The promised post

I've been spending a little time honing my photography skills over the past couple of weeks. The kids are the perfect excuse to take a hundred photos at a time. Plus I've got a relatively new camera and I'm still trying to figure out all the features. Janie's been giving me pointers on photography and editing, so hopefully you'll notice a positive difference.

Here are my favorites from our last "photo shoot."

Gotta love those Ella lips.

Egan is our brave one. We filled up the water tables with water and ice this time, so that water was cold!

And here's Nico sucking on ice and making that same old crazy face.

This is Ella's favorite picture, Nico under the water table finding more ice to eat.

And here are a few more just for fun. I know I'm a little heavy on the Nico pics, but he was just easier to photograph this time. Plus, we've got beaucoup pics of the other two.

Oh, and for those of you who are keeping track, Nico's up to five teeth now and is walking (and climbing) everywhere. I found him on the couch this morning--first time he's gotten up there without help.

Creative costuming

I've actually got several photos to share, but don't have time right now to get them all uploaded, so you can look forward to another post soon. Here's one to tide you over. Ella loves to dress herself, and has begun to help create Egan's ensembles as well. He's happy to oblige.

Wildlife in the suburbs

We've been blessed with two swallow's nests on our front porch this year. The kids and I love watching the nesting process throughout the spring and summer. The first nest was occupied by a swallow family who seemed to have it all together. They built the nest, mama laid the eggs, the babies hatched, got fed and fat, learned to fly, and moved on.

The second family has had more trouble. Their first attempt at nest-building was a flop. When the nest was about half done, it fell off the wall and hit the concrete porch below. But they persevered, built a stronger (and better-attached) nest, and mama laid eggs and patiently sat on them. We (not so patiently) waited for the babies to hatch. One afternoon, I found an tiny egg that had fallen out of the nest and broken when it hit the porch. A few days later, mama stopped sitting on the nest all the time and we saw one little baby bird sticking his head over the side to be fed. I found him covered in ants on the front porch just a couple of days later, long before he had time to build up enough strength and bulk to fly. We thought that was the end of the road for that nest this year, so we were very surprised when another baby bird started chirping up there last week. We kept a close eye on him, pulling for this little guy to make it. Every day he would be perched closer and closer to the edge of the nest, and I was sure he was going to fall out. Dijar joked about putting up a net under the nest to catch him so he wouldn't meet the same fate as his siblings.

Then yesterday when I was leaving for Krav Maga, a movement in the yard caught my eye. That baby bird was fluttering around on the grass trying to fly, but he wasn't getting anywhere. Mama and Daddy bird were swooping around nearby, keeping an eye on him. We've got at least two neighborhood cats who like to hang out in our yard, so it is definitely not a safe place for a baby bird to play. I left the rescue mission to D and EEN. They did a little internet research and ended up taking some photos and then putting baby in a tree in our yard, where he's been since last night. His parents come by and feed him every little while and he seems to be doing well. Our own little mama bird Ella keeps running to the window to check on him.

Here's baby bird post-rescue.

Egan and baby on the porch.

Showing mama where her baby was going.

Doing just fine this morning.

Playing catch-up...

I haven't been taking many pictures lately (I've got good excuses--Janie's pictures are better, Dijar always has his camera phone out, I'm usually carrying a baby, etc, etc), which makes it hard to update a blog. But in the hopes that you don't mind low-quality photos since they have such high-quality subjects, here's an overview of the past couple of weeks.

If you want to see some better pics of the many of the same events, check out Janie's blog.

Who doesn't want to take a bubble bath in a tub in the kitchen floor? The Es and I are reading the Little House on the Prarie series at bedtime and Ella was excited to "take a bath like Laura does."


Before our Fourth of July evening picnic, we spent time in the pool at the farm. We actually fit three adults and three kids in the bigger one at once, and although there wasn't much room left to move, being in the water sure did cool us off.

Nico loves the water too.

Can you see the face that he's making here? I call it his crazy face. He does it all the time now.

Here's a pic from last weekend's square dance. This was about midnight, after the Es had crashed and just a few minutes before Nico had his first square dancing experience (riding on my back).

These two are from last night. Dijar helped the Es build a pyramid and they proceeded to climb and jump for about thirty minutes. (There are pillows underneath and no one got hurt, just in case you're wondering.)

And the kids aren't in this one, but I thought I'd throw it in for fun. On our seventh anniversary, D and I went out (by ourselves!) to Mother Egan's for their trivia night. We didn't do too well on the trivia, but we had a good time.

And if you've made it all the way through this post, I'll share some news with you: Nico's walking now. No pics yet (though Janie does have video), but it's as cute as you'd expect it to be. :o) Oh, and he's up to four teeth now. I'll have to try to get a picture of that--he's got the bottom two front ones and two of the top ones on the sides instead of the front, so it looks pretty funny.

Until next time...