Happy Father's Day

Father's day started early in the morning...the kids couldn't wait to show their Daddy all of the cards that they made for him...

They then gave him their gifts ~ ds7 gave a huge chocolate bar, dd5 gave a bag of marshmallows, and ds2 gave a box of graham crackers ~ I bet you can guess what that makes, right?

Well, my dh has been wanting a firepit for a couple years now, he was quite surprised when we informed him that we would need to purchase a firepit to make the s'mores! He wasted no time, we went by the local hardware store on our way home from church and he picked out this firepit...and we put it to work that evening!

I think it's safe to say that we all love daddy's new firepit!

Our Spring Wildflower Garden

Last spring, we gave the kids a raised bed on the side of our house and a couple packs of wildflower seeds and we let them have at it.

A few weeks ago, I cleaned up the bed and I was very pleased to find that many of the flowers reseeded themselves (many of them were annuals).

So without further ado, my ds7 will take you on a brief tour of this year's flower garden...

I would love to spend some time this summer identifying the wildflowers from our garden ~ and adding some kid-drawn pictures to our nature notebook :)

Nature in our Neighborhood

DS7 found another bird nest under our deck ~ we've been watching the mama bird tend to her eggs and we were excited to learn that the babies hatched today :)

DH and the kiddos came across a baby snapping turtle at the end of our cul-de-sac...another family made sure that this little guy (or girl?) got released into a nearby pond.

It's always exciting when a new bird decides to visit our deck...

Don't ya love it when nature comes to you?

Top 30 Picture Books

A few weeks ago the Bookworm's Booklist posted a list of the top 30 Picture Books according to School Library Journal. She encouraged her readers to copy and paste the list and create a post of our own with it. I've highlighted the books that we have read (and currently own) in this color ~ we've read most of the others also, but you can never read a good book too many times :).

#1: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (1963)

#2: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (1947)

#3: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (1979)

#4: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (1962)

#5: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems (2003)

#6: Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (1941)

#7: Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson (1955)

#8: Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans (1939)

#9: Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag (1928)

#10: Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems (2004)

#11: The Story of Ferdinand by Monroe Leaf, ill. Robert Lawson (1936)

#12: Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann (1994)

#13: Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey (1948)

#14: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, ill. Lane Smith(1989)

#15: Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes (1996)

#16: Owl Moon by Jane Yolen (1987)

#17: Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina (1947)

#18: In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak (1970)

#19: Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (1982)

#20: George and Martha by James Marshall (1972)

#21: Bark, George by Jules Feiffer (1999)

#22: The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone, ill. by Mike Smollin (1971)

#23: Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban (1964)

#24: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, ill. Lois Ehlert (1989)

#25: The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton (1942)

#26: Corduroy by Donald Freeman (1976)

#27: The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (1902)

#28: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, ill. Ray Cruz(1972)

#29: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig (1969)

#30: Brown, Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin Jr., ill. Eric Carle (1967)

The kids and I are getting ready to write a "Things to do this summer" list and I think reading and/or re-reading the books on this list would be a great addition to it. I actually have plans for some fun extras to go with some of these books already.

Be sure to check-out what's in other book baskets over at The Happy Housewife

The Lime Kiln

After exploring the pond area at Fountain Rock, we decided to check out the lime kiln, which was just a short walk in the other direction...

This is one of the original grates used in the kilns.

These holes are about 20 feet deep, and yes, there is a safety gate around this area so you can't get too close!

One of my goals this summer is to explore a couple of nearby parks ~ I am so glad that we took the time to check this one out...

Fountain Rock Nature Center

This past weekend, we headed to one of our new favorite parks. The kids and I have been to the playground area, but we've never explored beyond that ~ here's what we found when we went a bit further back on the property...

Strawberry Pickin'

This past weekend we headed out to the strawberry patch and picked a bunch of yummy strawberries. The weather was perfect - it was very spring-like day, with lots of sun and just enough of a breeze to cool us down when the sun got too hot.

I was worried how the 2yo would do. He loves strawberries, so I figured he'd probably spend most of his time eating them...but he actually did pick a few berries for our basket. And our 7yo son is the perfect berry picker, in my opinion. He does not like strawberries (actually, I think he'd love them if he gave them a chance...) so all the perfect berries that he found went right into our berry basket :).

We ended up with 8 quarts of fresh-picked berries. We've been snacking on them and also making them into homemade freezer jam.