Feathered Friends - the Doctor

This is the Doctor. She's a Mourning Dove.

Do I know this is a She? No, because males and female MD's look the same. I just prefer female doctors, therefore, I'm calling her a she. Logical? Not so much.

Anyhow, she's too big to eat from the feeder, so she gets the seeds that fall to the ground. Which helps keep weeds from growing below the feeder. Thank you, Doctor.

A self exam perhaps? This MD was in this position for several minutes. I started to think she was hurt, but then she flew away. It was totally bizarre.

Go Ahead, Make My Day

A couple of things that made my day today:

• A Blue Jay visited my bird feeder. I never get Blue Jays at my house. I was THRILLED! I tried to get a picture, and I got a couple of shots, but he kept hiding amongst the branches, so there isn't a ***great*** one. He'll be featured in Feathered Friends sometime soon.

aaaaaand

• This. Scrapbook Secrets.

I think I may have to buy a lottery ticket...this IS my lucky day.

Feathered Friends - Finn

I'd like you to meet this pretty little bugger, Finnegan, Finn for short.

For those of you who may not know, Finn is the name of my next son which I'm never going to have, but if I had another boy I'd name him Finnegan.

And here's another useless piece of information for you, Kevin and I first discovered our attraction for each other at a bar in Scotland called "Finnegan's Wake". So, I just think Finn would be a totally cool name for our boy. No one else in my family agrees with me. So, I've named the bird Finn instead. Plus, I'm 99.99% sure we're done having kids, anyway. And, even if we do have more kids, it's gotta be a girl so that I can name her Marin Leigh.

OK, back to the bird. Finn is a male House Finch.



You lookin' at me?


Enjoying a snack (see it there in his beak?)

Vitamin O

One night Liam was asking Kevin a thousand questions to test whether or not Kevin knew "everything in the world". Mostly math problems and some definitions of words. Of course, Owen just HAD to get in on the action.

Owen - "Dad, How far away is a billion gajillion?"
Kevin - "Well, it's as far as outer space, and then it would circle outer space so much that eventually it would get sucked into a black hole and then it would loop around inside the black hole a bunch of times."
Owen - "SEE, DAD??!?!? You DON'T know everything!!! You don't even know how far away a billion gajillion is!!!"

huh?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Me - "Owen, go upstairs, brush your teeth and go to the bathroom."
Owen - "DURN! Why?!"
Me - "It's time for bed."
Owen - "YOU'RE not in charge of this house, DAD is!"

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As I was tucking the boys into bed -

Me - "Good night boys," as I start to close the door.
Liam - "Mom, wait!"
Me - "Yes Liam?"
Liam - "There's no more talking now is there?"
Me - "That's right, Liam, there's no more talking," as I start to close the door, again.
Owen - "Mom, wait!"
Me - "Yes Owen?"
Owen - "But you can still talk in your head, right? Just quiet in your head like this..." (Then he proceeds to move his mouth without actually opening his mouth or with out making any noise and he moves his head and eyes around as if he's carrying on a silent, yet animated conversation with himself....inside his head. )
Me - "Yes, Owen, you can still talk in your head, just not out loud. Good night."

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As we were driving to a friend's house in Leonard the other night, we came upon a deer in the middle of the dirt road.

Kev - "Hey look, guys. There's a deer in the road." (as he was slowing down, obviously)
Liam - "Stop, Dad! Stop, Dad! STO-aaaaaaaah - P!"
Owen - (with much glee and enthusiasm and a huge smile on his face) "RUN HIM OVER!"

Funny, but not funny at the same time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Owen - "Gordon, Gordon..."
Jordyn - "Owen, my name's not Gordon, it's Jordyn."
Owen - "I can call you whatever I want."

(he has called her Gordon forever...at 3 - it was cute, at 5 - I think it's starting to annoy her)

Oooohhhhh, brother.

Feathered Friends - R-Dub

As I've mentioned before, I love the bird feeder outside my home office window, and I love to snap pics of the birds as they come for a visit and a snack, often perching on a branch in my evergreen tree. I hope you enjoy meeting my feathered friends.

This is RWB, I call him "R-Dub" for short. R-Dub is a male Red Winged Blackbird.

Vitamin O

Owen - "When are we leeeeaaaaviiiiing?"
Me - "In a couple of minutes Owen."
Owen - "One Mississippi, Two Mississippi. There, two Mississippis. Let's go now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Me - "Liam, do you want to go to the play tonight?"
Liam - "What kind of play is it?"
Me - "It's a love story."
Liam - "Nah, I don't want to see a love story."
Owen - "Liam, would you want to go if it was a hate story?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liam - "Dad, what does 'smart alec' mean?"
Owen - "Well, smart means that you're smart. And alec, well, alec means that you're not smart."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Me - "Hey Owen, where'd you get that Kit Kat?"
Owen - "At kool."
Me - "WHO at school gave it to you?"
Owen - "I don't know."
Me - "Well was it a kid or was it a parent?"
Owen - "It was a girl."
Me - "What's her name?"
Owen - "I DON'T KNOW WHAT HER NAME IS!!"

(Right, like that was a difficult question. He's only been going to school with these kids since SEPTEMBER! Why on EARTH would he know what her name is???!! Silly mom.)

Banana and a Peanut Butter Cookie and a Heap of love on Mother's Day

Kevin does not get the whole fascination with eating breakfast in bed, but it's less about eating in bed and more about the novelty and fun of it all. So for most of this week, I had been telling Kevin and the kids that I wanted breakfast in bed on Mother's day. I mean, how hard is it to bring someone a banana?

I was instructed last night before I went to bed by Kevin, to not get out of bed in the morning until the boys had brought me breakfast in bed. Well, I woke up at 5 am after having a terrible nightmare and did not want to go back to sleep. But, I had to follow instructions and stay in bed.

Of course, the one day I couldn't get out of bed was the one morning that the boys slept in until almost 9:00 am!! But, it was worth the wait.

They brought me a banana, a peanut butter cookie (home made by Jordyn), and a glass of milk. They also brought me a heap of love and some gifts that I wasn't expecting.

Recently I've been mentioning to Kevin how much I love Magnolia trees (they're in full bloom right now, don't ya know). But I wasn't expecting him to get me one! Well, he and Owen went to WoJo's on Friday attempting to buy me one, but there are a bunch of varieties and he had no idea which one I would want. So they got a gift card to WoJo's so that we can go back and get one!!

I had left a list of small things that Kevin could get me, but more in the $20 price range. I surely wasn't expecting a TREE! But I'm super excited about it.

Liam gave me a recipe book that his class had made with all the favorite things their moms cook for them (HELLO! I rarely cook for the family). Liam's favorite dish is when I make mac and cheese in the mikerwave. (The only thing I can think of here is maybe I re-heated some mac and cheese for him once upon a time!)

Owen gave me a flower with his picture (from preschool) along with a fill in the blank card. Some of it said - I love when my mother...."kisses me" and My mom looks prettiest when..."all the time". How sweet is that?

Afterwards, we went to lunch at my parents house. Holy cow - what a spread! London Broil, Salmon, Quiche, Yummy Salad, Fruit, Corn on the Cob, Potatoes, Meatballs, Strawberry Shortcake, Chocolate-dipped Strawberries, mmmmm.

Jordyn gave me her present while we were at my parents. She had made an autobiography in Language Arts with tons of information all about her. What a GIFT! Here are some of my favorite excerpts:

• If I had one thing to take out of my burning house it would be my blanket because it's very valuable to me.
• The most difficult problem I've faced in my life is being the only biracial person in my family. I try to forget about it but it helps most of the time and I know my family will always love me.
• I think I will become a very young and loving person. I will also become a mom because that is one of my main goals in life. I would also like to become a very hard working adult who will never give up and keep trying their best.
• My most treasured memory would have to be my moms wedding to my dad Kevin. I love this memory because it brought me into a new family where I knew I would belong. I also like it because it meant a lot to my mom. She finally found the man of her dreams and my new daddy.

OK, I could keep going, because there are so many more things that I love about her autobiography, but I'll stop there for now.

Being a mom, is, in itself, an awesome gift and I am so very lucky to have these children in my life.

My Family -

My Sister's Family -

My Parents -

The Moms -

What a GREAT day!

Happy Mother's Day!!

ps - my favorite gift of the day is the one I gave to my mom.

Vitamin O

O - "Mom - Do bees like Doritos?"

~~~~~

Me - "Owen, go get a wash cloth to wipe your face." (as it was covered in Doritos cheese, no less)
O - "OK. So I don't look like a dork."

~~~~~

Kevin told the boys to enjoy their dinner tonight because he had made their brats with lots of love.

Upon "finishing" his dinner, Owen found Kev out on the deck and, seeming perplexed he said, "Dad, did you really make our hot dogs out of love?"

Kevin responded that, yes, he took a lot of care in making the hot dogs and made them with love.

Owen then asked Kevin not to be mad at him, because he didn't eat all of his hot dog.

Kevin told O that he wasn't mad, and that, really it was just an expression. That there, in fact, was no actual LOVE inside the hot dog (yes, it was a brat, but O calls it a hot dog).

Owen quickly replied, "Oh, so you lied, then."

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Owen (pointing to the American flag - next to German, French, and Spanish flags - on the back of a book) - "Mom, is this the state where we live?"

Quarters for Gumballs

Kevin, Owen, and I went to lunch today at one of the local coneys. (and it was 99 cent coney dog day - BONUS!)

Anyway, Owen wanted to buy a 25 cent gumball, but neither Kevin nor I had any quarters.

Kevin explained to Owen that after we paid the bill, we might get a quarter back, but that he didn't have a quarter for him right then.

Then Owen asked Kevin if the reason he didn't have a quarter was because he didn't have a job.

Yes, Owen...Dad doesn't have a quarter because he doesn't have a job.

Owen, in his infinite five-year-old wisdom came up with some suggestions for Kev's job search (ulterior motive - quarters for gumballs).

"Dad, I know what you could be for your job! You could be an on-tv person. Or a dinosaur museum guy. No, an ASTERnaut! Or a pizza maker. Oooorrrr, you could be a MOM."

Stellar suggestions, Owen.

I would love to live in Owen's world where you could have whatever job you wanted to have, simply by stating your desired profession over a couple of chili dogs.