Happy Birthday!

Rory just had a birthday, so my sister wanted to take him out. We met everyone last night at Ted's Montana Grill



RJ really enjoyed his Daddy's Kahlua fudge brownie :)
Ted Turner is very environmentally conscious, so his restaurants are too. That's all fine, but Ted, come on....paper straws?? Ick. Among other things, instead of giving the kiddies crayons, they have something called "Wiki Stiks", you can bend them and make all kinds of shapes with them
I made a little man, and my brother promptly hung him:
RJ came up with a less violent creation: A bubble wand. He blew pretend bubbles until the food came :)
After dinner, we all walked down to Ritz Camera to feed our obsession. :) I have an awesome family.



Oh, and by the way...

:o)

Daddy's Helper

The porch light needed a new bulb, and whatever Daddy does, RJ has to do. :)


I'll "weach" it Daddy

"I fick it"

Night at the Beach

Look Ma! No Tripod! Not that it would have helped much, it was very windy. Anyway, these are obviously from last night. Feeling kind of icky (too much peach cobbler?), so I haven't taken anything today.

Happy 4th :)

Fireworks...

Fried Chicken...
Peach Cobbler and many other desserts...
Make for a great 4th. It's also my Dad's birthday, so it's extra special for us. Hope yours was too. :)

More pics here: Fireworks

Creature Feature

Found this guy (girl?) slugging across my bedroom carpet last night. Rory spotted it and said "What's That?!??! It looks like a slug!" and I said "Nah, it's an earwig"
Turns out, he was right. (as usual, but don't tell him I said so)
A little perspective
And then of course, we had the release back into the wild:
I thought he was an earwig because I have picked up a couple in the last few days, along with a spider or two. All this rain runs them inside.. Now where's that number for Brandon's pest control...

Off to Camp

My middle two left for Sonpower Youth Camp this afternoon. It's a week-long camp where youth choirs from all over meet and produce a CD of songs for the next year. Between rehearsals and recording sessions, they also manage to do some mission work and have a trip to a theme park.

RJ occupied himself with a leftover balloon from yesterday's cookout, while Bro. Randall went over the rules one last time...

I know they are going to have an awesome time, as always. :)

Baby Killdeer

Our church had a cookout this afternoon to celebrate the 4th. Rory took RJ for a walk on the property and they came across some killdeer babies, running all over the back field.

It was pretty interesting, the parents would come right in front of us and start flopping around on the ground as if they were injured. Then they would start walking away, dragging one wing. Meanwhile, the babies would stay as still as a statue, while Mom and Dad lured us "predators" away from them. The baby here let me come right up to him to take his picture, he didn't so much as blink. They learned well. :)

You have to look close in this pic, RJ was having a conversation with one of the little ones. I think he was asking it if he wanted to come for a walk with us. :) The cookout was a lot of fun. I'll have pics up tomorrow on flickr of the egg tossing, dunking booth, and all the other activities and great food.

Moon Illusion

Check the sky tonight at sunset, when the moon is rising. There is going to be a phenomenon called the Moon Illusion . The bad thing about it, is since it is an illusion, a camera can't capture it. Still should be cool to see though.

Tagged

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Emily:

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? I don't think so, I think it was just a name they liked.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Yesterday, listening to Disney songs...go figure :)

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Sometimes

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Roast Beef

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? yes, 3 boys and 1 girl

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yep

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Yes. Tact is for those who aren't witty enough to be sarcastic. :)

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? no, had them out about 5 years ago

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No way, but I would do "Fearless Freep" at Six flags in a heartbeat

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Vanilla Crunch Life

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Flip Flops don't have laces

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Only with God

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? anything with chocolate and peanut butter

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? hair. Then hands.

15. RED OR PINK? Red

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I'm a procrastinator.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? grandparents probably

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? No but I want them to fill it out on their blog so I can read it :)

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? DUH, read this one wrong...NOW I'm wearing khaki capris and no shoes

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? cereal

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Jacks' Big Music Show

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? turquoise

23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Clean husband, clean baby, clean house, leather, vanilla...

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My daughter, she spent the night at church last night and called me at 10:45 to get her uncle's phone number, they were having problems with the sound system.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes, I have never met her in "real life" but I would like to. She inspires me daily with her strength, her love for her family and her faith in God.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Nascar and Football is what we watch in this house

27. HAIR COLOR? dk blonde/lt brown

28. EYE COLOR? Blue/Green

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Not anymore!!

30. FAVORITE FOOD? crab legs

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy Endings. I used to love scary movies, but now I don't like the anxiety and racing-heart feelings that come from watching them. Must be getting old. ;)

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? grey FL Gator shirt. ;)

34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Both

35. HUGS OR KISSES? Both

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Hopefully all

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? not sure

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? nothing at the moment, I have some things on hold at the library, waiting for them to come in. :) I did just re-read "These Happy Golden Years" by Laura Ingalls Wilder, I never get tired of those books.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Don't have one

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Dr. Phil

42. FAVORITE SOUND? Children laughing

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Stones

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Boston

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Hmmmm...

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Jax

47. WHAT SUPERPOWER WOULD YOU LIKE? to fly

I tag : Debbie, Melissa

Welcome to the Howl-iday Inn

You might remember that a couple of weeks ago, we had my brother's weiner dogs for a few days. This time, it was my sister's "Shih-tzu", Victoria's Dashing Dakota, but we just call him Koty. :) He is a cutie:





RJ loves it when his fur-cousins come to play :) Koty went home last night, RJ has been looking for him everywhere..."Ko-tee out?? Take Ko-tee out?" Poor little guy, he just got over asking about the wieners every 10 minutes.

Good to know Augie has choices for the next time we go out of town ;o)

My brother and sister will probably fight over who gets to keep him, I mean would you LOOK at that FACE??

Baby Bird Update

For anyone who has kept up with our bird-watching, I got some sad news this morning from Dad. The last little bird met his demise sometime during the night. He said it looks like some kind of animal got it. So, started with 4 eggs, three hatched, and none of those survived. We are sad because we got pretty attached to the little guys. :) But, I guess that's "Nature's Way". :)

Almost $300 later...

And it's not even full. I would have had a beautiful picture of a rainbow, with a backdrop of blue sky and framed by puffy white clouds from this morning. But I LEFT MY CAMERA AT HOME. It would have been awesome, we were going over the bridge, Rory was driving...needless to say I'm not happy with my decision to leave the camera home this morning. So instead, you get to see the fruits (and vegetables) of my grocery shopping.

:)

Lesson learned: TAKE YOUR CAMERA WITH YOU EVERYWHERE, you never know what you'll see. Well, that, and when wearing earphones to listen to your new ipod in the store, don't forget that if you start SINGING...everyone can HEAR YOU.

Preparing to Leave the Nest

Well, there is only one little bird left, the other two went MIA sometime last night. We are believing that they flew away. :) I risked life and limb to get this pic, one of the parents dive-bombed me in the back of the neck. Scared me to death, but Dad got a huge kick out of it. ;)

And earlier, I took my oldest "baby bird" to have senior pictures made.
Two babies, both preparing to leave the nest. Both with parents who will do anything to protect them. Both with parents who want nothing more than to see them take off and fly successfully.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

I'm banking on that. ;)

PS, you can see more pics of the sitting HERE

Out With the Old...

Well, our 8 year old fridge has gone to the great appliance center in the sky, or whatever the appliance-equivalent is for the rainbow bridge. :) We certainly expected it to last longer than 8 years, but

NOW all of my appliances match!! So that makes me happy.

There is much more to this story of my day than what you see here. And this is the reason I'm not telling the rest:

I don't know if any of you have heard of this, but it was started by a minister out in MO. It is based on the belief that you can create a new habit in 21 days. You wear the bracelet, and when you catch yourself being negative or complaining, gossiping...basically anything that doesn't promote a positive, healthy and Christian attitude, you have to switch the bracelet to your other wrist and start over. Once you go 21 days without having to move the bracelet, you can email them and they send you a "certificate of happiness". :) I won't go into what went on today with the delivery of this new refrigerator, suffice it to say that my wrists are sore and chafed, and I ended up just taking the bracelet off and throwing it across the room. :) Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day in my quest for happiness and a more positive, uplifting spirit and attitude.

Btw, you can find out more and get some free bracelets HERE.

I got 10 yesterday, so I have a few if any of you in my vicinity would like one. ;)

Progress

I made some putting songs on my new Ipod:

and RJ made some covering his face with doggy stickers :)

Bubble Boy

You can see more bubble fun HERE

Rainbow Cloud

Having a Teenage Son With a Job

Has its advantages. :) My oldest has been working hard for a few months now, and he said when he first got the job that he was going to buy me an Ipod. I protested for a while, but he finally wore me down. "Mom, I've never bought you a birthday or Christmas present, so this is for all that". I have to say, I'm liking it. A lot. :) Especially since one of my good friends and I are planning on doing the Breast Cancer walk next year. This will help with getting ready for that quite a bit.

Grandpa John's Camera

This was my Grandfather's camera. It's an Argus C3 and he bought it over in Korea in the 50's. From what we read, it was a very popular camera, manufactured from 1939 to 1966, and holds the record for most units sold. It is nicknamed "The Brick", and aptly so. It weighs a ton more than my camera, and is about the same size as a brick. My brother (who is an absolute camera nut) could not wait to see what kind of pictures it took. He loaded it up with film yesterday afternoon and took some shots. Then he promptly took off for Ritz Camera to have them developed. :) You can see them HERE

Not bad for such an oldie, and the fact that it's completely manual. It has the instruction book with it, an ancient light meter, and all the accessories. Even an old timey bulb-flash:

Photography is COOL. :) Especially when you can share the interest with your family and friends.

Feed Me!

They are growing fast, we read up on them yesterday and found out they are only going to be in the nest for around 12 days. Seems impossible that these scrawny, naked things will be leaving the nest or "fledging" that soon!

There were 4 eggs, three hatched. Here are all three:

I don't know if one is weaker than the others, but you can usually only see two. They are piled on top of him/her and he doesn't raise up as much as the other two. Mom got some really good pics of the three of them with their beaks open yesterday. We need to set HER up with a blog to show them off, since the whole family is doing it now. ;)

Fascinating to watch. :)

After the Storm

Happy Birthday!

We have baby birds :) (In case you missed it, here they are last thursday )

I will get some more pics when they are fuzzy and cute. :)