Baby Birds

On Saturday, I was spending some time cleaning off our back porch (that became cluttered with cardboard that we were intending to burn..but was starting to take over). I was out there for a while cleaning and hearing this annoying squeak sound that I thought was coming from a tree nearby. It sounded like a dog chewing a squeaky toy...over and over and over. I finally realized that the squeak was actually coming from right above my head...in a nest resting right in rafters of the porch. They were such little squeaks that it sounded like it was far away, but sure enough it was right above me.

I got out a chair and my cameras (still and video) to document this:) I soon realized that Mama bird had been hanging out nearby the whole time...probably trying to get to her super hungry babies who have been crying for food for quite some time now! I took a few pics by just sticking my camera up there, and then some video...and then (even though I wasn't finished my porch cleaning job) shut the door so that Mama could get in and feed her little ones. (I felt guilty that they hadn't been fed because I had been there for so long!).

I KNEW that Mama was gonna have to come feed her babes, so I waited inside the door to the porch (in my kitchen) with my video camera to try to get this feeding on video. Sure enough, after a bit of hesitation, Mama dared to come back onto the porch to feed them. It was so cool to watch.

I am aware of how birds feed their young, so to see her give them food was no surprise, but what happened after is still a mystery to me! I watched this same pattern over and over (and got it on tape three times)...but Mama would come, give a bird something and then almost immediately, she would take something back from them. The little birds would regurgitate some sort of white gross looking 'thing' from its mouth and Mama bird would take it and fly away. Its actually pretty gross...but apparently part of the process. I have yet to share the video with someone who had a 'for sure, certain' answer as to what is going on here, although, I have had some pretty good guesses. I am certain that one you who read my blog MUST know the answer:)

Mama bird is doing a GREAT job protecting her babes. She is nearby ALL day long, sleeps with them at night and freaks out when I am on the porch taking video or pics. She just flies from object to object squawking like crazy until I leave. I have yet to see one fly away, but they are really really close. There is lots of flapping going on inside there!

It has been fun to watch...although, my mom assures me that I will be quite annoyed by them very shortly!

I will share a few pics and the video that I am talking about...someone please tell me what is going on here! (and really..it is kinda gross, so if you don't like gross things then don't watch!).

Prayer Run.

We've all heard of prayer walks before...and I am sure that the concept of a "prayer run" is not new, but it is something that I figured out is a huge part of my own running. I have NEVER been a good long distance runner. Give me a basketball, or a field hockey stick and a ball, or a soccer ball...and I will run, but to run just for the sake of running has never been something that I thought I could do.

I remember struggling through the mile run's during gym class in high school...granted, most of the time this run was done inside around the library and the nasty nasty smoke filled bathrooms that made me gag on every lap...but still, even when we were outside I hated it. I think I might have run a mile in JUST under 8 minutes, ONE time...but I was more of an 8.5 minute mile (and that was running just one mile). I honestly don't think that I have ever run more than one mile at a time...unless maybe during field hockey practice, but I don't think our pre-practice laps around the field equaled more than a mile. I'm not sure.

Lately, I have been using my running time as a concentrated time of prayer. More specifically, I devote one lap to pray for someone or something in particular. It is amazing to me how I find myself at the end of the lap..not quite finished with my thoughts, then I wonder where that whole lap went. The cool part about devoting an entire lap per person is that my list of people to pray for could go on and on! Today, I set out with the intentions of running one mile. The problem was, I spent a lap in prayer for myself, my health, my parenting...etc, then I spent a lap in prayer for Josh, then a lap in prayer for a specific friend, then a lap in prayer for Jessalyn.....and that was my mil. The problem is, I couldn't possibly stop at Jessalyn! So..I kept running. I then used a lap to pray for Ethan, then a lap for Luke...then a lap for Owen. If I counted correctly, I am up to 7 laps...but I still wanted to devote a lap in prayer for my mom....TWO miles!!

Usually when I run it is my lungs that give up on me....I can't breath....I feel like my lungs are bleeding and that I might pass out. Lately, its not that at all. The prayer keeps my mind off from that and this particular two miles it was my legs that were getting tired. By the end of two miles I was pretty spent, but the time went by quickly and I was not totally 'dead' like I would expect.

My advice...leave the ipods at the door and use your running time as your prayer time!

Oh..and just to clarify, "prayer runs" and "prayer walks" do not require your eyes to be closed:) That would be interesting!

Fun stuff.

A few more of Brian...

The first few of Brian are in the post below this one.

...and here are the last bunch.

"Baby" Brian

...he's not such a "baby" anymore though. He has celebrated his first birthday and is walking around like a champ. I was able to spend the morning with Brian. It is amazing how quickly a house that has had a baby in it for the last 10 years can get UN-baby proof so quickly! All it takes is a one year old to let you know of that:)

In reality, I didn't even allow the one year old time to show me where we lack in the baby proofing department because since it was so nice out we headed right out for a walk down through the Mills Falls to the docks. Right after that we were at school to celebrate the last day of first grade with Ethan and his class with a picnic!

Brian was great all morning long...and of course, I had to bring my camera along for our walk. I have quite a few that I love...but these are the first few that caught my eye. I don't have time to sift through them right now, but as soon as I do they will sure to be uploaded to my website!

Here are a couple though...









...more to come....

Just a little trim.

We scheduled hair cuts for the boys (including Josh) last night. Luke and Owen wanted their 'regular' short cuts and Ethan decided that he wants to grow his hair out a bit longer. Shara trimmed Ethan's hair a bit..but otherwise left it to grow more. Ethan's hair has been buzzed short since he was about a year old so I am curious to know what it will do if we let it grow!

After the boys were done Shara said it was my turn:) I wasn't really planning a cut for myself, although I really needed it badly. My hair has been growing long for a LONG time. I can't remember the last haircut..maybe a trim before Shara's wedding last year (June)?

I had been thinking of going short again. I tend to do that...grow it out super long, the chop it all off. A very spur of the moment decision had me in the chair chopping probably close to 10 inches off my head. Fortunately I am not one to be emotionally attached to my hair. I could care less...it grows fast so if I happened to hate it (which I never do), then I know it would grow back. No big deal. The problem with choosing a hairstyle for me is that I don't want to have to do ANYTHING to it! I am terrible. I don't like blow drying, or styling..or any product really. At least, I don't want to have to rely on that every single day.

Even though Josh prefers my hair long (must be a guy thing), he encouraged me to cut it in a way that would be easy since we will be spending much time this summer in a tent, and swimming in a pool. He's such a good guy:)

So..after some snippety snip, a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and it FEELS GREAT. Don't you just love the feeling of having tons of hair cut off?! Then you get in the shower and you dump 4 times too much shampoo in your hand thinking you still have a ton of hair to wash. Then you try to wash and your hands don't know what to do without all the extra hair. Yeah..I think this is cool...but I love change in general so that might be why:)

So of course..a few pics to share:)

Luke was messing with my camera last week so I happen to have this picture of me with long hair....


I tried to snap a few of myself..the whole 'in the mirror' process...with my new cut..




I'm loving it:)

(funny that I happen to be wearing the same shirt in the before and after pics..although..considering I have like 3 shirts to choose from I suppose its not really the big of a coincidence! :) )

Leanne and Owen

Today was Leanne's 3rd birthday party. Leanne and Owen are Sunday School buddies. They really do get along very well. Its interesting to see how differently Owen treats her compared with how he is with boys. I asked Owen what he thought Leanne might like for her birthday and he replied quite confidently, "a dollie". He was certain that this would be just what she wants. In the store we found a rack of dolls for him to choose from and again he just 'knew' which one he had to get for her...a cute little princess one. I think he knows her quite well:)

At the party, Leanne let Owen sit with her and he helped her open all her gifts. Every time Leanne was ready to open another present she would ask Owen which one..and he would pick one and then they opened them together. They were a good team.

Before we left I was sure to get a few pics of Owen and Leanne together..and this is what I came out with....



I have the cutest video of Owen singing while he was trying to go to sleep. If I can figure out how to get the video from my phone to my blog I will be sure to share it...lets just say that Leanne was a part of his little song:)

An undefeated regular season!

Jessalyn's softball team went their entire regular season without losing a game! It was quite exciting, especially since our last official game was such a "nail biter". We were playing against Newfound, and this was the first time that we were behind in runs for the entire season. It was close though. We managed to tie the game, and then Jessalyn scored the tie breaking run by stealing home. This started a little rally of runs, followed by a nice inning defensively for the win.

We have one last tournament this weekend with this team, and then we move on to All Star tournaments for the summer.

Of course, I put together a few collages....these are meant to be printed in a 16x20 size, so they are pretty big.

Roses

I previously shared pics of these flowers that Josh got me for Valentines day...but I just wanted to try out something new (new for me anyway). I'm just practicing on the pics that I have..so that when I do future photo shoots I can incorporate some of this stuff in the final products.

Mad JELO

They really aren't mad...just being serious for the camera:)



Oh how I love you clipping masks...endless possibilities!

Passing the time...

I spent the time while Josh watched the Celtics lose to the Lakers working on more story boards. I finished this one, and have a new one in the works (but really should go to bed!).

You've seen these pictures before...but I'm kinda liking them put together like this...



Fun stuff:)

Wedding Story Board

The super nice weather has been preventing me to completely finish the post processing of the wedding I shot...in May. I suppose, the good weather, and the fact that May was one of the most hectic months of my life as a 'soccer mom' to date.

A bit of a rainy day today allowed me to finish it up and got me inspired to do a bit of 'creative editing'. I did a very light chocolatey black and white conversion on a few pictures..and then created a story board.



I added many more photos of the wedding to my website.

A few new faves..

Jessalyn:


Ethan:


Luke:


Owen: