A story about a bird

I sent Joshua out to walk the dog the other evening. He came racing back in the house shouting that there was a pelican outside.  The girls dashed out to see and I handed Joshua the camera.  He documented the event while Dan and I stayed inside and chatted with our company.  So I never actually saw the bird, only the following pictures.

No, it isn't a pelican.  I'm not sure what it really, but it is pretty.  With a bum leg.  

 I expect the bum leg is why it didn't just fly away from the kids.  It apparently was able to move away from them, but you can see how close the kids were to it. 

They chased the poor thing down the alley. 

And they were totally grossed out at it eating this bird.  I heard it was a baby bird and it was alive till the big bird tried to eat it.  They made the big bird drop it, but the baby bird was dead.  I'm confused as to where the baby bird came from, but it was definitely there.  They ended up herding the bird into a neighbor's yard.  I hope the nice man who's yard it was called some animal rescue people to help the poor traumatized bird.  

My children all came screaming back into the house because Callie had been holding Rylee so she could pet the bird and the big bird pecked her.  So her bleeding head sent them scurrying for home and who knows what happened to the poor bird!

The end.

Today, in Numbers

5- How many times we have been to the dentist in the last 3 weeks.
4- How many hundreds of dollars I have now paid said dentist.
3- The number of my children currently sporting numb mouths. Also the total number of fillings Callie has gotten.
2- The number of teeth Joshua got pulled today. Also the number of return visits he has, and the number of teeth still to be removed.
1- How many crowns Marian got and the number of fillings Callie endured today.

Have you seen my motivation?

I know, it has been a week since I sat down and blogged.  I'm a slacker and just haven't felt like blogging.  Sadly, I'm still not feeling it.  So I'm going to toss some pictures out there and let you know what we're doing. 

We got to go celebrate the birthday of a friend and had much fun.  And gobs of gooey cake.  I think I may need to add a new tradition and let my kids decorate their own cake.  It looked like a lot of fun! 

The kids harassed the dog.  Here he is looking disinterested as they blow bubbles at him. Ignore the freaky eye.  My red-eye thingy wouldn't fix it for me.

The girls got to wear bonnets and sing in honor of Pioneer Day.  Aren't these bonnets the cutest things you have ever seen?!!  I so wanted to keep them.

The kids and I tried out Chik-fil-a for the first time.  Adam, this picture is for you!  You are the entire reason I took it! 

And we spent 2 afternoons at the dentist.  Which worked well for most of us.  The play place there is AWESOME! 

This kid was not thrilled.  She had a tooth filled and has more to go.  Not fun for her. 

This is the one who wouldn't come down from the top.  But she had a good time running around. 

And that's how we're spending the Dog Days of Summer!

Bedtime Conversation with Rylee

Last night I was tucking in Rylee.  she has been stalling at bedtime and nap-times and not wanting to go to sleep. I thought that's where this conversation was headed, but it wasn't.

Rylee:  I want a pitcher.
Me:  A what?

Rylee: I want a pitcher!
Me:  A picture?

Rylee: Yeah!  A pitcher!
Me: Are you going to sleep with it?

Rylee:  No, I want to look at it and put it back.

Me: What picture do you want?

Rylee: I want a picture of Jesus.

Summer Fun

It is yucky here.  Yucky hot.  Yucky rain.  Yucky to be outside.  Yucky if the sun is shining, yucky if the sun isn't shining.  Mostly lately, it isn't.  Mostly we've gotten rain.  Lots and lots of rain.  Sadly, the rain is usually accompanied by some spectacular thunder and lightning, so the pools tend to close when the rain comes along.  The problem is that the pool is about the only outdoor activity you can do here in swampland.  Fortunately we have found a few things to do to keep the kids occupied this summer.  I am very very grateful to be able to go to the big library, even though we are not in that parish.  They have a marvelous story time, and there was a special program this week.

The library also has this awesome light table.  The kids LOVE it! 

These 2 even played fairly nicely with it which is an astounding feat. 

And then there was the program.  Behind Rylee you can see the 2 ladies.  They had cockroach hand puppets and read a very fun book about cockroaches and beignets.   I confess that I was laughing more than the children.  They were that good.

And then we finally got around to making beignets.  I have never had one before, but we found a good recipe at ourbestbites and Delaney helped me out. It was fairly easy to make.

The finished product.  It looks a lot like the "scones" my mom made us when we were kids.  Somehow, they were not as yummy as I had imagined.  I was in the minority.  A minority of one.

Rylee thought they were very good.  Or maybe it was just the powdered sugar.  I found several beignets with the tops eaten off at her place later. 

Marian proclaimed them really really good!