What We've Been Up To

For the past two days I have been mesmerized by three little birds that hatched in a nest just outside of our screened porch door. The mama bird built her nest in the wisteria vines growing on an arched trellis outside our back door. I have a direct view of the nest from our grilling porch and today John got the ladder out for me to stand on to get a perfect view of the new birds. The mama bird built the nest really well and I can barely see over the edge of the nest, even on the ladder. But the baby birds have been poking their little heads up and holding their beaks open for food so I've gotten great glimpses of the new life just outside our door. And I tried to capture it on film, but as you will see in the second picutre, I had my camera on the wrong setting and the leaves are in focus but the baby bird is fuzzy. But if you look closely enough you'll see the orange ("urnge" as John David says with much determination) beak, grey fuzzy head and a big eye. In the first picture you can probably pick out the orange beak.


In addition to becoming a bird watcher, I'm trying my hand at a little gardening. This past weekend John and I planted 2 tomato plants, 2 pepper plants, an eggplant plant and a cucumber plant. My goal is to one day have a huge garden from which I cook supper every night but first I have to see if I have what it takes to make these few plants grow and thrive and produce fruit...or in this case, vegetables.


I can't believe that even in the middle of a drought our grass needs to be cut every week. John does such a great job keeping up our yard. Like so many little boys I've known, John David loves to "cut" the grass with his daddy.


First Day of "School", August 16, 2006


Last Day of "School", May 22, 2007

Last Tuesday was John David's last day of Mother's Morning Out. They had a little party with an indoor bounce thingy that was just perfect for their age/size. One of his teachers made a scrap book of his experiences at school and it is precious. It's amazing to see how much he has grown over this school year. I didn't get a good picture of him at the party but I'll post a picture anyway.



We spent Mother's Day day at John's Mom's house and his brother and his family was there. My Mom and Dad were at the beach so we didn't get to see them on Mother's Day. John David loves holding his new baby cousin, Kara Lynn, and squeezes her even tighter when she is screaming. I think it's his way of trying to comfort her. And you'll be happy to know that I didn't let him squeeze her too tightly nor did we allow her to stay in her terrified state for too long...just long enough to snap some photos. You will see that Kara Lynn is much more at ease in the arms of her big brothers, Michael and Malachi. This last picture is of John and his Mom. I thought it came out great!


So now we are just enjoying more time outside, longer days and time together. I'll try to update more frequently so that the updates aren't as long.

Grateful Friday

John David started acting uncharacteristically cranky on Tuesday afternoon and then started running a high fever on Wednesday. Because his temp was so high and he didn't have many symptoms as far as I could tell, I took him to the doctor. He has what she diagnosed as "acute tonsillitis". In other words, a really bad sore throat!Poor guy...he has been drooling all week to avoid swallowing. A sweet surprise from John came at just the right time. For the past three weeks or so, John David has been enamored with a British cartoon called "Peppa the Pig". At first I didn't like it because of the way they treated Daddy Pig in a few of the episodes, but now I can see the lessons they teach and I don't mind so much that John David is in love with the cartoon. John went online and ordered a "Peppa Pillow" and a "Peppa Puzzle". both of which arrived on Thursday, the day that John David felt the worst. The first picture is the way he looked for most of the week. The second picture is a half smile I was able to prod out of him in the midst of his misery.
I decided since it's Mother's Day Weekend I would post a "Grateful Friday" post. I tried to do them for a while since I think it's great to make yourself think about and "write down" things you are grateful for. So many of us take so much for granted. But I started finding that I felt too much pressure to come up with a new list every Friday that I could make public. I know, I know, I take most everything too seriously! At any rate...I'll give it a go today. (You may remember from previous posts that Grateful Friday isn't my original idea - Heather does it on her blog (Five Sweet Peas-link to the left) and it gave me the idea to try it on mine.)

Today I'm grateful for:

- a girls' day out tomorrow with 3 good friends - we are going to laze our way through the Scott Antique Market, go for massages and then have a nice dinner
- John being willing to hang out with John David while I go on my girls' day out
- a sweet card and money from my parents to get a massage on my girls day out
- Tennis and my tennis buds
- John David's fever breaking this morning
- Decaf Community Brand Coffee and being able to buy it at Publix
- The love of Jesus and a reminder to listen to His voice which is truth (that's a whole 'nother post!)
- being able to watch Oprah, or parts of her show, almost any day I want
- being able to stay home with John David
- going to a wedding last weekend that took place in the same church where John and I were married - it was a sweet ceremony and made me remember how blessed I am to have John as my husband
- new perspectives on old friendships and advice that my dad gave me this week
- our family
- Being married to John
- the great daddy that John is to John David

Cotton Candy

Last Sunday John David got his first taste of cotton candy and has talked about it all week! My brother held a "Family Day" for his sales agents and invited us to join him. The event was actually a reward for a contest he held and so he really wanted to make the people feel rewarded. I think he did a great job! It was a carnival theme with moon walks/inflatable slides, sand art and spin art stations, clowns painting faces - and not just your typical daisy on the cheek kind of face painting, these were works of art! There were hula hoop contests and even a clown walking around on stilts. No carnival would be complete without popcorn and cotton candy, hence John David's first indulgence. To top it all off, there was a cash machine for the top 9 producers, each having a chance at $5,000. It was one of those booth thingies that blows the money around and you have to grab it and stuff it...it was fun to watch but not as much fun as it would've been to be in the booth! The whole day was a kid's dream, - all of it was free! David (my bro) is one of the top guys in his company and I was so proud of him that day. It's nice to think that he is creating a positive, rewarding work environment for so many people.