THE BIRDS, or alternately titled, BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO DO

As many of you know, we have a cat, Tika. Tika fancies herself to be a mighty hunter, all 9 tailless pounds of her. Many a bird has met their demise at the hands (or paws) of her stalking.

Yesterday I came into the house holding a baby who had just blown out her diaper through either pant leg, necessitating an outfit change for both of us. As I started down the hall I saw feather. EVERYWHERE. Knowing where this was headed I followed the trail of feathers into the bathroom. There, trembling in fright, was a teeny tiny bird.

Before I could think what to do my other three kiddos came in to see how the poop disaster was turning out. What they found was a tiny bird. Delighted mayhem ensued. "Mommy, it's a BIRDY!!!" "CAN I TOUCH IT CAN I POKE IT CAN I HOLD IT???" Aubrey barked orders: "LEAVE IT ALONE! NATHAN, YOU'RE TOO CLOSE, IT'LL GET YOU SICK. DANE, GET AWAY FROM THERE!!"

I did was any reasonable wife would do. I continued to hold poopy baby and called Greg.

"Catch it with a towel and put it outside and lock Tika inside." Hmmm, wonder why I couldn't think of that on my own. Could it be the poop on my shirt?

So we did that. Caught the terrified birdy, who clearly had a broken wing, and hid it outside in a bush. I locked Tika inside and congratulated myself on handling the situation. I changed my poor poopy baby and myself. Good work Sara.

Good work that is until an hour later, after one of the kids had left the back door open, that I see THE SAME BIRD HOPPING IN THE KITCHEN!! Tika had recaught it and brought it back inside. This time however the bird wasn't as stunned and hopped and tried to fly away every time I got close to it. Aubrey and I managed to get it to hop out our front door and hide in a bush out there. This time however I didn't even know where TIka was and kind of wished she would just finish the poor bird off, rather than taunting it all day. I thought of a devotion I read that day on finding joy at home and laughed to myself.

The laughing stopped when a couple of hours later TIKA BROUGHT THAT SAME DANG BIRD BACK INTO THE HOUSE!!!! Yes, I am serious. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Of course Greg was going to be home late that night and quite frankly I was tired of catching wildlife. So, I just let the bird hang out. This time I locked Tika outside and let the bird wander the house. She (the bird had pretty feathers so obviously was female) made her way downstairs and the kids had a grand time keeping track of her. When Greg got home he caught the bird for THE THIRD TIME (it was hiding in a dress up dress) and took her two houses down and put her up high in a bush. The last time we saw her Tika was wandering our yard, mewing, and lurking suspiciously close to the house where we had brought the bird.

We have not seen the bird today. I think she might have made it to the happy hunting grounds.

Cheeks and chins

Another personal note

Dear ______,

You know who you are. I changed my header picture just for you. You're welcome.

Love, Sara

A personal letter

Dear Stomach flu,

Our family has not appreciated your visit. I will go so far as to say that we hate you. Yes, please take it personally. I have taken you off of my Christmas card list. HAHA, jokes, you were never on it, take that!

Hate, hate, hate, double hate, LOATHE ENTIRELY. (Side fun, name that movie quote!)

Insincerely yours, the Jones family

Baby smiles

Johanna has a gorgeous smile that she uses regularly. This big open mouth expression is one of her favorite ways to smile.

What's in your pocket?

Last night when I went to bed this is what I dug out of the pockets of my shorts:

FIVE hair ties
One plastic pirate
One plastic bumble bee from a game
Four pennies
One hair clip
Two tootsie roll wrappers
Jimmy Hoffa

What's in your pocket?

I ain't no lady!

We attended a wedding in Yakima this weekend. I spent 90% of it taking people to the bathroom.

On my second round of potty breaks I let Nathan go into the men's room by himself. He thought this was awesome. Dane didn't think it was awesome that I made him come into the women's bathroom with me.

On the third round of potty breaks, it was just Dane needing to pee. As we got to the bathrooms I turned us into the women's restroom. Dane hung his head and said in his most disappointed, indignant voice, "OH DARN IT MOM, it's the ladies' room!"

I have already immasculated my two year old.

Which one is which?

My mom used to have to look at what clothing we were wearing in baby pictures to identify which baby it was.

"OH, that little pink outfit is one my aunt gave to KayLynn but KayLynn didn't get that particular stain on it, that was Lianna, so that is Lianna. I think."

Seriously?? How could she not identify her own precious babies? What kind of unobservant mother was she?

Forgive me dear mother.

Our screen saver on our computer is all our digital photos and EVERY TIME a picture of a baby comes up the kids say, "Who is it, who is it??"

(p.s. IF you need reminding, I am one of four girls. My mom didn't even have the benefit of gender specific clothing for clues.)

"UM, I think....Nathan, yes, definitely Nathan." (Means, I think it might have been Nathan. Or was it Dane?)

Quite frankly, my babies look alike. Greg is fair like me. He has blue eyes. All our kids are blondish/baldish babies with gray blue eyes. They all weighed about the same. They were born in the same era. Heck, they were practically born in the same sports season! Needless to say, particularly with my little boys, more than one picture has gone past with me wondering, now which kid was that?

Can you tell???

A post in which Sara whines

So, I am curious as to what other people without AC do when their house is horribly hot. Today the inside of our house is registering 90 degrees and we/I are none too happy about it. We have hung out in our basement all afternoon but it has turned into a movie fest. Okay for one day but not all week. Any suggestions? Bear in mind that I have a 5 week old baby so hanging out in a pool all day isn't really an option. I'm thinking I may spend a lot of money at the play area in the mall. It has a ball pit, tunnels, slides, and sweet AC.

Oh, and may I add that nursing while your house is this hot it well, even hotter. Johanna ends a nursing session with what little hair she has plastered to her head and the crook of my elbow is dripping sweat. Elbow sweat, now there's a parting image for y'all.

The house

So, about five thousand years ago I promised to post pictures of our house. I may have even said, "Stay tuned for remodeled house pictures!" By now you all think I'm lying, either that I'll ever post pictures or that we live in a new house at all. Well, I got inspired today because this weekend Greg finished our brand new so awesome I can barely stand it seats a boat load of people dining room table. This afternoon the house was mostly picked up and I thought, what the heck, let's take some pictures! I mean, I don't have anything else to do, right? Johanna, you go ahead and make yourself a sandwich if you're hungry!

I will post pictures of the bedrooms another time (don't stay tuned, it could be another three months), for now ALL FOUR OF MY KIDS ARE SLEEPING!!!!

Last thing. All major remodel work (bathroom, kitchen, carpet) is compliments of my long suffering, generous father-in-law Doug. The hanging of all new curtains, new lighting, and newly finished furniture is compliments of my hard working, never complaining, dedicated, smoking hot husband. Oh, and all the new paint is because my own family came one weekend and painted the whole stinking house. Thanks Matt, Lianna, Daddy, and Greg! Have I mentioned before how much my family rocks??

And I'd like to thank the Academy for....