Living in Harmony

See these cute little birds all perched up in their nest?  

Well for the last 2 years we have had a Kamakazi momma bird that swoops down if we walked past anywhere near nest in the backyard.   The nest is way up high on the rain gutter and we've had a nest there every year for probably the past 5  years.  Have you ever been attacked by a protective momma bird?  It got so bad last year that when I would go out on my deck to water my hanging baskets which are not that close to her territory, she still swooped down, right past your face, skimming it sometimes, and flew to the fence where she watched my every move.  Honestly, there were a few weeks where I was scared to walk in that part of the yard because she would literally dive bomb you.  She wouldn't attack Beckham - he was the only one.  So we'd send him to that part of the yard if we needed anything.  As stupid as this is - I can truly say that it was frightening! Who Knew??  You don't see her coming and then all the sudden you hear and sometimes felt this frantic wing flapping dive bomb right at your head and then it flies to the fence where she turned around and came right back at you.

My in -laws had been staying here with the kids for a week, and when we got home they told us about this bird that kept attacking them.  I chuckled, because I had never been attacked by a bird and thought that was kind of funny.  NOT So!!!  Crazy. bird. living. in. our. yard.    

I am happy to report that this year, she didn't bother us once.  Maybe she trusts us now.  Maybe it's a different bird.  Maybe we have all just learned how to get a long in harmony. Ahhhhh.... 

Goldfish Lesson

This morning at the garden store, Becks and I were looking at the big Japanese Goldfish in the water gardens.  As he was admiring the big silver one, he asked me -  or rather TOLD me that the fish had to have swimming lessons to learn how to swim.  I said "They do?" and he confirmed confidently that yes, they do.  Forced into agreement, I told him that yes, they probably did, but asked him who he thought would be their teacher?  

He said "Jesus!"  

It is 5:45 am

and I can't sleep! I've gotten up to go to the gym early all (well, not ALL week), and it was a struggle. How come, on  a Saturday, when I am planning on sleeping in, I can't sleep past 5am?    Kerry woke up at 5am to get ready to golf and I woke up  - bright eyed and bushytailed at the same time. 

 In the meantime, as I lie there in bed begging my body to go to sleep, there is a war going on in my head.  One side is saying: Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.  The other part of my my mind has been fighting back with these random thoughts:

*I really need to have 'the talk' with Eva.  What is the best way to do this?  Why haven't I done it yet?  Does she already know?

*remember to call Tiff about soccer

*do I really want to try and go to the mall this weekend and deal with the crowds?  There are some good sales out there...

*I wonder if my order has shipped yet

*Why am I still awake!!!

*I need to start preparing more for Trek....  Where can I find a bonnet?  And blumers?  I need to be reading my scriptures more.  I should do it now while I am awake, but then..

*I wonder if I need to start reading the RS lesson for Sunday....I'm sure our teacher will be there, but just in case.. 

*maybe I should get up and go through some stuff from the basement?

*What do I need to pull together for my DC trip?

*I wonder if I put my sleeping mask on if I could sleep.

*I'm kind of hungry.

*Why am i still awake!

If Kerry were here, I would go out for a run. I think.  But he's not.....

So - I've been checking out all of ya'lls blogs.  Your lives are interesting enough that it has kept me awake....until just about now.  Now I'm tired and the sun is up.  Maybe I can get in an hour or so?

Light Saber FHE

 It was a Monday night which also means it was Family Night which also meant I was scrambling to put something together that I should have put more thought into.  

The boys are play fighting - either with Star Wars guns or light sabers or pirate swords. (or a combination of 2 - one in each hand.)  They were so wound up that the thought of trying to corral them for even 5 minutes sounded ridiculous.  Kerry and I both knew we needed to do FHE and yet we looked at the clock and thought that we also needed to get them to bed soon, and nothing was planned.     So.....we came up with FHE in 5 seconds and it worked out great!  

Since they were already in fighting mode we let them act out stories in the Book of Mormon. Good stuff.  First Ammon and the Sons of Mosiah.  Becks got to be Ammon and we told them the story of saving King Lamoni's flocks.  We had them act out Ammon cutting off the arms of those who were attacking him. (using the light sabers)  Eva was one of the attackers and got to act out her arms being cut off.  She even threw in a "I'm not dead yet" from Monty Python and Becks thought it was great to keep cutting off each of her limbs as she finally ended up a giant stub on the floor trying to hop around.  Macabre and funny at the same time.  

We eventually made it to the Anti-Nephi-Lehies burying their swords in making a covenant to the Lord to never kill again.  They buried their light saber swords under pillows that we threw to them from off the couch.  Easy.  Fun. and absolutely no preparation.  Perfect.

Here is a small sampling of what it was like before we were able to corral the kids together - pure mayhem with mom even yelling "I want to see a fight!"    Huh?   Fighting the dark forces of the world was my thought - I don't know if they see it that way.

On a typical day , we go from this:  

To this:

This last video clip was a bit disconcerting to Kerry who wasn't quite sure if he should laugh or cry.  

They are loud, crazy and so much fun.  

I am tired.  Really, really tired and have been for a few weeks.  NO - I am not pregnant, but I HAVE gained an extra 5 pounds just in time for swimsuit season....yeah!  It's as if someone flicked off a switch that has always been on, and all the sudden somethings not working.  Who knows....

In the meantime,  I have not seemed to have the energy to write down my thoughts for blogging....so I am going to take advantage of a great post my neighbor just wrote that told of an adventure with Becks.  He's a great writer and you'll enjoy it.  Here is that link....

http://jlewisworld.blogspot.com/   

Art Connoisseuer  - Sunday May 10th 2009