Bird Pics

The three birds right before they flew the nest.

This one stayed in the nest for a couple of days after the others. The parents stopped feeding it (for the most part - they came only occasionally) and we suspect that was a motivation for the baby to leave the nest.

I ended up startling this one out of the nest when taking a picture. The mother bird (Roberta) had been pestering this one all day - we swear it looked like she was trying to push it out of the nest. After it left, the mother was busy cleaning the nest, including getting rid of the one egg that didn't hatch (someone found it on the ground later) and the poop from the two days this bird stayed in the nest beyond its siblings. Since then the mother has done some nest remodeling, including lining it with mud and then placing a fresh layer of grass/twigs over the mud. It's now a little deeper and more reinforced. I haven't seen any new eggs over the last two or three days, but the mother is sitting on the nest this morning again.

The baby has returned to the deck a few times to sit in the sun. We have also seen it in the trees in the yard. I haven't seen the other two birds in several days - their fate is unknown...

The Mother Bird

We have named her Roberta - pronounced "Robird-a"

Avritt Catching

Three Baby Birds

Three eggs out of four have hatched.

A Hatching on Mother's Day

New Resident at Our House

This robin decided to build a nest on our deck light. We have enjoyed watching the progression from nest building to egg laying to egg sitting. The bird has figured out that the activities behind the window aren't menacing, although the cats have been trying to prove otherwise. They growl, assume the pouncing position, and try to look deadly, but the bird has figured out they are harmless. I took the picture sitting at our kitchen table. We haven't looked in the nest yet for fear of causing the bird to abandon the eggs. The mother bird has proven herself to be stalwart, having sat through several downpours over the last few days. What mothers will do for their babies...

Emily's Sweet 16

Happy Birthday, Emily!

Emily turned 16 earlier this month, and she celebrated by taking 3 friends to a spa/salon for pedicures. They basked in the luxury of soaking their feet in individual whirlpool tubs, getting foot massages, and having their toes painted to perfection.

After the pedicures, the girls came back to our house and decorated for a larger gathering of girls/guys. They had pizza, snacks, ice cream cake, played Guitar Hero, watched movies, and generally had a good time hanging out.

Avritt and Isaac were bribed into staying down in their room the whole time by putting a TV in their room (Mike's idea). They didn't come out until the TV was extracted (Ginger's idea).

Emily will be taking the driving test to get her license soon, but needs to master parallel parking with her car first. We are excited to see her grow up, but wonder how we got here so fast!

Thanks to Emily

Emily helped me take some pictures over the weekend for some profile pics for facebook. She did a great job! I figured that I should post some because I rarely put pictures of myself on here.

Emily

Emily attended the spring dance at her high school last Saturday. This is the first year we have been able to take pictures in our own house and have a decent background!

Emily is just plain beautiful.

The fancy updo. These things take longer than you'd think. Emily has a lot of hair. We always warn the hairdresser when making an appointment. Emily usually wins the contest with her friends to see who has the most bobby pins in their updos.

Happenings

Avritt finished his swim season last weekend, but I was a bad parent and forgot the camera, so we don't have pictures. Avritt did well at the "A" Meet. He was part of a 100 yard Medley Relay (he swam the backstroke leg) that placed 4th out of 5 teams. He also swam in two individual events. He placed 13 out of 23 in the 50 yard freestyle, and 23rd out of 23 in the 50 yard backstroke (because he missed his flip turn).





Here's a picture of him and a friend at a swim meet back in January:





Other things that have happened lately:

• I finally got around to having Mike help me hang one thing on the wall - it is made from black metal (some of it is painted gold) and depicts some plants waving in the wind.


• Someone knocked our mailbox off the post last night. Can you get mail if there's no mailbox to put it in? I wonder what the postman did today...


• I've been making at least one meal a week in the crockpot and discovered an exceptionally tasty dish I did not expect to like involving kalamata olives and clementines and sugar.


• Emily made it through the first semester with all A's and A-'s.


• I joined the board of the local community swim team where the boys have been swimming. Wow...some women are hard to deal with. This board needs some serious organization and structure.

Isaac's Leg of the 100 Freestyle Relay

Isaac swam one leg of a 100m Freestyle Relay at his last swim meet this past Saturday. His team is in lane 5.

Isaac Finishes Up His Swim Season

Isaac participated in his last meet for the year last Saturday. He qualified to go to the "B" Meet this year, and swam in three events: 100m Freestyle Relay (the team placed 4th overall in the meet), 25m Backstroke (Isaac placed 4th overall) and 25m Freestyle (Isaac placed 7th overall). I think there were about 7 or 8 different schools in the area at the meet. Isaac is in lane six in the picture above, getting ready to start his 25m Backstroke race.

Isaac Skiing

Avritt Snowboarding

Skiing Trio

The boys did ski club through the school this year. Isaac skiis and Avritt snowboards. They have both taken a few lessons, and are really enjoying getting out on the slopes. It was so cold here for awhile that they couldn't get out, but recently we have had some warmer (20s and 30s) weather.

Merry Christmas!

The presents are finally under the tree.

Kitchen Complete

Link to Picture Album of the House

Pictures of the House

We've Moved Back In!

Last night we slept in our own house for the first time in 14 weeks. The ability to live in our neighbor's house (2 doors down) was a huge blessing, but we have been anxious to get back into our house, especially the last few weeks. Mike and I slept in our bed for the first time since we moved out, which is the thing we both appreciate the most about moving in. We had been sleeping on two twin-size air mattresses on the floor of the other house. The kids were thrilled to get into their new rooms and find long-forgotten toys. The cats explored the house for several hours before finding their old favorite places to sleep. The weather hasn't been cooperating for moving, however, as we had 3 feet of drifted snow outside our front door this morning. We need to get everything out of the other house, but moving in blizzard conditions wasn't going to happen today. Mike is out snowblowing the driveway right now, and we'll try to get some loads over tonight.

We are so thankful for the blessing of our essentially new house. It's a wonderful Christmas present! The reality is finally sinking in as we move things into their final place for hopefully the last time (for many years, at least). We have shuffled furniture, boxes, toys, and our very heavy TV too many times! Many thanks to all our family and friends who have supported us and helped us through the 5 year remodeling.

Merry Christmas to all!