Wildlife Rehab Center

Danielle's Daisy troop is working on their caring petal. At their last meeting they helped make a quilt to donate to a child with cancer. I saw that our local wildlife rehab center is looking for people to donate homemade rice bags to use for their orphaned wildlife babies, so we are going to make some of those at our next meeting. We are considering taking the girls to the wildlife center at a future meeting to donate their goodies. Since it's been a couple years since I've been there, I thought Danielle and I should check it out before we drag 20 other kindergarten and first graders there on my suggestion!

I took the kids there a couple summers ago. We had a really good time. When Danielle and I went this time, though, I wasn't convinced it would be a good outing for the whole troop. I'm not sure there's enough to do or see to make it worth the drive, at least at this point in the year. Maybe when the weather is better.

Put an animal in front of Danielle, and she's happy, though.

The fox is still there. Someone "kidnapped" it from it's mother when it was a baby. They wanted to raise it as a pet, but wild animals do not make good pets (duh!). This poor fox can't be released in the wild now because it would rather associate with humans than with other foxes. I felt bad for it. A pen doesn't sound like much of a life, does it?

The raccoons were also a failed attempt at making wild animals into pets.

Not all the animals are there because of human stupidity. Some were orphaned when their parents were hit by cars or because they injured a wing/leg/eye and it won't heal well enough for them to survive on their own in the wild. There was a cooper's hawk there that is blind in one eye. Cooper's get so focused on chasing their prey that they often don't notice a window or garage door. The one at the center hit a window. Our neighborhood cooper's was chasing a bird one day and bounced right off our family room window. Thankfully he was ok.

I don't remember why the coyote is there, but I think he would be teased mercilessly if his wild packmates could see him now. He's quite chubby, which is not the way coyotes were meant to be! At least he has a home and food (plenty of it). He whimpered like Clara, and we really wanted to scratch his fat, fuzzy belly.

Hunting for Salamanders

After the parade & lunch yesterday, we said goodbye to Grandma & Grandpa and then hustled over to the park for a salamander program.




There were WAY too many people at the program initially. A local school was offering extra credit to their AP biology students for attending, so there were a lot of bodies, and not all of them really wanted to be there. At first there were too many people to actually venture into the vernal pools to look for salamanders, so we had to hope that the volunteers found some. They didn't. The weather the night before was pretty chilly, so no salamanders crawled into the traps overnight, either. (You can see the empty traps in one of the pictures below.) The volunteers pulled out some salamander eggs, bugs, other invertebrates, and a spring peeper for the kids to look at. After waiting around in the huge crowd of people for a little while, the 4 of us walked a little further down the path to another vernal pool. The noise from the spring peepers was almost deafening, but we couldn't find any of the little guys ourselves!






When we walked back to rejoin the program, almost everyone had gone. Only a couple other families stayed. The naturalist recognized us from other programs and told Tyler & Danielle they could walk along the edge of the pool to look for salamanders or other goodies. She even let Danielle use her big net. The kids didn't find anything at all, but they felt pretty special and really enjoyed looking.


































I think the sun shining off the reflection in this picture looks like a bunch of perfect little stars!












After exploring for quite awhile, we went home, put on our pjs, and watched a couple movies. Between the parade (and all the waiting time before hand) and the salamander program, we did quite a bit of walking and got our share of fresh air. We were pooped! It was a really good day - lots of great memories.

Parade Performance

Today Danielle's baton group twirled in a St. Patrick's Day parade. This was their first parade and there are some really young girls in the troop, so we weren't real sure how it was going to go. Turns out we didn't need to worry. They all did really well and they looked so cute! Danielle did an awesome job leading everyone. I was so proud of her!!

Tyler and another twirler's brother were recruited to carry our sign. He did a great job and really enjoyed it. I was really amused at the end of the route, though, when Tyler showed me 2 pieces of candy he managed to scoop up as we were walking! I don't know how he managed to bend down and scoop up candy (twice!) while carrying that sign and trying to keep pace. I guess candy is a great motivator.







































After the parade we enjoyed lunch with Grandma & Grandpa R. Grandma gave Danielle a "flower pop" bouquet for her performance, too. She loved it.

My Munchkin

Tonight was the school play. Tyler didn't get an individual speaking part, but he got to be a munchkin. He enjoyed getting to be a part of it, and the play was really cute.

He got to wear green hair dye. Yippee.

Grandma R made him a lollipop bouquet for his minor debut. It was a very thoughtful gesture, and he really appreciated it!

Baton Practice

Danielle's baton group is "marching" in a St. Patrick's Day parade this weekend. I'm using the term "marching" very loosely. Most of them will be walking, some may be jogging to keep up, but whatever they do, I think they will look cute.

Danielle and a 5th grade girl who helps out are leading the rest of the class in the parade. Danielle was super excited at first but now she's a little nervous. I think she'll do great. Sometimes I forget how little she still is. Here are some pictures from tonight's practice.

Photo Sundries

Wisdom

A couple weeks ago we had a guest speaker at church. He was funny and really easy to listen to, but I don't remember all the details of his message now. I know it involved a hula hoop and a pair of cleats (to remind us to "strap" on the Parakletos - ha!). What struck me the most, though, was this verse from James 1:5

If any of you lacks widsom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him

I've heard that verse many times before, but it stopped me in my tracks this time. As a parent, of all the things I should be asking God for, it's wisdom!!! How many times in just one day do I make choices that will affect who my children become, what their outlook on the world will be, or how they will determine their self worth? Those are some pretty serious issues!!! I worry about these things all the time. I worry about how our children will "turn out", but how often have I asked for wisdom? Well, not nearly enough! This verse should be the closing to each day and the opening of every morning! God, please give me wisdom to teach Tyler and Danielle, give me wisdom to handle situations in Godly ways, give me wisdom to do what's right and make the right choices, give me the wisdom to know when to be firm or when to bestow grace, when to overlook or when to address, wisdom to know how to discipline in love.
God... just give me wisdom!

I like the rest of that verse, too. God promises that when we ask for wisdom, He will give it to us. And not just a little bit and not while making us feel incompetent - He will give wisdom generously and without finding fault! What a relief to me because a small little helping of wisdom isn't going to get me very far. Most of you know my children - I need a generous, heaping portion of wisdom! And most of you know me. I love my kids and I mean well, but I have a lot of imperfections and most of the time I am far from wise. I need a generous portion of wisdom. And I believe that God will give it to me if I ask Him for it.

The other night as I was falling asleep I suddenly remembered I hadn't specifically prayed for wisdom. I prayed and went back to bed. The very next day a situation arose in which God granted me His wisdom. At the time, I didn't even realize I needed it or that He was giving it to me. Later that night when the house was quiet and I was replaying my day, I saw very clearly how much differently I responded than I normally would have. God gave wisdom.

I found out the following day that I had been presented with incorrect information. God's generous helping of wisdom the previous day had prevented me from over-reacting then, which meant that I didn't have to backtrack and apologize or attempt to smooth over hurt feelings, which gets harder each time. As promised, God gave wisdom, and He gave it generously.

Signs of Spring

The redwing blackbirds have returned and are singing their love songs.

Tiny shoots of green are peeking through the leaves.

Creepy crawlies are emerging.

This guy was on our window.

(Those are water droplets on the caterpillar's back.)

Ice Skating

This seems to be "birthday party season" for the 1st graders in Danielle's class. Today she attended a party at an ice skating rink. The birthday girl has a sister in Tyler's class, so Tyler was invited to the party, too. This was our kids' first time ice skating. They were nervous, but they did a great job. They really enjoyed it, too, and refused to leave the ice until their ankles were red and blistered. (Didn't even think about layering their socks! Duh!)

The kids wanted me to skate with them, so I gave it a shot. I think I've only ice skated once or twice before, and I was much much younger. There's nothing like skating a couple laps around the rink to remind you that you're no longer 20...or even 30. I made it around a couple times but decided to give up when Danielle lapped me. :)

It was a fun afternoon.

Fancy Danielle

Today Danielle attended a Fancy Nancy Extravaganza at our library. As you might guess, she was most excited about dressing up. The party itself was just so-so. Two of her neighbor friends went, which made it even more fun.

They had a few different stations at the party, including a "Charm School" where the girls worked on their posture and learned to sit like a lady and to curtsy. They also made tiaras and had fancy snacks. They each got a bag of SWAG before leaving. It was a fun afternoon.