Terdy the Turtle

Would you believe me if I told you I have tried to do this post at least three times, but every time I go to upload my pictures my computer freezes up and I start calling it bad names. In my head of course. My picture problem may have had something to do with putting the SD card in the computer and shocking it at the same time. Not sure, but it was an awfully big spark.
So the first picture I would include is one of our turtle. We have had him for about a month. He is a water turtle and lives in a tank on top of Jacob and Beau's dresser in their room. He's about the size around of...a small jar of peanut butter...maybe slightly smaller. Our neighbor gave him to us because his granddaughter was neglecting him, and Jacob had the honor of naming him.
"Terd! I want to name him Terd! Terdy!"
So we have a little turtle named Terdy. He lives with our two fish who never received names because we didn't think they would survive. Our other neighbor gave us the fish. I think the neighbors would prefer that we had small aquatic pets and not a big chocolate lab that barks.
As I said Terdy lives on top of Jacob's dresser, about 4' off the ground. We had only had him for two or three days when one afternoon the kids came downstairs yelling that Terdy was not in his tank. I didn't believe them until I had looked in the tank and raked the small layer of rocks at the bottom aside.
Terdy was gone. GONE. How does a turtle escape from a tank with a lid that sits on a dresser four feet off the ground?
I have NO idea. We searched for him. Bekah said a prayer. I tried not to burn dinner (which of course was cooking simultaneously). We looked some more. Bekah cried. We delivered dinner to a friend that just had a baby. I called Rus at work - as if he could somehow tell me where the turtle was. I racked my brain about that stupid turtle. I mentally put my children in a lineup and tried to figure out which one would have let Terdy out...but they were all so distraught (and Beau really wasn't tall enough - thank goodness because otherwise he would have really been suspect), that I had to count them all out. So then I added a few of the neighbor kids to the lineup - ones who had been over that day. It's still an unsolved mystery.
Rus came home from work. He went upstairs to look for Terdy. Seriously five minutes (FIVE) he yelled down that he had found him. I was both parts relieved and annoyed.
Turns out Terdy had escaped the tank in true Mission Impossible fashion and deployed himself to Bekah's room, under her bed in the corner.
The whole thing still puzzles me...
Okay now on a different note my other picture would include one of Bekah in dazzling pink cubic zirconia EARRINGS. Rus took the boys camping and so Bekah and I had a dream-girls night out. My friend Taffy and her daughter joined us and we got pedicures. We went out for dinner. We pierced her ears - an idea that sprouted from Bekah after school that same day. (She was nervous but didn't cry or anything - just flinched.) We bought and ate ice cream with friends. And then she got to sleep in my bed. We woke up and watched Phinneus and Ferb on netflix from my bed. We ate popcorn at Target. We took a nap. It was - as Bekah says - really really really really fun. Lots and lots of fun.
Obviously this will only happen once in a blue moon...maybe once a year if we're lucky. But it was great. The boys came home dirty and happy with Jacob proclaiming that it was the best camping trip ever.
Hopefully you can picture all of this...till next time when the computer works like it should...

*Clay and Mary - I loved seeing you this weekend. Not the circumstances, but it was refreshing to see you and your wonderful sons. All of you are like aloe on a sunburn and I LOVE YOU!