A Donkey, Some Birds and a Yard Sale

That title sounds like the start of some really lame joke, which it's not. But feel free to hope right along with me that this doesn't turn into some really lame post, which it might. Really though, this post is just about the best neighbors EVER and the best friends my kiddos could ask for...and a couple of their recent adventures!

Frankie and Elena brought us along to one of their favorite parks, and it was fabulous! There are community donkeys that the kids could pet, feed and admire.

The three boys "flew" all the way to see the donkeys. Everett and his little "wings" are so darn adorable.

 Evie and Laney--best friends and worst nightmares all in one!

This was the best group photo I could capture, which is actually pretty good considering we had 4, 4 and unders on that bench!

 



 Sweet little Ev watching the nice man feed the donkeys. Evie was super brave and loved petting them. You can choose kid--NYC or a pet donkey?

 

Talmage and Franklin somehow found a baby bird stuck in the drain next to our playground and tried tirelessly to save it with bird food, sweet Mama bird chirps and a jump rope. When that didn't work they did the only other thing they could think of, they asked an adult! I called around and eventually the nicest Animal Control man named Rich showed up to our house. He tried his mightiest to save those birds (yes, in fact, two baby birds were crying in our gutter) but to no avail. Rich even came back again later that day, but the birds would get scared and hop into the pipes. I'm trying to be optimistic when I tell T that they probably figured a way to fly out--but he doesn't buy it. At all.

 Our sweet little rescuers!

 

 One of the baby birds--how they ever saw that bird in the first place I will never know.

Rich was so patient and nice with the kids. While he went and got his tools from the car, T and Frankie retrieved their tools to help. Man, I wish they could have gotten those birds out! 

Packing, cleaning, boxing and Goodwill runs are pretty much the story of our lives lately. We are now counting down the days until we move, and I hurt when I think of these kids being separated. We had a yard sale and sold a bunch of our stuff, but no one expected the success that T and Frank would have when they set up a lemonade stand. They made $10 in less than ten minutes and were off to other courtyards to buy toys! James said we're teaching them about market capitalism!

The three amigos (where's our Laney girl) attracting customers to our yard sale. Seriously, who wouldn't want to buy stuff from those cute kids?