I had a wonderful day outside today. I unexpectedly took in a turtle on my way home from Kindergarten. Isaac named him Donatello. He's a water turtle though he's not a red earred slider like our turtle Crush. We put him in the little pool we bought for Crush but he was able to climb out of it, so we put him in the bigger, little pool that we bought for Naissa and Isaac to play in. It seems to fit him alright. Here's a picture of Donatello.

As I was outside with the turtle, Isaac started talking to and about a bird in our grape vine that is intertwined with some other kind of tree. This cute couple were trying to build themselves a home right in the middle of it. It was so sweet the way he would fly over to where I haven't weeded yet and he would pick a select dried up weed and carry it back up to her and climb all over her as he put the weed in just the right spot. Then he would fly off to get another one. Meanwhile you could see her moving the pieces around getting it just right, all the while she was making such cute coo-ing noises. It was as if she were sighing, a happy sigh!

Also while I was outside today I noticed that 3 of our cats kept hanging out and stretching under the Pecan (?) Tree in the corner of our backyard. I went in the house to grab my camera to take pictures of the cats and when I came back out the kids were still in the house so it was quiet...except for the sweet music of birds chirping and chatting. Then I saw them. The reason the cats were interested in that tree. There were dozens of them, the tree was full. It was incredible! I haven't seen this kind of bird before either. Very Cool!

This is just one tiny part of the tree.

It was such a nice *break* from the craziness of life. We've been fighting colds and allergies for the last 4 weeks. I celebrated my birthday and we celebrated Easter.

My Aunt Evelyn's Funeral was right after Easter. I pulled Zack and Naissa out of school because it was Early Release Day but Jade and Leesha both needed to be in school. It was very windy and cold at the cemetery. It was nice to see all the family. Father Blessing did a little talking and praying and then people shared some memories about Evelyn. It got everyone laughing. Evelyn was such a kick! One of my favorite memories was when we were down South at my cousins house and we were listening to records (yes, records. not cd's) my cousin had "The Tide is High" (ya know I'm not even sure if that's the title or not...but it's the beginning of the chorus) Evelyn said she loved that song and started dancing and singing to it! Evelyn gave me my first mood ring. We had many good times, swimming at their house in LA and going in the hot tub after they moved up here. She loved Clint Black and Betty Boop.

My Uncle Pete died the same week. His funeral is tomorrow up in Lincoln. I am unable to go because we have so many things we have committed to. My parents and Leesha will go and represent us. They are reading the 23rd Psalm at the service. Pete turned 98 in February. I remember him telling me at his 95th birthday party that he had never been sick before. Pete had the greatest memory of anyone I've ever met. He could recite tons of poems and songs and such that he learned when he was a young boy. I loved hearing him tell the funny stories as well as stories like Casey at the Bat. I of course can't even remember the names of the stories he new ever verse to. Pete also gardened. When ever we would visit we would always go home with bags of fruit from his trees. He would take us for walks in his orchard and later he took my kids for walks, pointing out each type of fruit, bird, neighbor etc.... One of my favorite memories of Pete is of how he treated my aunt Jeanne. Just about every morning he would bring her coffee and read her the comics in bed! Pete made the best Oatmeal, only in the last few years did we think to ask him how....simply mix oatmeal and cream of wheat and wah-la! YUM! Pete had two thumbs on one hand. I was always fascinated by this and even more so of the story my mom told of how she had one uncle (pete) who had an extra thumb and one uncle who was missing one! True story! I have spent nearly every Christmas at Pete and Jeanne's house, not always on Christmas Day but whatever the weekend closest to it, that's when we would camp out! When we would wake up Pete would have a nice warm fire going and his Oatmeal cooking. Such great memories. Pete was my Grandpa's best friend. They were the same age. Pete married my grandpa's little sister. My grandpa died when they were 85.

Before I start getting depressed I'm going to move on. Just before Easter, Jim made a lemon cake. He used the bundt pan and poured the frosting on just right. The frosting was so attractive that little fingers could not stay out of it! Not only that but *someone* took a small slice out of the cake and then pushed the ends together and tried to cover it up with the frosting that had gathered at the bottom of the plate!

On an earlier post I had a picture of the back of our front door. It showed where Naissa had written her name. She added to it, though at first she denied it. "THE NAISSA" She also wrote this on post it notes and stuck them on the dresser.
This was found in the freezer. Leonardo, frozen in a cup of water. Zack said his arms were loose and he was trying to tighten them.....Okay?!?!
Isaac got a bloody nose. He asked for a band aid but we told him you don't put band aids on bloody noses. He didn't believe us and decided to prove us wrong!
I am not a dog person but if someone came to my door with a sob story, I would have a dog. Because of this, Jim hung a sign on our front porch. He knows that if he's not there, I may try to sponsor every kid in the neighborhood, take in all kinds of unwanted/homeless pets, purchase the latest greatest cleaning product or even volunteer us for something. I told him he needed to add a smaller sign underneath that said, "Girl Scout Cookies Okay"!!

So as I started out saying, we've been busy with so many things lately I haven't had time to journal/blog about any of it. We started T-ball and Baseball last week, of course on the same day as the Percussion Championships. We managed to get to bits and pieces of everything! Percussion Championships were awesome! Clovis West has won since like, 1997. My brother has been teaching the drumline at Clovis West for a number of years. This year he moved over to Clovis East. An odd decision if many ways if you know my brother. Clovis East has been in the lower categories but Eric moved them up to the top, to compete with Clovis West, Buchanan and a couple others. All the shows were good. My loyalties were somewhat divided seeing how my brother and I both graduated from Clovis West and he taught there for so long....my daughter Leesha plays in the pit at Buchanan and Jade is at ASI (the feeder school for Buchanan) but then there's my brother's school....Clovis East. This is the first year for me to cheer for them, but cheer for them I did because the show was great!! Clovis West had a great show too, as did Buchanan. So as we sat there waiting for the final scores to be tallied, my mom gets a text message. "Someone is about to be dethroned" That's all it said. It was from my brother. Now the waiting seemed to be taking longer. We anxiously sat through all the other groups and categories and their scores and trophies and medallions until it was final time to reveal the scores for our division. Buchanan took third. Clovis West took second and Clovis East took first!!! Woo-Hoo!! And the crowd goes wild!!!! It was great to hear people talking, people who know my brother and were giving him credit. People who were shocked that East could beat West!! It was great!! It's one of those moments that you replay in your mind over and over and feel so proud!
One last story then I'm off to bed. Last night my mom took me to see Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift. It was great! Not as great as the above story but great. My kids love Taylor Swift, they each have their favorite songs and she sang them all. I got Jade a Taylor Swift shirt and Zack a Rascal Flatts shirt. They wore them to school today! Jade and I went to see Rascal Flatts 2 years ago. They were good too. I love it when they sing Life is a Highway! We had some stupid girls in front of us. Of course I, the one who's 5 foot 1 on my good days gets stuck behind 6 foot 5, wide butt, drinking woman. Her friends were obnoxious and drunk. Loud mouth, screaming, not singing the words to each song, standing on the seats nearly falling over, having to keep pulling up their pants because their thong is hanging out the top, dancing wildly with a beer bottle in one hand and cell phone in the other, taking pictures, blinding everyone else with the flash, all during the slow, sit down songs! BUT the concert was still Awesome!! Brad Paisley is coming in June! It would only be better if it were Trace Adkins!!!