Janney was playing with that train set on the floor, when she noticed all the little baby birds out on the fence. She ran to get daddy, who came to get me, and I got the camera.
They all sat out there calmly as I took photos, I even saw a parent give a baby a nice little fly for snack.
Then Janney went and touched the fence, giving it a gentle shake and two flew off. I waited, hoping they'd come back, but the two baby birds and mama and papa flew around and around.
Eventually Asher walked up to the fence and put his hands up to see the baby birds, and one by one, they flew away as his hands got closer. Now we've got an empty nest,
I don't imagine they'll ever all come back, I expect mum and dad will have to keep track of them and teach them to find the bugs. But it sure was fun watching. I first posted June 23, and there were eggs in the nest then. It's July 17 today, that means it was less than 3 weeks from egg to fledge.
Now if only I could get my little baby bird to fledge from my womb nest, then we'd all be happy!!
Those baby birds are getting bigger, and mom and dad don't look like they'll be renovating the house any time soon to accommodate them. They'll just have to learn to fly soon. Mom and dad have been flying back and forth non-stop, I sure hope mom and dad are getting enough to eat.
This is them a few days ago.
This is them today (Sorry the picture is fuzzy) You can count 5 in this photo. They look like they're about to jump out.
Janney and Asher have been junior naturalists watching all the growing.
Unfortunately, yesterday Janney climbed up the ladder to have a looksy, but the mom and dad have been perching on the ladder too, and the ladder was full of mites. Janney was stuck up there screaming because the little mites were crawling all over her biting her. Daddy had to go out and bring her down, and I spent the next 10 minutes searching all over her body for these itty bitty black moving specks that were biting occasionally. The bite didn't last, but I had a few on me, and I could see why Janney was screaming.
Natural climbers!!
What a mess their making too! This is the poop pile.
We went to the beach this afternoon.. just for something to do. Everyone was board and going stir crazy and whining, so we just went.
On the way home, the kids were getting loud and physical in the back seat, and I was getting frustrated by the noise again. I used my "put your hands on your lap, close your eyes, close your mouth and don't say anything until we get home" command, but Janney and Asher are still a little young to comply with that command yet.
So Rourke says to Janney, "Let's play a game, let's see who can be the quietest. First person to speak loses. Ready on your marks, get set, go!"
Janney is silent all of 1 maybe 2 seconds, and then pipes in "No, let's play a different game, let's play hide and seek. You count" We all burst into peels of laughter. How can you play hide and seek in the car?
Rourke covers his eyes and counts, and Janney tucks her head under his arm. Rourke finishes counting and looks out the window, and finally swings slowly around the car and then finds Janney hidden behind his arm.. all of us are roaring with laughter.
So then Janney starts to count, Rourke pushes her forward, and hides his head behind Janney. Asher calls out "Dere he is" when Janney stops counting, then he starts counting too.
I can't believe how hard we all laughed over this silly game of hide and seek in the backseat of the car, everyone remained buckled in their seats.
You remember a few weeks ago I was mortified by Janney's indiscretion in a grocery store; well, my tattle tale has struck again.
Today I was escorting Janney to the ladies room, walking down a hall past an elevator. Another mummy was talking to her son: "Are you watching that little girl? Yes such a pretty little girl. You're such a flirt"
Well, Janney mis-heard that other mummy's word and turned and said "Yes, it was my mummy that farted."
HELLO!!??? The other mother burst into laughter and said "out of the mouths of babes!".. I related Janney's previous occasion of ratting me out, and we all had a good laugh... at my expense of course.
And for the record - there was NO tooting on my part today.
So I told you a little while ago about the game that Janney and I play every night at bed time. It's different every night. Tonight it went like this:
J) How much do you love me?
M) A Dish and a Spoon?
J) Nope
M) A little dog laughed?
J) Nope
M) The cow jumped over the moon?
J) Nope
M) All the way around the world to the moon and back?
J) Yup!
J) Why did the cow jump over the moon?
M) Because the Little dog laughed? I don't know, lets find out. - so I went to my trusty Youtube and found this. Technology makes bedtime fun!
Janney picked up an Eric Carle book that we have borrowed from the library. She opened up the last page to watch it twinkle, and broke out in song. It was so cute, I went to get the camera and then had her do it again.
The Very Lonely Firefly, 1995
Young readers empathize with the lonely firefly who makes many errors as he looks for the group where he will really “belong.” In his search for compatible companions, he meets many other night creatures, but none is quite right—until the happy surprise at the very end when the illustration of a swarm of friendly fireflies literally shines and twinkles a welcome in the night. Heartwarming.
This post must be posted here, for posterity, so that Janney and her future husband can read this later.
Janney crawled up on her daddy's lap last night, and mumbled somethings about "will she be as old as mummy". Stuart didn't understand what she was saying, so he asked her to tell him again. She then asked "How old will I be when my prince comes to get me?"
Well, Stuart went back through our personal history, he married me at 25, and so we met when I was 21-22, he was 19-20. So daddy told Janney "He'll come sometime near when you're 20, I guess."
Janney said "Can we pray for my prince?"
So Stuart hugged her tighter, placed a kiss on her blond little head and began to pray for this little boy and his parents, that they would be raising him to know Yeshua, to obey the Torah, and that he'd grow into a man who would one day be a wonderful husband for Janney. Meanwhile the tears were pouring from my eyes. What a precious moment - I'm so glad I didn't miss this moment.
Dear Prince - I have been praying for you since Janney was born. I pray that as I'm raising Janney, that she too will grow up to be a wonderful wife for you.
Now we all know, the best way to train little ones to work, is to let them help. The question is, how do you let your little ones help, when they want to do something that you just know is too strenuous, and too dangerous?
So today I'm outside mowing the lawn. Janney wants to help, but it's just too hard, so I told her no, and told her to move back so I could go back and forth under the trees to get the edge of the lawn. She followed me around, and while I was mowing around the swings, she lay over the swings and watched, and moved herself out of the way when I was coming by. Asher followed Janney's lead and did what she did on the swings.
Later I found myself just walking long straight lines across the yard, and so, because we have a lawnmower that has a little transmission in it, it's self propelled. You just have to hold the bar and guide it along. So, I called Janney and taught her how to squish the bar, and we walked together. I held on to the side and guided it, while she walked behind it, holding that bar. At the end of the row, I yelled "let go" and she did, I turned the machine around and told her "squish" and away we'd go down the next row.
We had a few learning bumps along the way. At one point the brothers were moving the trampoline out of the way so we could mow where it was.. and I yelled "let go" - Janney let go, but forgot to stop walking and walked straight into the handle.. OUCH. She cried, I hugged her, but then kept on going.. she stayed back for a whole row, and Rourke gave her hugs and kisses until the tears went away. Then she joined me when I got back to her.
Later on, Asher came along and held my other hand. We all three walked along behind that mower until almost the whole back yard was done. Eventually Asher lost interest and went off to watch brothers fill up the truck with garbage from the garage, and Janney got tired, and I found I was having trouble walking. That's when I called for the trained team to come replace me. The boys have been mowing half their lives now, they're experts! But I did accomplish about 1/3rd of all the mowing that needs to be done. I think we mow just under 2 acres.
Janney was given some money for her birthday from Nana and Uncle Andrew. Today I deposited the money into our bank account and headed to our special boutique - called Kids Trading Company. It's a combination upscale kids clothing - the kind of clothing you might dress your kid in to go to a wedding - or be in a wedding - or make a fashion statement. The other half of the store is second hand consignment items, many of them are last years items from the upscale side of the store. I've been in line behind a woman who bought stacks of brand new clothes in two sizes each, and didn't want to see the total. I told her that I'm looking forward to when she returns them for consignment!
So yesterday I took Janney and hit the jackpot. The size 5 section was packed full of amazing finds - Gap dresses and such.. Here's Janney wearing almost all of her new outfits (there's one pair of Hawaiian style surfing shorts not pictured).
These two are the same dress in different fabric - and come with matching panties.
Another dress with matching undies..
And this is Little Red Riding Gal with the guys trying to get the truck unstuck behind her.
We had to go to the city today. Trent drove, I sat in the front, Myles and Asher in the middle, and Rourke and Janney at the back. Half way to the city, Rourke calls out to me;
"Mummy, Janney just read this button!"
What?
"She said Puh - Ruh- Eh-SSS - press"
I'm so glad I wasn't driving, I swelled up with emotional pride, my heart was pounding, the tears flowing, I had to breath into a tissue to re-compose myself and wipe my eyes.
Now I have been working with her for the last two-three weeks on how to put the sounds together. We've probably had 4-5 sessions of "sounding out words" but this is amazing - this is all on her own and she got it right. I'm so excited.. it was the little red button on the seatbelt that she read. May I remind you, she turned 4 early last month!
Header Banner photo - My ornamental crab apple tree in fresh bloom, in the middle of my circular driveway.~~~~
I am Sombra, and these are the stories from our house. We're a Messianic family where academics often take a back seat to the work and adventure of life.
These two are the same dress in different fabric - and come with matching panties.
