Silver Moon Learning

Jun. 10, 2009

Bird Whisperer?

Justice has become quite the birder this year. We used a science book that was mainly about birds for awhile. He learned tons, biology, reproduction, habitats, different types of nests. Words like mandible, tarsus, cormorant, and retrices became daily vocabulary for awhile. When we see a new one he'll start calling something like, "Tall crest, dark nape... did you see the color of his throat?" When we get home it's straight to the Usborne bird guide. Last time we went camping he busted his dad on a jay. Hub said, "Blue Jay." Justice said, "I'm not so sure, Dad." When we got home it was, "Ah ha! That was no Blue Jay. Blue Jays don't have crests. What we saw was a STELLER JAY." All that rambling to get to today. My window as open to the backyard. When I stopped to really listen to the sounds I was hearing, Justice was chatting with a bird. The bird would tweet. Justice would whistle. The bird would tweet back. Justice would tweet high and shrill. The bird tweeted higher. Justice whistled normal. The bird simply tweeted back. Justice made a loud, low caw sort of call. Bird, no joke, matched his tone, and called back to him. This went on for a good ten minutes. I stepped outside to see a smiling Justice nudge towards the neighbor's roof. At the top of the roof sat a small, plain looking bird. Brown or gray, slim body. No good identifying marks could be seen from that distance. I went back in and called Joy out to see the bird conversation, she's going through that bird book now. Honor overheard me telling her what was going on and rushed outside too. Soon all of us were outside watching. Bird didn't seem to mind and kept right on chatting with Justice. It didn't end until Justice tired of chatting. Later this evening the same bird sat on another neighbor's roof, looking down into our backyard and singing. Justice and I heard him about the same time. Justice popped his head out of the backdoor and nodded, "Yup, that's him."

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Jun. 10, 2009

An amazing date.

I had a lovely date last night. A little blue eyed blonde with wild, end-of-the-day hair framing her face, shoes on the wrong feet, in a pink frilly top, kissable cheeks and the sweetest laugh that's impossible to keep from smiling at. She's a charmer. Everywhere we go she can make someone smile, if not swoon. We started out by going to the post office. On the way there she chatted, and chatted, and chatted some more. Her eyes were sparkling and she had a smile tugging at the corners of her lips the whole time. "I'm your only kid today, teehee!" She proudly carried our package out to the van, threw it into my seat while giggling at her cleverness, and scampered through the van to her carseat. Then we went to Starbucks. Those blue eyes shined. I sat her wee tush on the counter and pointed to the words "gluten free" on a small basket near the cash register. The basket was full of individually wrapped Valencia orange cakes. She gasped, grabbed one and squealed with glee! We'd been there for two minutes, and already the staff was smitten. She ordered a child size hot chocolate, with extra whip of course. I ordered a java chip Frappuccino. Grace slowly meandered through the table area looking for just the right one, peeking behind that wall, then around the wide post in the middle. "Hmm.... I think.... THIS ONE!"  She chose a two seater table, right under the window facing the street. I pushed her chair in and opened her orange cake. Those blue eyes were dancing with joy. She had me entranced. When her hot chocolate was ready she ran to the counter, her fists and elbows swinging. On the way back she strolled with an ear to ear grin. Soon mine was ready too. We both popped our tops off to eat the cream with chocolate sauce on it first. She looked at me sideways, then swiped some of my cream with her straw. (Yes, I know java chips aren't GF. I made sure her straw didn't go too deep.) After the lids went back on we chatted about whatever her little heart desired. We read words on the cups, pointed out favorite things through the windows, wondered at what was in the package from the PO, and just enjoyed being together. As we climbed back into the van to head home she was so excited to tell her siblings that she had coffee with mom, and what would Justice think when he heard they had gluten free cake! When we walked in the front door Faith came running while yelling, "Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!" Then she spotted the bit of cake left in Grace's hands. You could practically hear the brakes screech. "Bite? Bite?" Grace excitedly shared, then ran to tell the other kids of her adventures. Could that have been any sweeter?? If you made it through the whole date, you should probably go brush your teeth now.

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Feb. 2, 2009

First park day of the year

It was warm enough for a romp at the park yesterday! My kids spent so much time outdoors. Have I mentioned little kids that smell like the backyard is one of my favorite scents? Consequently they were ALL sound asleep by 8:30. That's practically unheard of. Cute kid pictures ahead!  This is Honor and Faith in the tunnel. Grace and her amazing blue eyes. Justice Joy in the tunnel Honor (MAN does he look huge lately..) We had the loveliest Sunday! Didn't watch a scrap of football, lol.

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