Pondered In My Heart

Wrapping Up the April Showers

28/30: I Have Five Daughters!

Reading aloud from the writing party output of the day.

29/30: Mix the Colors

30/30: Love is in the air...

 

...and the proof is in the nest boxes!

Well, that was a lot of fun taking a whole month's worth of pictures. I do so enjoy taking pictures of the everyday, trying to capture the little bits and pieces that make up the fabric of our daily family life. If a picture is worth a thousand words then I've sure saved up a lot of treasures this past month. I do wish I had more time for actual writing.... maybe next month!

27/30: Christmas Tree

This is a picture of our Christmas tree that I took yesterday.

I think it's safe to say I am the only one posting a picture of my Christmas tree for the April Showers photography collection!

But I can explain.

After Christmas, Josiah claimed the tree for an important prop in the Narnia movie he is filming. He needed an evergreen tree that he could move right next to the 'wardrobe' to serve as the transition into Narnia. So we gladly let him keep the tree around and it served him well for his movie purposes. But then we forgot about it and it sat around on our out-of-sight-out-of-mind patio all winter, and now it is completely brown and crispy. Disposing of it was on our spring clean up to-do list, but we obviously didn't get around to it yet. And now we have decided we will just keep it where it is.

A resourceful robin has built her nest in it!

She startled me by flying out of the tree when I walked by it. It's very cool because we can look straight down into the nest from one of our windows.

We are getting a lot of good use out of this tree. But I still don't think Peter Walsh would approve. ;-)

26/30: Morning Birdwalk

Michael took the five eldest children on an early morning birdwalk at a local wetlands nature center.

They spotted some birds we don't usually see

such as the phoebe and yellow warbler.

They also saw egrets and herons.

Josiah said this was a rare two headed goose. (He's the goose!)

They also saw some big burbling fish.

Strolling down the trail.

I like this colorful picture they took of the 'squirrel-proof' bird feeder. They watched the squirrel deftly hug and shimmy up the smooth post and then flip himself onto the platform.

Lydia was able to add a rather exciting bird to her life list - the Bald Eagle!

Lovely Mud

In honor of Mud Season I present Eliza 'reading' Mrs. Wishy Washy. (Just click on the little 'play' arrow at the bottom.)

:-)

25/30: Fine Art Friday

Well, I don't know if it counts as fine art, but it was Fun Art Friday. Did you notice Jonathan is actually fingerpainting? The last photo is by Jonathan - I thought it looked cool. Hope you had a great Friday!

In the Ways They Should Go

Beautiful article from Anna at Pleasant View Schoolhouse today on professional vocations for our children. It's delightful to see our children grow up and find their passion in life, and it's fun to read about how it comes about for other families as well.

Still Showering

22/30: Josiah Through the Glass

photo credit: Jonathan

23/30: Sister-Love in the Morning

24/30: Ankle Deep

She's Two

I suppose it's time to admit it to the world.

My baby turned two on Friday.

Poor girl. We had an outside engagement on Friday night, and by the time we got home we were all too tired to proceed with cake and presents, so we decided to wait until morning. It was most unconventional for us to have cake during the day time, so when we lit the candles she demanded we 'Turn the light!' She expects we can just turn the sun off for her.

Kateri is still very spirited in a very loud sort of passionate way.  It seems as though she's been practicing being two for about two whole years now. She's very good at it. She is so spirited and so loud and so sweet and so smart and so dear and so, so, so cute she just amazes us all, all day long. She sings and talks and dances and plays, interjecting often with vivid sound effects like a miniature Tom Keith. (You should hear her ask for a squirt of whipped cream on her finger - kwwoosherooush as she deftly spirals her pointer in the air.) I chuckled when I read Lissa's declaration, "My toddler has decided she is morally opposed to sitting in her carseat." Kateri has been 'morally opposed' to many, many things in her little lifetime. She had her check up on Monday morning. It took both of us the rest of the day to recover. Let's just say it was very loud. (Did you hear her, where ever you are?) My doctor pronounced that I never have to worry about her being kidnapped. I thought he would say because she screams so loudly, but he actually said she would beat them up. :-)

But she is just as passionate about all the pleasantries in life as she is about the difficulties. She delights in every little thing, eyes shining, mind concentrating, face grinning and curls bouncing. When a proposition pleases her she replies with a positively exuberant, Okay! And then she looks for her constant companion with whom to share her joy: Eliza! Jammie time! Eliza! Ice cream! Eliza! Go outside play! Eliza! Dance!

She's our little imp. Our little curly haired three foot high hobbit. We call her Puck. Or Chocolate Eyes. Or the Baby. She's still the littlest, after all. A million times a day I have to just grab her and squeeze her and threaten to gobble her up.

She is still at the wondrous age where you can look in her eyes and see down into the depths of her soul with just one peek. Every nuance of  joy, sorrow, confusion, embarrassment, hesitancy, contemplation, intelligence - it's still all so accessible and available for reading in the chocolaty depths. It is such a joy and privilege to share in her passionate world. She loves us all so fiercely. She is such a treasure.  Every morning I wake up and roll over and just stare at her sleeping deliciousness, her absolute lusciousness. I finger her curls and stroke her pink pudgy cheeks and nuzzle into her soft yummy neck. She is such a blessing, such an incredible gift.

Happy Birthday, Kateri! We sure do love you!

Learning to Count

Today I learned to count using higher numbers. My children informed me that after million, billion, trillion, and zillion come Rilian, Caspian, Erlian, Tirian, and finally the most enormous number anyone can think of: Frank.

Catching Up With April Showers

18/30: Tastes Good

19/30: Mother and Daughter

Photo credit: Josiah

20/30: Extreme Mud

 

Elbow length mud gloves, anyone? It's Mud Season again.

21/30: Kat in the Hat

17/30: Mud

16/30: In Bloom

15/30: Beginnings

Of raspberry pie.

14/30: Three Swords

12 & 13/30:Glimpsing Faces

Happy Birthday Lydia!

My Lydia Grace turned thirteen today!

My eldest daughter, the leader of the pack The Girrrls, my long-haired-brown-eyed twin, is a teenager! But she's still her same old self. Saturday is major housekeeping day around here, and I planned to mop our gigantic tile floor. But Lydia asked if she could wash it on her hands and knees with Anna instead, because it's so much fun. What a girl!

As with everything else she does, floor washing is turned into a game and Cinderella and Giselle the two of them had a giggling, skating riot scrubbing all of the ubbelibubbelimuck off of the floor.

 

Then it was on to other important things, like teaching baby sister how to excel at the art of creative frosting snitching.

    

Then on to presents and cake. Mary Rose made a little bird and nest for the nature loving bird watcher.

Jonathan fashioned this cloak, inspired by Susan’s Narnian attire, and Josiah made her this crown, based on the one Queen Susan wears for the coronation. Doesn’t the fair maiden look splendid!

Flowers on the cake were only natural for my Lydia Grace Finch, as I affectionately call her.

   

She glows with a lively spirit as warm and lovely as her cake.

 

Having a daughter is not anything like having sons. The young men, who frequently incite double takes as they are so very like their father in all ways, did not really prepare me for the clarity of the mirror that is a daughter.  Yet she is also so very much her very own self, born of this wild and wonderful life we choose to live. She has big strong brothers to lead and beckon to her and an assortment of little sisters with which to laugh and play and giggle and share, with babies to care for and love, love, love. She has strings of harp and piano with which to express herself. She has yarn and fabric and clay and wood awaiting her imagination. She has the wonder of all of nature right out the window. Our lifestyle of learning allows her to frequently go flying out the door, gripping binoculars or camera as her brown tresses fly after her, drawn by the sights and sounds of the natural world calling directly to her. Then she must bring in what her senses have captured and let it out through the pencils and brushes and pastels she wields so skillfully, preserved for all to enjoy. She goes off alone too, into the pages of her books where so many spaces and places draw her far, far away, the likes of Middle Earth and Narnia and England and horse pastures all over the world while we wait for her return. But she always comes back. All it takes is a cup of tea or a call of Lil-leea from a little one and she is right back here in the middle of our family where she belongs. We are so very glad she’s here, for all of us.

 

Happy Birthday Lydia! We sure do love you!

11/30: Tree Swallows

We are having lots of 'April showers' right now, with a thunderstorm to boot, but Michael shot these little beauties yesterday:

Such simple little blossoms are so cheery when you've waited so very long.

10/30: Random Bit of Beauty

9/30: Black and White Day

8/30: Bedtime Stories

Simple and sweet, we do like Ginger.

7/30: Thinking Green

Dirty Business

Dear fellow gardeners,

Please share in our excitement at the arrival of our new garden soil!

Look at all that dark brown chocolatey lushness! Don't you just love dirt that looks like brownie mix? Some of you southern types are way ahead of me, but I said my turn would come. This is step one.

The girls did a good job of guarding the Fort from the dump truck.

And to those of you who are not gardening types, I understand if you think we are a little nutters to be so excited about a load of dirt.  Be thankful I am not blogging about my compost. ;-)

Kitchen Helps

                                    

You may want to drop in on my kitchen blog for some timesaving hints. I've just put up a post on storing baking things and one on recipes. 

Teacups by Lydia

6/30: Eliza in Macro Mode

Pardon me, but you have no idea how hard it was to choose just five! 

5/30:Sketching Bag End