A Budgie Buddy Pooped on Me

I am sure you're wondering what exactly a "budgie buddy" is. Well, it is a little obnoxious bird that pooped on me. Yes, I know birds have no sphincter muscles and I walked into the building on purpose to see the birds. But I didn't want to get pooped on. Regardless, Bug had several of the birds land on his popsicle stick and he even tried to pet one (it wouldn't let him!). One landed on his arm but it scared Bug and the bird flew away. Now, however, he's a bird feeding champ!

And this is what our little Kiki did at the zoo...nosh on my apple core. But she sure was happy!

This baby giraffe had no qualms about Bug petting him for a while. Do you think he might be a bit too used to humans?

And here are the poopers.... No, not my kids, the birds!

Taylor Reservoir

Honestly, he wanted to go in...on purpose! The kids and I went to the "beach" at the Reservoir and they wanted to swim. Well, Bug still had on his pj's because it was so cold that morning. He just got dressed over his cute football pajamas and then stripped back down to them for a little swim. And little Peanut got down to her skivvies for the swim. Those mountain lakes are deceiving. As you can see, the water was colder than they thought!

The Obligatory 1st Day of Kindergarten Photo

We all look back on those "first day of _(fill in grade here)_ " photos and think we look like dorks. And we did look like dorks. What I didn't know is that our moms, standing there taking these photos thought we were the cutest things alive. They were wondering when it was that we grew up and how easily they lost track of the time. Then they remembered that they were one child short in the house for the day. What kinds of fun things could they go and do?

Honestly, Bug was so excited about school and everything to do with it. He has talked about it all summer and now he is there. Right this minute he is sitting in a classroom like such a grown up kid and he's doing it all without me.

It's the "without me" part that is terrifying. Is he having fun? What is he learning? Is he safe? Do the other children like him? Are they going to tease him? Is he going to tease the other children? Okay, the latter is much more reasonable of a question. He's not timid and has no problem taking the bull by the horns. I might even feel a bit sorry for the poor jerk making fun of my kid if he gets on Bug's nerves too badly.

The good news is that he's in a class with 5 of his best friends, he loves learning and making new friends. I think he's going to make it.

Best Dad and Worst Summer...

It's just that this really has been the worst summer I've ever experienced and hopefully ever will. Imagine yourself standing on a train platform and the engine is reved up to leave. Smoke is billowing everywhere and while you can see vague shapes in the midst and even understand some of what is happening around you, the whole scene is murky and out of focus.

This is where I've been living: in a daze and a funk. I blame part of it on being pregnant and nursing (which I really don't recommend) and the rest on utter exhaustion and bizarre circumstances. In fact, my newest pet peeve is single people (or anyone without kids) saying how tired they are. Honestly, they have no idea what actually constitutes "tired." Trust me, I've been there and now I'm here. It's way worse here.

In walks my Dad on stage left. He sees my normally wonderful house competely trashed and then looks at me sitting on a chair dazed. Then he offers to make a deal with me; he'll clean my house once a week (for 1 1/2 hours or so) until the baby and my mom-in-law come. I'm taking the deal. No ifs, ands, or buts. I didn't even say, "Oh, Dad, you don't need to do that" because I'm dying for help.

As an added bonus, my wonderful husband hears to proposal and feels a bit guilty. He says, "Here your dad is going to help clean the house while I sit on my butt." I didn't agree or dispute him. I just let him complete the thought. Then he offered to take a chore and be in charge of it. Is this my lucky day, or what? His biggest frustration is our kitchen floor so that will be his new job.

I am such a happy camper!

Peanut

Kiki

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Okay, I just got home from watching HP and the OOTP at the IMAX theater. Firstly, I will say that there is just nothing like watching a movie on the IMAX theater. Truly, it's incredible. And, to make it more amazing there was a 3-D scene in the show that was unbelievable.

Now, I'm going to do my first ever (I think) movie review on this blog. And I'm going to skip all of the parts about how books are absolutely the best entertainment meduim ever and no movie anywhere will beat the book.

That said, and this is coming from a die hard Potter fan, the movie was okay. For me, it was the beginning that really ruined the whole thing. Mrs. Figg's character was poorly done...she had no dramatic flair that was truly needed and the entire beginning of the movie lacked the Ministry/Harry/Dumbledore interaction that made this particular book hook me in the first place. I mean, Harry gets booted out of Hogwarts, made to go to a judicial hearing and is threatened to have his wand broken and all he does is hit the bookcase once and then apologizes for it! Are you kidding me?

Yeats could have at least added some of the drama that the book so beautifully extended just to bring the audience into the story. THERE WAS NO HEART-RENDING DRAMA!!!!! He really blew it and if someone who knows nothing of the books sees it then I could imaine how lost and confused they'd be. Hmmmm, let's drop our audience in the middle of a story and then leave them there without any background information.

After the horrendous beginning, the rest of the movie was wonderful albeit still quite fragmented. The movie left out so many of the amazing details of magical imagination that Rowling created and that made the first movie fabulous...couldn't we have seen at least a little bit of Mrs. Black? What about the doxies? Or some of the Weasley twins fabulous creations during their hayday?

A few minor details were changed (Cho is the snitch but she was given Veritaserum) but nothing that really mattered.

This movie was fun and delightful but it just didn't have the flair; I hope the next one far exceeds this one.

AND THE LAST BOOK COMES OUT IN 10 DAYS...YIPPEEE!

The Fun with Jon is Over

Sadly, Jon has left our humble abode and Bug is as depressed about it as he can be (thankfully, he has his mother's personality). Jon was counting down the hours until he got to leave. I'd like to think it was because he gets to spend the next 3 weeks detasseling corn with his bestfriends. However, I think maybe his workload was a bit much and the pay a bit little! While here he mastered the following tasks:

• mopping the floors--at the Bakery and here at home,
• vaccuuming the house,
• washing the cars,
• doing the dishes on a commercial dishwasher,
• trimming the hedges,
• sweeping the patio,
• pulling weeds,
• laying weed barrier,
• climbing 14ers (really big mountains!)
• fishing,
• rough housing with my children,
• loving on Kiki, and,
• beating me at computer Risk.

I might've forgotten a few things in my list but more would just make me look more like the tyrant I am! Unfortunately, neither Steve nor I have any problem telling other people what to do. We'd love to have your children for a time of slave labor, I mean character-building fun. Honestly! We will miss him but I think his mother is happy to see him, if it is only for a few hours in the car.

I do want to say, however, that he well-represented his parent's hard years of raising him. He was polite, ate what was given him, hard-working, and easy to live with. He never complained when I asked him to do a chore and jumped up right away and did it. Then he would say, "Do you want me to do anything else?"

When my kiddos are older I do hope they are as well respected elsewhere as Jon is in our home. Maybe it's in part due to that Dutch stock!

Kiki Loves Cousin Jon

She LOVES her cousin. He holds her and she doesn't cry. He sits on the floor with her and entertains her for quite a while. And she just smiles and laughs at his antics. And, he likes her because she doesn't jump on him or try to play with him when he wants to be on the computer killing zomies. It's a symbiotic relationship.

Piratitude---Who doesn't love a bit of swashbuckling?

Peanut and Kiki were playing pirate in my bedroom. My comforter was the boat and little Kiki was the unwilling pirate baby. My favorite part was the bandanas. Of course, if she was going to play pirate, Peanut just had to have a hat and then so did Kiki. They are so cute!