The Flowers are Blooming, and So am I

Well, things are definitely growing here in this part of the country. The Farmer has been talking up the irises and lilies in our yard, since he witnessed them last year before the rest of us arrived. And now they're here for us to enjoy.

































And here's me at my biggest/heaviest ever (with 6 weeks still to go):

My gut looks even bigger in real life.



But that's okay. I think my body's doing a good job. The less mature maternal me would have stressed about such things, but the me of advanced maternal age appreciates what's happening. Way to go body! I'm proud of you.


I temporarily came out of a pregnancy-induced coma and planted some porch flowers:
I'll set my sights a little higher next year and attempt to actually weed and plant the front flower beds.

Twilight Zone

I must have been in a time warp or something because this kid was born just a couple of weeks ago and he's already graduated from elementary school.




Singing a number with the fifth grade choir.


This delicious cake made the presentation of diplomas in a hot gym on uncomfortable bleachers so worth it!






These two won't be in the same school next year:
In fact, we'll have a middle schooler, an elementary schooler, a preschooler, and an infant. Phew.

Typical.

i've been spying

26 days ago, Micah discovered this on my window sill:



The next day there was this:



And a lot of this:



After 12 days, this is what we found:



















And the next day:


Notice the egg shells are all cleaned out of the nest.




Mother bird was pretty on top of things. Daddy bird was quite involved as well, bringing worms for the babies and such.





I got a little carried away with taking pictures . . .


It's just that these guys seemed to double in size every day.

(Much like me lately.)










Practically spilling out of the nest:










Yesterday, the two big guys got out of the nest. Last night they flew away,





leaving this one all alone.






Getting ready to take flight this morning:

I thought that they might take a few practice runs and come back to the nest, but once they were gone, they were gone. We actually saw the second one take his flight. He just got brave on the window sill, flapped his wings as hard as he could, and successfully landed in a tree halfway down the yard. Pretty impressive considering that just 13 days ago he was the size of a whopper and could barely hold up his head long enough to get a bug.







Seeing the empty nest, I wondered how the mother bird felt today. Was she relieved that all the intensive work was over, anxious to have her freedom back? Was she stricken with grief that her babies were gone? Would she see them again out in the tree?





It stirred up emotions in me,


considering that mine seem to be growing as fast as those birds,




and are flapping their wings,
getting ready to fly the coop.



I hope my nesting instinct kicks in soon.


There is much to do before this one hatches.

A Person Bright and Lovely is My Grandma Dear

Eli serenading his darling grandmas on their special day. Press play to enjoy!

Sorry about the garbage cans and nostril shot at the end. I don't know how to edit these.

We're Ticked

There are some perks of living on "the farm." Some special discoveries, in other words. One of my favorites is:

finding a tick on a squash. In the house.

Also, finding a tick burrowed in Micah's head,
finding 12+ ticks in the dogs and horses,
finding a live tick in the dryer lint,
finding one crawling on my pajamas (!),
one on the hall door,
the inside window,
the kitchen floor,
etc.

All within a week or two.

Another fun one is having "the farmer" covered in this--all over the body:


Thanks poison ivy.
There's nothing as romantic as rolling over to snuggle your "farmer" and finding him scratching multiple swollen, weeping pustules.

Here's one for the Princess Bride fans:

A mini ROUS.
Or opossum on deck,
eating dog food.

You've Got to Be Kidding

(click to enlarge)

Basketball and Battle of the Books

This post is to illustrate the very different competitive interests of my two oldest children this past winter. Despite having the same two parents, none of my children look alike and their personalities and interests are quite different too.

First, here's Seth in his basketball glory. Well, since his team only won one or two games, maybe the word "glory" isn't the best choice . . .



Seth dribbling down the court.



Seth always "gave it his all" during games and here he is pooped after a game.



Here he is receiving his award from the coach, who called him the best defender and "by far the most aggressive player on the team." (Is that a good thing?)

Soccer season, here we come!


Eli got to participate in a district-wide competition known as Battle of the Books. The students were given a list of 10 books to read and then they took a test on the details of the books. The top 5 or 6 students in the fifth grade were chosen to represent his school at the district level. Eli, of course, with his love for reading and his mind for details, made the school team. There were 10 teams and each team battled the other nine teams.


The team was given a question, like "in which book did such and such happen?" and they had a few seconds to huddle together and confer with each other. Then the team captain gave the answer, including the title and author of the book. If they got it wrong, the other team had a chance to steal it.


Eli's team was the only boy team. Overall, the competition was very heavy on the girls.


I had no idea how fierce the competition would be. But Eli had a complete blast! It was fun to see how his team really depended on him. His team won an honorable mention (meaning their score was somewhere in the bottom half :) ).

And now moving on to the study of cryptozoology. Yes, I know what that means now, do you?