Stay Tuned!

Oh my goodness, I have so many wonderful pictures to put on my blog! We are in Utah and we just attended the wedding of the Badger's sister. It was beautiful. We're having a wonderful time. We just don't have the right equipment to upload our pictures at the moment. But stay tuned, I'll get some up soon!

I'll leave you with a quick story from our drive out here. As you may know, Bean has struggled a lot with reading. Sometimes you think your kid is never going to get it, and it's so rewarding when you finally see something click. The second day of our loooooong drive we went through Denver and then headed up I-70 into the Colorado Rockies. A short distance into the foothills Bean asked if he could see the map. We said "sure," and handed it to him, though we knew that he can't read more than a handful of words and he doesn't know how to read a map. Well, a minute later he pointed to a spot and said "this is where we're at." I looked at his finger and it was within 10 miles of where we were. I was so surprised. "How did you figure that out?" I asked. He gave me a classic "Mom, don't be so dumb" look, and pointed to the word "Denver" on the map. "Duh-ehh-nnnn-verrrr," he sounded out. I guess he does know how to read a map!

Playing With Rabbit

"Okay, I've almost got this 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' thing down. One more time, please?"

"Oooh, Mom! That's a really nifty thing you can do with your nose!"

"I can do 'Peekaboo' cuter than you!"

"Ooh, Mom, I just love it when you cross your eyes and pull that weird face!"

Eyelashes

Toad Lane

My sister Charlotte has recently been in England. In one village in Nottinghamshire she found Toad Lane. Toad Lane! Wouldn't it be wonderful to live on Toad Lane?

I would love to live on Toad Lane, so I did a Google Maps search. There are seven Toad Lanes in America. They are located in New Jersey, Wisconsin, New York, Missouri, Washington, and California.

Just think of all those lucky people living on Toad Lane. I hope they appreciate how good they've got it.

Doubly Awesome

I am happy to announce that at his last baseball game Bean was able to hit the ball off the pitching machine twice. He scored runs both times. He also did an awesome job fielding a ball and getting it to second base in time to get someone out.

So I guess it pays to face your fears.

Seeing the Light

Our Bishop invited us over for dinner the other night. We had a great time with their family. As it got dark at the end of the evening, the fireflies came out. Having lived Out West for so many years I had forgotten about fireflies. I don't have the kind of vegetation they like over at my house so this was the first time since we moved here that we'd seen them. The kids had never seen them before in their whole lives. The Bishop's kids grabbed a bunch of old peanut butter jars and pretty soon the air was filled with cries of "look over there!" and "I got one!"

In this picture the little dot of light between Bean's fingers is really and truly a firefly lit up.

As I was watching the firefly hunt, I was thinking "this is childhood magic at its best!" Then on the way home, I asked the kids if they'd had fun. Bean's answer made me ill. He said "I wish we hadn't played outside and caught fireflies because then we would have had more time to play the computer game."

AAARGH!! Kids these days!!!!

Herkimer

One of the highlights of our week is visiting Herkimer.

We wave and say, "Hi, Herkimer!"



He always waves back.

Herkimer used to be a pine tree in someone's yard on the way to church from our house. I think he's much better off the way he is now.

Blue Blue Blue

Yes, this photo is slightly enhanced, but that was the only way I could get her eyes to look how they really look in real life. Camera flash dulls the color a lot, and I wanted you to see what I see. Pure magic.

A Not-So-Random Encounter

For the last seven years I have spent a lot of time at church in the Mother's Lounge. Lately, it seems like I spend practically all my time at church there, because my Little Rabbit seems to find church very disrupting to her schedule and tends to completely freak out during church hours. Sometimes I feel bad that I am missing out on the spiritual replenishment that I always gain from my meetings. However, I have had some of the most amazing encounters and conversations in the Mother's Lounge over the years. I have met some of my best friends there (Hi Michele!) and had some remarkable service opportunities.

A few weeks ago I met a gal who was in town visiting her in-laws from a city a few hours away from here. She seemed really familiar to me, like someone I had known all my life. So I grilled her on where she was from and where she'd lived and determined that there was no way we could have possibly ever met before. As we talked, I found out she had something that she didn't need but a friend of mine needs very badly. I gave her my phone number and asked her to call me next time she was coming into my area so she could bring it to me.

Well, she actually called me, and she actually brought it. My friend is going to be so thrilled. And as this gal was standing on my porch yesterday I felt again this connection to her. I don't even know her last name and logic would suggest that I'm never going to see her again, but I know that somewhere, somehow, we are going to spend time together again. Either that or she was actually my guardian angel in disguise. Either way it was a random encounter that was definitely not by chance.

As we were chatting on the porch for a few minutes, she mentioned that she was just now switching to cloth diapers. I just laughed. But then she said that the reason was that diapers were going to be going up twenty percent in cost. I hadn't known that, but it made me so very glad. Looks like I'm going to be saving more money than I thought.

Cynthia On Ice

Cynthia is a sort of relative of mine whom I'd never met until I moved here and who I don't know how I've ever lived without. Cynthia rocks. Cynthia ice skates. But she's not your typical ice skater. It was her childhood dream, but she wasn't able to start pursuing it until she was in her 30s.

Last Saturday we went to watch her skate in preparation for her first ever skating competition. She was awesome! It was hard to get good pictures, but I think it was Michelle that got these:

She's skating to music from "Peter Pan," the 2003 live-action version. Do you remember the music from the scene where Peter and Wendy are dancing with the fairies? Beautiful!

It's never too late to go after your dreams!

Here she goes into a spin:

She won two gold medals at the competition. Go Cynthia!

June Ides Report

I'm right on schedule with my weight loss goal. I have lost a little bit more than 5 lbs since my last report. That's a total of just over 10, so I only have 25 to go! It seems to go so slow, so it's nice to have these monthly check-ins with y'all where I realize that I really am making progress.

Forgot to take a picture today though and now I'm in my PJs.

In Clover

Ever since he was little, Fish has liked to go outside and play by himself. He is the only one of my kids that does this. When we lived in that big house in Idaho he used to run outside every day after lunch and go dig in the sandbox. I think it was to avoid me putting him down for a nap!

I caught some candids of him frolicking in his own little Fish world in my clover patch this evening. I can only imagine the fairy dreams he was having.

Then he saw me and his reverie was interrupted, but at least I got a cute smile:

Father's Day 2008

Highlights of Father's Day 2008 at the Birrd's Nest:

We taught Roo to say "Happy Father's Day." It was pretty darling.

I gave the Badger a hammock. He was pretty happy.

The Badger grilled steak for dinner. It was pretty tasty.

I baked another strawberry rhubarb pie. It was pretty popular.

We're pretty happy with the dad of this family. He's pretty much the best husband and father I ever could have imagined.

Happy Rabbit

I was just thinking I needed some pictures of my Little Rabbit in her piggy suit when Glenda stuck these up on Facebook. Apparently she took these last week when I was at her house gardening and she was trying to keep the Rabbit happy for me. Looks like she did a pretty good job!

The piggy suit is one of my very favorite baby outfits. It's made of terry cloth so it's one of those that makes you just want to pick the baby up and Squeeeze her.

My Little Backyard Secret

I said I had another confession to make. Here it is:

I'm air drying my diapers outside.



Something crazy is happening to me. I'm like, turning into my great grandma or something. I never imagined I would do anything this insane and retro and actually like it.

Amazing!

Cloth diapers are the craziest thing...

When they're dirty, you put them in the wash and then you can use them again!

It's so weird!

I've got a number of different styles of diapers and covers at this point. They have these cool wrap covers with velcro, but I am actually finding that I like the good old fashioned nylon pants the best.

What's Up

A few weeks ago I decided I had absolutely had it with buying diapers. Between Roo diapers, Rabbit diapers, pullups for the boys, and wipes I was spending a small fortune each month and I was sick of it. But what to do? I couldn't wave a magic wand and make my boys stop wetting the bed. But... aha! I could potty train Roo!

What was I thinking? She's not even two and a half! She's enamored of her potty and sits on it frequently, but so far we've hit the potty target only three times and misfired all over the house. I'd stop trying except that she's now used to running around half naked and takes her diaper off whenever I do put it on. So I just remind myself that eventually she'll catch on. And then I'll give all my carpets a good shampoo with my Kirby.

I still have to put diapers on Roo at naptime and bedtime and anytime we go anywhere. After I began the potty training venture I realized that it was only going to cut down slightly the amount of diapers Roo uses, even if she trained easily and quickly. My plan to cut diaper costs was foiled.

So I did something even more drastic.

I switched to cloth diapers.

I still can't believe I'm saying that!

Now for the really big, shocking confession:

I like them.

It's even more than that. The world of cloth diapering is diverse, fascinating, challenging, and (tee hee!) absorbing. I've spent hours online reading, researching, and shopping. And I've enjoyed every minute of it. In fact, I've been avoiding my blog all week because I knew if I went to post I would inundate it with cloth diapering minutiae and either disgust or bore all my dear readers. But I can't avoid it any longer. I had to confess!

Whew! Now that's off my chest. I have more confessions, but it's late, so I will save them for tomorrow.

P.P.S.

The pie was good cold, too.

P.S.

The Badger now has that picture of my pie as his desktop wallpaper! I feel loved.

Where She Likes to Be

My poor little Rabbit-- she just cannot seem to deal with life in the evenings. When she's in this evening funk, there's very few places where she can feel calm. This is her favorite:

More Strawberry Goodness

Tonight I made strawberry rhubarb pie. The crust was a mess-- it fell totally to pieces when I tried to work with it-- but it was perfectly flaky and blissfully delicious. This pie wouldn't have won any beauty contests, but flavor-wise it was down-home goodness at its best (Thank you, Betty Crocker!)

Here are Fish and Bean lining up for more. Of course I gave them seconds-- you've got to eat a pie like this warm. I loved listening to Bean's exclamations of rapture as he ate it because I can imagine him down the road, grown up and on his own, reminiscing about Mom's cooking and how much he misses it. This makes me laugh because I'm not even 30 years old yet and I sometimes still don't even feel old enough to be a mom, especially not that kind of mom whose kids will be all nostalgic about her cooking. But I suppose I should be grateful that they actually eat what I make!

Garden Update

I spent four hours working in our garden this morning. Dadgummit, I love this prairie soil! (I live only a couple hours drive from Pioneer Woman, so I figure it's time I started saying "dadgummit.")

The peas are making pods and the corn is coming up. There are gaps in the corn where my dear sweet children have STOMPED on the plants, but we should still get a nice crop.

We have FIFTEEN tomato plants. I am so excited. Here are our biggest two:

In the past, I took vine-ripened garden tomatoes totally for granted. Then last summer I lived on the Oregon coast. There is not enough sun and heat there to grow tomatoes in your backyard garden, but I still tried. It was a dismal scene. So I figured I could pick some up at the farmer's market. The farmer's market had tomatoes and they were even red and big and round, but they were only sort of red and ripe. Even though they had been grown inland where there is a little bit more sun, they still lacked that deep color and perfect juiciness that tomatoes get when they have baked all summer under a broiling hot sun. It's going to be broiling here in a couple months and I'm going to hate to go outside, but my fifteen tomato plants are going to love it and they're going to make me a very happy woman.

Anyway.

Here is the smaller of our two garden plots. In the foreground is our Amazing Potato Bed, which is going bonkers. Behind it we have planted squash and melons and other viney things. And more tomatoes. And the wall o' waters are awesome at keeping the rabbits from snacking on tender young plants.

Finally, here is the Kid's Garden. Bean is very proud of this garden. He thinks he's taking care of it himself. He sure is doing a nice job, isn't he? It sure helps to have Mom working beside you when you're doing your "weeding." Really, though, he is doing his best and it's going to be a fantastic garden with corn, sunflowers, tomatoes, squash, broccoli, and random flowers.

Welcoming Committee

Roo loves more than anything to "GO," but unfortunately she's also the most difficult person to take with me on many of my errands. So she often gets left home with Dad, much to her chagrin. When I come home again she is always very happy to see me.

Note Roo's backwards, inside out pink shirt layered over a blue shirt. Also note my beautiful beautiful oak tree!

Da-ad!

Outdoing Herself

I thought yesterday's mess was bad...

Baby Face