1. We have a pack of cats (8) that terrorize almost anything that moves. Voles, gophers, mice, rats, bats, small rabbits, birds (unfortunately) etc. Sometimes they do "catch and release" after bringing them into the house for presentation and admiration. So one night last summer after a long day of working in the yard we both fell into bed and disturbed an already very irritated gopher snake. Yes, levitation is more than a theory. Meanwhile Mist (our mighty hunter) is looking at the commotion with an "Is there a problem? Seemed like a perfectly good place to stash a snake" expression. . . Cat and snake went out separate doors. 2. Another hornet story. Last week while trying to reclaim a very overgrown bed I bumped a huge hornet nest and they all came straight up. Multiple stings as I sprinted for the house shedding clothes as I ran, but one got me on my eyelid. My eye is now deep purple and swollen and DH is spending a lot of time protesting "Honest, I didn't do it." :-) 3. We have raccoons at the Bellingham house. A family (Mom, two babies and two teenagers from last year) have set up housekeeping in an old garden shed and see no good reason to leave anytime soon (sigh). We were in the hot tub late one night with a large bowl of strawberries set on the deck behind us. DH, without looking, reached back to get one and encountered something furry and hissing. He did a turn worthy of an Olympic medal and discovered Mom and babies helping themselves. I, being the supportive DW that I am :-), was laughing myself silly. Given that they were in complete possession of the strawberries and the babies were whisker deep in the chocolate we moved to the other end of the tub and watched their midnight feast (with DH muttering about pushy wildlife). They finished everything, calmly washed their paws in the tub and continued on with their evening. . .

A little late to the party here but clicking you all nonetheless. David - good luck with your yard work. We had a lot of winter damage too. Annie - pat those babies! I was up at the local raw milk farm and they have their 3 new babies in a pasture next top the store so everyone can visit them. They are adorable! Hope the "family thing" goes well. Katie - shoveling? Yikes! LOL! I love snow and I think I would even be unhappy to see it right now. Sharon - I watched most of it too - I loved the dress!!!! So elegant. Good luck moving Meridith, I wish her all the best Trixie - good luck!!!!! Lyra - what a great gift idea! I am going to the tomato farm after next weekend, I think I will pick up a few extras to make planters for a few non-gardening friends. Good luck with fixing the truck and try to find time for a little fun too. Yesterday was crazy busy with kid activities. Field trip to the District Art Show with one sons class, then swim practice for one, then pick him up and take him to LAX practice then back to the pool with the older one for practice. This morning was a yard sale at a friends house, sold a bunch of stuff and only came home with a few things, one of which is a brand new 20" flat screen for the kitchen that someone won in a raffle, set it up and decided they wanted a bigger one so it is only a week old. Yard work this afternoon (yes, I am taking a break right this moment) and lots more yard work tomorrow. It is going to rain all next week here so I need to make haste while the sun shines LOL! Have a safe and happy weekend everyone! Clink! Alexa

I just wanted to say thank you again for the sweet, sweet comments! We have two boys (2.5 and 6) and I never thought that we would make the jump from 2 to 4 children all at once, but we are looking forward to it! I hope that the picture thread continues! It's been so much fun to see what everyone shares! awm03: That is an amazing picture! jillinnj: I wish I was there too! I told DH that we need to go on vacation somewhere now, because we're probably never going on vacation again after the babies arrive! ;-)

Sorry ashley missed your post.... Mom called DSS back in July when I refused to let SD talk to her mom after she had already been on the phone with her for 4 hours. When DSS came to our home they didn't find anything to really charge any of us with .... but they felt SD actions required some immediate intervention... so they came once in july once in aug and once in sept. to our home but they go weekly to mom's on either a wed or fri... to "meet with the children" because every monday and thurs mom would call and report us to DSS for something else .... she even took SD9 and SS10 to the police station to file a report against hubby because he let them go to their mothers instead of arguing with them ... she said he was just looking to get rid of them ... then she had them speak to the judge how "they were afraid to come home" So DSS thinks SD is in danger. The boys are in counseling mom met with their counselors last week ... I spoke with the counselor on tues (14th) and said ... well DSS had til friday (10th) to have services in place so I am guessing they are closing the case ... DSS called me an hour later to tell me they are keeping the case open and that the counselors filed against mom for emotional abuse of my SC. DSS told us in Sept they had big plans ... for us ... including family therapy, daily visits from a parenting aide, a whole list of "things" and none of it had been put in place by the 10th that was the end date of the 45 day assessment. Mom calls DSS one month before they have to go back to court this is the third time she has called but its the first time anything came of it .... When I spoke with DSS they said the parenting aide wasn't going to work because that was only an 8-week assessment and our case is going to take longer than 8 weeks .... If I hear one more person say for the sake of the children I am just going to explode!!!