Mrs. ReaLife: i love my family

We live in the woods and in the woods, cute things happen...

Tuesday, when I arrived home from work, I let Elly out as I always do. Mr. R was headed to the barn to feed the animals, and as is her tradition, she bolted like lightening to follow him.

Not paying attention, I kept hearing this squawking bird and then realized Elly was pouncing back and forth like a boxer around something... Unbeknown to me, she was interrogating this baby bird!

I believe it's a Green Herion b/c we have a lot of these around... poor thing must have fallen out of its nest!!

Seems Elly was moving too fast for me to catch a good shot, but she was being nice to the baby -- I think it was more freaked out by my shoving a large, black, loud, clicking thing in her face, but it was important that I documented the whole cute scene! Aren't you glad I did?? :)

Sweet baby... I hope she's OK!

On another note... last weekend I went over to Raleigh to see my Sister, Brother and SIL and my 7 nieces and nephews --

I heart them.

The Adults.

Kids.

Praying to the god of swimming.

What nice ears you have.

Auntie, Anne... STOP TAKING PICTURES!

What would swimming be if I didn't bite my tube?

Come on! JUMP!

Mama... I'll rub your head and make you feel better.

Can't you see I'm having a private moment!?

One. more. piece.

What?

I'm gettin' outta here.

Auntie Anne with all the kiddos.

I ALSO heart FRIDAYS!!!
Have a fabulous weekend!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Seriously? I'm so tired, it's going to take a lot of effort to even write this post. Could someone please explain to me how mothers "do it" -- To all you moms out there who have or have ever had 3 or more kids 4 and under: This one's for you....

So, this is Not Me Monday: Auntie Anne Style because I had the absolute pleasure of keeping my 2 nieces, Isabella {4} and Cassidy {2} (Khaki) and nephew, Nathan {1} -- I thought you'd enjoy a few things I did not learn about mothers...

6 a.m. is the new 9 a.m.
Someone said diamonds were a woman's best friend, but they forgot to mention wipes are a mother's best friend
Brushing your teeth is a luxury
I fully believe it was a mother who discovered Coffee -- Too bad she never gets to drink it hot
I don't think I can be a mom because I wouldn't sleep for the next 18 years
A baby monitor becomes your most important form of communication
Was that me who judged mom's who use the TV as a babysitter ~~whilst she cleans the kitchen for the 9th time that day~~? Oh. It wasn't? OK. Just glad we got that straight, b/c that would be ridiculous.
Refrigerators are merely a means of storage of half eaten/half drank items to be disbursed every 19 minutes
I'm adding the microwave and nap time to the list of inventions by moms

Anyone who has known me for longer than 5 minutes, knows that I have a germ fetish -- I did not have to settle my gag reflex almost on an hourly basis this weekend -- This not because I had to pick up half eaten food off the floors, wipe off baby spit-up with my fingers and help wipe hineys ~~every 5 minutes~~ -- No, never, not me... ever.

I do realize that any mom reading this post is likely rolling their eyes thinking "Oh, this naive, childless woman... she has so much to learn" -- You're right... like the fact that offering to care for your brother & SIL's 3 kids, 4 and under for a whole weekend would not be the most serious form of birth control ever.

Oh, yeah and something else I did not learn? If you don't eat on purpose, you'll starve to death. I reheated my food 4 times ~~because I forgot I hadn't eaten it~~ before I actually ate dinner Saturday. That was funny.

One last thing I have not learned? Thinking that getting a puppy would "prepare" me for children is like saying running around my driveway is going to prepare me for a 26 mile race.

Is there a book on what to feed kids? I just thought it would be so fun to make spaghetti for the kids... All I have to say is see pictures below - I was cleaning sauce off of every surface in our kitchen for the next 24 hours :)

I have another question. How do you sleep? The first night neither D or I slept even one wink. I kept thinking I heard someone fall off the bed or stop breathing. Talk about anxiety! Oh. Wait. I already know the answer to this one... you sleep out of sheer exhaustion! The second night the house could have fallen down around us and we wouldn't have heard it -- NOT US! :)

Last, but most certainly not least. D was amazing. He totally took them for horse rides, horse cart rides ~~without the horse, as seen below~~, jeep rides, let them ~~sabotage his work~~ help whilst he planted more things in our landscape... He was great.

All in all?? They were totally worth every minute. They are precious and bring us so much joy ~~for a maximum of 48 hours~~ -- Just a few pics for your sheer enjoyment --