Silent Sunday

Finally pictures from my camera.  The first and last day . . . 

Baby Birds

So, right before dinner tonight, daddy had us come out in the yard to look up in the big oak tree.  He spotted the biggest baby bird he had ever seen.  It was hard to see through the branches, but when I finally saw it, it was big.

It had a long neck and long orange bill.  Daddy saw mom and dad fly away and he said they were large.  The largest birds he had ever seen in our trees.  What clued him in was, right under the tree is his 4 wheeler covered in a tarp.  There was an extraordinary amount of poop on it.

After further inspection, it turns out there was poop and dead fish on top of the tarp!  On the ground around the tarp and four wheeler was even more poop and dead fish.  Turns out there is actually four big baby birds up in the tree and they apparently are being fed very well!

It is a wonder to watch them.  We finally had to give them a break.  They get agitated when we are around for too long.  They start hopping out of the nest and walking along the branches.

Definitely one of the coolest things I have seen in awhile.  We are going to be on the look out for mom and dad to figure out exactly what they are . . . .

The dead fish and poop on the tarp.

Poop on the leaves right below the nest that is in the tree.

More poop.

Right in the middle of the picture and off to the left just a hair, is the beak of one of the baby birds.  His/her siblings are right next to him/her.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

How does your garden grow?  Isn't that a verse from a nursery rhyme?  I think it is.  Anyway, our garden grows pretty well if I do say so myself!  Of course I don't have a whole lot to do with it.  It is hubby's thing.  What he does to unwind at the end of the day.  He comes home, takes off his uniform and heads outside to see what is going on.  

The little guys (who aren't so little anymore) trail after him and bring in the harvest.  This year we had lettuce, which I think I have already posted about.  Then came green peppers, zucchini and yellow squash.

We have had awesome stuffed peppers and we have sliced and diced and frozen the rest.  We have had roasted vegetables many times in the last 6 weeks!  We have sent some home with Grandma.  We have made zucchini bread and muffins some of which we have shared with our Meals on Wheels clients.

Another banner year for onions.  And they are just perfect.  Not too strong.  We have many, many pounds which is awesome because we love onions and put them in just about everything.  Not to mention including them in our roasted veggies.

And of course red potatoes.  We have roasted them and I have made a twice baked recipe.  We will be eating potatoes for awhile.  We have shared quite a few with our Life Group class at church.  They are so much better than store bought.  The only word I can think to describe them is creamier.  We bartered with one friend.  We gave them potatoes and they gave us green beans.  I would love to do that more often!  Have a little veggie co-op of our own. ;)

And I can't forget the tomatoes and our four little blackberry bushes.  We are just coming into tomatoes so I need to find a good (easy) spaghetti sauce recipe that can be frozen.  And we have fresh blackberries everyday.  We are still working on the taste of those.  Some are really good but some are pretty tart.  I guess it has to do with the soil.  But, the kids eat most of them anyway.  Especially EG.

I am thinking about what is in our garden at the moment and I think that might be it for now.  It is pretty hot out there and the bugs are pretty bad.  So probably not ideal for more veggies.  But, Daddy likes to experiment a little so we will have to see what he wants to plant next . . . 

Chicken Parm - PW

I feel I make a pretty mean no-fry chicken Parmesan.  But, when we had Pioneer Woman's chicken parm, daddy informed me he like PW's much better.  And, I had to admit, it was pretty darn good!

Nature Girl was my photographer and she is all about presentation.

I have a huge fear of frying.  But, I am getting over it!

The actual plate looked much better in person!  The kids liked it as well.  I don't think we will go back to the no-fry recipe . . . 

The Last of the Pictures, I Think

The pictures are out of order because there are so many of them from a bunch of different cameras.  So I tried to pick the ones that were most memorable.

The kids singing their last concert at a church they stayed at.  Even though they had sung 5 times already, I was told they were as fresh as ever.

One of the fun things that got to do was tour a local cavern at a state park.  They road their bikes from the church to the park.  Daddy decided to ride along this time.  He assured me he knew the roads.  When he got back that night, he said he knew the roads but from the perspective of driving in a car.  Apparently the ride from the church to the park was quite hilly.  He had quite an experience!  Nature Girl, even a week later, notices the hills that we drive on.

Friends having some free time.

They started out each day holding hands and praying.

Their last destination.  They stayed in nice cabins on their last night.  They were very excited because it was much, much nicer than what they were suppose to have stayed in.  It worked out well because that was the night the tropical storm was passing through.

They kids got to play in the lake.  Also, on Tuesday they went tubing.  No pictures of that 

The chase car aka "Guard Dog" and one of the bikers.  

The last day.  Riding through a small town on their way home.

One of the girls who was not able to ride was one of the official cheerleaders.  She would give high fives and always cheer everyone on.

A lasting impression.

Starting off the last morning.  They had to be on their way very early because they had a five hour bike ride ahead of them.

Always praying.

The road that leads to our church.  We could see them coming.

Cars were honking and we were cheering.  It was so thrilling to be there when they got back.  The driveway into our church is another big hill.  The one last hill to climb before their 190 plus ride was officially over!

If my hubby said it once, he said it at least 10 times of what a great experience it was to be with such a great group of kids.  Always smiling and laughing and encouraging one another.  Serving and never complaining

Thanking God for bringing them home safe and giving them such a wonderful opportunity to serve and be together.

Apparently they had sung their theme song "Move" on a hill.  Then they had an opportunity to sing the song to the park ranger in the cave.  They had to sing the song on level ground to make the trip complete.  So, after being gone 5 nights and biking 190 miles and avoiding a tropical storm, they had to sing one last time.  And they did it with joy and smiles.

On Thursday night they handed out awards for Road Rash and Encourager etc.  Nature Girl got Most Improved Rider and daddy got Best Guard Dog.  Everyone got a certificate of completion of a most amazing feat.

I might have some more pictures from my camera.  But, I think this completes most of the pictures.  Hard to believe it is over.  I know a couple people who are looking forward to next year . . .

The Pause Button

It cracks me up when I am reading to the kids or they are playing a game and one of them, usually Boop or EG says "pause."  Meaning they need the activity to stop so they can:  get a drink of water or go to the bathroom or some other such thing.

I have tried to explain to both of them that real life can't be paused.  I am afraid they think real life can be paused.  That while they are off doing something else when they get back everything will be just as when they left.  Like the pause button on the DVR.

It does crack me up because we don't really watch a ton of TV.  But, I guess because of the DVR and the DVD player, "pause" is just another word for them to mean "hold on."  Or "I will be right back."

Boop did it again today while they all were having a fort building contest.  I had to laugh.  And I desperately wanted to say yet again "hey, you can't pause real life."  But, my guess is he will figure it out soon enough . . .