in time for Mitchell's basketball game. We lose an hour going, but it's nice to gain an hour on the way home. 

We got to Sandy's around 3 p.m. The kids caught us up on the latest hamster antics. Remember the demise of Jeannette on Christmas Eve? Greg bought the girls each a hamster before leaving Nashville. We were on our way to St. Louis when Mitchell texted Morgan: "guess who's hamster is loose?" We never really heard anything more. Now we got "the rest of the story." 

When the Lapps family got home, they unloaded the car and proceeded to have their Christmas. The next morning, Victoria said she couldn't find her hamster. Thinking it got out of the cage, Sandy tore the house apart looking for it. Greg got the idea to put plates of cheese all around to narrow down which room the hamster (Noel) might be hiding. There were no traces of her. Finally, they got the idea that perhaps she escaped in the car. Greg tore the van apart to try to find it with no luck. He put a plate of cheese in there and lo and behold, there was a "nibble." Sandy got the idea to put the little cage in there with the cheese. Within 30 minutes, they caught her. They couldn't believe she survived without food and water in below freezing temperatures. 

Finally you might think the saga of the hamsters would end. But, no, they are just beginning. About 2 weeks ago, Jolly (Elizabeth's hamster) and Noel started to fight. The fighting got so bad that they had to separate them and get another complete cage and set-up. Greg purposely bought 2 hamsters from the same litter so they could co-habitate. But they fight, I guess, like real siblings. So now they have gone to the expense twice and have two cages to clean. The joys of pet ownership! I don't care what kind of pet it is, they are a hassle! No thank you.

We went to Mitchell's basketball game where I tried to get some good photos. Out of at least 40 that I took, these are the best. I never could get one straight on as he was always moving. Then my camera died---and I didn't bring my camera cord. Sheesh! A scrapbooker without a camera is not a good thing.

In my opinion---and this could be the grandmother in me speaking, but I don't think so---Mitchell is one of the stars of the team. He's a starter and scored 16 baskets for 32 points in a 56 point game for the win. I'm just amazed every time I see him as to how tall he is and he's not stopping yet! 

After the game we went to a new pizza place called Old Chicago. It was really good---although we do prefer St. Louis pizza the best---gooey and thin.

When we got home, we changed in to jammies and sat around and talked. At one point, Elizabeth had this gigantic toothbrush that she gave to Butch and said, "I dare you to scrub my back with this." That was hilarious. Now we know all we have to do is say, "I dare you to rub my back" in order to get a free back rub. I then dared Elizabeth to do mine. She didn't quite get it. She said to me, "doesn't that feel good?" She never understood why we were laughing.

I'm sure I'll have more stories to tell. The guys are going skiing today. We'll see...