Do Beetles Eat Ants?

Yes, I believe beetles do eat ants. But I did not notice that when I took the picture. How I wish I had stayed around for a few more minutes!

This Is Love

Love shows itself in so many ways - it is good to be in tune to these things! Every morning, Paul pours me a bowl of cereal - this kind of cereal - even when he's up at 3:30 a.m to catch an early flight. Healthy. Good stuff. No sugar. Lots of fiber. He knows that I would never eat such a thing if I had to rummage through the cupboards myself - bypassing all that yummy stuff. But I eat it. Every morning. 'Cause Love made it ready.

Talking Too Much

Let's just say that Josiah has his own way of solving his problems . . .

Daffodils

No denying it now. Spring is here! :)

Second Cousins

What fun to have someone to play with all morning! Selah, Judah and Isaiah came to play today so their mom could get some work done. Notice how Isaiah is trying to crawl into the box as well . . .
Shifrah was quite enthralled with Isaiah - calling him "Sweety Boy" all morning - but he wasn't half so enthralled with her. He is not smiling in the picture below; he is saying "help".

Spring Has Sprung!

Awkward

Ever notice how the word "awkward" looks . . . well . . . awkward!

Loose Chickens!

Apparently our neighbors periodically let their chickens out of their coop to roam around the woods and eat the grubs.
One of the more curious ones, made it into our back yard and Hadassah took to the task of catching the critter. Cute little guys but Hadassah wasn't actually all that impressed with them - as you can see.
Reminds me of a summer job I had once as a teen . . . . catching turkeys. They'd send us out into a big fenced-in area full of turkeys. Our job was to catch them (from behind by their ankles) and bring them three at a time to a big truck that was to carry them away. Fun, eh?

Flowers To Cheer A Soul

When winter has over-stayed its welcome and spring comes roaring in with 3 days of flooding rain, it is nice to get flowers:

Homesick For Heaven

To live is Christ. To die is gain.
And I am hard pressed between the two.
Having a desire to depart and be with Christ,
which is far better.

And after my body has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God!

How my heart faints within me!
We know that while we are at home in the body,

we are away from the Lord,
We would rather be away from the body

and at home with the Lord.

Phillipians 1:21. 1:23. Job 19:26. 19:27. 2 Corinthians 5:6. 5:8

Name That Spider

This morning, I was really wishing that Shifrah was a bit more afraid of spiders. Here is her latest friend. She keeps asking me, "Where's my bug, Mommy? Where's my bug?"

"Hi Lady!"

Yesterday, I was pondering the reactions of strangers to a friendly toddler. I took Shifrah shopping and typical of Shifrah, she greets each person she sees with a friendly, "Hi Lady!" or "Hi Man!"

My favorite people are the ones whose face breaks into a smile and responds with a cheery "Hi there!" and a gracious glance (with a slightly more reserved smile) at me.

Then we have the is-she-talking-to-me? people. They first look. Yes, why yes, shocking as it is, this kid is greeting me with a friendly 'hello'. Guess I better smile or something. Awkward smile follows. A glance at me then quickly looks away and gets out of there.

And finally, the glarers. This is Jersey, after all. We've got things to do. Places to go. We're BUSY. Why do people have to take their kids shopping anyway?

Shifrah is unmoved by it, of course. She is looking for the next person to greet with a friendly "Hi Lady!" and we continue to shop.

Animals of the Wild

Yesterday, I took Shifrah to see the Animals of the Wild show at Josiah's school. Too bad she wasn't as fascinated as I was! Here are the animals that we saw.

This is a Albino African Pygmy Hedgehog. This was my favorite. Not sure what it is about hedgehogs . . .

This is a Sugar Glider. As you can guess, he likes to eat sweets. And he has skin that goes from his "wrists" to his "ankles" allowing him to jump from branch to branch without falling - kind of like a flying squirrel. Cute little thing - for a rodent.

This is an African Crested Porcupine.

And here is a Pantagonian Cavy - apparently the third largest rodent.

And finally, a Potbelly Pig!

The man that showed us the animals told us many interesting things about each one - some of which I remember - but I was happy enough to just get their names!

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Cute little critters:

Boy Scout Derby Race

Saturday was the Boy Scout Pinewood Derby Race. Here are all the cars lined up - Josiah's car is the burgandy one right in the front:
On your mark . . . get set . . . Go!

Here's Josiah with his friend and neighbor, Nathan. 2nd and 3rd place winners, those boys (in their den, that is). And yes, Josiah and Nathan are the "same" age.

Girlfriends!

Hadassah would have a sleepover every night of the week, if we allowed it. Here she is with some of her best buddies: Faith (a homeschooled friend since birth), then Hadassah, of course, then Victoria (from school), then Andrea (from down the street) and Karlea (also from school).