A Tuesday treat (at least I think so!) ...

To TOTALLY switch music styles, I thought I would let you all into my secret love of Pink.  I have been listening to her for awhile.  I find her fascinating for some reason.  I taped her show on Storytellers awhile back, and fell in love with this song.  I also love FUN. and the guy singing in this song with her is the lead singer of that group.  You may not love Pink like I do, but I hope that you can enjoy their voices together.

Listen ...

A special Monday treat...

A while back we got some new speakers for our family room.  Kyle has loved them!  A while back we had to get a new DVD player because ours broke, so we got a blu-ray player.  Kyle has loved it because you can stream Pandora on it.  I tell you all this because Kyle has really come to love listening to music ... he has it on all the time.  Now I have always loved music.  I like A LOT of different kinds of music.  Kyle is kind of stuck in the 1970's or the 1950's.  He likes to point out how different we are in our music tastes!  I was reflecting on this the other day, because we don't seem to be moving toward each others likes ... only farther away.  Here is the "Jack moment" (in other words, the silver lining moment!) ... AT LEAST WE BOTH HAVE A LOVE OF MUSIC!!  We both appreciate and love to listen to music and that is what we have in common! 

Over the weekend, I downloaded a new CD.  I really like it.  Below is a video of my new favorite song!  Enjoy listening to it ...

Last spring at 985 W 18th Avenue ...

I have made it a habit of snapping photos as our plants emerge each spring.  I love to watch spring happen ... I am a bit of dork about it!  It fascinates me to watch something open so gloriously that has been bound so tight all winter.  We have almost every color imaginable in our yard, and it is to my delight.  The other day it was beautiful out, so I grabbed the camera and waited as the sun went in and out of the clouds to snap some great pictures.  I hope you can enjoy them - even from afar and on a computer!

This plant makes me smile because it is the perfect blend of yellow and green 

The bees have come to help sweeten the blueberries, which we will probably miss this year 

 

My very favorite azalea that is in our yard.  It is the most glorious orange and has the most blooms!

Another of my favorites is this fothergilla.  I love the unusual blooms and then in the fall it turns yellow and orange.

The azalea that I look out at from the kitchen window.  It is one of the few shrubs that is left from the original owner ... and it is amazing! 

These spirea were originally planted out back by the addition, but got all leggy and curly because they did not get enough sun and were "reaching" for the light.  I convinced Kyle we needed to move them.  They were perfect for the front yard under the picture window by the front door ... and they LOVE it there.  They are nice and big and straight (see, I know what I am talking about!) 

Oh, our maple.  We planted this tree a couple of falls ago.  It loves it in our yard, and I love to watch it grow.  I am going to miss this maple.  It has great color.

Amazingly there are still more things yet to bloom in our yard that I will be snapping pictures of soon.  I will miss our house, but I think that I will miss our yard the most.  I have really loved taking care of this yard.  I am weird, but I love to go out and get lost in pruning the plants ... I still think there could be a career there for me somewhere ... and I am just cheesy enough to think that it is something that I inherited genetically from my grandparents/dad's side of the family!

Here is to spring!

Vegetables ...

Before cooking ...

 After cooking ...

I have finally resolved that I can not wait for my family to decide to like vegetables to eat them myself on a regular basis with dinner.  Now one might think that I would have figured this out long before today, but sometimes I am a little slow to things.  I guess it is just me holding out hope that their palettes will change.  But alas, they have not.  So ... I have started to make roasted vegetables most nights for me.  I make alot and then I have leftovers for the next few days.  I LOVE ROASTED VEGETABLES.  As I sit at the table with my family, one can often hear me saying ... "I don't understand you people!  How can you not like these foods!"  They just shake their heads at me and say ... "Oh, mom!"  The other night I went so far as to say that I was going to out live them all because of the vegetables I eat regularly and with much joy and delight.  (One could say that I am slipping into self righteousness, but I am just holding out that I am being healthy)  So ... I am going to keep on keeping on with my vegetable making and maybe just maybe one night at the table I will hear ... "Mom, can you please scoop me up some of those yummy looking vegetables!"

Our little friend ...

 

 

 

So Friday the kids and I were in the family room doing some reading, and this bird flew up to the window.  He has been here everyday since then.  He spent about 5 hours on Friday on the window.  He would fly away but come right back.  He was scared of us looking at him.  He pecked at the window.  He flew up the door window and back down.  He "cooed" at the window.  He is a beautiful bird, but I am afraid that he is quite stupid!  Molly was most concerned that he was hungry.  She convinced us to move the birdhouse down to the ground right by the door.  He was not interested in the food, but I am quite certain that he was thankful for the perch as a reprieve from the window sill.  He would sit on the birdhouse and then fly to the window.  When he got tired, he would go back to the birdhouse.  I didn't think he would come back the next day, but he has made appearance everyday at the window.  Some friends have tried to convince me that it him just fighting for "position" with his reflection ... but I am not so sure.

Oh well, at least there has been some interesting distraction around here the last couple of days!

Spring Break 2013 ...

 Two faces for my Jack

 

 Two faces for my Molly

 Jack took this picture of us after lunch.  It was from a distance, but I like it!

Jack also took this picture.  I am not crazy about it because my smile is not natural but I guess every blog needs a picture now and then of the "author"!

Jack has decided that he would indeed like a camera of his own and he would like to start a blog of his own, so we are going to work on solving this over the next few months.

Our spring break was good.  We went to Spokane for a few days.  We figured we better go spend some time in the city that we are moving to before we actually move.  We spent many hours looking at houses to buy ... we found one but are waiting a little while before we do anything about it.  We spent many hours at the hotel pool ... watching the kids swim and swim.  We spent some time looking a three school options for the kids ... it helped the kids feel more at home looking at the schools (YEAH!)  We spent good family time relaxing at night in the hotel room.  We had great weather and really enjoyed exploring our new home.

Lastly, we celebrated Kyle's birthday with a drive home to Eugene ... which he was excited about!

Easter photo shoot ...

 Jack smiling with less than 100% enthusisam!

 Brother and sister shot

  

I had just told them that they were indeed receiving an easter basket!

 

 

 

The many different faces of Molly Clark Parker!