The Evening Sky

A beautiful sunset behind our home this evening!

The Thundercloud Plum Tree and the Oak Tree

Beautiful blossoms on our Thundercloud Plum Tree

Our Oak Tree!

The Great Blue Heron is Back!

The Great Blue Heron in the creek down behind our house!

Sam's Catch

Sam came to the door and said, "Mom, get your camera and take a picture of this crawfish I caught!"

Our Wednesday Walk

It was a beautiful day so we headed out to walk around our development. While we walked we watched and listened closely for signs of nature and spring. We heard a woodpecker but didn't see him. I have included a few pictures of various things we did see along the way.

A few birds at the top of the tree.

An old bee's nest.

Quite a few leaves from last fall that never fell!

An old bird's nest and the moon in the background.

A budding maple tree.

A couple flowers.

Julissa Holding a Leaf

Julissa checking out an oak leaf.

Hummingbird

The Ruby Throated Hummingbird. I took this picture from our van window as I was getting ready to leave to take all five kids with me to the library. It was quite an evening.

The Squirrel

As I was going outside to take a picture of the dam built by the kids, I saw this squirrel sitting in our backyard.

Samuel's Catch

Samuel spent a lot of time this afteroon down at the creek catching these creatures.

Wildflowers

I haven't been able to figure out the names of these flowers but I thought they were pretty, especially the white ones. If anyone can identify one or both of these flowers, I would greatly appreciate it.

Lilacs

My lilacs are blooming once again. I absolutely love the smell of lilacs. They remind me of when I was young at Grandpa and Grandma's. They had a huge lilac bush in the front corner of their lawn.

Photo by Samuel

Samuel took this photo of the ducks today. I thought he did a great job framing it. This is his original uncropped picture.

A Baltimore Oriole

During lunch we watched a Baltimore Oriole in a tree out in the backyard. I believe this is the first time I have seen one in this area. Curtis spotted it and pointed it out to the rest of us. He also told us that this is the bird whose nest looks like a hanging bag. When I asked him how he knew this he told me that he had read it in one of the many books he has read. It thrills me to know that he is retaining info like this from books he has read. As you can see the photo is a stock photo and not one of mine. The bird was too far away to get a picture of any merit. A poem about the Oriole.



The Oriole

Hush I 'tis he!
My Oriole, my glance of summer fire
Is come at last;

Heave, ho! Heave, ho! he whistles
Once more, now! and a flash
Lightens across the sunlight to the elm
Where his mate dangles at her cup of felt.

Lowell

Triplets

I took this picture yesterday morning before we went to church. These three mallard ducks were visiting our backyard. They were right up near our patio but by the time I got my camera and my husband opened the door, they decided to head back down to the creek.

Ladies First

Field Trip to Cool Creek Nature Center

A mounted Owl sitting in his home. The name of his home is Oliver the Oak Tree.

This is Puff the Bearded Dragon (he is actually real).

A goose sitting on her nest.

She was not at the Nature Center but outside a Shopping Center nearby.

Today after picking up Curtis from his last day of taking Stanford Achiement Tests we went to Cool Creek Nature Center. They had a nature program entitled, "Animals of Spring with Safari Steve" from Silly Safaris. Safari Steve brought out animals one at time and talked with the kids about them. He let different kids come up and hold them or touch them. The first animal that we saw was a skunk. After that we saw a large toad, a blue-tongued skink, an owl, a boa constrictor, a rabbit and some cockroaches. After the talk we walked around the nature center and looked at the different displays containing real and mounted animals.

View From Our Back Door

The view from our back door around 8:10 p.m.

Adventure in the Woods

Curtis is building a campfire on his plot.

Alex is working on his area.

Sam surveyed the land and gave out the plots to each one of the boys. They are building campfires, etc. They love to play down in the woods and by the creek. It is nice that they are able to do it now because it won't be long before they won't be able to go down there to play due to tall weeds, ticks, mosiquotoes, snakes, etc. For some reason Alex seems to attact mosquitoes and ticks. He is extremely allergic to mosquitoes and swells most horrendously to the extent where his eyes are almost swollen shut.