Wednesday Outdoor Hour: Happy Earth Day!

The lilac bush is getting close to blooming!

How perfect that our nature day worked out to be right on Earth Day! We had a wonderful time today even though we didn't quite get to everything we wanted to do.

Hannah got all creative and took this picture of our tools.

We got our main school work done this morning and then spent the afternoon outside in the yard. We made a bird bath (post coming soon!) and filled up our bird feeders. We have so much fun watching all the birds that come to our yard every day. I will admit the goldfinches are my favorite though. 

Strawberries are blooming like crazy! Hopefully we can keep the birds and bugs from eating them so we get a good crop this year!

Hopefully soon we'll see some peas, beets and flowers sprouting up! And check out the oregano! That stuff is going crazy!

After taking care of our feathered friends, we worked on the yard, picking up trash and tumble weeds that have blown in over the last couple days that were super windy. We had planned on walking around the neighborhood picking up trash too, but didn't quite have enough time. That's kind of been our tradition on Earth Day for the last several years. Of course, we can always do it another day. There's plenty of trash blowing around everywhere.

The main thing we wanted to get done today was planting some seeds. We got our gutters up on the fence with lettuce, spinach, kale and chard. We also got our peas and first planting of beets in the ground today. And can't forget about our flower seeds. The girls (and me too!) love flowers so much we decided to take one section of the garden and devote it to flowers this year. Hopefully they will grow well so we can have lots of fresh flowers to grace our home this summer.

I had some photography help today. Ellie took this one, and I just love how happy Hannah looks.

What did you do for Earth Day? We'd love to hear from you!

Yard pic: April 22, 2015

Blessings!

Daybook- April 20, 2015

Good morning! Another Monday! The sun is shining and we are mostly over the yucky bug we had last week.

For Today...April 20, 2015

Outside my window...the sun is shining, there's a little bit of snow on the rooftops, and the birds are flitting around at the feeders.

I am thinking...about everything that needs to be done this week. Everything gets backed up when you're down with a fever for several days.

I am thankful...we are starting to feel better.

I am wearing...jeans and a new peach 3/4 sleeve top that I got at the grocery store. Ha! How many people do their clothes shopping at the grocery store? Our King Sooper's just remodeled and they have a really nice clothing department and they are always having some great sales.

I am creating...a work space in a little corner of the dining area. I had planned on having it done last week, but then had to go get sick. My goal is to finish it this week. I will share some pictures.

I am going...to IKEA today!!! Yippee!!!

I am wondering...what treasures we'll find at IKEA...I love to check out the "As Is" section for great bargains.

I am reading...Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas at the recommendation of some friends.

I am hoping...to get back on track with our home school this week. Last week really threw a lot of wrenches into plans.

I am learning...to just go with the flow. Sometimes things just don't go as planned.

In my garden...we've been eating fresh salads of spinach and lettuce. Soon there will be kale big enough to eat too. It has been glorious! Hoping to get some pea and beet seeds planted this week.

In my kitchen...can't wait to get back in the cooking groove. First order is making kombucha and yogurt. Thankful for my mom and brother who helped us out with some food last week while we were sick.

In the homeschool room...doing some math tests this week to help figure out what curriculum to get for next year. And also just catching up on what we missed last week. That's the beauty of homeschooling though...we can be super flexible.

A favorite quote for today...the art of happiness is to serve all. -from my tea bag

A peek into one of my days...

My messy desk...hopefully it will be organized soon.

One of my favorite things...fresh flowers, and my hubby was so sweet to bring some home for me last week when I wasn't feeling well. He's the best!

If you would like to join the Simple Woman's Daybook and share your own day just head over here.

Blessings!

Wednesday Outdoor Hour: American Goldfinch

This week for our Outdoor Hour we decided to read about the American Goldfinch. We don't usually get too many different kinds of birds in our backyard. Mostly just House Finches and Robins. This Spring we have gotten a real treat to have about half a dozen American Goldfinches hanging around at our feeders! So we figured we should take advantage of that!

It has been so fun to see these bright yellow little guys out there with our equally pretty House Finches. Today they were hanging out in our yard almost all day so we got to spend lots of time observing them and enjoying their little antics. There are a few that aren't very good at sharing the feeder with others and they try to chase the others off. The other ones don't give up easily though.

The girls enjoyed reading about their habitat and how they build their nests in small trees or shrubs. We're really hoping a pair would decide to build a nest in our lilac bush so we could observe them. It's highly unlikely since our bush isn't very big at all, but we can dream.

We also read that they are very similar to the domestic canary. So we headed off to the pet shop today to see if we could see some canaries and make some observations up close and personal. No canaries though. But we did get to check out the parakeets. And the fish. And the rodents.

Now the girls are scheming about getting mice or goldfish...

Finch friends. House Finch and American Goldfinch.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun enjoying all of these little creatures today both wild and domestic. So thankful to have these times with my girls.

They are super good helpers too as we spent most of the afternoon pulling weeds and raking up the front yard. They love to be outside, even if it means they have to do a little work. :)

Working on their natural journals this evening. Drawing goldfinches of course. :)

Blessings!

Spring Break 2015

Last week was Spring Break for the high school, so we took a break from homeschool too so we could all go have a couple days of fun as a family. We left Monday afternoon and got home Wednesday night. And we crammed as much fun and adventure as we possibly could into those couple of days!

Monday:

We started our adventures with lunch at Costco. Gotta tank up and what better way to do it than with huge slices of pizza? Cheap eats for a family of five.

Then we hit the road toward Rifle, CO. It is about a 4 hour drive out there, over a couple of mountain passes and through a canyon. It is a fabulous and gorgeous drive! So blessed to have so much beauty to explore!

We stopped at our favorite rest stop in Glenwood Canyon to throw rocks in the river and run around. Much fun was had by all. 

After getting to Rifle that evening we drove around the town and then had dinner at Shooters Grill. HUGE portions of delicious, home-cooked food! Yummy!

Then we spend the rest of the evening swimming in the hotel pool which we had all to ourselves.

The girls had fun looking for pretty rocks in the little creek that flowed into the river.

My adventurers found a wall to scale...nearly giving me a heart attack watching my babies up there. But everyone survived! :)

Tuesday:

We woke up and had a lovely, free breakfast at the hotel before heading out for our day's adventures. We were planning on spending the day hiking and exploring out at Rifle Falls State Park. We missed our turn and drove about 30 miles out of the way. But it was still fun and we saw some gorgeous scenery! And we still made it back to the park to spend the rest of the day.

The falls were absolutely stunning! And there were caves to explore and trails to be hiked. We couldn't have asked for better weather either! Sunny and warm!

After hiking and spelunking (sort of) and picnic lunch we headed up the canyon past the park. There was a beautiful area that I guess the locals call the Cascades. The water just flows all over down this hillside and it is just breathtaking! It made me think of something you'd see in a fairy tale! It was so green and there were purple violets carpeting the ground.

Past the Cascades, we continued up the canyon and found a couple of ice caves. 

Finally, headed back down to town in time for dinner and then more swimming!

Rifle Falls

Pictures just don't really do it justice.

Scenery on our way back from our "detour".

Inside a cave!

My climbers!

Putting on a show!

Heading into the earth!

Inside

This was more my kind of cave. There was plenty of daylight coming in.

Checking out the cave formations.

James found a "trail". I think it probably was...for deer. Not so easy for us humans to navigate. But the girls did it with flying colors!

At the Cascades

I wish you could have been there with us! These pictures just don't do it justice! It was amazing!

Up in the canyon.

Ice cave!

Beautiful sunset by Rifle

Wednesday:

Time to start heading back home. But not before we did a little fishing in the local pond. Ellie caught her first fish! It was a good sized rainbow trout, and then shortly after that she caught another! This one was a little bit smaller. We could have had a nice fish dinner if we didn't have such a long drive ahead of us.

On the way home we also stopped back in Glenwood Canyon and hiked the mile or so up to Hanging Lake. Wow! What a gorgeous place! The hike up there was pretty intense, but it was so worth it! And we were so proud of the girls for hiking the whole thing without complaining or asking to be carried or anything. They are so awesome!

When we came back down it was going on 4pm and we still had quite the drive ahead of us. Thankfully it wasn't too bad until we hit road construction traffic and it took almost an hour to go 5 miles. But we were rewarded for our wait by stopping in Idaho Springs and getting some famous Beau Jo's Colorado pizza. Seriously, the BEST pizza ever! We always joke that that's what convinced Matt to move to Colorado. Our friends took us to a Beau Jo's when we were visiting and he was hooked. No turning back. :)

Ellie's fish!

Fisher girls

The hike up through the canyon to Hanging Lake.

Going up!

Hanging Lake

Oh, yeah! We made it up!

Happy hikers. :)

Glenwood Canyon

So thankful for all the fun we had and memories made! Can't wait to go on our next adventure and explore some more of our beautiful state!

Blessings!