Beautiful Girls

I recently took some pictures for my good friend, Grace.  She has 5 daughters and I thought it would be fun to capture them each as individuals and as sisters.  Her girls are great friends with my kiddos and we appreciate them so much.

I'm really not a bird hater.

I promise this to be my last post about birds, nests, or eggs in a long time.  But...I did want to defend myself just a tad to all those who think I am a hater b/c I ripped a nest out of my pansies.
So though I'm not a bird hater, I'm nowhere near a bird lover either.  Just like any other creature of nature, I appreciate them but I've never been overly interested in them.  My dad, he's a bit into birds.  He always has had feeders and known every species that came to his back porch.  And my neighbor friend, Abby Odell, she is a bird lover.  They go on vacation to watch and trap birds and such.  BOTH ABBY AND MY DAD TOLD ME TO REMOVE THE NEST.  There, I said it.  I'm shifting blame to those who love birds more than me.
Whenever my dad comes over he does a tour of the bird boxes that he has put up on our property.  The other day he and the kids found 4 nest with eggs or live birds in them.  Though these pictures are not impressive, they show the variety of life at our place.
And the little egg that was in my pansies...it's been deserted.  Mama ain't coming back for her baby.  I think we scared her away.

Chickadee nest.  Their eggs are very beautiful and petite.

A robin's nest and an egg in a tree

Bluebird babies.  Not a very captivating shot of them b/c they were sleeping.

Robin's nest with 3 eggs under the playground.  No matter how hard I tried I could not get a reach to get a shot of those eggs.

Train Day

This past Saturday our family rode the train down to Philadelphia for "National Train Day."  Kids rode free on the train and the station down at PHL had some events and activities for the kids.  We went with our good friends, the Priviteras, and their 3 youngest kids.  It was a great day together.  We didn't do much of the train activities but instead walked around the city and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Enjoying modern entertainment on the last leg of the ride.

The kids minus Greta.  

Greta very much enjoyed the warm cookies from the "cookie truck" we found on the side of the road.

The adults in the glaring sunlight.

We enjoyed our lunch at Bobby Flay's restaurant, Bobby's Burger Palace.

Mother's Day

Today was a wonderful day.  Funny how for me, much of a "good" day revolves around the weather.  I love the warm sunshine!  Last night the girls spent the night at my parent's house and this morning I woke up to my front flower bed completely planted with flowers!  My girls and my parents came over late last night and planted them with a flashlight while I was in bed.  What a fun, sweet surprise.  I asked Morgan if she has fun being a little sneaky elf and she sighed and said, "Oh my, it was sooooo much fun!"

Here are a couple pics I took with the tripod this morning before church.  I love these kiddos and am privileged that they call me mom.

This afternoon while the rest were sleeping/resting, Morgan and I went for a little bike ride.  About 1/2 mile down the road, the chain on my bike popped off.  I've never been very mechanically inclined, knew that I've never had any luck trying to fix and popped chain, still had my white shirt on from church and didn't even want to attempt it.  I was ready to turn around and walk it home and Morgan stuck her little hand in there and got all greasy and popped that chain back on.  I think she's got some different blood than me!!

My parents came over for supper tonight and Steve cooked us a feast.  He made steak and potatoes on the grill, green beans and salad and then some macadamia nut brownies.  Quite impressive and delicious.

Greta after a fall off of the swing

A more glorious moment on the monkey bars

Buds

I am so happy that I am still able to celebrate Mother's Day with my mom.  She is well loved around here!

My Big Girlies

Gweda

I love how Greta says her name.  Gweda.  My dad calls her sugarplum and she says, "No, I Gweda."

Claudia took these pics.  I love how it shows her little personality.  She's never got too much to say but is always all smiles.  I love this girlie.  This was her I heart NY shirt that is now her Gweda shirt.  She peeled every last little bit of it off.

Makeover

Because my husband has nothing better to do than to run circles around me, he decided to take a few days last week and give our shed/barn a makeover.  I must admit that at first I did not think I was going to like what he wanted to do to it, but I think it looks great.  He was right.   Here is a very narrow "before" picture.  It was a very faded yellow (that sort of matched our old siding on the house).  It showed all kinds of dirt and mold.  Yuck.

 

And after.  A new door, too.

Miranda, do you notice that Greta has this dress on in almost every picture?  Is is her FAVE!!

Aaron and Greta were enjoying watching the township mow the sides of the road today.