The work of His hands

It's been rainy and cold and dreary the past couple of days.  And just last week I posted about the girls playing outside in the sprinkler because it was so hot!

Because it's been yucky outside, maybe some lovely, warm weather pictures will brighten your mood!  And if it's not raining outside, then maybe some lovely, warm weather pictures will still brighten your mood!

So, without further ado, here's just some every day stuff that goes on around here.

We love to go on walks.  The outskirts of our neighborhood are beautiful - beautiful trees, hills in the distance, horses.  Sometimes cows.

I guess the cows are beautiful, too.  In their own way.  Sorry, I don't have any pictures of cows, though.

You know, we don't have to be entertained by the TV, computer, etc.  God has provided a wondrous creation for us to explore.  There is so much to learn and discover, and I think it's so important for children to learn as much as they can through all 5 senses.  What better place to do that than outside?

The other day on our walk we encountered different smells and talked about them.  We smelled flowers and tried to discover where they came from (never could find them).  We also smelled a skunk (didn't want to find that).

We saw beautiful trees and talked about how different they were - their leaves, their height, their fullness.  

I just love trees.  They invoke such presence.  They give so much life.

We felt the grass and the leaves and the dirt.

We listened to the birds and the wind.  And some dogs barking at us when we walked by.

We didn't taste anything, though.  Gotta be careful about that.

This day (sometime last week) the girls were sportin' their new hats.

Iz wouldn't let me get a good picture of her.  You can tell she's laughing, though.  Goob.

She's 5 now, and as of late, acts like she's 13 and just not. going. to. humor. me.

See what I mean?

These next few pictures were not taken on the same day as the ones above (as you can tell by their clothes).

We love to go say hi to the horses down the road. 

Hello, Mr. Horse.

If you haven't noticed so far, Izzy has been picking out her clothes lately.  I usually don't make a big deal out of it because it's not like we really go anywhere (besides all over our neighborhood, ahem).

These are not our horses.  I hope their owners don't mind that I took their picture...

See the beautiful scenery we get to gaze at?  (Oh, I just know that's not proper grammar.)

The work of His hands.  There's a pond down there - do you see it?

Pretty tree.  Don't know what kind it is, though.  I know nothing about trees.  It stood out among all the other trees because it's tinted purple.  That's why I took a picture of it, in case you're wondering.

These were taken a little over a month ago, when there were a ton of dandelions.

Somebody needs to mow.  (It's mowed now.)

I really don't know what's hanging out of her mouth.  Some kind of string/fabric.  I love looking at those hills in the background (and her, of course, ha).

I saw this squirrel one day just hanging out in our tiny tree, and thought it was funny.  Of all the humongous trees in our neighborhood, he chose this one.  (The tree is luscious and full of leaves now.)

My loves.  This is a really pretty bush (not in our yard, of course.)  Anybody know what it is?

Other than walks, we spend a lot of time in the back yard.  The girls are both finally old enough to just play and play without needing me to entertain them.  And I'll admit it...it's nice that now I don't have to be out there with them the whole time.  It makes it a lot easier to get dinner ready  :)

Addy's pants are always falling down.  It doesn't matter what she's doing, they're saggin'.  It's so funny.

And this is when Izzy's shorts actually fell off (they're a tad big on her).  I looked out the window a few minutes later and neither of them had pants on at all.  No picture, sorry!

They are big into digging.  They need a sand box.

Sometimes they get carried away and start pouring dirt on the dogs.  (Yes, they get in trouble for that.)

They're not really afraid of worms.  It's really surprising because Addy freaks out if she sees a fly (or any other bug).  I'm talking high-pitched shriek.  If you have spent any amount of time with her, you know what I'm talking about.

Izzy's turn.

Addy cannot go into the back yard without confiscating the dog's food and giving them one. piece. at. a. time.

She gets kinda stingy with it.  Poor dogs, look at 'em.  (Yes, she does get in trouble for this, too.  She can be a terd head.  I say that in the most loving way.)

And here's a picture of ol' Pelphrey, laying in the dirt, cooling off in the shade.

It's a rough life isn't it, Pelphrey?

So get outside, it's beautiful!  (As long as it's not raining non-stop like it is today...again.)

I hope you're having a wonderful spring!