¡Viva Fútbol!

Ian suffered an injury to his kicking foot at 6:30 in the morning on the day of his last game. (See his blog for the gory details.) At 9:00 he had his final game. He decided he could be the goalie, even with his injured foot. I wrapped it up and he was fantastic as a goalie!


Of course, his team actually needed some points. So, even with his good foot missing several layers of skin, Ian scored the only 2 goals of the match.

See that blur? That is Ian planning on scoring....and then the actual goal!


In typical kid fashion, after the game his foot hurt WAY to much to do any of his chores, including practicing the piano.

Ian's Low Rider

Summer isn't officially here yet, but it might as well be!

Okay, so it really isn't Ian's low rider, but he is still sharing in the fun!

The Birds

This is a story about the birds. Not the good kind of Birds, you know, those cute little Birds who live in Milwaukee, but some actual birds that have been giving us a bit of trouble. First of all, I found a decapitated bird on my driveway. I was pretty sure a cat had gotten him/her. This is very bothersome because I don't have a cat. So, why he decided to leave his dead bird lifeless on my driveway is beyond me. We also have some cute little baby birds in our tree. (See Ian's blog for a picture.) The nest is just a little too high for me to see into. I lifted Ian up to report on what was going on in the nest. Unfortunately, the mother bird, not the good Mother Bird, you know, who currently lives in Madagascar, but the actual mother bird, was watching from the fence. She made direct aim for my head. I threw Ian out of the tree and ran for dear life. It was terrifying. A couple of days later we found a dead baby bird in the grass....all skinny and featherless. It was disgusting. As you can see, birds are really giving us trouble. However, the big trouble started on Wednesday night. Kaila called and said that there was something alive in the water heater closet. She wanted me to come down and check it out. I didn't want to find anything alive or dead in the closet. I enlisted the MacArthur boys to check it out. Ian was thrilled. Nothing would please him more than something alive in Mimi's basement. We all went downstairs and listened. We didn't hear anything. After the boys left, I stuck around, and sure enough, soon I heard some flapping and scratching in the vents of the water heater. My job was through. We called Martin. We listened again. For a long while we didn't hear anything. Then I heard some scratching. Martin moved closer to listen. There we were, Martin, Kaila and I standing silently in a row waiting to hear something. It was completely quiet. We were all leaning toward the vent, listening with all our might. Minutes ticked by and we still listened intently. Suddenly....the phone rang!!!! We all three jumped out of our skin. I nearly wet my pants it scared me so much. However, the terrifying ring of the phone must have woke the bird up because it started flapping around in the vent. The dumb thing even flew down to the opening of the vent and the water heater and kept poking it's beak out.....like a little call for help. Martin decided the best thing to do would be to unhook the vent, wait with a net, and capture the little darling when it flew to the light. Ian and Martin were locked in the bathroom with the net in hand. Of course, the bird didn't want any of the net business, climbed right out of it and flew back up into the ceiling before Martin even realized it was in the net. Before I could scream properly, that dang bird came flying out of the laundry room ceiling, buzzed over my head and flew away. I screamed then and ran into the food room where Kaila was, slamming the door behind me. We both screamed there for a second before I saw the gaping holes in the walls in the food room. Imagining myself stuck in that room with a bird flapping around was terrifying so I went screaming out of there too. I yelled at Ian to go get help and he went barreling up the street for the MacArthurs. I ran upstairs shutting all the doors in the house and Kaila stood holding the front door open. All of the boys went downstairs and found that stupid bird in the spare bedroom. They chased it out of there and right out the front door; accompanied by shrieks and screams that I think came out of both my mouth and Kaila's. A girl was walking by the yard right at that moment and that bird came ripping out of the house flying right over her head. That was when we started laughing. I was so wired up I couldn't sleep for hours. Now, everywhere I turn around I see some creepy bird looking at me. It's giving me the heebie jeebies.

P.S. One funny part of this story really illustrates how Ian is related to me. The first time he told the story, the bird flew out over his head. The second time he had to tilt his head as the bird raced by. The third time he had to lean his entire body over to avoid being hit by the bird. And by the fourth time through, that darn bird pecked him on the forehead as he flew out. See? He is my kid. He takes a good story and makes it better by adding some interesting and exciting details. Life's not boring at our house.

The Grown Up Kid

So, you'll notice that the kid has grown up a bit. I know so because of the following five reasons:
1) He gets himself dressed every Sunday in a suit and tie. I don't even have to ask.
2) Apparently, I embarrass him and my jokes aren't funny. (Isn't that supposed to happen at about 12 or so?)
3) He mows the lawn......all by himself. Hallelujah!!!
4) He scrapes up dead animals from the yard with a shovel.....mumbling about how his mother is a whimp and/or a baby.
5) He wants to listen to "his" music in the car, cheers about the Jonas Brothers
and Taylor Swift (whoever they are), and then sings along to every word.

It's the moment you've all been waiting for....

I'm back!!! I have not posted a blog for over a year and boy did that feel great!!! However, my son, who thinks he's all grown up, won't let me post anything on his blog. So, in an attempt to keep up with Mimi and Pops, here I am blogging again. Of course, blogging seems so much more manageable now that I only have 9 more days of school! Yeah!!!