More birds...

Okay, apparently the chickadees lost the house. Or else they had just been hanging around outside like it was theirs. Because the wrens seem to have taken it over. At least I think these are wrens. They are very sweet. We spied on them all afternoon and finally came up with a picture. Here is one of them. I'm not sure, but I think this is the male. His markings are a little more clear.

They are still making a nest, even though we had seen that the nest was already large on Tuesday. This is probably their first baby! :) Anyway, they have a pretty song. They were carrying on a lot this afternoon, maybe trying to let the chickadees know to stay away!

Peanut drew a picture of what their house looks like on the inside. Complete with a baby crib, of course. I can't get the scanner to work tonight, but I'll try again tomorrow.

Such a blessing to have this little family move in close to us! They are precious to God, and he knows when each one falls. (Matt. 10:29)

Funny isn't it, how little kids sometimes only hear the stuff you would rather they not hear. We were trying to listen to music on the way to Bible Study this morning. They broke in with news, and Peanut heard just what they had said and started asking questions. We talked about this scripture, and I'll share part of it here:

"Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me..."Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?" He will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. (Matthew 25:41-46)

God have mercy on the souls of all those resposible for the cruelty towards Terri Schiavo. There is time to repent, but someday it will be too late.

Birds in the backyard

Peanut and I are excited. Last fall she and her daddy made a birdhouse. They hung it on the lamppost on the back patio. I told her not to get her hopes up too much, sometimes it takes a long time for birds to find a birdhouse and it might sit empty for a while. Well, they have found it! A chickadee couple checked it out and they apparently think it is a good place to raise a family. Last night she peeked in and it is full of grass, cotton, etc. We can't tell about any eggs, but they were going in and out this morning, so it looks hopeful. I think it helped that we started using the top of the old sandbox as a bird feeder. The birds seem to like that bigger area.

Little brother has amazed me once again. He can count to 100 using our number chart! I would have never thought he could do that. He used to try to count, but he would get mixed up because when you say "thirty" and "forty" the same way, it is confusing. Then he would skip some of the higher numbers, like all the 70s or all the 80s. But a couple of days ago, he grabbed up the number chart when sis was through with it, and started reading it. Yesterday I tried to really pay attention to him while he did it, and everything fell apart. He was trying to be funny, of course. So I guess he will do better if I pretend to ignore him.

Old Children's Books

This year I have discovered a lot of really good children's books that I either had forgotten or missed when I was growing up. Have you ever read any of these?:
The Story About Ping
Make Way For Ducklings
The Giraffe Who Walked To Paris
Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
Really good stories and I am glad I got the chance to read them to my own kids even though I don't remember reading them when I was little. I guess you're never too old.


Here is some artwork Peanut made today. I am not sure where she came up with this one, but it was very interesting.

Readin' and 'Ritin'

Last week at the homeschool meeting, one of the moms passed out some Braum's book buddies that she had leftover from another group. They are little cards with stickers and coupons. The kid gets one sticker per book read and when they get 6 stickers, they get a coupon for a free ice cream cone. So I got it out today and told Peanut about it. She nearly came unglued and went searching for books that she could read to me. I had to tell her calm down. We have all week to get 6 stickers, I think we can handle it. She was about to climb the walls all day. The funny thing is that we are going to see Grandma and Grandpa this weekend and they would take her to Braum's twice a day if she wanted. Hee hee. But she is excited about getting a coupon to bring along, so I think I'll ask her if she wants to treat one of them. They won't let her, but it would be nice for her to ask.

This morning Junior was tired, he is still getting over his little illness. He went in his room before lunch to lie down and ended up going to sleep. Peanut grabbed some paper and wrote him a letter:


She is pretty cute. I was so impressed because she did this all by herself! She is doing pretty good putting spaces in between the words and using some lower-case letters too. I will have to find one of her notes from earlier this year and compare them. And that is a lot of writing for her, if I had asked her to do half of that, she would have been slumped over the table begging for a break! Hee hee...

A page from Peanut's nature book

Peanut has been keeping a nature book that she started in January. She is using it to record what she sees outdoors. It contains mostly drawings because writing takes so long. But I've been having her label the months. We started out in January watching birds at the bird feeder. We ended up just pouring out bird seed on the patio so more birds could eat at one time. The birds don't stay on the feeder more than a few seconds, but when they all can eat together, maybe they feel safer.

This is a picture she did Saturday. In the middle is a picture of a moth that she saw, and she is comparing it to a butterfly. I was proud of the moth drawing, because she used the actual shape that she could see, instead of making a cartoon-y drawing like the butterfly. I think at the bottom is a side view of the same moth.