Cute Little Courteous Birds

Cici and Tia often get on each other's nerves,

but sometimes they are friendly little roommates.

Tia really enjoys baths,

but instead of keeping the bath all to herself the other day . . .

. . . she got out and let Cici take a turn.

A few seconds later, Cici returned the favor.

Awww . . .

. . . they're so cute . . .

. . . when they're taking turns!

Chess and the King of Tokyo

Todd's Primary activity group had a game night

at the church this evening.

The boys brought a bunch of games to choose from,

including "King of Tokyo" . . .

. . . and Molkky (it's sort of like bowling, plus math).

To my surprise, the most popular game was chess.

We may need to have a chess tournament sometime soon!

If I ask nicely, maybe they'll let me play too. :)

Meanwhile, the older kids were playing "Human Foosball" in the gym.

Daniel said the activity was "strange but fun."

Joy agreed, adding that it's more enjoyable

when you're paired with someone you work well with.

I suppose that's true of many things in life.

Bird and Bush Nostalgia

The girls and I wanted to take a walk this afternoon . . .

. . . so we headed over to a trail with an easy, scenic loop we could stroll around.

On the way there, we saw a big flock of birds perched on these power lines.

I once mentioned to Anna that Red Grandma calls such avian gatherings "bird conference,"

and now Anna says, "Bird conference!" every time she sees a bunch of birds on a wire.

When we finished our hike and headed back to the parking lot, 

we noticed that someone had parked their Porsche several yards from our Odyssey.

Did they park so far away because they think a Porsche is too cool to be seen with a minivan,

or did they just want to be absolutely certain

that I wouldn't scratch their paint when I opened my door?

Whatever the reason, I couldn't help chuckling when I saw their bumper sticker.

Today's contentious political climate makes me miss Reagan too.

A Birthday Filled with Math, Music, and Parakeets

It's Todd's 10th birthday today!

Daddy and Anna made Tollhouse Cookie Bars

(which Todd had requested as his birthday dessert).

Todd's birthday gifts included sheet music from Dragon Quest

(a video game he likes) . . .

. . . an origami dollar bird from his sister Anna . . .

. . . and some math-related video games.

Happy birthday, Todd!

I love your cheerful enthusiasm, your creativity,

and your willingness to be a "help cat"

when I need a hand (er, paw)!

Sith Repellent

There's an autumn chill in the air . . .

. . . and we awoke to find our yard dusted with frost.

Our chickens had never seen frost before . . .

. . . and they were a little faked out by it,

but that was nothing compared to what happened this afternoon.

I had heard that chickens like eating pumpkins,

so I offered the hens our oldest jack-o-lantern . . .

. . . which happened to be the Darth Vader one.

I can't blame them for being a little nervous 

when a Sith lord barged into their tractor,

but by the end of the day they had eaten his entire face.

Note to self: Garlic gets rid of vampires, and chickens get rid of Sith.

Roll with the Pumpkins

As usual, I had every intention of carving pumpkins 

a day or two before Halloween,

but we still ended up carving them mere hours

before it was time to go trick-or-treating.

Todd's pumpkin says, "It's all right!

Just be like me and roll with it!"

Joy's pumpkin doesn't say anything,

because motorcycles don't talk.

They just look really cool.

With our pumpkins carved and ready to welcome trick-or-treaters,

it was time to don our costumes . . . 

. . . and go get some candy!

Happy Halloween! 

Parakeet Parkour

Tia the parakeet . . .

. . . likes to hang out on our curtains lately.

She's even started nimbly climbing down them.

This afternoon, I discovered that she had somehow

parkoured her way into the corner of a window.

I thought it was a cool trick (or a clever way to hide from Cici)

 until I looked closer . . .

. . . and noticed that she had been chewing the paint off our window frame!

That's it--back into your cage, young lady!