Turning 36

Guess by the title of this post you can tell I don't have a problem revealing my age, huh?
All this week I was prepping the kids. What day is it on Friday? They weren't catching on I guess because on Thursday I said, "What day is it tomorrow?"
"Friday."
Ya bunch of losers.
When I came down yesterday I said to John, "What day is it today?"
He sighs. "Your birthday." (who-hoo!)
So then I ask him for a birthday kiss, which he refuses.
"Go talk to dad about it. He'll probably give you one."
John is always good for a laugh!

Peter gave me the "day off" which meant I didn't have to get up or pick kids up from school or do dishes or make sure Rebecca's hair looked decent (which of course it didn't because I wasn't there.) Isn't this the greatest thing? It was just what I wanted. Good job Peter.
Lily took me out to lunch (yum) and then we went and saw the only non rated-R chick flick we could find, "The Tourist." Didn't have good reviews and deservingly so. But it was fun and though Lily and I both enjoyed looking at Johnny Depp we couldn't help wanting to take a little pair of scissors and clip off those super-annoying wispy parts of his mustache that were hanging over parts of his lip making us cringe at the kissing scenes. No chemistry whatsoever between Jolie and Depp. And it annoyed me that a natural beauty like Jolie should look like a raccoon through the whole movie. So there is my movie review.
Then we ate frozen yogurt until we felt sick. Perfect sister birthday outing.

My parents gave me this bag from their trip to Mexico earlier this month. I love it.

Then dad sent me this picture of the lady they bought it from. Very cool.

Lastly, here are two of the cards I received for my birthday that Peter was so kind as to pin up by my computer. Have I somehow communicated to family that I like pictures of naked/partly naked old men? If so let me clarify.
Eww.

Wii Dance 2

For Christmas I got Sarah a game for the Wii where you mimic the dance moves of the silhouette person on screen. Peter likes to play with her, which kills me, and does some serious gloating when he wins.
Here they are dancing to, of all things, "It's Raining Men."

Rebecca's lists

I will often find lists in Rebecca's room, which is not only cute but makes me glad to see her writing something on her own.

"How to scare Sarah"

"My day"

This is the kind of stuff I find in John's room. Cute in it's own way I guess.

Meet Rocky

This is the bird Rebecca earned during the summer by reading and having a (semi) positive attitude about going to her reading tutor. We've had him about 5 months.
She loves animals and has been very happy with Rocky.
Rocky is a Conure, which is basically a small breed of parrot, about the size of a cockatiel.
(We call Rocky a "him," but really don't know for sure as these birds have to be DNA tested.)
Before I got Rocky I was under the impression they lived to a max of 15 years.
Apparently they can live as long as 25.

Rocky and his alter-ego. They fight a lot.

We have been fairly happy bird owners. They are not terribly difficult to take care of and are generally well liked by all. Nathaniel has a yellow cockatiel that only likes him. I have an immortal blue parakeet that doesn't like anyone. I call it the immortal parakeet because I blew dried it back to life after Rebecca saturated it with Spray and Wash. Twice. That was around 6 years ago. The only complaint I have about birds is that they are messy. I haven't really found a good solution to this yet. I vacuum quite a bit.

The only thing Rebecca, or any of us for that matter, has been able to teach Rocky to say is his name, which he will only say for Rebecca, so if we want to hear it we have to hide within hearing range while she coaxes him. He is a friendly bird and bows his head or lifts his wings for you to scratch him. He likes people and the biggest thing is making sure he gets enough attention. Sometimes during the day I'll put Charlie out and carry Rocky around while I clean. He likes to be on your shoulder and if you don't pick him up while you're in Rebecca's room he'll follow you around on the floor until he can get a hold of your pant leg and climb on up. Did I mention his little sharp claws? Ouch.

Bird Killer

One thing we didn't know when we bought Charlie is that Standard Poodles were bred for hunting birds. It wasn't too long after Charlie arrived that he killed our chicken.
Rocky is actually the second Conure Rebecca has had. The first lasted less than 48 hours. She had let it out of the cage and John walked in and left the door open when he walked out. Major miscommunication here. I guess I didn't make it clear to her she couldn't do that. We hadn't mounted the cage yet. It was really, really awful and I missed the attack by less than 5 seconds. It was so sad and we could hardly believe it had happened. I had a hard time sleeping because I just kept running through it in my mind. Rebecca didn't take to Rocky right away because she was so devastated about her little lost bird. It is not a happy memory. Her door is now able to be locked from both the inside and the outside and the cage is mounted up high.

How I spent my time in the days following Christmas

Legos was the theme of John's Christmas presents this year and I finally took the plunge and organized his old ones into this plastic compartment thingy. The kids took turns coming in and telling me how I was wasting my fool time doing something John was just going to ruin.

John says they are married:)

(Lego Star Wars/Prince of Persia combo)

Course now John thinks he has nothing to do . . .