We welcome the month of May!
It’s a cool, misty, moisty beginning for us here in New England. I’m grateful for the wet day, it’s making things green and grow!
Grace memorized a poem this week and I videotaped her reciting it and thought you might like to see it. Here are the words to the poem so that you can follow along:
Don’t Give Up
If you’ve tried and have not won,
Never stop for crying;
All that’s great and good is done
Just by patient trying.
Though young birds, in flying, fall,
Still their wings grow stronger;
And the next time they can keep
Up a little longer.
Though the sturdy oak has known
Many a blast that bowed her,
She has risen again, and grown
Loftier and prouder.
If by easy work you beat,
Who the more will prize you?
Gaining victory from defeat,
That’s the test that tries you!
~Phoebe Cary
Here are some spring bird photos that the children and I have been taking over the last couple of weeks. We have 3 bird feeders outside our kitchen window. Watching the birds adds a lot of fun to our days here at home.
Chickadee
Pine Siskin
Canada Goose (came to visit our pond one morning. They always honk as they land–it wouldn’t do to arrive without a fanfare!–, and that’s how we know they are out there. There were 2 of them on this day.)
I believe this is a downy woodpecker….they enjoy the suet.
Anyone know what this next one is?
House finch
The Titmouse…grabs a sunflower seed and holds it in his toes..then hammers his beak on it to break it open and eat it. Quite cute.
Cardinal, our favorite
We have other birds that come, too, like the Blue Jay, Cowbird, and Nuthatch. This morning I saw a pair of Catbirds for the first time out there. The Robins come to the lawn to pull up worms. I went outside earlier, with Caleb, and the birds were singing so cheerfully!
Seth was sore last night from his shots. He cried and cried worse than he has since he was born. It made ME upset! Rich dosed him with Tylenol and after a while, Seth fell asleep. Today he is his normal self, thankfully. I am still pretty tired but that’s okay.
Happy May first! Happy Friday!
Love, Shanda
Good to be Home 
She did a very good job. I love how Seth is smiling and happy:) The bird pictures are very good. I would love to watch them all day to.
Grace did such a good job on her poem! I love her eyes!
Grace is so sweet! The birds are beautiful, and so many different kinds!!
I love her sweet voice! What a great poem. And I loved Seth’s cutie grins during the recitation! Thanks for sharing. Happy 1st day of May!!
I think Seth was reciting the poem, too! What a sweet time for big sister and baby brother! Happy weekend! Love, gAil
It was so sweet to hear her voice. She is such a flower!!! 🙂 Seth is cute too!!! I love hearing children recite. They all bring something different to a poem!
Good job, Grace. It was also fun to hear Seth “talking.”
Oh Grace has the sweetest voice!! She’s seems so meek and girly. If she’s like the girls I know then she can probably be loud sometimes too.
The birds are all so beautiful. You are blessed to be able to have such a variety.
Good job Grace! The cute little faces Seth was making just made me smile. Cute kids! It is nice seeing all the birds. Here where I live we have lots of birds too. I love the little chickadees. Have a wonderful weekend! Blessings~ Deb
Oh my. I hate when shots make little ones have a bad reaction like that. 😦 Sorry that you had to go through all of that!
Woohoo for Grace!! Poetry is such a great thing for children to learn. Poems (even the silly ones) often have great lessons in them! Seth looked like he wanted the videographer during that taping!!! 🙂 Happy weekend!
Great job Grace!! Your little yellow bird appears to be a Pine Warbler — it’s hard to tell from just this one picture as there are so many similar features on other warblers.
Grace is so cute, I love it. 🙂 Those birds are fabulous…so many different kinds! I’m going to get a few feeders, once we have a little money. I love watching all the birds we have here in CT. I hope you had a lovely day.
esp. love all the birds! have a lovely spring weekend!
Grace did a great job on the poem, but I was very distracted by that gorgeous baby!
your daughter is SO cute!=)
The video of Grace is so SWEET! It’s nice to hear her voice. She’s just like I thought she would be in person. 🙂 Seth is just a cutie pie!
i love it,very sweet. Grace is so pretty. Seth looks like he was trying to get your attention on him..lol. i love looking at pictures of wildlife,they are so calming.
I couldn’t watch the video bu the poem is very nice! I like all the pictures of your birds.
The video did not work for me either!
The pair of caridnals we have in our back yard the husband feeds the wife, have you ever seen that at your feeder or do we have a very rare affectionate pair? She does not pick up seeds but waits for him to come over and out the seed in her beek.
hmph! i’ve sat here fiddling w/ that video for several minutes and can’t get it to play!! 😦 but i sure loved all the bird shots~ my mom has bird feeders everywhere and knows all the names of the different birds, and when they come each day, and every little detail~ i love hearing her talk about them. and this post reminded me of her. :)happy sunday shanda girl!!
ps. i have to say too about the canadian geese squawking… i always tell shayne that it strikes me so funny that they are such loud birds, and bold too! when canadians by rule are very reserved, quiet kind of people!! =) shayne says the geese are that way because they spend too much time in america!!! ha! spoken like a true canuck! 😉
awesome job Grace!I love the looks on Seth’s face while listening to his sister…
It really helps to give your child Tylenol before you get the shots.A nurse shared that pointer with me once and I think it really helps with mine! Guess it kind of relaxes them and the shots don’t hurt as bad.
Good job, Grace! I like that poem.
Your little yellow bird certainly appears to be a Pine Warbler, and it looks like your House Finches are actually Purple Finches. (House finches are less cranberry-colored–more of a red, and they have lots of brown streaking on their flanks and belly)