Desert Gardens

I know, I know. Where have I been? Well, who knows, really. I have tons of excuses- though not many good ones. So I'll just skip it. One thing I've been doing, though, it playing hostess to some wonderful visitors- my parents! While we were in Phoenix we spent the morning at the Desert Botanical Garden. Sound like an oxymoron? Well, maybe not. We saw some amazing cactus, tons of wildflowers in bloom, very cool sculptures and birds galore. It's definitely a must-see if you're ever in the area, and also a great kick-off to our time together.

Walking on the Bottom

This is by far the most exciting thing that we've done all week. (I know, it's sad.) For the kids, though, it certainly was a novelty. We've been at home a lot- so it's been nice to have something interesting happening in our own backyard. Literally. I'm trying to make some headway on a couple of projects and generally getting ready for house guests next week. Meanwhile, the kids have been checking the progress of the garden hose at refilling this. Yup. It's been a good diversion.

Just Humming Along

We've been super busy lately, doing some not so super things...like baskets full of laundry and taxes. But we've also been doing some super fun things...like watching our little hummingbird family grow. Meet Mama Hummingbird, who is enjoying the hospitality of our lemon tree for her nest this year. She fastidiously guards her nest- and is getting more and more protective everyday, so I think the time for hatching may be getting near.




It's been a great learning opportunity. We've spent several days talking about hummingbirds. We measured out grains of rice to see how tiny the babies will be, and how little they will weigh- less than one gram! Along the way, I found this great little Hummingbird Craft, which we had a great time doing.

How To...

Last week we were reading How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. Well we saw the world, and now we finally got around to making that apple pie. All it needs now is a little "a la mode"...fortunately our market is open for business.