{Joyful Things} - books, birds, and beautiful weather

I know I already have a post entitled "Joyful Things" but I would like to continue this theme every now and then with a post highlighting the things we've been enjoying as of late...the joyful things; the things to be thankful for, which are usually the small things in life.

This morning I actually went back and reread the above post because...I needed to.  Yesterday was rough and I know we all have rough days and have a difficult time getting our mind back on the right track.  Sometimes we just need a reminder :)

So here are some things we've been enjoying.

I've already been enjoying the beginning of yard sale season.  I love yard sales!!!!  You just never know what you're going to find (that you probably don't need, HA).  I visited my parents last weekend and there was a huge yard sale at the local fairgrounds.  What did I come home with?  That's right....books!  Mostly children's books and at 25 cents apiece, I'm thinking I did pretty good.  Here's some of what I got:

A bunch of old Thornton Burgess books!

Lots of good picture books.

Some history picture books.

A few readers for Izzy.

Plus, this cool bird book.  It's got some lovely pictures...

Speaking of birds, Izzy and I went for a walk the other evening.  It was so nice because she held my hand the whole time (I had been out of town the previous weekend, so I think she missed me :) ) and we just walked and talked and looked at stuff - she's normally so go-go-go! and half a street ahead of us when we go for walks.

At one point we stopped to watch a pileated woodpecker (of course, I didn't bring my camera).  He was flying around and at one point flew to the ground and stood there about 10 feet away from us.  It was really neat!  Then we saw some birds on the street and I told her that I see them all the time in the trees next door, but I didn't know what they were.  We got home and she brought this book over to me and showed me what they were!  Mourning doves.

It was just so cool because I've been thinking about nature study which we'll begin in the next few months as we start our first homeschool year.  Like I said, Izzy is just a busy-body (we sometimes call her Busy-Izzy), never seeming to be that interested in just stopping and looking at things.  This gave me hope!

Some more nature things...

Izzy found a robin's nest in our peach tree a week or so ago with three eggs in it.  We've been checking on it each day, watching the mama bird guard her eggs.  Unfortunately, this morning I noticed only one egg was in the nest - the other two had fallen out and broken :(  It must have been the wind - the nest is on a pretty low swaying branch.

See the nest above Addy's head?

One day after it rained, we saw a big, beautiful rainbow.

Our first rose bloomed!

And a few more will be on their way soon.

Some of our veggies are coming up.

Corn

Green beans and a zucchini plant on the left

We planted a lot more, but that's all that has come up so far.

We live close to the White River and spent some time there a couple of weeks ago.  It's a fun place to go during the summer (nature study site!).  The girls love to throw rocks and wade around.  Of course, it was too cold to get in.  We'll wait a few weeks.

Izzy's a climber.

So at one point, I turned around and Izzy was praying out loud.  {heart melting}

We've been enjoying the beautiful weather, spending lots of time outside.  Izzy got a new bike for her birthday.  Maybe we can work on getting the training wheels off this summer!

 Izzy likes to hang out in the peach tree every now and then.

Walking the dogs.

It's been fun watching Izzy play tball.  It's fun to watch her and Jared practice at home.

That's all for now!  What have you been enjoying lately?