What Begins with B?

Bunny, bat, and baby bird - that's what.

We are not morbid people (refer to Dead Things below). It just so happens in the last few of weeks we had several occasions to take pictures of dead things. We have also had several living things around our house, too.
In fact, just today we found this baby rabbit outside in our front yard. We actually were about a foot away from it, and now the children have traps set up to catch bunnies.
This bat decides to perch up in the corner in the front of our house. We discovered it last summer when we found guano in the corner. One night Brett came home and discovered it was a bat in the corner. We don't know where it goes during the day, but almost every night it shows up. This baby bird was in our tree this spring and we had fun watching it.

Brand New Bikes

I have been telling Brett that I would like a bike for years now. He finally gave in (it might have something to do with the fact that I put about 40 miles on my car some days of the week, and I don't leave town - or maybe it was the encouragement of our friends - thanks Jared and Tricia). I love my bike because it is very "girly," and Brett says it cracks him up.

Brett rode his bike home from the bike shop. Claire rode in the trailer. He had to ride up hill into the wind, and by the time he got home he was a little tired (it's about 2 miles).

When he got home we went on a bike ride, and I didn't want to come home. The children got a little tired - we biked about 3 miles. We are planning a Sunday afternoon bike ride, and I can't wait; I think I am addicted. =D

O.K. We went on our bike ride and it was so fun. The children were excited and we had a blast. We only went about 3 miles again, and we had two stops. One was to visit one of Brett's coworkers, and the other was to have a water and snack break.

I have been put in charge of finding out where there are local bike trails so that we can take some real bike rides.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game...Again and Again and Again

This summer we are spending four nights a week at baseball. Caleb has baseball on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Eli has baseball on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The hardest thing about it is that we don't get home until about 8:00, and then we try to eat a quick dinner and get ready for bed.

There is a photographer who has come to some of the boys games and taken some pictures. Here, and here, and here, and here are pictures of Caleb up to bat. Here he is stealing second, here and here are some of him stealing third base. Here, and here, and here are some of when he hit a triple with bases loaded. Here and here and here he is getting to third base. Here is one of him missing a ball in the outfield.

Here and here is Eli in his favorite position. Here is one of Eli hitting the ball, and here he is running. He twisted his ankle a couple of days earlier, and he is wearing a brace. Here is Eli hitting the ball again, and here he is running (actually he is hobbling, and he has a habit of watching the ball instead of running straight through).

Compleats-ly Famous

Brett made the cover of a magazine. Here is the article about his product. Pictured from left to right is the research and development guy, the brand manager, the vice president over grocery products, and the CEO of Hormel Foods. GO BRETT!

Dead Things

YUCK!

We have witnessed a few dead things this year. First the frog when we were getting our garden ready. We also had a dead duck in the road on one of the last days of school. Then there was the dead mouse in the window. We are also constantly dealing with dead fish. Here is what I can share with you!

This poor fellow was in the road one morning when Brett was on his way to work. The children saw it when they were going to school, and about the time that they got on the bus, the garbage man was coming by. I got my snow shovel and scooped it up into the neighbor's garbage can and sent it away.
We had a little rodent problem outside of the boys' window. We took care of it! Emily had to take a picture or twenty of the dead mouse.

Going, Going, GONE!

We finally did it. Our house sold. We are signed, sealed, and done with it. Thanks to all those who prayed with us to get it sold. We took this picture the day we signed the papers. Brett and I went early in the morning - about 9:00 a.m. and then I went home and loaded the children up in the car and took them over to the old house for one last photo opp.

We did have some nostalgic memories though. When we moved in, Caleb was not quite three, which means he was smaller than Claire is in the picture. Eli was just a month old, Emily and Claire were not even thought of.

Flood Fun

We had a flood in town one night, and the day following, the boys had a friend over. There was a big water/mud puddle in the back yard, and the boys decided to play baseball. Before they played baseball, they decided to play in the garden patch (still not planted), and they sunk to their knees. When I went out to help them clean off, I realized that the hose was not at this house. We had taken the hose to the other house to clean out the gutters, and we left it there. Lucky for us we have a sump pump, and the boys got to hose off in the ground water (very cold). They had a blast playing outside in the mud. Oh - when they were playing baseball, they decided that the big puddle was second base, and they slid into and through and past second almost every time. Even the neighbor boy decided to come over and "dive in."

Here we have a bridge in town, and this shows how high the water got.

This is a covered bridge out at the nature center, and the water level is normally about three feet below the bottom of the bridge.

I Did It

I cannot tell a lie... I chopped down the tree.

The other day I decided that our tree needed to come down. I went out with the only tool I had for the job, and it was not an ax or a hatchet. It took a very long time, and I wanted to quit (However, once I started the project, I knew that I couldn't stop, especially when the tree had some major cuts in it. I could just image me stopping, leaving the tree damaged, and then having a giant storm with some major winds; then the wind would blow the tree I had been working on, and it would fall over and seriously injure someone or something. I couldn't have that on my conscience.), but I continued until the job was finished. After the tree fell, Eli and I cut off the loose branches. Emily helped to take pictures of the event.

Small Fry

Caleb bought fish last Friday, so we got them set up in the tank. We brought them home and he thought that one of his fish was pregnant. He borrowed a V-trap from his friend, because Marigold Swordtails have live births, and they - as well as the other fish in the tank - eat their babies. We did not realize that the mama was ready to have her babies, and yesterday Eli came up and saw a baby in the tank. Caleb and his friend said it was poop floating around, and they decided that it was really a baby. Oops! Someone ate it. We quickly put mama in the trap, and during the couple of hours she was there - NO BABIES. We had to leave, and when we came home there were 5 babies in the trap. VERY EXCITING. We watched for about three hours, off-and-on, and no more babies. We decided to take mama out of the trap and this morning Brett found 3 more babies. He rescued one and I rescued the other 2. They are tiny little things and they occupy too much of our time, but it is a fun adventure... especially since I won't have a dog or a cat.

The pictures are of the fry in the seperated tank, and then to give an idea of how small the holes are I took a picture of a ruler. The holes are about 1/16" and the babies can fit through them.

Rained Out

We didn't have to worry about missing soccer - it was rained out. It was very cute though, because Emily's coaches got her team medals and certificates. We were planning to go to the soccer field so she could get hers before the piano recital, instead, we got to meet her coaches at the YMCA.

Eli didn't miss soccer - it was rained out! We went to the piano recital, and the boys did very well. I reminded Eli to practice his two pieces before we left home, and he played them well. I didn't remind Caleb to practice (something he hadn't done since Monday), and he struggled a little bit, but did well.