Birds

As some of you may well know, here in the Temple City/Arcadia area, we have become overrun by birds! They are small, green, parrot-like birds with a squawk that is one of the most annoying sounds ever, in my opinion. Well, there are literally hundreds of these pests making their early morning and late evening homes in the trees around our house, and when they all get going, the sound is something to behold, let me tell you. Sometimes, when all the windows are open and we're sitting down for dinner, we actually have to raise our voices to hear each other and carry on conversation! We just figure it's one of those things we must endure for the sake of a superb home and location.

Another walk today, and this time I remembered the camera. We stopped by a local park so Warren could swing and Jake could ride his bike in a big open area.

Jake attempted to push Warren in the swing but didn't quite understand to move out of the way when the swing comes back toward you, and Wo-Wo thought it quite hilarious every time he ran into Jake! Cute boys!!

Life with my Boys

Today was one of those days that was just fun. My days with the boys are, for the most part, good, but inevitably during the course of a normal day something will happen. It may be that Jake is feeling especially rebellious and practicing his use of the word "no", or Warren is unusually cranky, or I burned my batch of cookies because Jake doesn't want me to leave him while he is on the toilet. It's Memorial Day, so maybe it was just meant to be a special day from the beginning.

We really didn't do anything super special or new and exciting. Ryan was studying a good part of the day for an exam tomorrow, and the boys and I just did normal daily stuff. The highlight of the day was going for our walk this morning. Jake wanted to ride his orange Harley-Davidson Hot Wheels bike so I plopped Wo-Wos in our wagon with a few toys and we rode/walked around our neighborhood for about 45 minutes. At least every minute for the first 10 minutes or so Jake would look up at me and say, "This is fun!" as he bumped into a hedge or tree.

We had to venture out onto Baldwin Avenue, which, for any of you who know where we live will remember, is a very busy street. I was slightly nervous about Jake being on the bike so close to zooming cars, but my heart swelled when he listened carefully to what I told him about staying close to me and watching out for cars. Throughout the walk I was attempting to teach him left and right and I was thrilled when he remembered and was able to tell Ryan and then Grammy and Papa later in the evening which way was right and left. Such a smart boy! We'll see if he remembers in the morning!

On Sunday, our dear friends Glen & Shilo Thompson came home with us after church. The men were great sports and hung out with the boys all afternoon so Shilo and I could watch 5 hours of Pride & Prejudice! We watched the 1993 A&E version starring Collin Firth. Our P&P party was complete with lemon bars and shortbread cookies from Shilo and tea sandwiches made by moi, and at least 7 cups of tea each!! I recently read the book and saw the newest P&P movie, and I really enjoyed this version. We had a fantastic girls afternoon!

I have a busy couple of weeks coming up preparing to go to Castro Valley for the summer. Packing is not high on my list of "Things I Love to Do", but alas, it must be done!

Hope to talk to each of you soon!