Easter Picture Woes

Why is it so, so difficult to get one decent picture of my kids?




I mean, is it so hard for all three of my boys to look at the camera on the count of three and say cheese?



Apparently it is:




Just smile, dag nabbit!





Those smiles look a little forced, guys.



Things are finally looking up.





At last, 30 pictures later, one decent shot.




Sweet Brothers:



Thank goodness Mom is done. We are EXHAUSTED!

It's for the Birds

There is a poor, deranged cardinal that lives in a tree near my backyard. As I am typing this post, I am hearing the rap, rap, rap as the cardinal slams his beautiful, red-feathered body against the french doors leading out to the back porch. This suicidal tendency of my scarlet friend has been going on several times a day for the last two weeks. At first I thought I was the one who was nuts. I would be cleaning the house and hear someone knocking on the french doors only to find no one there each time I came to look. I decided to get clever and I snuck up to the door very quietly the next time I heard the noise, and LO and BEHOLD! I caught my friend red-handed as he dashed away in a red-feathered flurry. Why does this poor, beautiful bird continually pummel himself against the glass? Does he like the color of my red-hued family room? Is he mistaking his reflection as a rival or a potential mating partner? Or has he just lost his poor bird-brained mind?


Speaking of birds--Our dear, dear mourning doves have returned. Jonah did a report on mourning doves for school last year, so we learned all about them. They are beautiful, graceful birds. The coo--coo sound they make sounds like someone in mourning; hence the name. A mourning dove pair mates for life. They stay faithful to each other until one or the other dies. Each Fall, they fly south; each Spring they return to the exact same spot to build a nest and have their young. Both the birds labor together to build a loose grassy home for the eggs. The father also takes a turn sitting on the eggs while mother goes to get food.

This is our third spring living in this house, and each spring our mourning doves build their nest in the exact same spot, where the porch roof meets the porch. The nest is practically eye level with Todd, so we get to see everything up close and personal. The mourning dove mother always lays two eggs. The new hatch lings are called squabs. They stick their little beaks in the beaks of their parents and gulp down regurgitated seeds. It is very fun to watch. The mother and father mourning doves are very protective of their young and they never leave their children unguarded until they fly from the nest. Last year, I sat on the floor of the family room watching the squabs try out their wings with mother dove gently edging them out of the nest. I was determined to see the squabs' first flight. After two hours, the squabs still hadn't flown the nest, so I gave up on them. Later that afternoon, I walked by the french doors and saw that the nest was empty.

Here is a picture I took this afternoon of mother mourning dove sitting on her eggs:




I can't wait for them to hatch!

Here is a picture of my three squabs trying to catch some rays last weekend after sliding down the slide into the kiddie pool:

Richmond Cannery Adventure

I've got happy news! We finally have a year's worth of food storage, a 72 hour kit, and a two weeks supply of bottled water.

It feels so good to be obediant and it's a relief to know that whatever else happens in this crazy world, we'll be able to feed our children. We've been working on this goal for a long time. We first worked toward a three month supply. When we reached that goal, we focused on water and emergency kit acquisition. Then we saved and scrimped our pennies together (so long big screen t.v. dream) until we'd saved enough to get the nine months of long-term food storage.

Last Saturday, Todd and I pawned our kids off on some ward members and headed up to the Richmond cannery. We canned 1,100 pounds of wheat and beans in about 5 hours with some help from other cannery patrons.

As the boxes of #10 cans began to pile up, I became worried that we wouldn't even come close to fitting them all into our Acura Legend. Somehow, clever Todd managed to fit all 31 boxes into the car with literally NO room to spare. The trunk was stuffed, our seats were scooted as far forward as they could go, and boxes were piled from floor to ceiling in the back seat.

Before we climbed into our cramped quarters for the drive back, we saw that our poor car was so weighed down that it only had a 1/2 inch clearance from the road! Everytime we went over a bump or a rough patch in the road, we heard a scraping noise. Our muffler was in grave distress! We received many strange looks as drove home on the 64, but thank goodness, we made it home with no permanent damage. And so ends our food storage adventure.

A Sheepish Hello

Hi Friends. I'm feeling, shall we say, a bit sheepish for not posting for almost two months. I do have an excuse, though. I think it's an excellent one. I'm pregnant. I'm finally wrapping up that dreadful first trimester and I can actually see beyond trying not to lose my cookies and my next nap.

The best part of February: My sweet Jonah boy was baptized! Here is his invitation:





It was a beautiful baptism and my pregnancy hormones made me extra emotional. Todd's parents and his brother, Boo and sister, Angela flew out for the big event.




Here is Jonah with friends, Marshall and Charlie,chowing down on barbeque beef buns after the baptism:






This is what Jonah wrote in his baptism memory book (I hope he doesn't mind me posting it): "After I got Baptized, I felt like I was perfect as Jesus. I felt like I was fresh out of the box. I felt like Satan (or Lucifer) was gone forever." (I love this child.)

Moving on....today I woke up to three kids deliriously jumping all over me. "Look out the window! There is snow EVERYWHERE!!!!" Sure enough there was! This is our first snow storm since moving to Virginia almost three years ago. I'll admit even I was excited at the 1 inch of snow on the ground. The kids begged me to get their snow gear out of storage in the garage and by eight o'clock, they were dressed and ready to go out and make snowballs.


ANTICIPATION:





Can we go out already??!!!





And They're Off!!!!








Later on, after the older boys were off to school, my neighbor invited Reuben and I to go sledding with her. "Sledding?", I queried, "Isn't Norfolk Flat?" Turns out, there are a few man-made "bumps" near our house at Northside Park.

Book Blitz

On Friday, I went to the Walden Books going-out-of-business sale (Thanks, Janice!). I didn't go expecting to find much, but $50 and 20 big, beautiful hardback books later, I was feeling deliriously happy. I can't decide whether I'm more thrilled with the oversized coffee table books, the special edition read-aloud children's books, or the classics I picked up.

I grabbed book after book until I thought my arms would break and then asked permission to deposit them behind the sales counter so I could keep on looking. As I was carrying my third armload up to the counter, I realized that I had not thought out the logistics of getting all of my new loves, I mean books, out to my car. Thankfully, the sales associate was very helpful and offered to put them on a book cart and wheel them out to the mall loading dock for me.

Now my only obstacle was figuring out how to breeze through my front door loaded down with 20 new books without my husband having a conniption. An "Illustrated History of Guitars" book given as a peace offering seemed to do the trick.





Here is an itemized list of my purchases (try not to be too jealous):

* An Illustrated Directory of Guitars

* Best Ever Recipes for your Slow Cooker

* 500 Soup Recipes

* America's National Parks

* Portraits of North American Indian Life

* Old Yeller

* The Snowy Day

* The Iliad

* Stuart Little

* Little House on the Prairie

* Wee Sing Classic Rhymes and Lullabies

* A Passage to India

* Craft Fun Colossal Book and Kit

* The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes

* Animal Origami Adventure

* The Three Musketeers

* The World of Dick and Jane

* Magnetics on the Move

* Peter Pan

* The Practical Encyclopedia of Orchids


Can you see why I'm so delighted? One small example--I never in my right mind would pay forty dollars for a book about growing orchids, but I'm so glad to own it!

My Sissies.

I just had to post these pictures of my sissies taken by Annie's photographer pal, Kristy Cephalo. Aren't these girls adorable? I miss them sooo much!


Sissies.




Clara Bethy--zee baby of our family.



Annabelle

My very favoritist poem in the whole wide world, ever.

I love reading poetry. The right poem can make my pulse race, my teeth hurt, and fill my stomach with hard little fists of joy. "Sonnet" by Elizabeth Bishop is the quintessential "right poem".

To really appreciate this poem, you MUST read it out loud, in your MOST expressive voice (promise me you'll do it!):



"SONNET"
by Elizabeth Bishop

I am in need of music that would flow
Over my fretful, feeling finger-tips,
Over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips,
With melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow.
Oh, for the healing swaying, old and low,
Of some song sung to rest the tired dead,
A song to fall like water on my head,
And over quivering limbs, dream flushed to glow!

There is a magic made by melody:
A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool
Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep
To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,
And floats forever in a moon-green pool,
Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep.