My Thoughtful Spot

Around the House

A couple of drops changed our driveway picnic plans into an indoor beach picnic!  It didn't end up raining.  The sun is out right now.  But the kids are having fun surfing on pillows in the living room.

These guys are not cute or funny anymore.  Go away!  I want to watch birds!

Just because...

Eight months today!

I know I can get bigger, but will I be able to walk?  And when is the nesting instinct going to kick in?  I know that all my homeschool planning is "nesting", but what about the house?  Everything needs to be cleaned.  Much of the purging needs to be revisited.  But here I sit... blogging.  We're having Helper's birthday party on Saturday, so I'm thinking I'll clean on Thursday and Friday.  And the purging?  At this very moment I think that the new baby will probably be nursing so much that he/she won't even notice that the pantry is a disaster.

It's Moving Day!

Yes. Yes. Yes.

We will have a new address.

Everything is such a mess, mess, mess.

Today is moving day.

What I Don't Have Time to Write About

I've been busy lately.  Not super busy, but just busy enough at 34 weeks pregnant to not have energy for other things.  Wednesday night, I went out to Longhorn's and a movie (Indiana Jones) with my father.  When I was out, Bobby was mowing the lawn and Worker was watching Sweet Pea.  He had her pick flowers for me and they made up this really sweet basket.  It made me very happy.

Tonight, Bobby and I are going out again.  This time to a banquet.  And tomorrow we have plans to go to an earlier Mass at a different parish, and then head to the Blandford Club for a Father's Day Pancake Breakfast.  Thursday at my BPP (Biophysical Profile - a special ultrasound) the doctor was concerned about a separation of membranes (probably caused by that bleeding that I had in December) inside of my uterus.  So now I have another BPP scheduled for Monday morning before my OB/GYN appointment Monday afternoon, to go along with my NST on Tuesday and my BPP on Thursday.  Anyway, my point is that I have lots of things to blog about, but I will probably be using my free time to clean toilets or take naps or work on that school department paperwork.

What I don't have time to write about:

• my thoughts on Education is a Discipline for the book club Elizabeth has started
• my comments on the great book club posts I've been reading
• that I started a free 30 day trial of the CM Organizer
• that I'm out of my planner pages on June 30th and I just bought a spiral bound planner at Staples (I'll be trying something new this year.)
• the load of cool art supplies a friend gave us
• the latest action at our bird feeders

Well, maybe I can post a few pictures before lunch...

This wacko black squirrel gave me a scare the other day.

And here's one of our new visitors.  I think he's a white-breasted nuthatch.

Sweet Pea holding her cousin Edward.

A pretty picture of Helper.

And finally... my feminine planner.

Backyard Birds

Marianne had an idea for a Backyard Birdfeeder Carnival.  I got my feeders all ready and we watched them for a week.  Here's the list of birds that we saw here in Western Massachusetts:

1. Mourning Dove
2. American Goldfinch
3. Tufted Titmouse
4. Northern Cardinal

We saw other species in our yard, such as this blue jay,

but those are the ones that came to the feeders.

I love the sound that these make.

This cute couple were the regulars.

This guy only came once or twice.  I don't know if he ate anything.

And this one is probably scaring the birds away.

This carnival motivated me to get set-up.  (Thanks Marianne.) We've enjoyed watching the birds this week, and I hope we'll see more bird variety here in the future. 

Did You Hear?

Yesterday I cleaned out a moldy birdfeeder and filled it up with some Nyjer seed, to go along next to the feeders filled with sunflower seeds.

I also filled a box with safflower seeds and made a little bird bath.

Starting today, we will be keeping a list of the species of birds that visit for the Backyard Birdfeeder Carnival, which will be held on May 27th at Learning2Love.  Did you hear that, Birds?  I said starting TODAY!  (I haven't seen any birds yet.)

Ponds: A Perfect School Day

We recently finished reading Pond by Donald Silver.  So here's what I planned and what we did for school on this gorgeous spring day:

• a decade of the rosary
• read baby loves and Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists: Mary Cassatt
• Worker used the Flashmaster
• a trip to the ponds at a nearby park

Here are the photos I took.

Sweet Pea was SO much fun.  Everything was new to her.  The waterfall was "LOUD".  And "Where are the dogs?"  I don't know if she meant frogs, or if she really wanted to see dogs.  We did see about eight of them.  She cracked me up when she fed the ducks.  She'd throw a piece of bread and it would go about two feet and land in the grass.  She'd say, "Oooooh."  Then she'd go pick it up and do it again.  After about four times it would land in the water.  If Helper gave her a piece of stale hot dog bun, she'd pop it in her mouth.

Being outside and observing nature does make me grateful.  So why don't I do it more often?

Kayaking

Our Homeschool Gym & Swim class has been outdoors at the Y camp for the past two weeks, and it will be for the next two weeks, weather permitting.  It's been really great.  I'd rather chase napped-deprived Sweet Pea out in the woods, than around the Y swimming pool and waiting room any day.  The first week was for Kayaking.  Worker tried this two years ago and loved it, so he was very pleased.

I think he was the first one in and the last one out.

It was Snuggler's first time and he did great.

And where was Sweet Pea during this?  On my back.  I held the camera up in the air and got this cool picture.

Helper said MANY times the week before, that she was not going in a boat.  I told her to try to keep an open mind.  I said that nobody was going to make her do anything that she didn't want to do, but she should wait and see how she felt about it when she was there.  She stayed by my side.

And she found a salamander.

And after about a half hour...

I think she was a little bit scared at first.  Then she got some help from one of the instructors and from her big brother.

Snuggler spent quite a bit of time holding salamanders and playing with the other boys.

And here's one last picture that I love.

Do you know what these are?

I found them in one of our mulch beds.

Here's a closer image.

Art, Music & Nature

These are the subjects that I tend to be excited about in the fall.  Then as the colder weather comes, I slide into getting the 3 R's done and enjoying lots of read alouds...INDOORS.  But who cares about that right now, because I'm just planning for the fall.  Here's what's in store for the first 13 weeks of our school year.

Art:  Our artist for the fall will be Edgar Degas.  We'll study some of his works.  We'll do some Degas inspired art projects found in The Usborne Art Treasury and in Discovering Great Artists.  We'll read some books that I will be requesting from our library.  We'll also do some art projects found in a variety of Usborne books, some literature based art ideas found in Five in a Row, and do some drawing from the Draw Write Now series.  I'm not listing links to all of our art resources here, because if you're interested you can check them out in the list I made in my right sidebar.

Music: Were going to use this Children's Classics CD, along with singing songs and talking about musical instruments and their families.  I liked the print-outs I found on this site.

Nature:  I'm going with really simple here.  One afternoon a week.  In our backyard.  I'll bring out a basket of pencils, our sketchbooks and some nature study supplies.  If we get tired of our backyard, we can move into the woods, and I imagine that there is quite a bit of nature to study in the empty lot next to us.

Cool Pictures

Helper and Worker.

My sister, Jodie, with her children.

Starving??

They've Been Waiting for This

Bobby loves to use the snowblower. Worker was the first one out.

He was building a fort.  Snuggler joined him.

I propped Sweet Pea up at the window to watch Daddy and her brothers.

Then Helper joined them.

I don't want to get out of my cozy roasty nightgown...

but I'd do anything for you, dear, anything... for you, yes, anything for you....

(The words in italics are to be sung to the tune of the song from Oliver.)

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Gee whiz.  I'm getting corny because that title refers to the Valentine's centerpiece on my dining room table

and the Valentine's wreath on my front door.

See the hearts...get it???

But this post isn't just about decorations, it's also about the current wonderfully exciting adventures I've been having here at home.

1. Monday.  (I thought I'd try a numbered bullet list this time.)  Mondays are now, officially, after 3 weeks of experimentation, Cleaning Day.  Because the house is so large, I am very pleased if I get half of it cleaned each week.  This week it's the downstairs' turn, next week it will be the upstairs' turn.  The kids are enthusiastically part of my Clean Team for about 15-20 minutes, then I am on my own.  Today, Worker did my bathtub and toilet, and vacuumed the living room.  Helper washed my bathroom sinks.  Snuggler feather dusted the woodwork, washed the fingerprints on the windows and cleaned the TV and computer screens.  Although the master bedroom, living room, dining room and study are now looking marvelous, there are always problems like this one popping up.   The pantry.  I started organizing it last week, but I ran out of time, or energy.  I forget.  Then I added this week's groceries, and some more stuff obviously.
2. This morning I was reading this thread about saying the rosary, and I had a revelation.  I could just say a decade!  Since I've been procrastinating starting to say the rosary, (probably fearing it would get interrupted), today I decided to finally take action.  I said one decade this morning.  We (sometimes just I) said it for Bobby, who had a meeting he was concerned about today.  And it did get interrupted more times than I could count, but it was OK.
3. The mudroom.  I have really good news.  Two white laminate personal lockers have shipped.  They are on their way to our house.  When they get here, Bobby will put them together, we will hang some hooks, I will buy some baskets and I will organize it.  No more of this.  I also have big plans for the walls, including a Nature Alphabet print and some framed nature photos taken by my own camera.  I am hoping that this will be the first room that I can say is completely finished.
4. Speaking of nature... hopefully the scent of seed and suet are floating through our freezing cold suburban air, tempting some little birds to come and visit us.  Yesterday, I had a chance to put out the stuff I bought.  About 5 or 6 little ground feeders came today.  Maybe juncos.  I will try to have the camera ready when they return.
5. Last night, after about 6 or 7 months of trying the method of having Sweet Pea sleep in her crib, but not letting her cry it out, I brought her into our bed for the night.  She did very well.  I had an enjoyable sleep for the first time in a few months (this is probably why I'm so chipper), but Bobby didn't have any room to move because Sweet Pea must have rolled down the hill toward the mattress pit he sleeps in.  I'm not sure what future nights will bring.
6. Last, but not least.  I have 'blogging butt'.  I don't know if that's what you'd call it, but that's what I'm calling it.  It's a tenderness underneath the bones of the buttocks area, accompanied by dry skin, brought on by frequent stretches of time spent sitting on a hard surface.  In my case specifically, it's on a Shaker ladder back chair, facing a computer screen, and with the added weight and pressure of a nursing baby.

Funny Weather

The weather just isn't cooperating with me.  While we were reading about penguins and Antarctica and ice... we were having the warmest winter weather ever!  I may be exaggerating, but it is true that I don't remember the last time we made it to January without any snow on the ground.  Feeling pretty spring-y, I decided we'll do some reading about birds next.  Wednesday night at the Home Depot I picked up a few things, hoping to attract some real live birds to our yard.

   

Yesterday, we spent the day inside our warm house and we read the first chapter of The Bird Book for Children.  The forecast was COLD! with wind chills up to -25 degrees.  I wasn't up for pouring new bird seed (or hanging suet) in that...

Our First Snow/Birding Questions

It wasn't much.  It already melted.  Now here are our two feeders.  The tube has sunflower seeds in it and the house is filled with a wild birdseed mix.  Do you know why we haven't seen any birds since the fall?  Do you have suggestions for attracting some now?

Nature Invasion

Dawn from By Sun and Candlelight said we didn't have to write something new for her Field Day: Late Autumn Edition, so I'm going to share something old with you.  These are three very short stories that I wrote way back in the fall of 2004.  I recently came across them in one of my scrapbooks.  They were on a page titled Blank Wildlife (just replace the word 'blank' with the name of my hometown.)  Please realize that these were written long before I became the naturalist that I am today.  At the time when these were written, I thought that nature was somewhat invading my space.

Operation Mouse

We had a mouse in our house.  It would come out around 11:30 PM.  It especially liked to climb in our kitchen trash bag, probably looking for food.  Well, mice are kind of cute, but they leave tiny poops that gross me out and must be unsanitary.  So we set some mousetraps.  He didn’t fall for that.  So one night when he was in the trash bag, Bobby grabbed the bag and tried to close it quickly, but the little guy climbed out really fast and got away.  So we waited.  One night we heard the rustling in the trash bag and we decided to try again.  I waited by the slider door, ready to open it….Bobby got into position….legs apart, arms up and out and leaning forward.  It was a riot to watch.  I had the giggles.  We counted one…two…three!  He grabbed the bag, and twisted it quickly. I opened the slider door and he ran out onto the deck and whipped the bag out into the yard.  We succeeded in getting rid of what we affectionately called it in emails, “that stinkin’ mouse."

Caution:  Disturbing

One night around 12:30 AM, I heard a sloshing noise coming from the hall bathroom.  Upon investigation, I found a small animal trying to get out of our toilet.  At first I thought it was a rat.  Don’t they hang around in pipes?  I woke Bobby up.  Neither one of us wanted to go in there, but I had to check it out.  It was a small squirrel.  We didn’t know what to do.  How could we get it out without it hurting us?  What if it runs wet around the house and hides somewhere?  After some discussion, the sloshing stopped.  It was dead.  I couldn’t even look at it and I definitely didn’t want the kids to find it in the morning.  I convinced Bobby to use a shovel to put it in the wastebasket.  He did it and went to bed.  Then, I went out into our scary dark yard to throw it into the woods.  I had trouble going to sleep, and I was very disturbed the next day.  And a question remains.  How did it get into our toilet?

The Stinkhorn

This fall, just 3 short years after the Big Dig, which included changing every landscape bed in our yard from rocks to mulch;  I discovered the stinkhorn.  At first they just looked like some strange mushrooms growing in the side yard oval.  (They start out as eggs.)  But they grew and spread throughout that bed and then to almost every other bed too.  And they smell nasty!  See that shiny brownish stuff on the tip?  That is like rotting meat.  It attracts flies and other insects that get that stuff on their feet and spread the spores to wherever they land.  The spores LOVE mulch beds.  I went to stinkhorn.com, just kidding, but I did do a Google on them.  I found that they really are harmless.  Unfortunately, the only way to get rid of them is to dig them out and to dig out the mulch beds where they live, and that might not even work!

So those are my three stories.  Even though I wasn't looking for nature to study back then, it found me.  I wonder what we'll find here in our new home in El Rancho Camelot.

The Great Pumpkin Patch

A fun place for some outdoor play...

or for being held by Mommy.

 

Caterpillar Update

I want to thank Wendi, Marjorie, Valerie and Maria for helping me identify our new pet.  He (or she? or it?) is a yellow bear caterpillar who may end up as a Virginian Tiger Moth.  Here is how it looked this morning....

like something Puss in Boots would cough up.

Need Nature Study Help

The boys were eating a snack on our front porch when they saw this butterfly.

When I came into the house to put the pictures on the computer I found this little guy crawling into Bobby's study.

We thought the butterfly may be a Monarch, but I only have that side view, so I'm not sure.  I don't even have a guess for the caterpillar.  What do you think?  Even though finding things in nature is exciting, the identifying is hard for me.  I want to know exactly what we've found.  Maybe I'll get there with more confidence or maybe I'll never have that 'you know you're right' feeling that I can get from accounting or math.

Gratitude Tuesday

I'm pleased to announce that I'm still committed to spending time outdoors on Tuesdays, and finding things in nature to be grateful for, as I first mentioned at the very end of this post.  I know I'm only 5 weeks into the school year, but for me this is a great accomplishment.  I should say that the weather on Tuesdays has been outstanding, which certainly is motivating.

Today we ate lunch in one of the picnic areas of our favorite park.  Then we went for a walk in the woods.  I took lots of pictures.  Here we are at the start of the walk.

Here's the snake that slithered by me at the end of the walk.  As you can see, I had trouble keeping the camera steady.  Not because I was scared, of course, but because I had to move quickly.

Here are the boys...

and the girls...

something pretty...

some more nature observation...

looking up...

Thank you God for this day.

Some Autumn Nature

Today we're busy with our outside activities. I thought I'd take a minute to show you what I'll be reading tonight.  Dawn is having her Early Autumn Field Day at her blog By Sun and Candlelight.  I didn't participate in this one, but I look forward to reading it.

Nature Study Procrastination?

I'm writing this post so I can participate in Dawn's Field Day:The Late Summer Edition.  Dawn said we could write about our nature study goals for this year.  Well I will, but I have one question.  What is my problem?  Do I have a simple case of nature study procrastination?  Do I have a deep dark fear of failure in helping my children discover the natural world?  Do I believe nature study is unimportant?  (Let's face it....we make time for what's important to us.)  Are my goals unrealistic?  Let's take a look at my homeschooling history in regard to nature study.

Year 1:  The plan is to take weekly nature walks, to draw and journal weekly about something found on the walk or in our yard and to spontaneously study anything interesting that crosses our paths unexpectedly.  What actually happened, was we walked and drew/journaled for the first two weeks. Here are ALL of the entries in our journals.  Worker's are on the right and mine are on the left.

Aside from a couple of guided nature walks at a local park, most of our nature study occurred accidentally.  Like when I found a toad in our flower box, or when a large spider decided to make a web on the screen of our sliding door or when our mulch beds were attacked by the multiplying stinkhorns.  We did do a cool insect unit study; but that was more about art & literature than nature.  I felt a bit guilty when I would write in my homeschooling journal - I think we're doing everything I planned EXCEPT NATURE STUDY.  And then there were the binoculars and the magnifying glass that I purchased that didn't get used nearly enough.  Also, my husband received a nice birdhouse for Christmas that neither of us did anything with.

Year 2:  The plan is to take weekly nature walks, to draw and journal weekly about something found on the walk or in our yard and to spontaneously study anything interesting that crosses our paths unexpectedly.  What actually happened was we built a house, had a baby, sold our home and moved.  Why hang the birdhouse if we're going to be moving soon?  That's what I asked myself.  Someone broke the magnifying glass.  We moved into the new house with the 6 great birdwatching windows in the kitchen; so I bought a shepherd's hook at Walmart to FINALLY hang that birdhouse.  Here's a picture of it.

It turned out that the birdhouse is extremely heavy, even without food in it.  It was bending the poor little shepherd's hook, so here's what I did with the birdhouse. 

I planned to get a post for it and get a lightweight bird feeder for the hook, but not right away, of course.

The thing I don't understand is that I'm very good at making commitments and following through in other areas.... why not with nature study?

Well I may never know what my problem is, (assuming that I have one.)  I skipped participating in Dawn's first Field Day because I was uninspired.  I've decided to use this one as a deadline for me to set some goals for this coming year and to take some actions towards implementing these goals. 

Here are my goals:  to take weekly nature walks, to draw and journal weekly about something found on the walk or in our yard and to spontaneously study anything interesting that crosses our paths unexpectedly.  Wait you say...isn't the definition of insanity - doing the same things over and over and expecting different results?  Well, I'm not going to be doing the same things.

First, I made a nature study supplies cubbie under our bench in the mudroom.  There are clipboards with paper, colored pencils and a backpack containing binoculars, a new magnifying glass and some containers and plastic baggies for collecting things.

Next, I went to the Home Depot and purchased a pole for that birdhouse, a tube bird feeder, two bags of bird seeds and a bright yellow bird seed scooper.  My husband put the pole in the ground and my children put the seeds in the feeders.

Can you believe I waited two years to do something that took less than one hour?  Thank you Dawn for this motivating Field Day. 

Finally, I am declaring Tuesdays as gratitude days.  It sounds better like this: Gratitude Tuesday.  I will try to keep this day free from busy activity.  I will try to spend most of this day outside.  Sometime on this day I will take time to observe nature and find something natural to be grateful for.  If my children want to join me, that will be even better.