Happy Birthday Doug!

Yesterday was Doug's birthday. The poor guy had to work, though. From about 8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. So there wasn't much partying going on. But, we had tostadas for dinner at his request, and although this normally isn't allowed, we ate them in front of the TV. It was, after all, the first night of So You Think You Can Dance. 

Roxie fell asleep on the floor mid-bite. Poor girl. Bless her tiny tired heart.

We had whole wheat chocolate cake. (I had to edit the recipe some. If you want to know what I did, you can ask me.) It was lovely. Party animals aren't we?

So, here's to the birthday boy. He is a wonderful daddy and a marvelous husband. He takes good care of us. And he made me garden boxes. Did I mention that? Plus, he is kind and good and I love him lots. Plus, I think he's cute. Happy Birthday!

Garden Boxes

For Mother's Day, Doug built me garden boxes! YEA! We filled them up on Saturday. (I am sure the neighbors enjoyed hearing the kids saying things like "I'm digging in cow poop!" "We have bags of turkey poop!" "Look at all this poop!" It was a lovely experience.) Here is Doug mixing the compost (a nicer word than poop), the peat moss and the vermiculite. Good boy.  Roxie supervised. She's a good supervisor. If you do things well, she smiles and loves you. If you don't, she smiles and loves you anyway. Here is the supervisor and the stander-arounder. Just kidding. Christian was really a good helper. (I should mention that Ashton was the photographer.)We had such great fun that the neighbor poked his head through a hole in the fence to see what all the hulabaloo was. Then, yesterday, we planted! I am so excited I can barely stand it! I planted fruits, vegetables and herbs of all sorts. I have never kept anything green alive, so you can pray for me and my beautiful garden, if you want...

Birdie update

I love our birdies. It has been so fun to watch them grow and watch their family interactions. They really are a family. The parents take turns looking for food and watching their nest from the near-by peach tree. Here is daddy:They haven't been so very pleased with us looking at their babies, but it's their faults for building their nest exactly outside our front door. 

Those babies get bigger everyday. Look at them now:

Mother's Day is for the Birds

Once upon a time, there was a sweet robin who courted, fell in love with, and married a lovely she-robin. They decided the time was right to start their family. They searched high and low for the perfect spot to build their home. They found it. In a lovely little place I like to call my porch light.

They built their home and the mama laid four eggs. On Mother's Day, of all days, two of them hatched. We are smitten with them. A third has since hatched. The nest is so high that we have to use a mirror to see into it.

So, I hope everyone had a most wonderful Mother's Day, people and birdies alike.

Ashton is rad

You may wonder about the title of this blog because "rad" is actually one of my very least favorite words. However, I shall explain myself...

Ashton has been taking a radKids class. She has been learning about all kinds of safety. I love their program. They teach this:

1. No one has the right to hurt me because I am special!

2. I don't have the right to hurt myself and I don't have the right to hurt anyone else unless they try to hurt me, then I can stop them.

3. If anyone tries to hurt me, trick me, or make me feel bad inside, it's not my fault - so I can tell!

They also learn self defense. On the last day, they had a cop who is trained in the program come in a padded suit and try to abduct them. They got to fight like the dickens using their skills that they learned in the class. Ashton was amazing.  She kept her cool and and kicked and screamed and would have poked his eyes out if he hadn't been wearing a protective mask! She was awesome! I pray she will never have to use these skills!

P.S. If you are interested, they will be offering more classes this summer. Let me know and I can put you in touch with them. I'm not involved in any way, I just have been so impressed with the program that I think as many kids as possible should be learning this stuff. Christian started this week.