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.