Sunday, May 17, 2009

Baby bird on the John Deere


Can you see that little guy on top of the tractor?
 His mama was having an absolute fit so I went over to investigate and there he was, sitting in the sandbox and hopping from toy to toy.  I brought the dogs inside to give him a better chance.  I guess he made it because I never found any feathers and the mama stopped fussing.  
Poor mama,  I know just how she felt.

We'll leave the light on for you.

Last night I went to brush my teeth and found this surprise 
in the medicine cabinet:
Isn't Jackdaddy just the sweetest thing ever?

We always leave our aeroplane nightlight on when he's gone.  It keeps us all safe.
Night-night Jackdaddy.
We love and miss you!

We love and miss y'all too!
Michele, Jack (in Switzerland) and Finnigan the Curious


Saturday, May 16, 2009

My caterpillars!

Aren't they lovely?

I like clean.

Oh, I just love it when my house is clean.
Y'all better come by quick 'cuz it won't look like this long.
Love,
Michele, Jack (in Switzerland) and the Finnigan the Curious

Something Fun

I went to The Dollar Tree and found some bags of plastic cowboys and Indians. I glued them all along the top of my fence. They look so funny and silly. I'm always reminded of one of my favorite kid movies, "The Indian in the Cupboard" when I see little plastic toys. My kitchen window looks out on this part of the fence and I can always hear what people are saying when they walk by. Lots of people slow down when they see the mermaid on the garage and start looking more closely. I've heard lots of nice comments about my little guys on the fence. I realized at some point though that the squirrels and birds were having a hard time perching up there. I love my wildlife and felt kind of bad that I had interrupted their spot. Eventually they starting knocking the little guys down. That's OK with me...there are still some hanging around and the wildlife opened up a few spots for themselves - everybody wins! (Except the Indians, of course, but that's another story, right?)


Pow, Pow, y'all!
Love,
Michele, Jack and Finnigan the Curious

The Great Outdoors

One of the coolest things about not going to school is the freedom to go where we want when we want. It's so awesome to be able to bypass crowds by going places during the week. There is such a small window of opportunity for spring camping in Texas - by mid-May it's too hot. This means that the weekends in May are insanely crowded. I feel really grateful that we can go during the week when it's nice and quiet; just us and the old folks and the other homeschoolers! Oh, and the deer, rabbits, lizards, snakes, birds, spiders, scorpions! and, of course, mosquitoes.
We had such a fun time playing with the remote control cars. If you've never done this, I really must recommend it. When we've had enough hiking and swimming and eating and bird-watching we break out the RC cars and have a blast.

Jackdaddy came and joined us one night. Always good to have a big, strong, strapping man around when camping. Look at the sleepy boys...so sweet.

You know what's crazy about this? Finny wrote this upside down! I was just amazed. I have a talent for reading upside down...maybe he got my upside down talent and translated it into writing.


This was the first trip that Finny has asked to go off wandering by himself. Because I trust that all is well and I trust him to use good judgement, I was delighted to encourage him to wander to his heart's desire. He was with his friend, Bowie, the first two days, but after they left he tooled around all by himself. I could hear him a few sites down just chatting with folks...making friends. He would come back often to report his findings.
There's always a teeny, tiny little pocket of guard in the pit of my heart, but I totally believe that letting your children experiment with freedom in, what is to me, a safe setting is simply priceless. I think camping trips to state parks are all about kids running wild. This is the way I grew up. People don't let their children run wild in the neighborhoods anymore so we've got to find a place to let them sow their wild oats, so to speak. He had a great time and I got to read a magazine! I did "tattoo" him just in case he wandered a bit too far. He loved this.
See y'all at the campsite!
Love,
Michele, Jack and Finnigan the Curious