I've been showering, I promise

But something around here must smell funky, because this afternoon we've had a visitor out there.

 

Yeah, that's just the thing you want to see when you're taking care of your friend's kids, right? Don't worry about what we'll do with ourselves all afternoon. We have entertainment here. We have a buzzard.

It didn't even move when John got home. It just sat there in the driveway, looking hot. So John, being the suburban mountain man that he is, tried to chase it off. 

With the garden hose.

Did the bird fly away? Oh no. Not a bit.

That fool bird walked around like it was enjoying the shower.

 

Come to think of it, maybe it's not so foolish after all. It's pretty hot out there, and the hose probably felt good.

But now it's out there, hanging out next to the mailbox, and it's not leaving. 

Maybe it's waiting for us to put the garbage out? It is garbage night. Maybe that's why it showed up in the first place?

I'm not sure, but I don't want to go out there. The mail lady came, but it was in the driveway when she came by. She still didn't leave any mail for us, so I have little incentive to go out there. 

Jenn will be here to get her kids in another hour or so. 

You could come over, too. You can't miss us. We're the house with the lawnbuzzard.

I haven't been keeping up like I should

I blame it on facebook. Now that mom is on there, too, I've been neglecting it here.
I'm sorry about that. I'll try to do better.

The house repairs are coming along and are nearly done! We have a new roof, new siding, new paint, the shed is back where it started and resided and reroofed as well. We still need a new door for the outside storage closet, but after that is taken care of - ALL of the tornado damage will be repaired!
The swingset got damaged when the tree people dropped a tree on it, but they took an appropriate amount off our bill so we can get that fixed. They never fessed up to it, but I don't care since they're doing the right thing.
We are still going to have the back door and floor in the kitchen fixed, too. That damage wasn't from the tornado, but since we have a contractor here anyway, we are going to go ahead and let them take care of it. The good news is that USAA paid us for our damaged iMac even though we're not buying a new one, and that money will go toward the repair in the kitchen. So that's nice.

What have we been up to? Well, it's been summer! We've had one visit to SC to visit (and get our dogs back, yay!) and Rowan has gone to camp at Victory Junction again. We've played on the wii, and got the pool back up and running for some fun there. We've had a few playdates with friends, and dressed up as cows to get free food from Chick Fil A.

 

So we've been keeping busy.

I've also been going to weekly childbirth preparation classes at the local hospital as part of my DONA certification to become a doula. That finished up tonight, so that's one more thing I can tick off on the list of requirements to a fulfilling career. Did I learn anything there? not really, but the people were nice and it wasn't a horrible way to spend my time. And it's good to know what that particular childbirth course offers to parents to be. It was an excellent class so I'm glad I went, because I can refer people to take it knowing that it's a great one.

Other than that... It's just the same old story. Eleri has given up nursing but is still clueless when it comes to the potty. Rowan and Niall irritate the living snot out of each other but love each other in spite of it - most of the time. John takes care of the fishes, and I fight entropy at home. Joe has been a welcome addition to our house, and we regularly joke about how great it is to have a Manny to help with the kids. :)

All in all... Life has been pretty good.

Progress!

It's going to look great!
The front and left side is done. The right side and back are still yellow.
I got the green matched today. :D