The story never ends...

So a few days ago we were so excited to see our little bird family move on to new digs. Well...apparently our excitement was a little premature. We hadn't seen the birds in a few days, and peeked in the box on Sunday. There was one tiny egg inside. We thought that one just never hatched. Steve reports today that, when he went out to get the mail, the momma bird "yelled at him". He peeked inside the box and sure enough, now there are two eggs. Either we just weren't paying close attention to the comings and goings of our bird family, or we have a very fertile momma bird (which seems improbable to me, but I'm no expert on bird reproduction!), or our momma bird told her bird friends about the great little nest she built on our front door. In any case, it's back through the garage we go...

I've posted some pictures below from Trevor's field day at school yesterday and his baseball game last night. His team won their division championship. Trevor had his second bunt of the season, and a few great plays in the field as well!

Trevor pitched part of the fourth inning.

His first hit of the night.

Trevor came in first place

in the "Paddle Ball" event.

Marisa took the day off of preschool to hang out

with us at Trevor's school.

Obedience

Sam went for his first obedience class on Sunday. We decided that Steve would take him since he's at home more than I am. The kids were very excited to hear what Sam learned at his first day of school. Apparently Steve learned that, not surprisingly, Sam sees him as the master, and has no respect for anyone else in the house, including me (the softie). He hasn't learned any new tricks yet, but Steve did try to show Marisa the right way to talk to Sam when you're giving him a command. It went something like this:

"Marisa, tell Sam to sit."
"Sa-am, si-it."
"No. Just say 'sit'."
"Si-it." (imagine her little voice getting higher on the second "syllable".

It went on like that for quite some time, until she finally said both Sam and sit with just one syllable each. Later, she was in the playroom with him telling him to sit. I think both words probably had three or four syllables each time she said it, but she was using her most stern voice!

Speaking of obedience, isn't it funny how your kids always do what other people tell them, but not so much what you tell them? Trevor's baseball coaches are working on having the kids call the ball when they are going for a pop fly. If they catch it without calling it, they have to do five push-ups. Likewise, if they call it and don't catch it, five push-ups.

Well we were at his game Friday night. Trevor was warming up at the pitcher's mound at the start of the third inning. His coach lobbed a ball at him from way out in center field. Trevor caught it, and his coach yelled "Oh Trevor, that's five push-ups!". Trevor turned around and looked at him for a moment, probably wondering if he was serious. Then he stepped off the mound, threw his glove on the ground, and got down in position for his push-ups. In the middle of the game! You could hear his coach laughing in the outfield, and he yelled for him to wait until after the game. I was laughing, but also thinking there's no way he ever would have done that for me. Oh well, maybe his coaches can try getting him to clean his room!

Baby birds

Using our front door has been a risky proposition for the last month or so. One day I noticed a bird fly out from the door when I opened it. I thought that was kind of strange, and then the next day Steve said he had noticed it, too. Turns out a momma bird had decided to build her nest in the Southern Living flower box on the door - apparently my purple silk flowers looked pretty real to her.

Once she laid her eggs, she got pretty defensive of them - she didn't just fly away when we opened the door, she would buzz your head on her way out. So, for the last month, we've been avoiding the door altogether. Our house sits on a partial basement with a pull-under garage, so that meant that every time we wanted to go outside (like going to the bus stop, getting the mail, going to friends' houses...you get the picture), we had to go down through the basement, out the garage, and back around to the front of the house. While we thought it was kind of neat that the momma chose our house for her home, I was cursing her after a few weeks (especially on the days I went grocery shopping and had to lug the groceries up through the basement). Although, it was kind of funny to see the look of terror on the neighbor boys' faces when they would be bent over, practically on their knees, ringing our doorbell.

Well I am happy to report that the eggs hatched (it was nice to hear chirping through the door), and it now appears that everyone has left the coop! You don't want to know what my door looks like behind the nest, but we sure are glad to have it back!

Spring Photos

Marisa at her school's Spring Sing and Art Show

Big Ben and little Sam

Trevor's artwork (in the middle) on display at the Tapestry art show

Trevor at the Tapestry art show

Trevor's winning science fair project

And here we are again...

Ok, so we've done a really bad job of updating our blog. And here we are again, almost a whole year later. I'll try to wrap up the past year in one posting, and we'll see if we can't get some updates in more frequently in the future!

Trevor is just finishing up second grade. He got first place in the science fair for his project called "The fizz test". He compared how much fizz (or eruption, as he called it) came from different types of colas when they were opened. He also had his artwork displayed this year at the county school's headquarters as part of the annual Tapestry art show. He played basketball this past winter, and spends a lot of time shooting hoops in the driveway now. He's playing baseball again this spring - he splits his time between first base, short stop, second, and pitcher.

Marisa will be done with preschool in just a few short weeks. Then we'll be counting down to kindergarten, if you can believe that! She's again taking ballet, and will have her recital in May. She played soccer in the fall and is debating about whether she wants to play soccer or softball this year (I think the pink helmets and bats are enticing her!). I'm not ready to have both kids playing sports at the same time (just one is crazy enough as it is), but I know it's coming.

We added a new puppy to the family at the end of March. Sam is about four months old. He's a lab-mix of some sort. We think he might really be a shar pei mix, but you can decide when you see his picture. We adopted him from the Atlanta Humane Society, which is where we got Ben almost three years ago. The boys get along great, and there is never a dull moment in our house! It's really fun to watch him as he learns about the world around him. There's a new experience every day - new stuffed animals to steal from Marisa's room, transformers to be found under Trevor's bed...you see where I'm going with this.

Here are some photos from the past year...enjoy!

St. Simon's, summer 2008

Fall soccer



Helping mom stain the new deck


Halloween, 2008


Project Playhouse at Lenox Square, October 2008
(mom's big fundraiser for work)

First day of school, 2008 (pre-k)

First day of school, 2008 (second grade)