Bird can be a verb

Yesterday, Helena told us that Penupuh lives in Asia!  I asked her which country in Asia. "Actually, she lives in Russia. She speaks RUSSIA." Me: "0h, she speaks RussiaN?" Helena: "Yes, she does speak RUSSIA and also does buhway. She is in the Nutcracker." Then I tried very hard to remember if Russia is considered part of Europe or Asia.

Anyway, Penupuh is shaping up to be a fairly interesting imaginary friend.

I watched a cute movie a few nights ago. It's called "The Big Year" and it's based on a book about a few guys who participate in a birding quest (refered to by amateur ornithologists as a Big Year) in which the goal is to see hundreds of different bird species in the United States in a single calendar year. The quest involves extensive travel (I was very interested to discover that an area near Anahuac, Texas, which is close to where I grew up, is something of a birding Mecca) and a level of commitment that makes a normal life almost impossible. I'm pretty sure I want to try it at some point. Maybe we can take a year off as a family and do it together! The movie, incidentally, wasn't as hilarious as it should have been considering it starred Steve Martin, Jack Black, AND Owen Wilson (add Bill Murray to that trifecta and it might be Comedy Perfection in my world) but it was sweet. At one point, the Owen Wilson character (who is a legend at the Big Year--755!!) says, with a self-effacing shrug, "I just love to bird."

Here are some birds I have painted for cards lately. Harper calls them my Fat Birds and they are, perhaps, a bit too plump. As I get more skilled, perhaps I'll try for more authenticity. I ordered Harper a miniature Audubon folio for Christmas, which I will probably enjoy as much as she does.
 
I actually had great aspirations of painting all of our Christmas cards this year, and then I came to my senses and realized it would take me approximately 150 hours, so instead my dad took a picture of us in their backyard on Thanksgiving (Hudson looks a touch peaked because of the vomit) and I used a 75 % coupon for cards printed on a machine. As usual, I have fallen short of my ideal, and am reconciled to Just Fine.

Now we are going to walk to the park because children are starting to tackle one another, and that rarely ends well.