Feathered Friends, Sunday Visitor

While making dinner a few Sundays ago, Kendal noticed a bird outside. "Mom you have to come see this bird laying down on our patio!" I'm thinking really, I've seen many birds what is so special about this one. "Seriously come and see, it is just laying down" Now I am thinking oh great I have a dead bird on the patio. By this time all the kids are curious and staring out the window at this big pigeon. We noticed it looked hurt as is limped around on one leg, and his back was missing a patch of feathers. I go back to making dinner, but the kids were enthralled with our new feathered friend, and very concerned about his welfare. For hours they questioned and talked about him. All through dinner, I started writing things down because they were cracking me up. Mostly Aubrey and Brinley.

Brinley He wants his mommy. Where is his bed? He needs to go back to the park. He looks sad. When he goes to the doctor he will cry, he will cry for his mommy.

Aubrey Will we have to take care of it forever? Do you think he can spend the night? Can we feed him...what does he eat? I bet a cat got it, his life is harder than ours because of the cats. Can we take him to the animal doctor? Can we text daddy? (he is at church) What is going to happen to him?

At this point I tell her well he is either going to get better or die. (sounds a little harsh as I type it) So her response is...."oh then he can meet LOPS, in heaven" Our bunny that died a few years ago.

I started feeling bad for the bird so I found some bread crumbs for him. The bird gobbled those up like nobodys business. Then I was thinking the bird must be thirsty after all that bread so we filled up a pie tin with water. This went on for quite awhile...at one point the bird actually came inside. Then Brinley was terrified and no longer wanted anything to do with the bird. That night the kids all prayed for the bird that he might get better and not die. That night I prayed that their prayer would be anwered. But the bird was not looking good and I really didn't expect him to make it through the night. Cory took one look at him and said, yeah it will probably be dead in the morning. OH YE OF LITTLE FAITH!!!! In the morning I woke up early to check on it, because if he did die I wanted to get rid of the bird and lie to my kids and say, well he must have got better and flew away......but he was still there.

The next day I actually bought some bird seed for the bird and Braden made a bird feeder out of a goldfish box, he even put a plastic penguin in there to keep him company.

Then our feathered friend becomes a problem because he is making a mess, poop, and feathers, bird seed etc.....and I saw it fly a few times so I'm thinking it needs to be on his merry little way. Problem is Aubrey named the bird, first it was Kelsey....then Kendal told her it was a boy because it had a ring around its neck.....so it was Dyson. Aubrey was in love with this bird! She wants to keep it forever!!!! Long story short after a few days of cutting off the food supply, taking away the handmade bird feeder, and several times Cory chasing it away with the shovel, the bird has never been seen again. Much to Aubreys dismay, the other day she was begging me to buy her a stuffed bird so that she could remember DYSON. Maybe it is time for a pet.....maybe NOT!!!

Funnies from Aubrey

While making lunch for my brood (aka) my kids...

the orders are rolling in...I want water, I'll take juice, just milk for me.

I want the red cup, I'm blue, blue, blue..and on and on.

They are getting impatient with me and I comment "hey I'm only one person I can only do one thing at a time"

To which Aubrey replies "well HELLO, you do have two arms you know!!!"



My Reponse which took a few moments to collect myself, "yes I know but they are attached to my ONE body"....."I'm not elasta-girl!"

My Motto "IT could have been WORSE!!" really??

Three weeks ago, Saturday morning I woke up to Braden who had got sick in the night. Too tired to wake up he threw up on his bed. So Cory and I go into the tag team effort, clean up throw up crew. Cory does the bed I attend to the few spots on the carpet. Luckily very little got on the floor. As I clean I repeat my motto in my head. "It could have been worse, it could have been a lot worse!" I use this coping mechanism a lot. Later on in the day I was taking inventory of the pantry for a grocery list and saw some pistachio pudding that we have had for quite some time so I decide to make it. My kids have never had it, and I remember liking it when I was little. I think to myself, oh this will be fun to make a treat for my kids. Aubrey helps me whip it up. I stick it in the fridge to set. A little while later I get it out and have some kids test it. Nobody likes it. YUCK, eww, whatever!! So I put it back in the fridge, however it slips through my hands lands on my kitchen floor. It was everywhere, the fridge, the floor, the walls, on the cupboards, down the hall toward the family room, baseboards. I look down at the bowl with still a substantial amount of pudding still left in the bowl. "Well it could have been worse" the whole bowl could have spilt out. This took me quite awhile to clean up. What a mess! After I am done cleaning that mess Aubrey runs in to use the bathroom and has an accident, I guess she was holding it too long. She is FIVE ! I can't remember the last time she had an accident. Cory volunteers to clean it up, but no she wants me to do it. FINE, I am in mess clean up mode anyway. Throw up, pudding, urine....I'm there!
That evening I had to take Kendal to her play performance, Cory was at the baseball game, so I had the other three kids with me. We went to Target to get a few things, then headed to jamba juice. Got our smoothies and are headed to the van. Braden was helping me carry the four little ones for the kids, they make it safely to the front of the van. I was carrying mine as I was finishing buckling Brinley she reaches for my smoothie and the whole bottom of the cup falls off. (very weird, faulty cup!! ) I say "OH crap" (not proud of it ) Brinley's response as she looks at me, "Well I'm just a baby". The smoothie is everywhere not one drop left in my cup. It is all down my pants, inside the van, on the side of the van, in the street! This time I have to really use my imagination to think, well it could have been worse. At this point I'm thinking, are you kidding me I just cleaned up a huge mess an hour ago. So I go into Jamba tell them I got a faulty cup. At least I get a new smoothie. They give me lots of napkins to clean up.I did as best I could while some impatient car was waiting for the parking space I was standing in cleaning up the mess. I look at the driver, seriously do you see the mess I am cleaning here. See the jamba all down my pants. There is another spot over there. After that I drive to pick up Kendal and home to continue the clean up process. The kids are playing outside enjoying their jambas as I clean up the van. So to sum it up, morning to night......throw up, pudding, urine, jamba!

SUNDAY....day of rest!!!!! Go to church come home and start to make dinner while Cory is still at church for his calling. Brinley decides she wants to wear panties, I deliberate, and think the worst that could happen is urine on the wood floor no big deal. I want to encourage her in her desire to wear panties. So I keep checking with her every few minutes or so to see if she needs to go while I am making dinner with Aubrey. Aubrey want to use the can opener so I was helping her with that. It got a little too quiet so I go to check on Brinley and I recognize that face right away. The look of Who ME, NO I didn't just poop. Yep she did, not only did she but it was the nice softy kind, ok it was diarrhea. Deep breath no big deal, at least it is all contained in there, none got on the carpet or floor. IT Could Have Been Worse!!! So I proceed clean up in the laundry room sink. While I was rinsing out panties I hear a blood curdling scream from the kitchen. Aubrey screaming, comes into the laundry room her finger is squirting blood everywhere. She is waving it around blood splatters everywhere. I am in the middle of serious sewage (for lack of a better word). I yell for back up, KENDAL!!!!! Remember Cory is still at church, Lucky him. When I finish with the panty mess, I go into the bathroom to try to calm Aubrey down and get ready to take her to get her finger sewn back on from the look of all the blood everywhere. I could not believe how much blood came out of that little finger. It was everywhere. In the laundry room, drops all down the hall leading to the kitchen, and the bathroom. There was blood all over, the shower, the toilet, sink, door.....one bloody mess. It took her awhile to finally let me see the cut. Luckily it did not need stitches, it wasn't even very deep. It could have been worse!!! Got everything cleaned up, dinner done, table set....Cory comes home. Oh the fun he missed. Aubrey vows to never ever, ever, use a can opener again. Or even eat anything that comes from a can. I reflect back on the last not even 48 hour tally of messes cleaned up. Throw up, pudding, urine, jamba juice, diarrhea, blood!!!!! Yes all the bodily fluids are accounted for......and it could have been worse.

PS......noticed pistachio pudding on the ceiling today, and a few blood drops that I had missed!