A Peak in the Nest

Bird eggs in the nest in our wind chimes

Remember this darling nest in the wind chime on our front porch?

Bird eggs in the nest in our wind chimes

A birds nest by our front door in the sugar bowl of our wind chime sounds so idyllic. Beautiful, bitty eggs and the opportunity for an incredible learning experience for our daughter. Behold, a rarely seen stage in the bird life cycle!

Bird eggs in the nest in our wind chimes

Well, the eggs have hatched and it’s not a pretty sight.

Baby birds in the nest in our wind chimes

We’ve discovered that the, well, obvious downside to a birds nest is the tremendous amount of poop that accomulates outside the nest… i.e. on my windchime!

Baby birds in the nest in our wind chimes

THANKS VERY MUCH BIRDS! I’m gonna send you a cleaning bill when you vacate the premises.

Baby birds in the nest in our wind chimes

Plus, those cute baby birds? They’re loud. That’s not really a downside though. We all get really excited when we hear them chirping! Our daughter announces, they’re feeding!

Baby birds in the nest in our wind chimes

Oh boy are they feeding and getting big fast. At four days old, they are now so large that they are starting to no longer fit inside the nest (that mama bird sure didn’t plan ahead in her nest site selection!). I love that they’re too big for the nest though because now they are popping up out of it, so we are starting to be able to see them. I love that cute feather fluff.

Baby birds in the nest in our wind chimes

They are pretty darn cute.

Baby birds in the nest in our wind chimes

If only their poop didn’t ruin my photo.

Porch Redo with a Sand and Water Table

Back porch before

We have a back porch that we’ve never used.

In the two years we’ve rented this house, we’ve walked past the porch en route to the grill and stepped on the porch steps to water our shade-loving plants, and that’s it.

Clearly, our back stoop has been neglected. And, yes, those really are dead plants in the pots on the steps.

Toddler sweeping the back porch

Our porch is parallel to the kitchen, so I realized that if we set up the porch as a toddler messy play area then I could work in the kitchen alongside our daughter, with the screen door open. It’s also nicely shaded and, being on the north side, remains cool all summer long. This also means that I don’t need to load up my daughter in sunscreen before sending her out to play, another bonus for a busy mom.

Of course, the toddler LOVED the idea of setting up an outdoor play space. She helped me sweep, wash and scrub the porch… removing several years worth of cobwebs and critters.

Toddler helping mama garden on Mother's Day

We replanted the shade-loving annuals for the steps on the porch with some of the flowers from my Mother’s Day Bouquet.

Toddler playing at her sand and water table on our back porch

We set up a sand and water table, a HUGE upgrade to last years homemade version that the neighborhood cats just loved to visit. This table with a tight fitting lid is MUCH better. Plus, she gets much less wet and sandy since she’s standing up instead of sitting in the sand table. A big plus.

Toddler playing at her sand and water table

She loves it already. And I love that I can write blog posts at the kitchen table while she’s next to me playing. That’s the thing about small houses: I may be in another room but I’ll never be more than 20 feet away at all times. Here’s one instance when it’s a plus!

Toddler playing at her sand and water table

Here’s to many summer afternoons full of messy, creative play on our back porch!

Toddler playing at her sand and water table

Repurposed Photo Wreath Frame

Holiday Photo Wreath from Christmas 2010

Remember our holiday wreath that we made using an embroidery hoop and clothespins?

Repurposing our holiday photo wreath

We decided to repurpose it for the rest of the year, until next December when we’ll fill it with holiday cards again down in our living room.

Repurposing our holiday photo wreath

For the time being we’ve decided to place it in our daughter’s new big girl room, in the last bit of free wall space, next to a nerdy baby poster, her embroidered portrait and toddler artwork, and above our photo banner with glittery clothespins.

Photo wreath in our daughter's room

We intend to place photos from our recent travels (to New Mexico and New York) in the frame, but in the meantime we’ve clipped some older favorite family photos to the wreath for now.

Little girl room

A perfect fit for the space!

Now I need to work on updating her linens. Perhaps some embroidered pillowcases are in order or a tie dye project for the sheets. What do you think?

Mother’s Day Bouquet

Mother's Day plants for the garden

Every year for Mother’s Day we visit our local nursery and I get to pick out flowers for the garden.

By doing this…

Mother's Day plants for the garden

we get more bang for our buck — sixteen plants for the price of one bouquet,

Mother's Day plants from last year in the garden

we support local, organic farmers, plus our independently owned garden center,

Mother's Day plants from last year in the garden

I receive a gift that I enjoy year after year as each plant continues to grow, spread, and bloom in our garden,

Honeybee landing on lavender plant in our garden

we share this gift with the creatures living in our yard and our neighbors in our community,

Toddler helping mama garden on Mother's Day

and we enjoy a family activity that I look forward to each year.

Buddha Boards Paint With Water Fun

Buddha Boards make for an easy, kid-friendly painting activity.

Simply paint on the surface with water. Then the water evaporates leaving you with a clean slate, so you can do it all over again! No messy clean up and endless art opportunities!

We’ve been leaving our Buddha Board (with a jar of water) out in the living room so our daughter can easily paint any time she wants without any assistance from mom. How empowering! She LOVES it!

Thanks to Patty and Ron for the super fun gift!