Baseball practice

Baseball practice went well today.  The Cubs are doing really great.  I think that, once again, they are going to be tough to beat!  I shot a couple pics of both kiddos - one who was the catcher and one who so wishes he was out there playing. 

Valentines Crafts

Today, my older son didn't have school.  It was another rainy morning, so I decided to organize the "arts/crafts bench" and wound up setting the boys up with lots of different crafts to keep them busy.  They had a great time working on their Valentines with glitter, colored sugar, and crayons.  Such little artists. :)

Finished Valentine Masterpieces

Rainy Day

Well, it rained all day today... we were stuck in the house.  Not much to report...  We took advantage of the rainy weather and did a lot of dancing and tumbling, of course. ;-)  I put on some music and the boys had a blast being silly.  I played around and got some flash-blur shots of the boys.  It was actually pretty nice to just relax with no place to rush off to and nothing scheduled.  I stayed in my pj's all day long.  :)  

Video Game Stare

Today after a very active day (2-hr baseball practice, 3-hr gymnastics camp, trampoline time, food shopping, and a family barbeque), my oldest son wanted to just chill and play some Wii. No problem.  He needed to just sit for a while.   He was exhausted!  :)   My younger son just sat next to him (with his Tiger, of course) and watched him play.  I made them some sliced apples, and they just chilled on the ottoman and relaxed before bath time.  Aren't they so cute and so blessedly quiet (ha ha!)?

Park

I took the boys to the park today to meet a bunch of friends and their parents for a fun playdate.  It never happened...  We were there first, and the kiddos played for all of 5 minutes before my oldest son banged his head hard as he was running out from under one of the metal bridges on the playground.  He must have misjudged the height.  I heard the bang.  Ugh... Blood everywhere on his head, crying.... equals heart attack for Mommy.  Turns out it was just a small gash and a bump, but boy it took awhile to find it with all his hair and all the bleeding.... geez - why do head cuts bleed so much?!  Needless to say, I took him and my younger son home so we ALL could recover.  A little medical care from Mommy, a lot of cuddling with me and his brother, a family movie, popcorn, and jammies did the trick.... good as new.  Then, Daddy came home with Chinese food.  Phew.  
Here is a picture of my younger son jumping off the slide RIGHT before the accident.  Isn't he adorable?  At least I have a good memory from the park today. :)

Hawk sighting

My family often sees juvenile hawks in the fall and winter flying around and preying on the feeder birds or snakes in our yard or when we're out on our  morning walks.  I saw this one early this morning sitting on the electric line by our street.  I am no hawk-identifying expert, but I am almost sure this is a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, Accipiter cooperii.  Anyone know for sure? Isn't it a beautiful bird?  It looked RIGHT at us as we walked by.  

Dewy Orchid

I know I just took a picture of an orchid yesterday, but when I saw this dew-covered orchid late this morning, I couldn't resist taking another photo. I couldn't leave out the close-up, beautiful details of the bloom!  I find it amazing how these plants have adapted such gorgeous, showy flowers to aid in pollination.  Check out the stripes and spots in the middle of the flower that act like a "runway" and a bulls-eye to guide pollinators in.  It is especially cool to think that bees see in ultraviolet light so these are very bright targets to them.  Isn't biology fascinating?