Have you ever stared at a bird's nest in a tree as it blows in the wind?

I'm I the only one? As Baby Bear played with her bucket, sticks and stones on our front porch today, I sat in my chair and noticed something for the first time. There is a bird's nest in our birch tree. It's no more than 3 inches in diameter and depth, and the bird that made it appears to have used grasses and woven them together, in and out of the branches.

We've had a blustery day. Still hot, but last night's storms left behind some breezes and clouds. Or maybe it's another front moving in, I'm no meteorologist. I'm just grateful that the breeze makes it bearable to be outside for more than 2 minutes.

As bear played with nature's toys (and a few plastic ones), the nest caught my eye. Our birch tree is 4 years old, and we don't exactly water every day. Its branches are not the most stable of tree branches. Apparently their fineness does not lack strength. And neither does the weave of the petite nest 5/6 of the way to the top.

I don't know how long the nest has been there, but I just noticed it today.

i found this blogthing, and had to take it...

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English 10% Dixie 10% Yankee 5% Midwestern 5% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?


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Tech Dad's Results:
50% General American English

20% Yankee

15% Upper Midwestern

10% Dixie

0% Midwestern
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Hubby's Results:

70% General American English

10% Dixie

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Midwestern

0% Yankee

I actually got the boys to play along with this one!

Anybody else care to play along?

happy birthday to me....

...and merry christmas, happy anniversary, valentine's, etc... for a while

(my birthdday's not til friday.) i "really" think my hubby was so excited about my blogiversary that i let slip by the week before we went on vacation that he decided to get me a new camera. to take pictures for my blogs, of course. we ordered this with some professional consultation from our family photographers, caslon and photo guy. i wanted something user friendly with better zoom and image stability than i have now (my current zoom on my olympus hand-me-down from my dad is good, the noise (fuzziness) is not so great....) i didn't want to go to a super-compact tiny thing, but i am not experienced enough for a true DSLR camera. this thing should give me plenty of opportunity for improving my photographic skills without being overwhelming. it's not here yet, but will be soon. followed shortly afterward by a soft case for it along with my copies of Mommy, Teach Me! & Sacred Marriage.

thanks, hubby! te amo... MUCHO!!!!!

bec and comic guy gave me some pretty papers and stickers for scrapbooking. i really have to go through my pics on my computers and order some prints so i can get back to work on that...

Friday "fun"

Last Sunday morning, before they went home, Em & Mad reminded me that I had promised them we could plant their cantaloupe seeds (taken from their actual melon) in the pot that held my dying green bean plants. Look what I found when I watered the "garden" this morning:


When I set up the sprinkler for my front flower-bed, it started raining. It was barely enough to settle the dust, so I still had to water the flowers after it stopped, but it made me happy:


Baby Bear and Juliana have no comprehension that it is dangerous to be outside very long in this heat (it will reach over 100 again today). We took them out for a brief 5-minute walk and to check out the new retaining wall. They actually finished the wall while we were on vacation, then put the seed and straw down yesterday afternoon:



It's not stone-faced like the developer said it would be, but at this point, we are just happy not to have an eroding cliff. Now I have to decide if I'm going to attempt to landscape with ground cover, spring bulbs, & shrubs or just see if the grass seed takes.

a special guest

baby bear's younger cousin, juliana, is coming to visit for a couple of days while her mommy & daddy celebrate their anniversary. i thought about cleaning up nice, but then reality hit. we just vacuumed yesterday and scrubbed the kitchen floor a couple of days ago... why clean up extra when two toddlers are sure to take care of things in a matter of minutes?

more blog parties!

Going on now:



I have been wanting to buy Barbara Curtis' book Mommy, Teach Me since it came out. I read and liked the Mommy Manual, and am re-reading it. I even told hubby that I want this book as much as a new camera for my birthday (in part because I don't think we can really afford the new camera right now and think he should wait until Christmas for the big purchase, though I would LOVE to have it sooner.) It's actually in my shopping cart on amazon as I type... not checked out yet, but maybe soon... Anyway, if I win Barbara's book through this contest after purchasing it for myself, then I will have an extra copy to give away.

Anyway, our contest host, Tasra, has compiled quite the list of prizes. True to her blog, you will find scrapbooking is a major theme. Click on the picture above to check it out! Have fun!

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haley's avon contest:
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coming soon:

Wordless Wednesday:
What's wrong with this picture?

For more WW posts, visit the Wordless Wednesday Headquarters or 5M4M.

I've been tagged by Erin!

THE RULES:

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your
middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3. When you are tagged, you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

My middle name:

E- Each day is an adventure with a toddler in the house.
L- Lauren is my first name.
I- I have dark brown hair and eyes, and my freckles have come out from being in the sun.
Z- Zzzzz... I love naps. I have been known to stick my daughter in her crib with books so I can get my nap.
A- Alabama has great beaches... scroll below to see pics from our vacation.
B- Boating is fun. My family had a 16' sailboat when I was a teenager in Michigan. Don't ask me to raise a jib, though, at least not without re-teaching me how.
E- Em is my oldest niece. She loves bugs and snails and puppy dog tails. And crabs. And cantaloupe. She was great with her youngest cousin last week! She does not love jellyfish.
T- Time flies too quickly in my life; I am learning to enjoy each moment.
H- Hopelessness is a scary state. If you ever feel that way, please get help. Just because one knows the Source of all Hope (Jesus Christ) doesn't mean you might not struggle with feeling hopeleess at some point, and ignoring it will not help it go away. Been there, done that.

I tag:
Tech Mom
Jackie
Madame Rubies
Samantha
Emily
the other Lauren
Michelle
Becca
Sara @ There She Grows

Tackle It Tuesday...



Each week, I have grand intentions of moving past the mundane-should-be-daily-chores so I can tackle one of the numerous projects-in-waiting. With a clingy toddler who likes to attach herself to my leg, I find it difficult to do the tasks that may involve household cleaners or other items that I don't want her getting into.

Well, today's tackle is the kitchen. The floor is crusty. (Ask crt if you think I'm exaggerating.) The inside of the fridge holds a plethora of projects worthy of use in a biology classroom.
I'm too embarrassed to post the before pictures.

I also need to finish folding and put away the remaining laundry from yesterday's "wash day."
****
2:35 p.m.

The main compartment of the fridge has been thoroughly washed. I still need to tackle the door, but considering the bottom glass tray was so bad it had to take a bath in the tub, I feel good about seeing sparkling glass shining out from the fridge.

The floor is drying. Note to self: buy swiffer wet jet refills soon. It is so much easier than the other mop. Ignore the cost. One of these days I will get on my hands and knees and buff the hardwood to a nice shine instead of just letting it air dry (The murphy's bottle says that it's ok to just let it dry, but my floor is not as shiny as it should be, and I can't help but wonder if the air-drying instead of hand-towel-dried is part of the problem.) Anyway, other than some spots along the molding that I didn't think to scrub before I did the floor, that project is done. thanks to a pack and play in front of the tv upstairs- Baby Bear stayed out from underfoot and occupied.

Baby Bear's clothes are put away. She had fun trying to help me stack her clothes in piles on the back of the couch. It did not matter that it took twice as long with her "help". Oh, and she demanded to wear her new outfit which crt bought for the family beach picture.
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What are you tackling today?

For more stories from people who have made housework bloggable, visit 5 minutes for mom.

Gulf Shores flashbacks....

Ocean Terrace, our home for the week
(with incredimaddie and baby bear on the steps and by the front door)

our family of beach bums

the tide brought these in

morning walk

i spy....

...more photos are posted at Hannah-Bear's Cave

we're home

vacation was good. too short, but good.
baby bear has been asking for more of her cousins all day.
after church, we took a nice long nap. 2 1/2 hours.
aaaahhh. almost makes up for having an early riser in the house.

the retaining wall is up in the side of our yard. no sign of the stone-facing that was mentioned, but at this point, we'll take what we get after 4 years of gettingn othing but headaches out of the develop `er11111111AWQ.

baby bear says hi. and "elmo". she wants to play a game. she still smells like pickles from lunch. is my toddler the only one who eats black beans and pickles (not together, of course, but still... i thought crt was going to die of shock when she watched bear eat. the child eats like a horse.)

i should start washing clothes now. you'd never guess we actually had a washer and drier there by the size of our laundry pile, and you certainly would not believe i used it!

one more day? please don't tell me that!

we're having a great vacation. tonight we went out on one of those dolphin-watch boats where you are guaranteed to see dolphins. it was worth the money, but we learned that when all else fails and you went to see dolphins, chase the shrimping boats. we saw several, along with the osprey, laughing gulls, great blue herons and smaller blue heron. we also saw the reason we have been stung by jellyfish... it looked like someone dumped a truck full of them next to the boat where the gulf meets perdido pass. it's no wonder the girls prefer the pool.

on sunday night, we ran into one of our groomsmen and his family (i think i mentioned that already). well, they joined us on our excursion tonight. we saw them a lot when we lived in memphis, but now we are lucky if we are able to get together during our visits. their daughter is in between baby bear and mad's ages, and they seemed to get along really well.

i must say, if you ever go to gulf shores, it is well worth it to go with a group of people who love eachother and split the cost of renting a house in the less-populated part of the beach. as we drove past all the highrises in orange beach tonight, i thought my claustrophobia was going to kick in. i know the condos are nice on the inside, but i love the cozy, "elegant country" feel out here. we have a big living room/kitchen area, and as i type caslon is next to me on the couch, tech mom is in a rocking/swivel chair, crt is in the other rocking swivel chair, and hubby and computer guy are in folding chairs we brought in.

yesterday, we women hit the outlet mall while the men had daughter duty. i think my sis-in-laws and mom-in-law are some of the few people i enjoy shopping with. we got some serious shopping done, and i found some carter's pj's for 3.99 for baby bear, among other things. she loves them. tonight she chanted "pretty jammies" after i put them on her.

tomorrow is our last full day here. i wish i lived in europe where 6 weeks of vacation a year is the minimum.

quips and quotes

• crt: my broccoli is rancid
  
• waiter: i don't know what that means
  
• caslon: it means it tastes spoiled. (we got 25% off our bill. that was only a small part of the saga of last nights disastrous dinner out. we wish to put that behind us, so i will not share the rest of the story.)

• tech dad: what are we using for milk? (he meant to ask what we are using for coffee creamer)

obviously

• i truly am a blogging addict. i've posted on both of my blogs on my vacation!
• i am borrowing someone else's unsecure internet connection. good thing computer guy updated a bunch of programs for us.

glimpses from paradise

baby bear's 1st steps on the sand

my man
(he never wears this shirt to the gym, like i thought he would when i helped his mom pick it out. but it makes a great sleep shirt and now beach shirt. he's hoping to even out the skin tones this week.)

this was growing right next to my towel.
it was far from the rest of the grasses. i thought it was neat.

looking west

vacation is in full swing!

we are so blessed. our rental home for the week is away from the busy hubbub and in a private community. it has a pool, which is clean and even has 2 cascades which flow into it. we can see the lagoon and the ocean, and the walk to the beach access is not too far.

i awoke about 4 a,m with insomnia. after tossing and turning for an hour, i got up and took my journal out to the front veranda. i call it a veranda because porch is too generic a term. the thing is huge and has 16 steps leading up to it. anyway, it has a couple of comfy wooden adirondack chairs, and i positioned the chair so i was facing east, with the lagoon in view to the left, the "city" skyline straight ahead in the distance, and the ocean to the right. it's interesting to be awake before the seagulls. from my vantage point, i noticed quite a number of bikers, joggers, and even families out for morning exercise. though i am not normally a morning person, i savored this opportunity to pause and reflect on God's awe-inspiring creation.

a while later, i journeyed down to the beach for the first time since our arrival last night. my only company was a great blue heron, and he was several hundred feet away. stoic. poised.

as the sun rose, the harmonies played by nature's orchestra increased. i returned back to the house, and this time i went out on the upstairs balcony. caslon and photo guy were not here yet, so i could get to it without waking baby bear by going through their room. i sat down again, this time able to see the various shades of grey and black under the wings of the sea gulls as the flew within feet of me. mr. heron perched atop a neighboring villa. i had forgotten what unusual screech can come out of a heron. it is hardly musical, but entertaining none the less.

we had a wonderful day. baby bear experienced her first steps in the sand and splashes of "ocean" in her face. she shoveled sand, and "swam" in the pool. she idolizes her cousins. she adores her gramma and grandpa and her aunts and uncles.

while we waited outside the restaurant for dinner, who drove past and recognized hubby but some old friends, one of our groomsmen and his wife and daughter?!?! we hope to get together with them at some point this week.

hubby and i walked on the boardwalk over the marsh and to the lagoon in the dark tonight. fish flew out of the water, even at 10:oo-ish. the fog was starting to form over the water, but there was also a nice breeze, and the stars sparkled in the sky.

this vacation is so greatly needed, and it is already more than i could have imagined. having family plan ahead to take time to spend together is so important. holidays and other gatherings can often be so rushed, we need this time with our extended family to relax and enjoy one another's company. and since our girls live 5+ hours apart, it's so special for them to spend time with their cousins.

well, good night, friends. i may or may not get around to posting again, though most likely i will try to post photos on one of my blogs.

buen viaje

we head out for our beach vacation tomorrow. crt and her crew arrived here last night, and we'll caravan with them tomorrow, meeting up with tech mom and dad at our home for a week. caslon and photo guy will follow, after shooting a wedding. then it will be a whole week in paradise. or as close to paradise as you can get in alabama.

don't know how much internet access we'll have, but i will try to post some pics if we can. i got some cute ones of the girls running through our sprinkler today, a prequel of sorts.

baby bear adores her cousins. and the older girls are being very good about including her and modifying games so she can play along.

but right now i have to go finish packing. i am sooo behind on blogging, but i guess that's a good thing. i have been too busy.

Thankful Thursday: blessings

Yes, this is material. No deep spiritual significance to my thankfulness today. Today I am thankful for extra 25% off spring clearance items I found at Babies R Us. Baby Bear inherited quite a few shorts from her cousins, but their matching shirts didn't survive their active lifestyle. The poor girl has been sleeping in 18 month pj's for far too long now (she wears 2T). I've picked up a couple of pj's along the way, and now with the shorts and tees, she should be all set for pj's and play clothes in her size. I paid about $3 per piece on average (the pj set brought up the average, the individual pieces were $2 something each.)

I've already warned hubby that unless Baby Bear stops growing, there is a possibility that she may not fit into her winter hand-me-downs. (His pay can't hit fast enough.) That's what happens when you have a child that eats like Cookie Monster. I am glad I haven't shopped ahead a whole lot; that would have been a waste of money, even for bargains. I do expect she may lose a pound or two while chasing after the big girls next week.

So anyway, good sales make me VERY Thankful this Thursday. Now to quit procrastinating and get packing...

Ok, I confess. I am lazy. What? You already knew that?
When I found out that a girl I know from college was starting
her own cloth diaper business,

I thought I might be a candidate for making the switch. My blogging bud Stephanie sings the praises of cloth. Then something happened. Even with Sunny's patient answering of my questions, I got scared of combining the amount of laundry that I don't complete with the idea of washing cloth diapers. I got lazy. And I confess, I wanted the fanciest, most expensive options or disposables. But I do have to say, I have explored Cutie Tooties, and cloth diapers are so much different than what I expected. Of course, the prefolds are the most economical, but there are some cute and comfy options that are just as easy as disposables.

Well, I have not yet switched to cloth, but I did purchase the swim tankini in the photo for my little one. Sunny also has some washable wetbags for storing anything from wet diapers to suits to clothes, as well as some other natural mommy products.

And I just want to say that Sunny has awesome follow-up and has always answered my questions promptly. She has triplets who are about a month younger than Baby Bear, so she has probably experienced any situation that one might encounter with cloth diapers.

If you have ever thought about using cloth diapers, but don't know where to begin, Sunny can answer your questions. She even has a thorough survey on her site to gauge your familiarity and needs.

As for us, well, for now Baby Bear will be sporting her tankini with swim pants at the beach.

Anybody know what breeds of lizards are native to middle TN?

About a month ago, a leathery lizard, about 2 or 3 inches long, slipped out from under the gutter/rain protector at the end of our front porch. It moved quickly, but looked black with a silver or white stripe down its back.

This morning, as Baby Bear and I returned from our Starbucks Stroll around 9 a.m. (while it was still only 81 degrees outside), I saw a smaller lizard which looked like the same type zoom across the porch and into the shrubs.

Too bad they are so fast, because I really want to get a picture.

Hubby wants to move to Anchorage. The summer temps are tempting, and apparently he thinks that Anchorage is not much colder than Chicago in the winter. Something must be wrong with me, because I'm almost willing to move with him, and I have turned down the A/C two days in a row now.