A few "pets"

We are a pet-less family. At least for now.
So when my kids find animals, they like to "adopt" them. (Meaning: research, watch and follow them to death and act like they actually now own the rights to that species). Our summer has not been without animal adventures!
Here is our first  to showcase: a little baby pine siskin.

This little guy (or girl or one of its friends) decided to spend some time sitting on little A's head to our surprise a few days ago, and then E found another one here in the tree (below). He could actually reach out and touch it--I'm not sure it was old enough to know it should be afraid of humans. Luckily, this one found my kids, who LOVE animals!

And we have our owl from the creek. We think it is a barred owl (we have seen two together, but there might even be three of them), but E is a little on the fence on this one. His screech seems to mimic a barn owl, but a barred or spotted owl is our best guess from all we have researched. We've taken some extra walks in the creek to visit our friend, and to see the things it likes to eat! (Ew!) We've had some pretty close encounters with it.
Below is a picture from my camera--your plain old point and shoot kind.

And another one from a different day--yah, I'm pathetic. I go out each time we see or hear it to see if I can do any better for a photo. We've had it sit on our back fence before, but then there is no camera around!

These two pictures are sent from our neighbours down the road. He has the cool camera with the specialized settings and the extra lens and all. . .Maybe I can convince my hubby that I NEED one of those cameras!!! Can't I hope for my Canon Rebel for Christmas? :)

And a few from E's bug box. He has been busy collecting caterpillars of all sorts and enlisting the help of others. Here was Opa's contribution one day--he caught it and put it in E's bug box while we were out to surprise him! (This one was taken on my boring old camera--I was kinda impressed with how well it turned out!)

And as you can see (or this explanation will help you see) that beside our butterfly friend (who was released the next day) a cocoon or chrysalis of some sort. You can correct me if I am wrong, but I think this one is a cocoon because it is silky and cotton-like and a chrysalis is more of an opaque hard shell. It came from a black caterpillar with orange spots.

Well that cocoon  (and one other darker coloured one) sat there in its pupa stage for FOREVER! I was ready to scrape them out. This particular white one is actually still sitting there and getting thinner, but the darker one is broken open, because. . .

out came this moth! We haven't quite pinned down what kind it is except that the wings are brown with white spots (and we have a few pictures to go back to and compare for our searching for the exact name!)

In this above photo you can see the cocoons and the moth. We had a big releasing at Grandma's house and by her pond. After it was all done, E decided to announce that he had learned that usually moths and butterflies go back to the place of their emergence to lay eggs. (Glad it wasn't released at our place if that was true!)

And another is on the way--a fuzzy brown caterpillar in a new bug box brought over by Opa. We will see what comes of that!

A little pre-Christmas

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted last!

I can believe that I have been having an awesome week with my kiddos so far!

A busy end to school. . .and now it is a lot of playing. No sleeping in for me, but I can't ask for too much, right?

Last night the kids got a surprise visit from Santa! Yep, Santa came right to our door! Along with two firetrucks and a bunch of firemen on their way to the hospital to spread some Christmas cheer there. It was a nice pre-visit for my kids--their eyes were HUGE as they looked at a "real" Santa that close!-- and they each got a stuffy from Santa as well.

 The kids have been busy making cards. . .here is one E had for a teacher/helper at his school. "Real Christmas cards are just kinda boring, unless they have glitter"--according to him.

 Crazy me always have my kiddos help me make cards of some kind. I started this when E was 3, I think. They love it, but I am crazy for doing it! This year we made cards using recycled materials (cards, paper, left-over craft materials, etc.) We didn't get very far. . .I think we only made 19. And I also haven't sent too many off yet. . .too busy!

 But never too busy for. . .

A hot chocolate break!

 The Christmas picture we finally settled on. . .after all the other failures! But then, who knows if anyone will see it as the Christmas cards are not being used so much yet.

 More Christmas crafts/ornaments that need to be made. . .

 Yep, one craft a day is how it has been going down at our house. In addition to the other "creative messes" we have going on, of course.

And to close this overdue post. . . 

This is the first picture with Santa the kids have ever had. We finally decided that this year Santa wasn't so scary! (Although, from the photo, I can't tell that Princess A is convinced. She did find him later so she could give him a hug!)

Blessings to you during this holiday season!

A few photos

Family photo time again!

We have actually never had a family photo since. . .never? It's true! We've always enlisted the help of Oma or the automatic settings on the camera to take family photos for us. We thought that this year we would try to get some "real" ones done.

A relative of ours, Erin, is starting a photography business, and we asked her to do the honours! She has a facebook page and a website, for anyone interested. It was easy to arrange a time with her(and that is saying a lot when it means scheduling between possible naps and feedings, etc!), her price was great, and we think it all turned out great! (We definitely do not envy any photographer who has to put up with three kids (one being a baby!)--and try get them to take happy, smiling pictures--but we are glad we got some of those wonderful kinds of pictures out of the deal!)

She spent about an hour with us, back in our "backyard" and snapped away. A few weeks later we got the above CDs. We think it is great because we can do whatever we want (get various sizes, add to documents, etc) with the photos now. We had a lot of fun with her and would definitely recommend her to anyone!

So, here are a few of her "masterpieces":

Princess A

E

Little a

All of us

Some collages I made up/played around with using the photos. . .

A quote from a frame we purchased recently:

"The love of a family is life's greatest blessing."

Thank-you Snapfish

This is a very belated thank you to Snapfish. So, to say thank you to them, I have a great story to tell you!

Back in March I had posted (see that post here) about a Snapfish book my hubby and I made for my mother-in-law. It was a book full of pictures from a PowerPoint presentation and memories that people has shared about her late husband at his funeral celebration. After posting, a comment was left by Otto Imken, Customer Support Manager of Snapfish. He said he was touched by the story posted. He generously sent us 3 more copies of this photobook--one for each of the brothers! We were thinking about purchasing more copies anyway, so this gift was just wonderful! Each of the brothers LOVED their books and the memories they held.

So once again, thank you Snapfish and Otto! We appreciate your generosity!!!

Words from Wednesday (Devotional)

Creation

One of the things I love about my hubby is the way he loves nature. Long, long ago, I remember that we had gone on a hike into the mountains. I was very new to the area so I loved all the adventures we went on. At one point, we steered off of the pathway, out of the trees and mulch and moss, and came to an open creek. It was flowing very quickly and was surrounded by huge rocks. He just sat down on one of those rocks and breathed in and out and said, "Isn't this great? This is perfect!" He just sat there. Looking. Listening. That is all he did.

Well, to me that is all he did. See, you have to understand that I was always that nerdy type--the one who studied and learned things from books. I have always appreciated nature, but not the way he did. When he sat there, he was really doing much more than just sitting there. Now that I know better, this experience reminded me of the song, "Creation Calls" by Brian Doerksen. He gives many examples of the things in nature that my husband would just sit and enjoy. Wind blowing, rain falling, singing birds, mighty trees. And then he sings: How could I say there is no God? When all around creation calls!!

And then there was one line that I think I had missed out on up until this point. Doerksen goes on to sing: I feel your presence there.

I am thankful that my husband has taught me a thing or two about taking in God's creation, and not just seeing it. He has helped me to know God through the glory and beauty we are surrounded by, not just by the things I have been taught or the things I have learned. He has taught me what it means to "behold," and its is not something you can learn from a book. Part of enjoying God's creation is knowing and feeling God through your interactions with His created world.

Bible verse to look up: Genesis 1-2, Psalm 104, Psalm 19:1-6, Romans 1:19-20 & Colossians 1:15-17

Application:

My kids and I went looking for creation again. We like to do that. This creation was just in our back yard though. And it helped us realize that God is everywhere. And that God gives us an opportunity to know and feel Him everywhere.