Wow ~ the Montessori Home School sounds like fun. You guys are doing some really cool things. Dallas is a great area to be in for that. You could visit someplace new every day and not run out of things to do.

My little hill country summer care program hasn't been near as exciting this week. We've been busy running from the dentist to the optometrist to sports physicals...for once in my life I'm not procrastinating and we're getting everything done that needs to happen before school starts. The only thing left is shots for my Lulu and somehow I think I may need to have no extra kiddos for that appointment. Elizabeth is likely to kick somebody in the head ~ I'll need two hands.

Monday, Braden had two teeth pulled. I can't believe what a difference that has made already in his little mouth. The two adult teeth that were coming in so crooked have almost completely straightened out now that they have some room to do the right thing. He'll need to have at least two more pulled and the expander plate for his lower jaw still, but I think we've avoided braces by catching the problem so early. The girls just had regular checkups and cleanings. Haylie passed her physical and we received some great news about her knees... no surgery necessary at this point and no arthritis. She has a benign condition called Oshgood Schlatter (German) that is fairly common in athletic (using term oh so loosely) kids this age. She will unfortunately always have the ugly knots under her kneecaps, but the pain should stop between 14-15 yrs old, or whenever she stops growing. Thank you Lord that it isn't something more serious. The eye appointments didn't go that well...Haylie is now in glasses and Braden has to wear his full time, not just when he's reading or working on the computer. They both look really cute in their glasses. Haylie's are freaking huge and weird ~ just her style. I guess "trendy" is the word she'd want me to use. Whatever. They look like prison issue to me, but she's happy, so...

Today Braden decided to get a closer look at the baby birds in the nest built in the addition. In order to do this, he first had to knock the nest down with a shovel. Due to the large number of animals here, we couldn't leave the nest down on the ground. I am now hand-feeding five baby starlings (?) every 20-30 minutes. Thank you God for only sending me one boy. Wendy, I'll start praying for you now. I can already see the glint in Kutter's eye that promises...adventures.

Jose' is doing well. Eating quite a bit. I told Michael we should have named him Air Compressor because several times a day and even more during the night, he'll suddenly start braying out of nowhere for 3-4 minutes. Michael has a little red air compressor that does the same thing if he forgets to unplug it. The braying still wakes me up at night, but it doesn't sit me straight up in bed anymore. Guess I'm getting used to it. Michael, of course, never hears it. We managed to get a halter on the poor thing and Michael's tried walking him on a lead rope a couple of times. If anyone knows how to publish video to this blog, let me know. The walking experience is too good not to share ~ I can safely say that Jose' walks Michael way more than Michael walks Jose'. Also, the stubborn ass (Jose', not Michael) will just sit on his rump when he's not in the mood to go...is it dangerous when huge blood vessels pop out all over Michael's face and neck and he turns all red? Anyway, we're having fun "training" the donkey.

Well, the stove timer has gone off again. Did you know that baby birds in captivity eat baby food? Sweet potato and apple today. We cut part of the end of a straw off, creating a tiny scoop and the babies open wide. Hopefully they'll make it through the night and I can find a bird refuge tomorrow.

Hope you all enjoy your weekend.