Joining the Band

Well, tomorrow is the last day of school. I am feeling unusually sad about this last day. I think it's partly because I have so enjoyed Tyler's teacher this year. I would like her to just move along with him next year. I'm mostly sad because tomorrow is Tyler's last day at the elementary school. Next year he will be a big 5th grader at the middle school. He'll switch classes, sign up for electives, ride the bus again, and be a lot more responsible for, well, everything. He and Danielle won't be in the same building again until he is a junior and she is a freshman. I'm sad because once again we're closing one chapter and moving on to another.  Sigh. The kids are just growing up way too fast. I have a hard time believing my "baby" is going to be a 3rd grader, too.

Band starts in 5th grade at our school, and Tyler has decided to try it. I have to admit that I was definitely not on board when he came home a couple weeks ago and told me he wanted to play the flute. Regardless of how you feel about gender stereotypes, you have to admit that boys who play the flute are teased about it because it is generally viewed as a "girl" instrument. We had one boy in our band who played the flute, and he was teased. (Wearing pink shirts and short shorts didn't help him any.) I really tried to discourage Tyler simply because I don't want him to be picked on. Finally I told him he simply couldn't play it. That didn't work either. After several more "discussions" I had to back off and let him make the choice.

Tonight we went to the "fitting" so he could try out a couple different instruments to be sure he could make a sound with them. They had to have 3 instruments in mind for the fitting. His first choice was the flute, and my heart sunk when they handed him the mouthpiece and he immediately made a sound with it. He had a harder time making noise with it once it was put together, and he struggled to hold it correctly. Finally he admitted it was a bit harder to play than he had expected. His second choice was the trumpet. He successfully tried the mouthpiece and then added the body of the trumpet. He was thrilled with the strong (loud!) sound he got from it. He also tried out the percussion, but he was sold on the trumpet. Actually, he wasn't just sold on it, he was super excited about it!! I am so thankful it all worked out that way! So, starting this fall, Tyler will be playing the trumpet. Assuming he sticks with it (which I think he will), mark your calendar for their first concert in December. Hopefully it will be less painful than the recorder concert!

Baseball Parade

Today was the official opening day for our town's baseball program. They had their usual baseball parade after the town's Memorial Day parade. Danielle wisely chose to ride in the trailer with her team this year rather than march with the baton group. The high today was supposed to be 93*, so I was glad I didn't have to worry about her marching in the heat. Seems like it's always 20* above normal on Memorial Day!

Since Danielle was riding with her team, Tyler chose not to carry the baton group's sign. Instead he got a workout collecting candy. The sweat was just pouring off his red face. It really was quite toasty.  I took this pic about half way through. There is SO much candy!

I throw a little away every night after they go to bed. I don't know how they never notice!

Catch, Tyler!

Danielle's team had pictures after the opening ceremonies. By that time, the girls had been out in the heat for 3 1/2 hours. They were sitting in the dusty field for awhile, and the coach had been pouring water down their backs. I'm sure she's looked better for pictures, but I thought they turned out pretty good anyway. (Well, mine did. I don't know how the "professional" pics will look.)

Danielle was supposed to have a game at 7 tonight but it was cancelled. It sprinkled for a couple minutes and thundered on and off for about 30 minutes. They delayed the game that was playing a couple times and then finally just cancelled that game & all the remaining games for the night. It was sunny again within 15 minutes of leaving the park. That part of our day was rather frustrating and disappointing but we'll try again later this week.

The Birds & the Bees

Today the 4th grade girls were separated out for a "girl talk". The boys don't have their talk until 5th grade. The "talk" is about the physical changes that they will go through in the coming years. Tyler's best friend is a girl and she was talking to him about it a little afterward, although the girls were all warned not to discuss the information with any of the boys! I wasn't sure what she told Tyler but didn't really want to find out in front of Danielle, especially since he kept saying "It was really bad, Mom. Really, really bad!" So I told him we'd talk about it later. Before changing the subject he added, "We saw a bunch of the girls walking down the hallway afterward and they were all crying because they don't want to grow up." I'm sure he was exaggerating, but I can totally understand!! That's a lot to lay on an unsuspecting 9/10 year old!!!

Later, while Danielle was playing outside, I asked Tyler if he'd like to talk about what he heard. He said, "Actually, I'd like to just forget about what I heard!" The way he said it was so funny. Turns out all she told him was that when a girl's body is ready to have a baby but there's no baby, she has a period. He maintains he did not hear anything else and doesn't really know what a period is. One of the ladies I work with is a bus driver. She had stories to tell of giggling 5th grade boys talking loudly about excerpts of their "talk" the other day. Hooray for 5th grade. :(

The baby robins are getting bigger. They have their old-man-ear-fuzz and are getting red on their breasts. They were stretching their wings a lot tonight, so I imagine it won't be long before they try flying.

Play Ball!



She looks so tall this year!

Tonight was Danielle's first softball game of the season. We run ruled the other team and ended early with a 21-3 lead. The team we played was really bad, so it will be interesting to play a team that can actually hit and field the ball. I think we have a good team, though. As always, Danielle was fun to watch. Here are some pictures from tonight. Enjoy the break from bird pictures. :)







Filler

Can you tell not much is going on? This is why I've been filling space with bird pictures lately!

Here's what we've been up to: We had a baton performance this past Saturday. Danielle did her toss and caught it. 2 years later and the patio people finally came out to fix our patio on Friday. It looks much better and I am glad I can now plant some things in the narrow beds around the patio. I'm trying to pick plants that will attract a variety of butterflies. We'll see how that goes. I've planted a few things already, including tomatoes, which are not meant to attract butterflies! I realize tomato plants aren't considered a good landscaping plant, but they do so well in the beds! Danielle's first softball game is Wednesday. It's time to pick strawberries and we have to fit that in very soon! And, most importantly, the kids have 8 days of school left!

Now on to the bird pictures. Our hummingbirds are back but they are still a little skittish (and I am out of practice taking their pictures!). Can you find the one in the tree? I made it easy. Click on the picture to enlarge it and you should find her easily.

And another baby robin picture.

For the Birds

I had a new yard bird tonight! That's always exciting because it doesn't happen very often. I was sneaking over to take a peek at the baby robins when I heard some birds in the tree top above me. I looked up and spotted 2 cedar waxwings. My picture is terrible, but you can clearly see the yellow tips of his tail, his crest, and his mask. I think these are such pretty birds. I think the first time I saw one, other than at the zoo, was when we went to the Smoky Mountains a couple years ago. This guy was perched in a tree at the top of a mountain overlook.













I also managed to get a couple pictures of the baby robins. Their nest is in a tree in our neighbor's yard right by our fence. The nest is in the back of the tree, so I don't think they've noticed it. We've tried not to draw attention to it because their children are rather...um, unpredictable. Hopefully the babies will go unnoticed until they're able to fly away from "predators". Ha.

Backyard Wildlife

Male goldfinch in his spring finest.



The robins' eggs have hatched. I saw bald little heads with closed eyes and wide open mouths peeking out for a second today. They can't be more than a day or two old. I took these a couple days ago. Dad is on the fence, mom is on the nest. The male does not like the bluejays that visit the feeder near his tree. He sits on the fence and then chases them away when they approach.

I was so excited about having a nesting pair of chickadees this spring. I was really hoping to get some pictures of fuzzy little chickadee babies. I waited patiently but it didn't pay off. I think they all fledged while we were at Danielle's scrimmage tonight! I saw the mom and dad go in and out with food all afternoon. Then, after being gone for a couple hours this evening, the nesting box & tree were quiet tonight! I put more mealworms out just to be sure, and sure enough - mom and dad came for the worms and flew off. I don't imagine they've gone too far, and mom and dad will still be feeding them for a few more days, so maybe they'll be back.

I haven't seen our chipmunk friend for a couple days. The other day he and I had a stand off over a handful of peanuts. He wanted the peanuts, I wanted a couple close up pictures. I won. He was curious enough to pop his head out and look around, but he just wasn't brave enough to come all the way out of his hole. After I got a few pictures, I left him alone with his nuts.

And I forgot to mention a couple weeks ago that the hummingbirds are back. I had my first hummingbird of the season on April 30. That's just a couple days later than last year. They are still getting used to us and are rather skittish. Before long they will ignore us and the dog as long as they can get to the sugar water!

Replenishing Our Summer Fun Fund

This past weekend we had our annual garage sale to raise money for our summer adventures. I have to admit it isn't nearly as important this year since I will get paychecks all summer long! It's still a good way to empty the closets, though, so we put the effort into getting everything ready. This year I coordinated a neighborhood garage sale. I did this 2 years ago, too, but I think the response was much better this year. There were lots of houses participating- maybe 15? We pooled our money and advertised, which I think really helped.

We didn't have any big ticket items, but we did well. When everything is between 50 cents and $1, you don't expect to get rich! The kids did really well this year! They sold brownies, lemonade, and balloon animals (and coffee). They didn't sell many balloon animals, but they made $40. I think that's the best they've ever done. They have something special they're saving their money for, but you'll have to wait a few weeks to find out more about that.

One More Time

The grade winners from both elementary schools presented their poems one more time at the high school tonight. Once again, Danielle did a great job! She spoke slowly, did a good job enunciating her words, and didn't miss a beat. Ron was glad he got to watch her in person this time.

She was annoyed with the girl beside her. We saw the girl waving her arms around in Danielle's "space". Danielle said she was also singing and muttering to herself the whole time. She also said the girl's mom kept shaking her head and mouthing the word "no" to her. "It didn't work, though" she added. The other 2nd grader from our school did a great job, too!

Danielle and her teacher. Danielle was so happy her teacher was there. The kids received a pin after reciting their poem. That's what Danielle is holding.

Although they had cookies and punch available afterward, it seemed like an occasion that deserved a trip to the ice cream stand!

For the Birds

A young downy woodpecker tried out his wings in one of our cottonwood trees yesterday afternoon. He could fly, but didn't fly very far. Mostly he sat on a branch and squawked. The pictures aren't very good, but you can make out the orangish patch on his head that will soon be bright red and some of his still fuzzy feathers.

There is a robin's nest in the pine tree just on the other side of our fence. They are still taking turns sitting in the nest, so I don't think those eggs have hatched yet. We really enjoyed watching our baby robins grow up last year. Hopefully we'll get a peek at these babies, too.

The chickadees in our nesting box have hatched. I first heard them chirping for food on Saturday. Mom & Dad Chickadee have been very busy searching for food. We helped them out by putting out some meal worms. They love them and don't seem to mind if I sit close enough for pictures once I put the worms out. I think it will be at least another week before the babies venture out of the box.