POLLY WANT A CRACKER???

So Friday afternoon, Terry was home early and I asked him if he could pick the kids up from school so I could finish packing for our weekend stay in Chapin with my mom. After he had left the house was quiet, no noise. Josiah was in bed and the tv was off. So I go down stairs to get something. And while I am standing in the living room I hear this really LOUD noise. My first thought, a child crying but then I remembered my kids were still at school and my youngest was fast asleep. So then I start listening again and my second tought was Nellie. Oh no, she is outside. So I had this horrible thought of her being hurt in the back yard and I was pretty scared what I was going to find when I got to the back yard.  (As I am thinking all this, the noise continues-very LOUD).  So I go outside and here comes Nellie running to me and happy and healthy as ever but the noise continues. So now I am totally confused. At this point, Nellie runs back to where she came from around the corner. So I walk over there and find a beautiful white parrot. I could not believe it. So I immediately take Nellie in and go back to see if the parrot is hurt. But he/she looks fine.  I had no idea what I should do, so I call my neighbor Marlene because she is home and she has had birds before so maybe she knows what to do. When I call her and tell her there is a parrot in my back yard she starts laughing!!! So she walks over and in the mean time the bird had walked over to the fence and climbed up on it. I guess whomever this bird belongs to they had clipped her wings.  She then climbs over to the other side and walks over to the water and starts drinking like crazy. I guess the bird must have been out for a while now and was dehydrated.

So we needed to come up with a plan, I was not going to leave this bird out in the wild-since she could not fly. And I am sure somebody is missing this bird. A friend of mine told me that it is probably about a $1400. So now what, what are we going to put it in? My other neighbor luckily had a little doggy carrier. So with a lot of gentle pushing the bird went in and we locked the door. So then we started calling different vets offices. The funny thing is.... they don't take "lost" animals! So we ended up finding somebody who is willing to take care of it for about 2 week and then we need to decide on what we are going to do with it. I put signs up all around the neighborhood and also put signs up at the Local Piggly Wiggly so we will see if we get any calls. I really hope we do. I hope who ever lost this bird will see my signs and call us. I know those people are probably very upset that they lost it. I would be very surprised if they let it go on purpose. I mean, not every body gets rid of a $1400 bird. I think it is beautiful but I can't talk Terry into keeping it. I think I would if he gave me the ok. It took me almost 10 years to convince him to get a dog!!! Anyway, here are some pictures of the beautiful bird! And Terry, if you read this... and you change your mind, let me know:) Luzze ya!!!

2011 Tour De France Winner!!!!

For Riley's 4th birthday we started a new tradition- daddy will bring his little Snuggy flowers for her birthday. And can I tell you, she LOVES it. It makes her feel so special.  So once Terry had come home and given her the flowers we put her in the middle of the living room and we let her open her presents (she waited long enough- no school that day and she had to wait for Terry to come home from work to open the presents-which was about 2:00pm I don't know how many times she asked me when Daddy was coming home). So we gave her the present and let me tell you she was very confused and probably a bit disappointed after she opened it...a box of BAND AIDS!!! You could tell she didn't want to be rude or start crying -  So I didn't make her wait too long). So we took her down to the mud room and that's where we put her new......

BIKE!!!

As you can tell from the pictures she was very excited! So after the excitement we went back up stairs and gave her the rest of her presents- knee pads; elbow pads; gloves and an helmet (I know you people from NL are probably laughing right now but this is what happens when you are married to an American and DRIVE everywhere in stead of riding your bike).

But doesn't she look cute??? Even in all that gear!!!

So we all packed up and drove to the YMCA and Terry gave her a lesson in riding her bike. She did pretty good. The first thing he taught her was how to fall off the bike. She is pretty good at doing that now. She did get the hang of it pretty quickly but I would not say is ready for the Tour De France yet maybe in 2011. She still needs help starting up and can only go in a strait line. But hey, its a start:)

The One That Got Away...

Last weekend we went camping as a family at a place called Camp Barstow in Saluda. It is a camp for the Cub scouts. We had a lot of fun. I think the thing Joel was looking forward to the most was the fishing part. Saturday afternoon we had some free time and found a dock where we sat down for about an hour and just let him fish. Riley was a bit excited about it too because she had fished before and caught 2 fishes. Joel however... had never caught anything and he just knew that he would catch something. So while being very patient and showing off his fishing skills, Riley decides to borrow daddy's rod and try to catch a fish. I guess Riley didn't really care too much about catching one or not because she took her shoes off and dipped her feet into the lake and was splashing around. Well, let me tell you... about 5 minutes of doing this she started yelling "I think I got one"!! You should have SEEN Joel's face. So Terry walks over to Riley and helps her reel her fishing line. And sure enough, there was a fish.  (See pictures below). As you can tell from her pictures, she was very proud:)

So after Terry threw the fish back into the water, Joel very quietly moved from his spot to Riley's spot in hopes to catch something. And sure enough, 5 minutes later his line was being pulled. He started reeling it in and at one point it got pretty heavy and Terry had to take over. He was so excited...I believe he was looking mostly forward to having a picture taken with his very first catch. The closer Terry got it to the dock, the louder we all got. We could not believe how BIG this fish looked. He must have been between 3 & 4 lbs.  As the fish got right up to the dock Terry was getting ready to pull it up and put it on the dock.....

THE LINE BROKE!!!

As you can imagine, Joel was very disappointed! We really had to convince him that he did catch a fish. He was so sad. I felt for him. He did finally understand that he did catch a fish it just got a way from him. I think it helped that we got some pictures of it in the water. Let me tell you, even though he was pretty upset that it got away...he was a good sport!! So, next time you see Joel ask him to tell you his "fishing Story". He is pretty good at telling the story. Just be prepared for one HUGE fish story! I think at one point he was telling people it was a 7 to 10 pounder! I guess he is pretty good at telling "fish stories"!

Play date.

So today Josiah had one of his little friends from church come over and play. His mom had an appointment and she dropped her kids off at my house so Josiah and Walter could play. They had so much fun:) Both of them are BIG into Toy Story so Walter brought his Woody over and Josiah got his Buzz. Well, both of them were in "TOY STORY HEAVEN" because neither of them has the "other toy". So they both played with each other's toys. When it was time for Walter to go home, he picked up Buzz and a couple of other toys and ran to the door. It took him a while to figure out he had to leave Buzz at JoJo's house.

They really did have a good time. Usually when they get together they don't really "Play Together" but I guess that is the age they are at. But they had fun. We went outside and played some basketball and ran around. I have to say, I was impressed at how high Walter could get that basketball.

Angie, thanks for letting the kids come over and play-even though Hanna just slept. Hope we can do it again soon.

Snuggy turning 7!

Our one and only little girl is 7 today. It seems like only yesterday she was born. And now look at her... She is reading; she lost 7 teeth and is a great big sister to her little brother's. She is very loving and has a very sensitive heart. She loves her family very much.
Riley, I am very proud of you. You are becoming a very beautiful young lady- inside and out. We love you very much.

Enjoy all the birthday pictures from the past. She really has grown up:)