Apr 24, 2009 | Blog Tour, family, Sporting, Wildlife |
We have been a soccer family for years – Kyle started playing at 5 years old, then Tyler and then Ryan – for a few 
years all three played on three different teams and Greg was coaching either one or two of their teams. Eventually Tyler and Kyle moved on to other interests. Greg coached up until this last year and now only Ryan is still playing. This last week and next
week are heavy soccer weeks – with lots of rain this season we have missed many games and as we approach the end of the season they are trying to get all of them played. Last weekend Ryan played in 3 games. They had a game tonight and the boys played a great game and won 4-0 against ones of the teams they lost to last weekend. There is another game on Sunday, and then one Tuesday night and Wednesday night too. With all this soccer it reminded me of a 6×6 scrapbook I made for Ryan a few seasons ago. I intend to scrapbook some more of his soccer pictures and also want to make some 12×12 pages too. I’m not sure I ever shared the book with anyone so I thought I would show you a few pages from it tonight.
Supplies:
- Sporting stamp set
- Just Soccer stamp set
- Night of Navy card stock
- Real Red card stock
- Summer Sun card stock
- Whisper White card stock
- Basic Black classic ink
- Real Red classic ink and marker
- Summer Sun classic ink
- Night of Navy classic ink and marker
- Round Tab punch
- 1″ Circle punch
- 1-3/8″ Circle punch
- White Gel Pen
- Silver brads
- Stampin’ Dimensionals
- Stapler/Staples
Have a great weekend! Tomorrow is a tennis match day. I need to make some scrapbook pages with the Just Tennis stamp set too. Maybe one day I’ll catch up on all the scrapbooking I want to do – but probably not.
Quick note on the birds – I finally saw the chickadee babies today – both mom and dad were out of the house and I got a quick peek at a pile of babies. The robin babies are getting bigger – they seem to know when food is on the way and stick up their heads and open their beaks until mom or dad comes by to drop in some food. Today I got to watch while they were fed a worm! The bluebirds are growing too – I can hear them now from the porch – so I know when mom or dad is there feeding them – they make quite a bit of noise when food is coming. I’m going to check my dates tomorrow because as the date approaches for them to fledge I don’t want to open the box anymore so they don’t come out early. Hopefully I’ll be able to see the day that they leave and get some pictures of them as the babies learn to fly.
Blog Tour on April 27th – Tour #4. 
Don’t miss the train!
Apr 23, 2009 | Uncategorized, Wildlife |
Robin feeding 2 babies
It’s a beautiful day here for raising babies! Baby birds that is. All the mommy and daddy birds are busy feeding their growing babies. I can see the bluebirds and robins all day long. I see the towhee’s quite often but usually hear their call even when I can’t see them – since my office is in the front of the house which is where their nest is I hear them out there calling all day. I finally decided that the little chickadee is just that – little and fast and that’s why I don’t see them much they zip in and out of the bird house so fast you don’t always notice them. I did get a few good pictures – the robin has 2 babies for sure and they are getting big too.
Robin feeding 2 babies
I had a visit from a Red-Headed Woodpecker today but didn’t get a picture. I’m keeping my eye out and camera ready for his return. I also saw the hawk today – he landed in the neighbors yard and then flew through while I was outside. It’s probably best for him to stay away right now – I’d hate for him to get one of the baby birds – yes they do eat birds. There are lots of chipmunks around too – 
some are really small so they must be the young ones. Aspen and Magnolia are alert for those chipmunks – so far they have all gotten away. Yesterday was a close call – Aspen was under the deck running back and forth to either side of the little shed that we have under our deck. Magnolia was on the top of the yard by the gate near the driveway. The chipmunk outsmarted Aspen and snuck through a hole under the porch to get back to the top of the yard – but then right over to Magnolia! Luckily Magnolia was looking the other way and the chipmunk made a quick turn ran out the fence and into his hole right as Magnolia turned around. She stared at the hole for awhile trying to figure out what just happened.
I’m working on some stamping projects now so I’ll post again later today or tonight.
Thanks for stopping by!
Apr 21, 2009 | family, Wildlife |
I finally got a picture of the baby towhee – there is only one baby in the nest. I can still see two eggs, but I guess they aren’t going to hatch. 
The mom is usually sitting on the nest. I just happened to peek in yesterday afternoon and she was gone so I ran inside real quick to get my camera. As you can see this baby was ready for food with his mouth WIDE open!
I checked on the Blue birds and they know the difference between me and mom & dad so they were all huddled in a pile – there are 4 or 5 in there. Mom and Dad are busy bringing them bugs to eat. I see them regularly.
The chick-a-dee is still sitting in the house. I saw one fly out this morning so I went to peek real quick but there was still one inside – so they must not leave the eggs/babies alone. By now they should have hatched I just haven’t gotten a chance to look in with out a parent in there.
The Robins are busy feeding their baby – I think there must be two babies – but I still can’t tell for sure. Since the nest is up high I can’t see inside it to know for sure.
Sunday night we had heavy rain, thunder, lightening and tornado warnings – they are saying a tornado did touch down somewhere not to far from here but I didn’t hear specifically where it was. Anyway after all the rain stopped I let the dogs out before I went to bed (it was reallly late) and look who I found hanging on to my screen: 
He was gone by morning. Sometimes I find them in the yard I guess because of the fountain. They are noisy little frogs. But this one was quiet while I was outside.
After looking through my Easter pictures it turned out I didn’t even take any pictures of my tables or decorations. Most of the pictures were of the kids hunting Easter Eggs. I have one picture of almost everyone (37 of us) in the backyard gathered to say the blessing before we eat.
After lunch all the kids went inside while the teenagers hid the eggs. Our rules are the little kids (5 and under) get everything in the grass level of the yard, the bigger kids get everything else.
Afterwards everyone searches for the prize egg and of course eats candy. The little ones were sitting on the stairs while all the big kids checked out their egg collection on the trampoline. It is so much fun for all to get all of the cousins together! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter like we did and thankfully the weather was perfect!!
Apr 17, 2009 | Wildlife |
I did get up stairs and spend some time in Tyler’s room looking out the window at the robin nest. Finally the mom flew out of the nest and guess what? A baby stuck its head up!! Yep there is a baby and YES I got pictures! I don’t know how many – robins lay 4 – 7 eggs and I can’t tell if I’m seeing one baby or more than one (I only saw one at a time).
Here is one photo from yesterday with one parent leaving as the other arrives at the nest. 
And one from this morning of dad getting bugs from the front yard.
And Baby picutres!!
I’ll try to get back later with a stamping post. Ryan is off to a soccer game, Tyler had a band “event” after school and I have class tonight. And Greg is away tonight playing Billiards with his neighborhood group.
Apr 17, 2009 | Wildlife |
Just a quick post with a bird update – we have babies.
The Towhee had one baby and I could still see two eggs! The baby was hungry as he/she thought I was mom or dad bringing food. But one of them was near by and started chirping and the baby put his head back down. Later I looked and the dad was standing on the nest. Now the mom is sitting on the nest again. Sorry no pictures.
The Bluebird had several babies and still one egg! Mom and Dad were both out when I went to check. The babies must be just hatched today – they weren’t there yesterday – I could still see 4 eggs yesterday. I’ll see if I can get a picture.
The chickadee was still sitting and I haven’t seen much action so I don’t think they have hatched. The other nests have alot more action with mom and dad bringing food back and they also remove the egg material left after hatching.
The robin was sitting on her nest, but she may have babies as she and the dad seem to be coming and going more than they were before. I’ll try to look from Tyler’s window.
Class was fun this morning – we were at the kitchen table so everyone could see the birds. A cedar waxwing stopped by the fountain and gave everyone a “birds eye” view. The fountain is just outside my window right by the table we were stamping at.
I’ll be back later.
Apr 14, 2009 | Wildlife |
I don’t think I have updated on the birds lately. There isn’t much changing right now – they are all incubating their eggs but we should start seeing them hatch soon. Looking at the book I have and the dates that I noted the eggs it won’t be to much longer.
The bluebird should be done incubating her eggs by the end of the week – counting the days – the 12-14 day time frame would fall Thursday – Saturday this week. I got a picture today of the dad getting what looks to be a little i
nchworm from one of the trees and taking it back to feed mom. Also some pictures of him grooming himself while he sat on top of our basketball goal – I have a perfect view from my craft room.
The Chickadee I’m not sure when they finished laying eggs. They had at least 5 eggs on the 9th. Counting from the 9th it would be the first of next week. But I think she was done sooner than that so maybe by the end of this week the babies will begin to hatch. I have picture from this weekend where the dad looks like he is bringing food to mom. My book says both of them incubate the eggs so they must take turns. Somebody is usually in there when I check the house.
The robin – I don’t know when she finished laying eggs or how many she might have. But she seemed to be incubating the eggs earlier than the others. So it could be any day now that they hatch. I see the mom leave the nest occasionally so I think she gets her own food rather than dad bringing it to her. He seems to watch the nest while she is away – but she doesn’t go far.
The Towhee – she was still sitting when I checked this morning. I think hers are also due to hatch by the end of this week. I have not seen her leave at all. I see the dad around often in the back so he must be getting food and bringing it back to her. She sits perfectly still when I check in on her.
Some other visitors to the yard lately include a female Downy Woodpecker at the peanut feeder.
And the American Goldfinch have been at the thistle feeder. I got a picture of the male – he has the pretty yellow feathers. Their color changes on the male to the bright yellow for the summer.
The hummingbird has been back several times but I haven’t been able to get a good picture. Yesterday he took a little bath in my fountain – I wish I had the camera nearby for that but I didn’t and knew if I left he would be gone.
That’s all the bird updates. I also have a stamping post ready. I’m posting them both now.
Have a great day!
