The New Babies Have Flown the Coop!

Here is one of the two new babies. This is the first batch since the seven that hatched in December. Both came out today and were traumatized by the camera. (Josh is peeking in on the other side of the cage.)

My Day Thus Far…

Today is going to be one of those days. I stayed up WAY to late last night. Jeremy was still up at 10:00. He heard a banging noise outside his window. I told him that it was probably just the neighbor putting out his dog. Jeremy didn’t buy it, so I told him I’d let the dogs out in case there was a raccoon in the yard.

Since Jeremy was still up so I decided that I’d work on some Christmas cards. I went to a friend’s house to do some rubber-stamping the other day. One of them had the most gorgeous Christmas stamp that said “Joy”. I stamped and colored several of them in there and brought them home to mount onto cards. So I did one, then another, and another. Before I knew it, it was 1:30 a.m.!!!

I went to bed and next thing I knew I was having one of those weird dreams. In my dream, I heard the beeping sound a truck makes when it backs up. Now this sound had nothing whatsoever to do with my dream. Finally, it dawned on me that it wasn’t part of my dream. It was Mike’s alarm clock going off at 5:30 a.m.!! Mike, of course, was up at the church working on his sermon. I finally figured out how to shut it off and went back to sleep.

The next thing I knew was Jeremy coming in my room at 7:00 yelling at me that it was time to wake up. I was not amused and told him to go away. He then came back at 8:30 and woke me up again. He had fallen back asleep on the couch and had 15 minutes to dress, eat breakfast and leave for Sunday School.

I decided to take a shower after he left. I opened the shower curtain and saw about 10 spiders. Although I was still not awake I did recognize that they were plastic and managed not to panic. (Such sweet boys!)

On Friday Joshua had gone to an overnight youth group function to see the Seattle Sonics play and then to an overnight indoor amusement place. He slept yesterday morning and this morning rolled out of bed at 9:15 – very late for him.

I made him clean all the spiders out of the tub so I could shower. After telling him to get ready for church a dozen times, I finally had to point out that he had 15 minutes to get dressed, eat breakfast and walk to church. He finally left three minutes before the service started. (I have no voice, a sore throat and a headache, so no church for me today.)

After Joshua left, I decided I’d really better go take a shower. So I went in the bathroom. This time there was pee all over the toilet. Is it really too much to ask to be able to go to the bathroom and not have to wipe off the seat?????

I figure the day can only go uphill from here on out.

Bye-Bye, Birdies!

The baby birds have finally flown the coop. Ok. I kicked them out of the coop. There was just no living with them! I had a nice quiet mom and dad. The babies weren’t bad at first. They were extremely ugly, but nice and quiet. Then they grew. They became cute little fuzz balls. Then they found their vocal cords. (Do birds have vocal cords???) There was no living with them once they reached the teenage stage of life. They could fly and eat on their own. Then the fighting started. It sounded like WWIII was going on. The birds are kept in the basement, but you could hear the racquet throughout the house!! I had a new home all lined up for them and was finally able to separate them from the parents. I left them in their respective cages for a day or so, giving them time to adjust.
Once the babies could eat on their own, the poor mom started taking out her feathers to prepare the nest for the next batch of eggs. (Ok, so I didn’t know I was supposed to provide the nesting material!! She just used the corncob litter the first time!!) We now have four or five eggs in the nest. For some reason they always hide the eggs from me. Go figure.

Ready or Not, Here Comes Middle School!

Today we went to Joshua’s orientation at Mason Middle School. (Click on title for website.) It is a school of about 850 students. I don’t know who is more nervous – Joshua or me. I’m kind of nervous because I had 50 students in my class, not 280. Joshua is nervous because it is a new school. However, he felt much better today. Several people from his old school were there as well as friends from church, Tae Kwon Do and the swimming pool.

Joshua’s homeroom teacher is his science teacher. We talked to her a bit today. It sounds like science will be fun. She is even planning on getting leaches for the class this year. I mentioned that Josh loves science and used to watch Bill Nye. She said she once proposed to him. He was engaged and told him if it didn’t work out, she was available! ;^)

Boyhood Friends

Two years ago Jeremy became fast friends with a boy who lives close to us. They played together nearly everyday after school, and often spent the night at one or the other’s house on weekends. They were joined at the hip.

Last school year Jeremy and his friend were in different classes, but still played at recess and after school. That all came to a screeching halt one day. They had a nasty argument at school. You are probably thinking it is over some trivial matter like sports that boys often get into rifts over. Not these two boys. This clash was over schoolwork.

Jeremy had read more books than the other boy. Kids at school get rewards for reading books. The other boy is VERY competitive and told Jeremy he may have read more books, but HE had a higher reading level. Jeremy decided that he wasn’t going to stand for the unjustness of this comment. The boys quit speaking to each other.

Now this didn’t work out at all well for the boy’s mother and me. We often use each other for childcare. Naturally, we didn’t want to give this up. So, after months of strife, the boys have again established a relationship, albeit a tenuous one. (Mostly because it is summer and they have only each other to play with!)
Now the start of a new school year is quickly approaching. (Nine days, eleven and one-half hours, not that I’m counting!) What will happen, I wonder, if they are in the same class and Jeremy gets a better grade than he does? Oh, joy!

Ah, Modern Technology

Our new church secretary figured out that we could have our pay checks directly deposited. We live about ½ to ¾ of an hour away from the nearest branch of the bank. There are some grocery stores that have mini banks in them, but they don’t deposit the checks for 24-48 hours. There was also the option of putting the paycheck in an ATM. While that is ok in a pinch, but once we lost a paycheck in that process. It wasn’t good. A year or so ago our bank started cooperating with other banks as far as depositing each other’s paychecks. That was much more convenient, and made my life much easier. However, I still had to track down Mike and get him to sign the paycheck. That was not always easy.

Yes – modern technology will make this aspect of my life much easier.

After we had been home from our trip for a few days, Paulie, Jeremy’s parakeet died. We buried him in the front flower garden and Jeremy made him a tombstone.

It reads:

(Polly is under this)
R.I.P.
Here lies Polly
the dead bird.
Please do not
disturb.

We have since gotten a pair of finches. They are very nice birds and have a sweet chirp.

Bubba's Single-Wide on a Stick

Sam is SUCH a meanie!! When I visited last year, I refused on principle to go to the Clinton Presidential Library. (click on title for link) On this trip, we all loaded up into the cars because he was going to show us all around Little Rock. Somehow we all arrived at the Clinton Library. Sigh.

At least it wasn’t a complete waste. They had a replica of the Oval Office and another of the Cabinet Room. That was really interesting.

I still preferred the neighborhood tours of Crepe Myrtles and the game "Guess what the neighbors are like". ;^)

The Big Bang

Mom had a few odds and ends of fire works that she let the boys shoot off, or did for them. The fun really began when Ray arrived. Then the smoke bombs came out. Ray also let the boys get creative when it came to setting off firecrackers – in cans, under rocks, even trying to shoot them with the BB gun!

The boys had a blast in Iowa. Not only did they sleep in the tent, they also got to shoot Rays old BB gun. They spent three hours on that the first day. They started out either standing or lying on the ground to shoot the target. After a while Mom and I went into the house for a while. When we came back out, Larry, Mike and the boys had lined up the lawn chairs and were passing the gun back and forth, not even bothering to get up to shoot! ;^)

Jeremy had a blast terrorizing the cows across the road. When the cows came up to eat, he crossed the road and started mooing at them. The poor things were so frightened of him that they wouldn’t go near the food. Jeremy thought this was great and tried to repeat the process every day.

Jeremy also spent a great deal of the time in Iowa trying to catch a rabbit. This is turning out to be a tradition for him. When we were home last time, he asked Mom to leave the trap up – until Easter. He was worried the Easter Bunny wouldn’t visit if he tried to catch rabbits.

Joshua enjoyed catching fireflies. He had a jar, but was not happy to discover that they generally don’t last the night in a jar.
Larry let the boys drive the riding lawn mower. They had a blast doing that!

Sleeping Under the Stars

(Photo by Jeremy)
Mom thought it would be fun to set up the tent for the boys to mess around in during the day. Then she decided to offer Jeremy $5 if he would spend the night in it. Of course Joshua had to get in on this great deal.
We sent them outside for the night knowing they would last about half an hour, tops. They actually lasted the night! (My boys are serious about earning money if there is no work involved!!)

Little Big Horn

We went on a car trip back to Iowa and then to Little Rock this summer. On the way we stopped at Little Big Horn. (Click on title for link.) We were only able to stay a short time as the park was closing, but it was really interesting.

Family Camp

We had church family camp this weekend. Mike and the boys went for the entire weekend and had a great time. I just went for the day on Saturday and had a great time at home by myself! ;^)

While at camp, Joshua got first hand experience of why he should avoid poison ivy. It was not a pretty sight. Here you see Jeremy on the giant "spider web". It has here he learned about mosquitos. They can't wait to go back next year, of course!

The Last Day of Preschool!

I survived the first year of teaching preschool. We invited the families of the children to a graduation ceremony. I made up a PowerPoint slideshow set to Watercolour Ponies and Butterfly Kisses. We were told we need to provide Klenex next year! One parent even told us she liked preschool better this year than last year. That made us feel really good as we kind of felt like we were stumbling through the year, and the teachers last year were exellent!

Joshua Earned A Stripe!!

Joshua got his first stripe for Tae Kwon Do today!

September 11: Bearing Witness to History

Flag found in the debris of the Twin Towers (CLICK ON TITLE ABOVE)

Tonight we took the boys to the Washington State History Museum. They had a traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian dealing with the September 11 attacks. It was very moving. They had photos of all the crash sites, of course, but they also had objects saved from the Pentagon and the Twin Towers. Nothing larger than a phone book exists from the Pennsylvania crash site. There was also a 10-minute film about the news coverage that day. We were on the road that day traveling home from a trip, so we didn’t get to watch much of the tv coverage. It was very moving to see Peter Jennings break up.

At the end there was a place where you could write your impressions of the day on a card. They would possibly display it there, and would definitely add it to the Smithsonian’s collection. Jeremy decided he wanted to do one. He drew a picture of the towers. One tower was on fire and a plane was heading for the second. He wrote that he was watching cartoons and them someone changed the channel to the coverage. I was surprised at the detail he gave. He was only 4 years old.

Georgia on My Mind

Mike and I went to St. Simon's Island, Georgia for a seminar. We flew into Florida (so I could say I've been there) and drove up to Georgia. This picture shows Fort Frederica. The fort was built as a buffer zone between the English colonies and Spanish Florida. It is of great importance to Methodists as it was where John and Charles Wesley came to be missionaries. They were utter failures!
The picture shows part of the fort in the background. The foreground shows the walls of the storehouse that was also used as the church. (Click on the title for more info on the fort.)

What Kind of Dog Are You???

On Good Morning America this morning they did a segment on a test you could take to see which dog breed you most closely resemble. I decided to check out the website. Click on the title above, then on Game to see what kind of dog you are!

I came out to be like a Basenji.

• Some of it's traits:
  The Basenji is a small, short-haired hunting dog from Africa, also known as the African Barkless Dog, and is one of the oldest "natural" breeds known to man. Ancient Egyptian carvings of Basenjis have been found on the pyramids. (I'm old and don't talk much.)
• The Basenji is highly intelligent but independent. It can be stubborn and difficult to train, becoming bored quickly with repetitive-type training methods. (Hmmm. I seem to remember my mother and mother-in-law discussing how stubborn I am.)
• Forcing a Basenji, or hitting it to make it do something it doesn't want to do, will likely cause it to growl or even snap at you. However, treats, praise, rewards, or sweet talk will almost always get a Basenji to cooperate. (Sounds good to me!)
• The Basenji loves its human family but can be "stand-offish" with strangers. (Who, me??)
• The Basenji is a natural hunting dog, and when it sees a bird or even a scrap of paper flying down the street, it will try to run off in pursuit. It is a strong and fast dog, and its intelligence, determination and highly developed hunting instincts can sometimes cause it problems. Once it sets its sight or senses on something, it is not easily discouraged or distracted. (Ok. So I'm either scattered or have tunnel vision!!)
• The Basenji has not been long out of the jungles of Africa, and is not as domesticated as other breeds. Treat it with respect as you would a "wild" animal, but let it know where it stands in the "pecking order" of your household. (Which, of course, should be at the top!!)

Jeremy's Birthday Party

Jeremy had three friends over for his birthday party. As you can see they were all very calm and well mannered children! ;^) Actually, once we got past the pizza, cake and presents, things calmed down and a good time was had by all!

Joshua vs. The Rock

Yesterday at school Joshua was hit in the eye with a rock. A girl threw a rock at his back, but, unfortunately, he turned around and it hit him in the eye. The school called us and we took him to a doc in a box as his doctor’s office feels the need to close down between 12:00 and 2:00 every day. (How stupid can you get!) Luckily, it was just a scratched cornea. The school nurse thought it was much worse than it was.

I took him back to the doctor today, and it was completely healed. The doctor was surprised it healed so fast.

The girl who threw the rock has been suspended for school for the remainder of the week. The principal assured us (and informed the girl’s family) that if we wanted, we could hold her family responsible for any medical costs we incur. That is all well and fine, but what ever happened to a good old-fashioned sincere apology?