Tree Climbing

I got Conan a couple of pairs of "real" gardening gloves, the kind with a rubber grip coating on the fingers and palms.  He immediately declared them super duper tree climbing gloves and has been monkeying around in our big fir tree like an expert tree climber.  Which he clearly is.

Oh, blog. We need to talk.

You see, well, lately, I'm just not that into you. It's spring and there's so much to do outside. And there's just not that much free time in general, between work and parenting and housekeeping and all the other things that take up my time. Certainly not enough time to sit down and write a thoughful essay post, complete with pictures all displayed in the correct order and alignment.

Not that there's really been anything worth writing about going on in my life, to be frank. Even I get bored of nothing but pictures of Conan being his usual cute self.

But if I'm going to be really, truly, deeply honest, the real culprit is Facebook.

Yep. There. I've said it.

It's just so much easier, so much quicker, and (this is big) I actually get comments and likes and feedback on stuff I post there. A couple of sentences and I'm done. Or a picture or two. No context needed, which is a real blessing when there's no real story to tell, just 'hey, my kid is cute!' or 'this place we went was pretty'. 

Hell, I can even post pictures directly from my phone, no finding the cord, no downloading and sorting, nothing. (Ok, to be fair, there's probably a way to post pictures to the blog from my phone too. But I don't know how, and I'm not real inclined to go figure it out. Sorry.)

But! There's still hope for you, blog! Because... [drum roll please] ... we've decided to adopt another child!

The process is daunting and there are many, many things to learn, to evaluate, and surprises to discover. My best blogging has historically been about some kind of journey. First, it was building a house. Then, it was about getting married, and establishing a home. After that, pregnancy and parenthood. And now, the next adventure is adoption. It's going to be great, I promise.

Easter Eggs

Masterpeices, every one.

Farmer's Market Duel

So this was a lot of fun...

Assorted Pictures

New Spidey shirt!

Watering. (Because it's real dry here this time of year.)

A boy and his kitties.

Helping the gnomes.

Chloe takes her color-by-number turtle very seriously.

Two Mapes brothers

Three Mapes brothers

Qualified Expert

C: Are plants animals?
M: No, plants are plants.
C: Well, Carter [preschool buddy] says they ARE animals.
M: Well, Carter is not right.
C: YES. HE. IS!  He is FIVE!

Birdsong

A large flock of red-wing blackbirds arrived about a week ago, and have been hanging around our birdfeeder ever since, singing for their suppers.  You can't see them in this video, but you can sure hear them!



Our wetland is a perfect nesting area for the red-wings, so we generally get to enjoy hearing their songs all summer, though not in the numbers we have currently!  These are probably migrants and will continue heading north in coming weeks. It's sure nice that they stopped to sing for us for a time.