Birding Boys

Fighting boredom after school was cancelled, Tristan and Logan decided to start life bird lists like their dad.  They began by finding robins and house sparrows around the neighborhood, but quickly developed a thirst for better birding.  Fortunately for them, it wasn't hard to talk their father into grabbing his binoculars and and take them out.

Dane has his own pair of binoculars and likes to point out red-winged blackbirds, his favorite species.

Even when Tristan doesn't feel like hiking, he insists on going with Logan and Dad because he doesn't want Logan to get ahead of him on his life bird list.  He's gotten skilled at finding birds with the binoculars.

Even this guy sometimes checks out our bird feeder in the backyard.

I like tagging along because it's good exercise and they go to beautiful places.

Here we're at a Purdue research site.

Here we're at Celery Bog, their favorite place to spot birds.  Finn and Dane like to come and scare away all the birds as they run and play with sticks.

Heading home.

Chloe didn't get into birding, but has filled the long hours of quarantine with crafts.  Here she shows some of the cards she made.

She also loves to bake.  Here's the chocolate cake she made for Missy's birthday.

The boys do crafts, too.  They cut holes in an old box, put point amounts by the holes, and tossed bean bags into them.

Logan entering the woods with his field guide on one side and his mentor on the other.

Dane wore his jacket like this for a few weeks, just letting it hang from his head even when it was 40 degrees.  

Birding at Prophetstown State Park.

Becky sent us all masks, and the kids look really cute in them.

I like the droopy-ear look, like that laughing creature from Star Wars.

All masked with nowhere to go.

Guess he couldn't wait 'til nap time.

They're so cute when they're sleeping.

More sleep stalking.

Hiking with the boys while the girls met with friends at the park. They formed a social-distancing circle and chatted for a while, which helped Joss feel more connected with the world again.

Mother's Day 2020.  They made me French toast for breakfast and gave me cute cards and crafts.  At the end of the day, Landon sighed and said, "I always forget that Mother's Day is the most exhausting day of the year!  You don't even know!"  LOL

Jocelynne was getting him dressed for home church when she sensed something was amiss.

I took the training wheels off of Dane's bicycle, and within 15 minutes he fell off and jammed this tooth up into the gums.  The dentist said it was ok and would probably come back down again.

Less than a week later, however, he fell off of a neighbor's scooter, chipping one of his front teeth and losing the other.  Now he wears a helmet and mouth guard (thanks Aunt Sari) every time he rides.  But the kid is brave -- he continued to practice riding that bike without training wheels even though he was terrified.  Last week he finally mastered it.  His smile is going to be pretty goofy for a couple of years, though.

Finally got warm enough for popsicles.

They love to hang out on the trampoline.  Most of the time they're jumping, but I can get better pictures when they're not moving.

The last day of distance learning was last Friday.  I was probably more excited for summer vacation than the kids this year.  No more hounding Logan to get his work done or re-learning algebra to tutor Jocelynne!  We're all hoping they get to go back to school in the fall (except Logan, who is enjoying this coronavirus existence and never wants to go back).

We bought a house!  It's about 3 miles away from where we are now and in the same school district, but we'll have to change wards.  Landon teases that I shouldn't move just to get out of my calling.  On one hand, I'm relieved I don't have to come up with entertaining/spiritual lessons that engage kids from preschool to middle school.  On the other hand, I enjoyed the kids and liked being stretched a little.  But I'm sure I'll teach music in primary again one day.  This was already my second time.  :)  

Some of the kids were anxious about moving until we drove by the house and they got to see it.  It has 300 more square feet than our current home and an extra half bathroom.  Today Dane had to pee in Finn's training potty because there was a run on the bathrooms.  And then, being a tidy boy, he emptied the potty into the kitchen sink.  At least it wasn't on the side that had the clean dishwater in it.