Two weeks ago, I had a completely blonde moment. And it seems I have these moments always in the presence of or on the phone with our friend, Mike (aka Jacques). Not sure why that is but he surely has to think of me as nothing short of dingy.

In any case, Mike and I are on the phone talking biz. It was a beautiful Spring Day so I had opened all of the doors and windows. Several minutes into our conversation, I hear a bird flutter by. Now why I reacted with such fierce nervousness, I am unsure. You would have thought a Pterodactyl flew through our house.

I had no clue how to lure this tiny bird out but with little effort, she was flying in open air within minutes.

Fast forward to today and it all makes sense.

We found the home to The Carolina Wren that has now flown into our house twice and appears to be living in our garage. She has three eggs nestled into a perfectly built nest in Tim’s motorcycle helmet.

As Tim was leaving to pick-up a Harley Davidson Fat Boy Lo (which I can only guess is the beginning of a mid-life crisis or a late 40th birthday present to himself), it was the first time I can recall suggesting he go without a helmet. You absolutley cannot take away a mama bird’s babies…

The kids will be so excited to observe this feature of nature right in our garage!

I think my neighbor was surprised to see me knocking on her door for a large tuperware this morning after I saw this HUGE crawfish crossing the road while I was running. 

I felt compelled to bring it home to my sleeping children.  I mean how often do you see a lobster-sized Crawfish crossing the road?  

He is in the tub until our release party this afternoon but we have already fed him a ladybug.

Surely, this is a sign of Spring!

I consider myself tidy. 

Despite a crazy work schedule, and four kids that easily leave a mess in their wake, the house remains fairly clean. 

So, it really bothered me that every time I walked into my bedroom the past 24 hours, it just STUNK and I mean like nasty stink.  I figured it was the remenants of Emerson being sick with the flu for the last three days.  But it was more than that…

Last night as I pulled the covers up to my face I was struck with the nasty stink.  I was so tired I just quickly threw off the blanket and got another one. 

A thought crossed my mind this morning as I started sniffing every nook-and-cranny of my bedroom.  Gage went through a ‘wipe-his-feces-on-the-wall’ stage this past summer.  I was sure I was bound to run into a new stage of different proportions. 

Finally, I found a leaky sippy cup of milk that had slowly been dripping its nasty fluid in between the mattress and footboard.  It was disgusting. Inside the milk had formed an enormous congealed chunk of milk.

So, I am yet again looking forward to the conclusion of another stage in our lives…eliminating sippy cups with warm milk before bed.  Ugh!

I took it as a compliment when my neighbor said, “I like that you guys are a little bit trailer!”

I replied, “It won’t be for long but the kids LOVE the inflatables.”

It is hard to admit your weaknesses.  It is even harder to tell your husband what his are. 

Most people know that if you use our kitchen sink, the hot is cold and the cold is hot.  I am so used to it that I often times forget which way is right going into other homes. 

So…it should come as no surprise that after six weeks of a gaping hole stuffed with a kitchen towel in our front door, Tim installed a new knob system.  However, keeping up with the Stoner-opposite-way-is-better, you have to push the lever UP to get outside.  Yeah…not intuitive at all.  It would have been a great solution to contain the twins about a year ago, however.

I think a handyman will handle future home repairs.

By the way, to keep Tim company, my greatest weakness is…hmmm, I will let him answer that one.

I knew I was running low on groceries when the only thing I could fill my children’s lunch boxes with was:

1) a plastic bowl and spoon,
2) a Ziploc of Cheerios,
3) a cup of milk,
4) a yogurt, and
5) some M&Ms.

Time to hit the aisles! Who wants to bet I hear commentary on their lunches tomorrow after school?

I have learned that nothing is coincidence. 

We have two unfinished storage areas in our basement.  Recently, I entered one storage area to pack toys away that were being overlooked.  I strategically hide toys only to let them reappear several months later.  It keeps things fresh with the children! 

Anyway, as I was busy packing the toys away a wreath caught my eye that I had completely forgotten about.  It was one my Aunt Nine had bought for my grandfather.  I hardly even remember bringing it home after packing up his apartment.  But then again, it was such a whirlwind of emotion that I am not surprised.  The wreath was perfect to hang on the front door with the onset of Spring.

In order to hang it, however, it required me to enter the other storage area where I keep the holiday decorations.  I enter into this area of the basement very rarely for just that reason.  It happens also to be where all of the mechanicals are housed.

Wouldn’t you know it…I walked into an inch of water from our failed sump pump!  After the initial shock, I realized it was no coincidence.  It was my busy-body Aunt still ever present in my life giving me a warning of impending disaster.  All it took was a reset of the sump pump and some cleaning up.  However, had I not walked into that storage area, our entire finished basement could have been covered in water from the vast amount of downours we have had. 

I figure my Aunt is enjoying the fact that she can still share her opinions and warning calls!  I wonder if I (or the rest of our family) will ever stop missing her?

We watched Mommy Robin build her nest from the first blade of grass.  In fact, it was such a painstaking process, I wanted to help her.  For the first hour, nearly every piece of grass fell from the gutter where she decided to build her home.  But sure enough…she kept at it. 

By end of day, she had a perfectly suited location to lay her beautiful blue eggs.  Luckily, the nest is on our deck, so we have had the excitement of watching the entire process.  Yesterday, we observed the father hunt for the worms, then give them to Mommy Robin, as she carefully fed her babies. 

We have all enjoyed this little slice of Mother Nature just outside our backdoor.

A Spring couldn’t pass without me finding a tick embedded into my head.  It has happened every year we have lived in Indiana. Really…it is disgusting.  And, I find it rather embarassing to call my neighbors with the question, “Hi, I have a tick in my head.  Would you mind coming over to extract it with tweezers?”  I like the Spring but cannot stand the critters it brings along with it. 

Guess what the summer brings without fail? Poison Ivy!  Must Mother Nature punish me?

While we live in what you would consider a suburb, we are experiencing some wildlife this Spring.  We have either seen or found tracks for deer, coyote, fox, and turkey.  We caught this gobble-gobble walking past our deck.  Couldn’t believe it!  Now that is a first.  We have since found out that this is actually a Guinea Hen.