New Neighbors!!

In our bird studies, we recently learned about cardinals. They are quite the songbirds! In fact, the ones in our backyard keep us awake even at 2 at night! For most bird species, only the male sings, but for cardinals, both the male and the female serenade each other. They are red because of food they eat when they are developing (kind of like flamingos!). The males are bright red while the females have reddish areas on their tails, their beaks and a little on their wings. They are brownish gray everywhere else. We learned that they like to build their nests in tangles of vines and branches, not usually more than 8-10 feet off of the ground.

Well, we have tangles of vines and branches around 8-10 feet off of the ground near our house! In fact, right on the fence by our driveway! So, we began to wonder if the cardinals we would see and hear in the tree behind the garage might be planning on nesting somewhere near. And, our guesses were confirmed last week when, as we pulled into the driveway, we saw the female sitting on a nest in the vines. The van proved to be a good viewing spot, because she was less concerned about us and we could see her pretty close up!

So, here she is (as taken through the van window)! Look closely and you'll see her red tail to the left and her red beak to the right (she really does blend in pretty well!).

And here is what Matt (with his height advantage) saw today!

Yippeee!!

A Darsie Drawing

We were really impressed with Darsie's placement of the instrument stickers and the way she drew the people playing them! So, of course I had to take a picture before she could give it to Rob and Katie. :)

Rainy Day Fun

I had forgotten what fun a box of barley and an assortment of shovels, buckets, tractors and dump trucks can be! I don't think we've played with this since Darsie was about 2 or so, but today has been a very relaxing day because of it! Liam played with the barley box for about 45 minutes or so until nap time, driving his trucks, filling the dump trucks and then dumping them, feeling the barley run through his fingers and using his shovel to fill his buckets. The girls have now been playing with it with their polly pockets and other people for about 2 hours now, nicely sharing the box and its contents. I am sure I will have a great sweeping job to do when we put it away, but it has been nice to have something "new" for them to enjoy!

This Day...

Darsie Foreman

In case you can't read her caption: "Jezuz did on d coz fr r siz." ("Jesus died on the cross for our sins.")

Another Nature Experience

This time with no threatening weather! We took Matt's parents with us to walk at Heinz yesterday and had a great visit! We saw lots of birds: mallards, canada geese, barn swallows, tree swallows, robins (of course!), house sparrows, cardinals (heard these), great egrets, great blue herons, red-winged blackbirds. We got to see a snake up close, as he sat coiled for a little while watching us before slithering off to escape. It was just so nice to be outside and enjoy the weather and enjoy God's creation! I only wish it was easier to capture the beauty with my camera!

For the Birds...

We headed to Home Depot this month to build window birdhouses. We have yet to mount them, but that it more because I am concerned about how to secure them (I don't really trust suction cups, especially when they come with a free project!). I am fairly certain, however, that our house sparrows will take them over!