Bird houses

Jason and Faith put up the bird feeder yesterday. We have some food for the birds, but need to get some more. Here they are in action!

Putting up the bird feeder


Walking around with a stick


Opening the bird food


Faith helping put the bird food in the feeder.


The two bird-feeder-putter-uppers posing after their task was done.


Dancing about in the yard, happy that the bird feeder is finally up!

The tomato and basil plant update

So the tomato plants are doing well. Since Faith and I separated each plant into its own container, they started developing true leaves. This first picture shows what the cotyledons look like (first leaves). The second picture shows what our first true leaves look like. See the difference.

Diamond Darling

For those of you who have known me for a long time probably know at some point that I dreamed of playing professional baseball. Those dreams fizzled out quicker than my fastball transformed into a change up by the time it reached home plate. Nevertheless, I never let those dreams keep me away from the game.

On Friday, I took Faith to her first baseball game, mostly because I'm having withdrawal from not covering the Braves this spring. And while I have no intention of being one of those parents who tries to live out his dreams through his kids, I thought it would be fun to take her to a game and see how she reacted.

Trying to keep Faith in one place for even short periods of time is like trying to catch wind in a jar. Just when you think you've got her ... BAM! She's gone! But she was complacent for about a half an inning, which lasted forever because the poor kid on the mound was serving up beach balls that forced his outfielders to run sprints.

Once the final out was finally made, Faith's face lit up when she heard the warm-up music blaring over the loud speakers. Faith immediately climbed out of my lap and found an area in the bleachers that was unoccupied. She looked around to gain an audience (something that's easy for a red-headed toddler) and found a few willing to give her their attention. Then she began dancing.

While we don't have a lengthy baby-sitter list, taking Faith to a public place where there are many teenage girls is almost always a sure fire way to have people come over and volunteer to baby sit her. Sticking with our baseball theme, we struck out. But not before Faith managed to get three teeny boppers to oogle over her for about a minute. (Seriously, any of my single friends are more than welcome to take her to the park. I'm sure she could attract 20-somethings, too.)

After that, she darted off for the bullpen, the perfect place to keep her corralled for a few moments. Then it dawned on me that Faith's penchant for cleaning off surfaces makes her the perfect candidate for an umpire. Here she is in action, dusting off home plate.
After she cleaned off home plate, she needed a ball. So, she raced toward the batting cages to pick up a few. However, she wanted to give it to the players on the field, whom she managed to distract from the game as well. Of course, who could blame them? When you're getting shelled 13-1, watching a toddler dance during the coach's trips to the mound is much more entertaining that figuring out what cut off man you're supposed to hit after the next batter bangs a double to the alley. Here's Faith trying to throw a ball onto the field ... and getting frustrated.


Of course, she's just not tall enough nor does she possess the arm strength necessary to pitch the ball over the fence, the latter of which was an unfortunate "skill" she inherited from her daddy. So, she did what any smart toddler does. She asked her daddy to do it.



All in all, it was a fun day at the park. Faith got a little taste of America's favorite pastime, and she still got to dance. What's not to love about the ball park?

Faith and Sheep Herding

We took Faith to a festival where there were some dogs sheep herding. She had fun watching them. Here she is up close and personal to the sheep, before they let them out.




Here the sheep are, being herded!




Faith was just walking around like a big girl at the festival.




In fact, she had a little too much fun running around and jumping in place.... she ended up doing a face plant on the pavement and scraped her face. It was only the side of her nose that got it real good!

Faith's and My Tomato and Basil Gardening Project

Faith and I are trying our hand at gardening this year. It is the first year we have lived somewhere that gets tons of sun in the back yard, so we are planting tomatoes and basil! Here is what we have been doing the past month with our green thumbs. Let's see if they end up living!

Here is Faith after we planted our seeds. She brought dirt to cover the seeds, and she sprinkled seeds in each well. Finally, she got out the water bucket to water our newly planted tomato and basil seeds.




A few weeks later, as we were scoping out the yard for our future tomato and basil plants, Faith discovered an earthworm. It was so sweet that she just picked it up and handed it to me. I had to teach her that we handled earthworms very gently and that we gave them love pats very gently. The word "gently" didn't sink in until it was too late, I am sad to report. Here she is giving the worm a love pat.




In this picture Faith is just tuckered out after all of the watering she has been doing for our other plants in our yard.





Here Faith is collecting leaves that have just blown into our yard. I think she felt it necessary to keep a tidy lawn. She is very proud of her work, as you can tell.





So, at about 4-5 weeks later, our tomato plants and basil have all sprouted! They are majorly overcrowded. Here is Faith and dolly with the overcrowded plants.




Faith and I had to separate the plants out and replant each individual tomato plant into styrofoam cups, so they could do a better job at growing. I hope it worked and that we didn't kill them by transplanting them. Look forward to more postings on our Tomato and Basil Gardening project.

Florida Trip

Faith and I (Janel) went to Naples, FL to visit family. We had so much fun visiting. Faith really enjoyed playing with her cousins Ethan (3 1/2 yrs) and Ella (2 yrs). Here they are reading books with Papa.



Aunt "tuh" (Tia), Ethan, Ella and Faith and I went to the Naples Zoo. Faith started out in her stroller and Ethan and Ella got a cool wagon that they rode in. Soon, they all started pushing the wagon, once they realized they really wanted to put a little muscle into it.



Swimming was a blast too. All the kids had fun!



Oh, and Faith loved the beach...I mean LOVED the beach! All she wanted to do was make a quick getaway towards the water. And once she got to the water, she wanted to go deeper and deeper. Never mind the waves being bigger than she was and knocking her down. She would just get back up and try to go in the water further.

Can Your Kid Do This?

I'm sure at some point we've all been in a conversation with parents where they start bragging about how brilliant their kids are. I'm not naive enough to think my kid is the brightest and/or most talented, but it kind of would be cool if Faith was some superhuman prodigy and I could break out with an "I walked on the moon" story like Brian Regan tells.

However, we all know pictures don't lie, so I just had to post this one of Faith performing a two-handed dunk at some of our new neighbors' house today. We went to the park and were swinging. While I was lost in thought, wondering if that Nationwide commercial about life coming at your fast was going to be my reality, Faith begins pointing at a teenage brother and sister combination shooting hoops. It only took a few minutes before she made friends and was suddenly engaged in a friendly game of horse.

Now, before you think Faith is superhuman, dunking on a 10-foot goal, her new best friend, the teenage boy, lowered the goal to 8-feet. Before I knew it, she was throwing down two-handed dunks she learned while watching an NBA game without me (mostly because I don't watch the NBA anymore due to continual abuse from being forced to watch the Hawks while living in Atlanta). Me and her new friends begged her to try some nasty one-handed slams, but she told us to "Get real! My hands aren't big enough to palm the ball yet!" Any minute now, I'm expecting a call from Pat Summit.

OK, OK. Faith isn't really that articulate yet nor did she jump up on her own. Here's what really happened.


However, she needed no coaxing to know what to do around the basket. She was jamming away, much to the delight of her new friends.

But who knows? Maybe one day, Faith will be running a team from the point or even palming the ball. The sky is the limit.