I realized that I haven't written about the different things that we've done the past week! It's been an exciting one...for once ;) lol Note to the grandparents: We will be posting larger pictures of these different things, in the near future!!! :)

Easter Sunday was SUCH a great day :) We had a wonderful church service, then a HUGE potluck lunch, and then the Easter egg hunt for the kiddos! This is a picture of the kids right as they were running out of the church to start the hunt:

During the week, we did our usual Tuesday morning Bible Study, Awana on Wednesday, home school through the week, then on Friday, we had some excitement! Friday morning, a cute little kitty showed up on our back deck! She had been here a month or so ago, and was in heat. The poor girl was crying and wouldn't really let me pet her. This time, she was super friendly to me and Abby...especially after Abby fed her some food and milk!

That evening, Joshua and Abigail were over at their friend Brianna's house, who is just a few houses down from us, and Josh came running home with some good news. He started out telling us that there was a baby on the ground, and that they thought it was dead, but it is alive, so everything was great! Of course, Tim and I thought he was talking about a HUMAN baby...but no...he was talking about a baby bird!!!! This is the nest that the kids made for him:

I had always heard that you weren't supposed to touch baby birds because the mother bird would smell you on them and then abandon the baby. So, we decided to keep the baby bird, and we took it home.

After doing some Internet research, I found out that mother birds actually don't have that great of a sense of smell, and that it is fine to help the baby birds, and then put them back. What is NOT alright to do, is to keep a nesting songbird...it's against the law!!!! Go figure... So, we took the bird back, and put it in a planter next to the nest. The nest was on Brianna's porch, and it really was too small for all of the birds. There were four babies in all!!!

On Saturday, the kids came running in to tell us that a baby bird was on the ground in Brianna's yard, again. We went down there and found the same one that we had taken care of, sitting on the ground, chirping away! It's eyes had been closed before, but now one of them was open. I could see the parent birds in a tree nearby, and they were chirping too. We went to check out the nest, and found another baby bird on the ground near the porch, and it was sleeping!! Tim picked it up, and we held it for a few minutes. When it was my turn to hold it, I held it up close to my face and was clicking at it...I think I spooked it, and it FLEW AWAY!!!! It actually flew pretty well, and went up high into a nearby tree! The parent birds immediatley flew over to it to make sure it was okay :) I really think that we witnessed it's first successful flight!!! We decided to leave the other baby bird on the ground. The parents were still taking care of it, so I think it will survive.

So, after all of the bird excitement, we hosted home fellowship group here, Saturday night! It was a blast, as usual :) Sunday morning we went to church, Sunday afternoon I picked up two school desks for the kids that we are borrowing from church, and then Sunday night........we had a campfire!!!!!

While I was out running errands, Tim and the kids built an awesome firepit, and prepared to roast hotdogs and marshmallows!! Sara and Peter came over to eat with us, and Brianna stayed over too! We had a great time :)

So, now it's a new week... I just finished cleaning up the school desks, and they are now inside!! Today will be our first day to use them :) Tomorrow I am going to Bible Study, and then we're having lunch with several friends at Laurie's house!! Laurie has a Bichon Frise, so I'm looking forward to seeing how Joshua does with him since he is allergic to most dogs. She also has a pet bunny!!!! Needless to say, I will be enjoying that ;) Friday we are going out to eat with Sara and Peter, and then on Saturday...they are getting married!!!! I'm so happy for them...they are two peas in a pod, for sure :)

Whew, and that pretty much wraps up last week and this one! lol I don't think I'll be posting here much this week...as long as this post is, you can just come and read a paragraph a day, and be satisfied :p

Lookie!!! Lizzy skinned my journal for me!!!! She says that this will make it easier for me to add new designs ;) She even wrote a little tutorial for me...she's so wonderful...*sigh* Thank you, Lizzy!!!!!! :D

We are home from church now :) We had a great time!! The kids collect SO much candy today...they'll be eating it for weeks... I'm going to be dropping them off at Naomi's house around 4:30pm, and they'll be spending the night there! Tim and I are both quite tired from the long day at church, but we have to go to this party tonight...I'm sure we'll have fun, though! :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter today :) We are going to church, and then afterwards, we'll be having a potluck lunch there, and an Easter egg hunt for the kiddos ;) I really need to scoot and get ready to go!!

Oh, if you think of it, please pray for our car situation...my Taurus is acting up again :p I was on my way to Lynn's house, yesterday morning, to babysit for her, and my car was just crawling...it would NOT accelerate!! I was lucky enough to make it into the Pizza Hut parking lot, and I had Lynn come pick me up from there. Tim and I went to try to bring the car home, last night, and while we were there, OH MAN!!! There was a terrible fight between these two black girls, in the Captain D's parking lot, right in front of where we parked at Pizza Hut!! I had the kids close their eyes...it was scary...these girls were just smacking each other and pulling hair, and one of them fell off of a little wall that was separating the Pizza Hut parking lot from the Captain D's parking lot. What I don't get though is why no one was trying to stop them... There were a lot of guys around, who were WITH these girls, and they were all standing around, just watching and saying stuff to urge the girls to fight and keep fighting. It's just ridiculous :p When the one girl fell off of the wall, I really wanted to go and see if she was okay, but I didn't want to get smacked myself!!!! These chicks were vicious....whew.

Oh, so back to the car situation...how easily I get distracted :p I drove Tim's little Subaru Justy (his go-cart) to the grocery store yesterday, and was so happy that I remember how to drive it!!!! It's a stick-shift, and I hadn't driven one since before I broke my ankle...so that's about 2 years ago. Naomi had told me that it's like riding a bike...you never forget. Sure enough! I just had to have Tim give me a refresher course on which is the clutch, and how to start up, and stuff like that. It really is a fun car to drive, and it makes me want my OWN stick-shift!!! So, the good news is that we do have a car I can drive...it's just really small, loud and dirty. My Taurus did start up for Tim, so it's here now. We're just afraid of having to pay an arm and a leg to get it fixed! Even paying just an arm would stink :p So, I'm not totally sure what we will do. And I think I have rambled on here, long enough!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, okay...one more thing...I forgot to mention that Tim and I are going to a party tonight!! The kids will be spending the night at Naomi's house (she has 4 kids of her own, so it will be a blast for our kids). This is a work party...not too pleased about the day they chose for it, but it's a welcoming party for one of the bosses' wives, so we're going to just go with the flow ;) That's it...I'm outtie!! :)

I've posted two new linkware sets today:
  

This month, Kristy designed for me in The Design Trade!!!! Isn't that bunny adorable??!!! She did an awesome job ;) I haven't gotten the design all perfected yet, but I will soon! Please forgive the wonkiness of it all...I stink at coding :p THANK YOU KRISTY!!!! :D

Wow...I had totally forgotten about this old site!!! It dates back to 2000, and before! Go look, and see how pathetic my graphics used to be...lol :p Oh, but beward the pop-ups!!!

Dianne, the caterpillars I found today weren't monarchs...it's a tent caterpillar! I looked on line to see what the monarch caterpillars look like, and they look nothing like these little guys. I feel bad for the tent caterpillars...evidentally, they are pests :p People try to get rid of them...blue jays feed hundreds of them to their babies...the poor little furry guys are hated by all :( I'm still going to keep one in a jar though!!! They turn into ugly moths...I hate moths...they freak me out. But the caterpillars are just so darn cute!!!!!

In other news...I still need to finish up my design for The Design Trade!!!!! The deadline is coming up on the 15th..eek!!!!

The sun has finally shown it's face, after a looong week of rainy/icky days!!!! Unfortunately, it's not dry enough outside to actually PLAY outside :( Oh well, I'll take what I can get ;)

You know, I've been pretty lucky in my little graphics world, so far. I haven't come across too many rude people, or people stealing my graphics...BUT...I have experienced people not being all that polite through e-mail. I've sent zip files to people who have written and requested them, and I never get a thank you back :( I think these peeps need to check out Are You Polite...hmmph. I don't feel like it's just absolutely necessary for them to write me back and thank me, BUT, it is something that I would do myself, if I were them!! I'm afraid that sometimes I tend to write people back a little bit too much, though...lol Blah, blah, blah... :p

I'm almost finished with my house cleaning for this week!! We are hosting Home Fellowship Group over here, on Saturday, and I still need to get the infamous toy room cleaned...seems like I'm always having to clean that room...*sigh* I cleaned the garage yesterday, to make room for the kids' toddler beds!! It didn't take me too long, and it looks soooo much better in the garage now :) Better scoot off and get some more work done!! Have a great day everyone!!!!! :D

Tim had this webpage open at the computer when I sat down. A photographer was fired for altering news photos. I can see why this particular case was questionable...the altered photo really does give the impression of the soldier being agressive towards the man with the child. At least that's how it seems to me.

Ah man...I just finished weeding the front of our house...ugh!!! It's amazing how fast weeds can grow, and how tree like their roots can be!! lol I filled up 4 Walmart sized bags...they were packed. Bad news though...we found a bunch of termite swarmers outside of the front of the house. They are right below our dining room window, down in the dirt. Tim sprayed the area with Terminate...hopefully that will kill a lot of them. We are going to get rid of all the landscaping wood that is around our house, and replace it with something metal...lol

Ghost Ship wasn't all that scary...it was pretty good...but I wouldn't watch it again.

Oooo...we're watching Ghost Ship....mwwwahahahahahaaa We're taking a little break while Tim helps Joshua with his nose bleed. The poor kiddo gets them all the time :( So far, the movie is nice and spookAy ;)

Today is our 8th year wedding anniversary!!! I think we'll rent a movie and eat some Taco Bell :) Sara and Peter were sweet enough to offer to babysit for us, but after the night and then day of babysitting the other kids, I'm ready to just veg on the couch...I don't feel like getting all ready and going out some where!! The sad thing is, Sara had to remind Tim and me that it was our anniversary!!!!! ROFL I guess after you hit the 7 mark things just kinda fog over :p

Well, the kids' bed is up, and they are in it!! Three of Naomi's four kiddos are spending the night tonight, so that the fourth one can get tubes put in his ears in the morning. Abigail just came down and is frustrated because one of the kids wants to sleep with the closet light on, and it is annoying her. Gracie, the little 2 year old, is still crying in her porta crib in the toy room :( I layed her down around 7:45pm, and she has been crying off and on since then, and it is now 9:05pm. I hope she falls asleep soon!! I'll take some pictures of the beds soon. Our camera is still being lent out to a guy from church who is taking pictures for his music cd :p

Woah...it's been a while since I've posted anything!! We are all better now...finally!!! I was sick for two weeks, and it's was NOT fun :p The Sunday before last, we had our friend from church come and tear open the dining room wall. It was good news there...the termites were only inhabiting two boards in there, and they hadn't spread down the length of the wall, like we were worried they had. We still need to have the bathroom walls opened up, but Jimmy hasn't been able to come back at all, since that Sunday! The dining room wall is still wide open, but it's livable ;)

The kids will be getting bunk beds tomorrow!!!!!! We FINALLY ordered some for them...the poor kids are still in their toddler beds! Yes, it is embarassing to admit that, but it wasn't until recently that we noticed they are getting too small for them! lol We bought some cool comforters for them, and twin sized sheets. Abby picked out a Care Bears comforter, and Josh picked out He-Man!! I can't wait to get the beds put together and then sheets on! And yep, I'll be posting some pictures once it's all put together :)

We went to the zoo, last Friday!! The weather was wonderful, and a few of our friends met us there :) We are planning on going back again tomorrow...my membership expires in August, so we need to get our money's worth! lol

Oh...have to share this, but shhhhh...don't say anything to Joshua. He has a crush on a little girl named Libby!!!!! He has told her he wants to marry her...lol I'm good friends with her mom, and we go to the same church. Anyway, Libby is 8...one year older than Josh. I've told him that he shouldn't keep telling her that he wants to marry her and that they are too young to be thining about marriage...they can just be good friends...lol It's so funny to watch them together though. She has started to be more friendly to him, and they walk around holding hands sometimes!