Floor puzzles

Annabelle swooped in with an offer to help just as Nate was putting the last pieces of the caboose on the number train. She figured that earned her a place in the triumph photo.

Diggers

Boys digging for bugs. Nate prefers to observe.

Mother's Day 2012

I am so grateful we started the "Pictures on Mother's Day" tradition in 2007. 1 of me and child individually, 1 of me and both children, 3 generations of just the girls and one with Nana  and all the children/grandchildren in attendance.   Love them, just love them.

Grandpa's birthday

	We are blessed enough to be able to celebrate Grandpa’s 85th birthday with him.
	Help him blow out his candles.
	And open gifts.

Saturday morning pancakes

A weekend ritual.

When they are hot off the griddle Nate can eat 4.

Puzzles

Nate has been so into puzzles lately. How he goes about it is different, but works for him. Instead of laying out all the pieces he keeps them in the box. He then takes them out one at a time, looks at it, sees if it fits somewhere if not throws it back in and picks another one. He is fast too. Clearly a sign of genius.

Saturday afternoon nap

Sometimes after a morning of running errands, lunch out at a fun restaurant with a play place and then home in the rain the best way to spend the rest of the afternoon is asleep. 

Uno

	We have had an Uno game going on for about a week. Before bed, after shower, we manage to get a couple of hands in a night.
	Nate will play on my team for a bit but then takes on the roll of Piano Man, with his faithful pigs as his most rapt audience.

The definition of insanity….

…is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. In this story I’m not sure if that would be us or Cardinal.

We have lived in our house surrounded by trees for 11 years with no issue. Then about 6 weeks ago Tom & I were awakened at an early hour by the sound of a bird hitting the window. Not just once but over and over again. The pattern went like this THUNK (hitting the window), BANG (bouncing off the metal roof), PECK PECK PECK (as he pecked at the window). This was a beautiful bird (I mean, if you are into that sort of thing, which I am not) a Cardinal of the most brilliant red, big old pompadour on his head.

This goes on for 3 mornings, all starting at the same time and going on for at least an hour straight and then on and off all day. We tried letting the cat sit in the window, which helped a little until he got bored and left and then immediately THUNK, BANG, PECK PECK PECK. Seriously Cardinal?

A few days later Grace found an article in the newspaper about how at this time of year Cardinals are protecting their nests and if they see another Cardinal they will “attack”, even if it is a reflection. The advice given was to put cardboard over the window temporarily. Caring more about sleeping past 6:30am Tom overcame his fear of walking on the 2nd story metal roof and covered with window with Styrofoam. It was tacky but not as bad as cardboard would have been.

Six weeks go by. Cardinal would randomly bang into other windows in the house but not with regularity, we have no idea how his neck is not broken by now. After we had not seen him around for a few days, it came time to put the air conditioner in. We figured Cardinal was done with the protecting and had moved on to whatever it is Cardinals move on to when their eggs hatch. Down comes the Styrofoam (look neighbors, we are not *that* house anymore!) and we settle in on a Friday night hoping our children will let us sleep in a little bit on a weekend.

Saturday morning – 6am. THUNK, BANG, PECK PECK PECK. Repeat. Out of desperation Tom puts our quilt over the window. All this does is muffle the sound from the outside. Because even Fluery didn’t want to get up at this hour, Tom puts Nate’s Sock Monkey in the window (there you go neighbors, you thought the Styrofoam was strange, beware Sock Monkey!). We discover Cardinal does not fear Sock Monkey. All Cardinal wants to do is fly face first into the window over and over again.

Up goes the Styrofoam and we think our problems are done. The next morning as we breakfast we hear a familiar THUNK on the dining room window. Later I walk into the room to see Tom has placed Love Pig and Chicken Dance in the window. This scene makes me laugh that kind of hysterical, manic, sleep deprived laugh that used to be reserved for when the babies were up several times a night.

Circling back to the beginning of the story I’m still not sure who is more insane at this point, us or Cardinal. We can’t keep covering windows. His bird brain has to scramble at some point, or the egg has to hatch. Something.

Happy Birthday Jenny!

	We are sorry we couldn’t have cake with Jenny – but we forced a smile.
	We texted her though – which isn’t really the same.
	We then gave up.

Easter

	“I’m not paying $25 for one picture unless it is absolutely adorable” I say to Tom while in line. Then they go and smile like this.
	Annabelle participated in the Bell Choir at church. It was extra fun to have her friend Claire in the group too.
	Somehow I missed getting pictures of them finding their Easter Baskets. The Bunny had hidden them again this year but well worth it once Nate saw his “helmet pig” poking out the top of his. This is *all* he talked about for weeks and the only thing he told the Bunny he wanted.
	We had our egg hunt in the yard. The findings were a little more balanced this year.
	Annabelle still found the most. This year she still had the advantage of remembering the Bunny’s favorite hiding places. All in all a great Easter was had by all.

Big girl bed

We finally made the switch from the toddler daybed.

She looks so tiny. It's going to take a minute to get used to this.