our mischief maker

It seems, that when I'm pregnant, we have a little prankster who shows likes to play tricks with the Mama and the Dada. . .

While pregnant with Jack, I remember waking up in the middle of the night and feeling water dripping from the ceiling onto my hand. Actual water. I remember wiping it off with a kleenax and waking up Sam. In a panic he ran up to the attic (afraid the roof was leaking), 2 amish, with a flashlight. . .only to find nothing. And now, forever, I am the tortured about the phantom water drips.

And some other little things too. . . living room curtains moving (like the dogs walked passed and moved them. . .but, no dogs around). . . bathroom shower curtain blowing in the non-existant breeze. . . I heard a voice call Daddy! after Sam left for work one morning (that one freaked me out pretty good. . .and I worried all day long that he was going to be in a car accident).

The night we brought Jack home from the hospital, Sam sat straight up in bed in the middle of the night. I awoke right away. Sam went over to Jack's room and came back. He said he had heard toys being played with in his room. . . We attributed it to someone welcoming our little Jack into his new home.

With Luke, it was my keys. They went missing from their little key hanging spot just as we were leaving to go somewhere (separately). I had car keys, but no house key, so we had to stop by Hepler's to get a quick remake. Searched for them everywhere before we left, but could not find them. When I arrived home, I found them laying in the middle of the entry way. . .right in the middle of the floor (which we would have obviously seen before we left).

This time around, he's gotten us twice. First time around it Jack's new columbia sandals. A week after we bought them, one disappeared. Nowhere to be found. For a whole month I looked for that missing guy. High and low. And it was nowhere. It was a day or two before vacation, and I was peeved to think I had to go out and buy him a new pair of sandals. I sent Jack up to his room to look one more time. And down he came with it, minutes later. You found it! I was so excited. He said that he found it on the bench in the upstairs hallway. I told him to thank Dada for finding it (because obviously Sam had found it somewhere and put it there for him). . . Except Sam hadn't found it. It was just there. . .

Our latest (and most likely, last) prank happened this weekend. Sam and Jack were playing the Wii (Chicken Shoot, their new favorite game). I sat down next to Luke to do some sewing, and noticed the tv remote on the couch next to me. We're always losing those things. . .so I placed it on top of the tv (where it's supposed to be). I remember crossing the room in front of Sam (playing games) to put it there. And then I sat back down to sew. Took the boys to bed 9ish. . . and came back down with Sam to shut down the house for the night.

Did you move the remote? he asks me. Yes, I put it on the tv while you guys were playing. No, after that. Did you move the remote? It's not here. Not here. I put it there hours ago.

But, it wasn't there. It was gone.

And I knew immediately it was our little prankster. And then thought we would be stuck for a month not being able to use our tv, because it would be stuck in "gaming mode" rather than cable tv. However, after about 15 minutes of searching all the couch cushions, under furniture, on the mantle, in the kitchen. . .Sam found it on the dining room table. And I smiled. Our little prankster, trying to make us laugh. . .