Engulfed in Joy: April 2012

Monday, 30 April 2012

Gotta Play in the Water!

We love spring days with rain showers. Look what we discovered today.
A beautiful rainbow - photography courtesy of Naomi

She even managed to capture a shot of me doing what I love to do - in this case it is planting Forget Me Not's.

Then later she got bored and discovered a wet spider web that was glistening in the sun.

That ended Naomi's photo shoot. Around supper time we had a deluge of rain! Whenever it does that, as long as it is not too cold, the kids are immediately outside playing in it. Today was no exception! Charity is so silly, she took only the frame of her umbrella out!

Wading in the accumulated water on the street

Naomi enjoying the rain

Here is Breanna using the covering for Charity's umbrella as a hat of sorts.

The rain was wonderful, the colors are vibrant and it is hard to stay inside, even on rainy days. I love the spring - I can't seem to get enough of it!

Sunday Afternoon

Well somebody at our house had a a birthday on Sunday. Naomi spent a couple of hours on Saturday in the kitchen designing and decorating an elaborate birthday cake. She was assisted by her trusty sidekick Charity who was ready to lick the icing bowls as they were emptied...

There she is with the purple stripe down the center of her tongue. Yummy!

So as I was saying , this was the preparation. Now for the party...

As everybody knows you can't eat a birthday cake unless it is dead! Alisha took care of the killing it for us...

She also took care of sampling it to make sure it wasn't poisoned...

Well dig in everybody!!!

Naomi the cake was delicious!
What a fun group of kids I have. We had a great time with the birthday meal and spent the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying one another's company.

Silly faces and lego!

What a joy it is to have so many wonderful people in my life. I am so blessed with a wonderful family and faithful friends. Every time I look out the window I either I see the kids playing, my husband working, the birds singing, the flowers blooming or the rains falling and I can't help but wonder, what did I do to deserve so much? I am so very blessed.

The Early Bird Gets...

...it's picture taken!!!

A few weeks ago we bought and put out a bird feeder. I was beginning to think that the birds would never find it, but alas they did and did they ever make short work of the feed.

Naomi discovered them first. We were preparing to head off to seminary first thing and couldn't find Naomi... where could she possibly be at 7:00 a.m. So we started looking around. As I went past the kitchen window I saw her out on the deck but when I opened the door she immediately shushed me... "Don't scare the birds!"

OK, so there she was outside taking pictures of the birds when it was time to go. But what delightful pictures. As I listened to the birds sing around that feeder, I was thrilled to hear a meadowlark singing it's glorious song among the chirping of the sparrows and other birds.

I'm no expert on birds but we seem to have a red headed sparrow enjoying the free breakfast...

Like I said, I'm no bird expert but I found this picture on the internet. Is this the same kind of bird Naomi got pictures of?

It looks pretty similar to me but I don't know. If it is the same then according to the site I was on it is called a house finch. I'll have to keep an eye out for it to return, maybe we can get a clearer picture and be able to identify it. That would be cool!

I love to listen to the songs of the birds every morning. To me it is one of the most beautiful and relaxing sounds. They sing just for the pure joy of it and I thank them by putting out a little seed from time to time.

The World is Spinning!!!

Last week Beth was in charge of our Family Home Evening Activity. She chose an activity that involved a broom handle and a large area of soft grass. The idea was to spin focusing on the broom handle 20 times and then throw the handle on the ground and jump over it.... very hard!
Chad had just been to the dentist that day and I don't spin anymore so our participation was from a nice safe chair, but the kids loved it!

So dizzy, the world is spinning....

Managing to stand but just barely!

Success! Breanna manage to jump over the stick even when she was dizzy!

The sign of triumph, just for the record before going back in the house.

Getting ready to jump over the stick...

Still playing after dark

This was a fun activity. Beth, I don't know where you came up with it, but it was very enjoyable to sit and watch everyone having so much fun laughing and playing together. What a joy family is!

Breanna is a Photographer!

Yesterday Breanna wanted to take some pictures.... This is what she came back with...

Of course there was the self portrait - I believe she was making a face, but it's hard to be sure.

Flowers are good subjects - at least I think so. I love the vibrant spring colors she captured in the yard!

This picture is fascinating to me. It is not an angle I would normally choose as she is at the top of the slope looking down. Looks pretty good on film...

The first time I looked at this photo I thought I was looking at a stream bed, but it is just the rocks that line the front walk. What a cool picture.

And then she took photos of the plants that intrigue her the most...

The kids are watching this one anxiously to see how quickly it spreads. This is after one year.

Well, she had more but that is a good sampling of what she did with the camera. I love photos! I love that they capture people, places, things and emotions. I love to look back and reminisce when my children were small. What a blessing it is to be able to capture so much of our lives in photos with the technology we have today.

Friday, 20 April 2012

Happy Dirt!

Spring is wonderful! I love this time of year! This year I have beat an old record! My garden is ready to plant and I will have my potatoes in earlier than ever before!!! Yesterday we spent the afternoon applying and spreading compost to our garden. It will be a wonderful growing season. The trees are budding. This year I have added two new garden boxes to the front yard and I'll probably add a few more every year until I'm finished. Spring is my FAVORITE time of year!

Spring Crocuses enjoyed by all!!!