It Has Come to This

Today, I hosted a birthday party for a stuffed animal.


In a year when NEITHER of my own {human} children have had a birthday party, our very not-alive-stuffed-pretend owl HAS.

Lilly helped me make the cake...chocolate chip with chocolate-chocolate chip frosting.

And pink cursive lettering.

Because Penny LOVES pink cursive lettering.

Lilly wanted an owl cake, but it seemed a little awkward.



Last year, I rocked the kids' birthday parties by hosting them in the SAME MONTH as their actual birthdays. I summited the Mt. Everest of the Mom-world.

But the tide quickly turned this year when the merriment of a December calendar with no breathing room sent me into a panic and I talked Lilly into having a summer/combined half-birthday party with Jackson.

Well, May came and went or there was no partying at our house.

Everyone with school age children and a pulse knows that May is the secret killer of parents. It seems all innocent and cheerful, like end-of-the-year school parties and recitals and field days and teacher appreciation days and graduations and team parties and programs and writer's cafes and nonsense upon nonsense.

So obviously, a 9 year-old birthday party could not be squeezed in to the month of Grand Finales/Time Suckers.

Really, there is no good reason to not have a birthday party for the only 2 kids in your care. Luckily, they are super-flexible while I buy myself time to figure out something before they go to school in August.

{At this point, birthday party attendees started to wonder how Penny was going to blow out the candles without so much as a mouth.}

There is really no explanation for how I ended up making a layer cake for an inanimate owl and inviting neighbors to celebrate.

But it's nice to honor the quietest and least-needy member of our family.

And I do love her.

About 2 years ago, Lilly came down rubbing her eyes, saying that Penny wouldn't let her sleep with all the "whooing."

Mercy.


Other than that, we're working diligently toward our goal of 70 hours of pool time each week.

Don't worry, Lilly snarfed down many, many, many fruits and vegetables before I handed her an entire bag of Cheetos.

We're also keeping the Sonic in bidness.



Jackson found happiness in a cup when he ordered a chocolate Coke today. {He, of course, was washing down bushels full of whole grains and legumes with this concoction.}

And speaking of birthdays...the quads are a week old:

Lazy Birds

Yes, I'm obsessed with the birds.

They are amazing. Getting fluffier looking, but still not giving me knowing glances and fluttering about, playfully pecking at each other.

I guess it's too soon.


However, my friend Kelly, had to one-up my suburban wildlife haven with this. I mean, REALLY. :)

Unbelievable.

In non-bird related news, today we broke in the neighborhood pool with 5 hours of swimming. And when I dared to suggest it was time to leave {it was 6 p.m. after all}, there were looks of disbelief as if I just advised them to gouge out their own eyeballs with spoons.

I'm tempted to begin a swim-a-thon at 7 a.m. and see how long Jackson and Lilly will swim before they volunteer to leave the pool.

Sleeping bags required.

Lastly, I'm on the road to meeting one of my summer food goals.

Perfected the smoky blue cheese burger tonight. OH SWEET HEAVENS.

We topped it with caramelized mushrooms and onions.

And then our mouths partied.

My 18 year-old Self Is Groaning

Yet again, our official Summer Fun List:


I'll save you 3 months of suspense and wondering (will they! won't they?) on one item:

Not happening.

We're spending an obscene amount of time caring for birds that will break our hearts in a few weeks and there are endlessly multiplying toads under the tramp. So, NO.

Do you know what I just noticed?

There's a BIRD in the logo of my very own blog.

How about that?!

A blog lies dormant for nearly a year, is recently resurrected with shady writing and no storyline whatsoever, but the masthead already coordinates with 40% of the blog topics.

Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in awhile.

It appears that blind squirrel is me.

Ok, so let's get this out of the way:

Another little birdling hatched and she's resting her tired little beak on that last little egg.

{If you object to my overuse of the word "little," you are cold and heartless. Peanut M&M's, people. Peanut M&M's.}


We couldn't leave our post--there was just too much action.

And by post, I mean fancy ladder + iPhone.

That cord wandering through the photo belongs to the spotlight used to highlight our Christmas wreath. Seeing as we're almost halfway back 'round the horn to December, it's staying.

Bird-watching continued later this afternoon.

Any conflict about nest disruption coupled with internal angst in wanting to check on the babes was absolved when the FedEx guy rang the doorbell and the parents flew away.

Furry volume and body had dramatic increases since morning without the aid of any BedHead products.

And did you catch those leetle holes in Mr. Last to the Party?

I've officially spent as much time analyzing pictures of baby birds as I have of my own kids.

But this is pretty amazing.


Yes, I am videoing birds.

Due Date

In what can only be described as the most read bird-watching blog on the planet, here is tonight's update:


I KNOW!!!

They are only a few hours old. I got to see their little beaks peeking up, but my stellar photography didn't catch it.

Should've videoed, but I was too excited and running in and out of the house and trying to be quick because I was afraid the babies would get cold without their mom and freaking out because I am now a grandmother.

After all the gentle door-slamming and tripping and sweating, I resumed my secretive hideout spot inside my own house.


The mom and dad really don't want me around. Whatev.

After I show up, they usually stand around on the perch and make sure the large human is fah-fah away.

This is the dad, looking especially blue and fierce guarding the twins and pre-birds.

After the coast was clear, he dive bombed approximately 3 inches to his nest. Then I wasted an hour staring at nothing and hoping some excitement would ensue.


I was sitting at a red light this afternoon and saw my future license plate in front of me:


I'll be working on some sneaky bird-watching techniques tonight.

Bird nerds unite!

Just Call me Snow White

After some intense googling, Jackson found out that our little bird egglings living in my petunias are Western Bluebirds.

{That should've seemed obvious, but I promise, the parents aren't blue.}

These poor eggs are probably motion sick since I'm lifting my hanging baskets up and down to show them off to everyone who comes within shouting distance of our porch.

Don't worry, I'll get a ladder once they hatch.

Pictures don't really do these little guys justice, though...they are much smaller in real life than my photog skillz reveal.

For your viewing pleasure, a size comparison photo essay:

#1 Reese's Pieces

Slightly larger than my favorite peanut buttery candy.

#2 Hershey's Dark Chocolate Bliss


Who knew that a square of dark chocolate wonder could dwarf western bluebird eggs?

Not me.

#3 Peanut M&M's



I can't help but notice that my favorite(ish) kind of candy is the exact size of those eggs. So, yes, they are SMALL. Might want to grab a 4 peanut m&ms and eat them to empathize with pregnant birds and understand their feelings.

{Let me know how that goes.}

They are supposed to hatch after 11-13 days, but I'm not really sure when they were laid, so I'll keep checking with my high-tech camera equipment and report back "immediately."


I think my blue robe and cheerful whistling and letting squirrels help me sweep the forest cottage have made the flowers extra-bright this year.

In another news, I actually took a ride on a dolphin this past weekend. {for real!}

On the plus side, I can say I've swam with the dolphins.

On the down side, there was a lot less jumping in and out of the water than I imagined.

p.s. the instagram wash I used on the top 3 is "earlybird." how perfect is that?

A Little Bit Pregnant

Look what I found in my petunias! {said Great Aunt Ethel}.

They're hanging on the front of the house, looking good like they do the first few weeks when I remember to water.


I don't know how the egg-laying thing works, but the next day was this:

I've been rubbing my gut, wondering if human children or 4 eggs would be more uncomfortable to haul around.


I'm going with a 10 pound beast.

{Nice moobs.}