I spy with my little eye...

A fledgling...

Getting stuffed with worms every few minutes...

Our yard is inundated with robin fledglings.

They are dropping from trees, sitting on fences and perching in our arbors.

I love American Robins.

The kids and I celebrate Robin Day every winter around the end of February. It is the first day we hear a robin sing it's mating song, which is quite beautiful and marks the beginning of Spring. The robins return on migration in January, but it isn't until the end of Feb that they sing, then in March they are carrying sticks and mud.

Did you know? ...Robins hatch two nests of eggs a year. The spring nest is low in the trees(the ones you can peek in) with thick mud and few sticks, then they have a mid-summer nest that is high in the treetops with thin mud and lots of sticks. The spring nest is sturdy to protect it from heavy spring winds and cold temps, the summer nest is high for the cool summer breeze and thin so the nestlings do not get over heated. Isn't God amazing?

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So...I left the house for an hour with Jessica and Jacob at home alone. I encouraged Jacob in his role and told him that he was to protect his older sister. I took my cell phone and left. I came home to this. The BB gun loaded by the locked front door and a stick to whack someone over the head had they tried a forced entry...so I am told. He did a good job being a man, huh?

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"Columbine"

"Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me,"
Even the night shall be light about me;

Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You."

Psalm 139:7-12

Grandpas Birthday!

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you!

Happee birthday dear Grandpaaaa

Happy birthday to yoooooou!!

Grandpa, freshly out of the hospital, blessed our family by celebrating his birthday with us Saturday. God has given him many years and we pray for many more. He is such a joy to our family as the children get excited when they hear the rumble of Grandpas huge diesel pick-up turn in the driveway. Jessie baked us a yummy carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. We were short on decorations so we improvised. It worked! Gracie knows whose lap to sit on when there is food at the table...Grandpas!

She ate...

And ate...

And ate...

And ate!

Who's your papa?

The one who stuffs carrot cake in as fast as she can get it down the hatch.

Her grandpa, that's who!!

Thank you Grandpa for being such a kind, sweet soul.

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Emmas chickens. She waited way to long for these guys. At five years old she decided to put her birthday money away until the next spring when the chicks would come in. She did. She marched into Cenex the middle of March and bought herself 8 day olds. One died, not bad. However, we think we have 4 roos...not good. We will keep the RIR roo and I already have an ad on Craigslist for fertile eggs to incubate. We want layers!

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My father in law has given me a small collection of Orient and Flume pieces.

I received my first chicken for Christmas 06, then the vase for my birthday 07, the rooster Christmas 07 and for my birthday this year he surprised me with both the penguin mamma and chick. I am not used to having such pieces of fine artwork in my home so these are all put waaaaay up high during the years of little ones.

I consider mine unique for Jim has these special made as he knows the artists father in Seattle, what a treat!

Ice Cream

We love "What's The Scoop" It is only 3.5 miles from home and they serve Edaleen ice cream, the best!

What else do you do on a cold day? We did not go to the Farmers Day Parade, so we made our own and video taped it! Micah was on a float throwing candy, Emma rode on the back clapping blocks to the rhythm of the song she heard in her mind. Jessie drove the go-cart with Daniel riding shot-gun down the driveway. Then after two passes, they all got down and collected all the candy in the driveway. Now that's a parade.

One float, cute kids, lot's of candy.

Daughters & Toy Of The Year..

**Toy Of The Year Award!**

It's COLORFUL!

It's FUN!

It's FREE!

It's...

A balloon thing...string...that looked awful lonely sitting in a cow field wrapped around a T post, slowly being popped, one by one, by the barbed wire fence. Jessie noticed it(I did first, but was hoping they wouldn't) and offered to go unwind it off the fence.

How could any mamma pass up a free string of balloons!

The cows didn't mind.

Floral Fascination

Same 14" flower, different angles.

(BTW it is Lupine, Dawn)

I like taking pictures of my flowers, o.k.?

Each flower is unique, and was perfectly created & formed for just my eyes. The Creator planned to form that specific flower at the beginning of time, knowing I would find it pleasing in my garden on June 5, 2008. How great is that?


"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..." Jer 1:5

"O LORD, You have searched me and known me.

You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.

You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.

For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.

You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?"

Psalm 139:1-7

Rain and an aspiring shutterbug...

And a rainy day in Washington. Again.

There is rain coming down and the horses are grudgingly tolerating it.

My favorite rainy day cup-o-coffee

"There aint' no time for lookin' pretty when you gotta slop the pigs"

Jessie loves to use cameras.

She captured an in depth conversation

"Smile Mom"

This blog thing is nice. 5 minutes of time and here I go!

Meet the crabs...(and Daddy's home!)

Meet the Crabs...

They're creepy and they're kooky, Mysterious and spooky,

They're all together ooky, The Hermit Family.

Their house is a terrarium, Where people come to see 'em

They really are a scream, The Hermit Family....

"Big Girl" Very big, scary purple claw. Danny's pride and joy. She is very large and eerie.

"Hermie" My crab. Not friendly. It only comes out after a bath, this is the third time I have seen my crab out of his shell in months.

"Crabby" Jessica's Crab, very sweet and loves to come out of his shell.

"Booker T. Washington" - he books. Jacobs crab and is very fast and out of his shell all the time. Loves to crawl across hands and eat hotdogs.

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The dog barks.

Daddy is home!

Ten feet run to the door

Two hands and knees thump their way close behind.

The three year old hugs his little sissy.

Everything is the way it should be.

Everybody's happy.

Love is in the air.

Life is bliss....

Daddy is home.

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"rhododendron"

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"

Romans 8:28-31

Emma and her snails..

So. I used to have this predator free garden, for the most part. If you know me well, you know I adore my garden. I have nothing special for flower gardens, but what I do have, I enjoy. Last Fall, my daughter fell in love with the snails that abundantly thrive in my mothers garden. My parents detest these critters as they collect jars of them after a rain and Dad crushes them. Emma & Jacob *rescued* oodles of them and brought them home. They were supposed to release them at the back end of our property by the creek, BUT alas laziness kicked in and one day when I told them to empty out the jars of snails, their little feet made it as far as the front porch and landed in my garden...mom will never know, right? Well, they made it through the winter and I am finding them frequently in the Bergenia. Nice.

Back to my story, we have a terrarium with our four hermit crabs and snails. I am writing to announce that Emma observed a very neat thing this afternoon...a snail laying eggs...right there while we watched. It dug a little hole in the sand and plopped about 10-15 large opaque eggs in the hole. So(thanks to Google) they should be hatching in about 3 weeks.

(Emma has such a fascination with snails I have found them floating in the washing machine after drifting their way out of pockets.)

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Persian Cornflower

Centaurea dealbata

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools,

and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." Romans 1:20-25