Finches at 8 and 11 days

O.K. to be honest, these days are give or take a day since I don't know exactly when these little guys hatched.  Oh, and please forgive me if these images aren't the best.  The nest is about 6 ft off the ground and in an awkward position.  If I stand tippy-toe, I can just see the heads of these guys peaking over the top of the nest.  Since I don't want to disturb the area any more than necessary, I am taking these shots as quickly as I can holding the camera above my head, pointing into the nest, and shooting blindly.  All that considered, I think they turn out pretty good.

Day 8

In these pictures, and previous pictures as well, I find it fascinating that you can actually see what they have been eating/been fed through the thin skin in their neck.  We have a bird feeder very close to this nest which has assorted seeds.  It's obvious to me that mom has been feeding from them from it.  At this point 5 chicks are still visible.

7-8 days

7-8 days

Day 11

Starting to get some true feathers now.  I took these pics this morning after a night of rain.  Look at all the poo around the edges.  I have heard this is typical behavior for house finches.  However, it makes me want to keep my distance.  I can clearly make out 4 birdies, not sure if we've lost one, or if it is hiding in the jumble of feathers.

10-11 days

10-11 days

Finches at 5-6 days

Took these the over the weekend.  See what a nice nest box a satellite mounting bracket can make.

 What cuties!  

Still lots of nondescript 

grey fluff in there, can 

you see all 5 heads?

Hubby hath proclaimed this fellow shall be named "Peanut"

Good Morning Peanut!

Beginning Bento

How I managed to live this long in the dark about Bento box lunches for kids, I will never know.  If you're not sure what I'm talking about, check out  these magnificent examples from www.mymealbox.com 

http://mymealbox.com/bento/angry-birds-bento

http://mymealbox.com/bento/rabbit-bear-onigiri-bento-update

I'm in awe.  I want one!  I feel my latest obsession coming on.  

Since I'm impatient as well as obsessive.  I had to try something bento-ish the very next morning. 

This is the result.  Obviously, I've a long way to go and there is only so much you can do with PB&J.  But I am hooked none the less.

Signs of Spring

 Last weekend my oldest son was super excited because he found a bird nest in the bracket that connects the TV dish to the house.  Carefully peeking inside, we saw 5 bluish speckled eggs.  Two days later, I went back to see if I could get a picture of the eggs, but mother nature had other plans.

This is what I found in the nest.

2 days later, they're a bit fluffier

This is the fellow who flew away from the nest as I walked up.  He watched me the whole time.  I believe it is a house finch.

Another picture of the mom or dad taken while it was visiting our bird feeder. 

Finding Space (a.k.a boys room makeover)

Soon after our youngest was born, we entertained the idea of selling our less than 1700 sq. foot 3 BR/2 1/2 BA house and finding something more "comfortable" for our growing family.  As luck would have it we stumbled upon a house we loved, with owners willing to wait until ours sold.  We quickly decluttered,  scoured our home, and got it listed.  At the time, the baby was in a crib in our room and we were making the best of things until our house sold.

Then, things took a bit of a turn.  The local housing market, which had been surprisingly stable compared to the rest of the nation, took a nose dive.  Several other houses on our street went up for sale and the house we wanted to buy...
Well, lets just say thing's didn't quite go to plan.

So here we are, 3 years later in the same house we started in, with bigger kids and more stuff.  The baby, now 3, shares a room with his 8 yr. old brother, and while they get along rather well, their things do not. Between Lego's and toddler toys and miscellaneous "treasures" that all boys seem to collect, there is hardly space in their room for a twin bed and a toddler bed, let alone room to sword fight and do all the things that little boys do.  With our youngest ready to move into a big boy bed, a rather large problem looms on the horizon.  How on earth can we fit a second twin bed into the room?  With moving not presently an option, we had to find a way to make the space work.

BEFORE:  On a good day, it looked like this.  BTW, the little guy had a toddler bed frame,  but he refused to sleep anywhere except the floor so we just got rid of the frame.

Let the Planning begin!

 The new room had to have room for 2 twin beds, personal space for each boy to keep/display his "treasures", additional storage for toys, place for little guys clothes (they've been kept in our closet since he was born, room for books, and floor space to play.  It also needed to be easy for the boys to clean up on their own (wishful thinking on my part), fun, affordable and ideally could continue to grow with them and suit future spaces should we move or add on to our home.

I scoured local stores, the internet, anything I could find for products, and inspiration, starting with a bed.  Bunks beds seemed the logical choice.  They're fun for kids and take up less space.  The 8 yr old could sleep on top, and 3 yr old on bottom.  But what happens when 3 yr old wants to climb the ladder, which he will?   We needed a bunk system with stairs.  Stairs and storage!

The kids all LOVED this bed from Furniture Row.  But at 51"x84"x92" it was no space saver, and at $1098, it wasn't in the budget either.  Plus, no stairs.  Sorry kids.

http://www.furniturerow.com/BedroomExpressions/

Firestation-Bunk-Bed-Group/Firestation-Bunk-Bed/prod340024/ 

I fell in love with the colors and modern styling of this blue number, although I've never considered myself a "modern" girl.  Isn't it dreamy?  It has stairs plus storage, but something is missing.

http://fuurni.com/blue-and-white-childrens-bedroom-set.html

Oh and isn't this one just amazing!  Totally impractical for us, but too cool not to share.

http://craziestgadgets.com/2008/04/05/sofa-converts-to-bunk-beds/

"Practice" book case and floating shelves
from ana-white.com plan.  

Can we build it?
Since nothing we liked fit our budget or needs, I started thinking.  Maybe we could build a bunk bed.  True enough we didn't have the skills or tools, but we could borrow both from family, and I was willing to do my homework to save $$.  After a bit of hunting around for plans, I discovered the "Holy Grail" of all free plan sites.   

http://ana-white.com/   

And while the site didn't have exactly what I was after, it did have several plans that were very close, and a nice tutorial on how to use a program called "google sketch-up", which I could use to modify the plans.  Best of all, there was a brag board which showed pictures of project from first timers like us.  If they could do it, so could we.  So I practiced on a few small projects, asked for a table saw for Christmas and polished my skills with sketch-up.  By mid march when my dear sweet mother-in-law offered to take the kids for 2 nights, hubby and I were ready to begin.  

Yes we can !

Two days, several splinters and a few ciders later, not only had we repainted the boys room and cut down the plywood for all the projects, but we also had this to show for our efforts:

Same twin bed from before,  new loft bed built from modified
version of Ana White's plan.  Stairs designed by me.

Two weekends later and although our organizing projects are just beginning, our building projects are complete, at least for now. 

 The stairs got a much needed rail to steady the little

 guy as he climbs up, and I built a narrow bookshelf

 along the back wall.  Big brother can display his smaller

 Lego creations on the top 2 shelves and eventually put

 books on his shelf like his baby brother has on the 

"practice" shelf I made earlier.

Speaking of the practice shelf, it got a
 coat of paint and ABC's.   

  

This under the bed storage unit is a modified version of Ana's "cabin dresser bookshelf" which can be found here  http://ana-white.com/2011/04/dresser-bookshelf-support-cabin-bunk-system .  It has 2 cubbies and 3 shelves in front, and shelves in back that line up perfectly with the  opening under the stairs.

That means you can use the space for storage, or remove the toys and use it as a tunnel, a cave, a tent, or even pretend you're Harry Potter.  Someday soon I'll be adding doors to this area and the one on the other side of the stairs.  Since my little guy loves to play "let's answer the door."

Did I happen to mention those stairs all have built in storage boxes, or that there is a storage cubby under the 2nd stair that is perfect for a sleeping bag, and display shelves on the side of the bed for a rock collection.

Oh, and one last thing.  

Can you keep a secret?  

I'm not at liberty to disclose the exact location, but somewhere, and I'm not saying where, but somewhere there is a secret compartment for all of big brothers top secret stuff.

A Tree with a View

Into the past that is. 

I thought I'd take one of my very few spare moments to share this family tree I recently made as a Christmas gift for my Mother-in-law.

Genealogy fascinates me and I have always loved the idea of having a family tree hanging on the wall or tucked into a leather bound book.   However, my penmanship is atrocious, and I have a very difficult time trying to figure out how to fit all those names onto a page in a way that makes sense and doesn't make my eyes cross.  So, I have kept my family tree, and my husband's online with  Ancestry.com.  While I am a huge fan of the site, I have never lost that yearning for something more artistic, something that wouldn't be limited by a 2 dimensional computer screen.

 At a glance, I wanted to know where the person lived, when they were born, when they died, and when they married.  I wanted it to be easy to decipher, not make me go cross eyed, and fit into a reasonable amount of space.  

And, wouldn't it be cool if it could be a kind of sculptural art piece that could be added to easily should the tree bear more fruit.

I knew my in-laws would appreciate just such a tree, and I needed a really good gift for my Mother-in-law.  So, I hit the craft store and came up with the following plan:

 -Each side of the tree (mother-in -law and father-in-law) would have a slightly different color scheme to distinguish it's members.

-Men would be leaves, women flowers, and the grandchildren would be apples.

-Names and dates would appear on the front, and places on the back so that if curiosity struck, one could open the shadow box and gently turn the leaf to see the back. 

-Marriage dates would get their own little leaf that could be placed in the fork created by a married couple.

-In the instance of a couple, the woman would be on the right side, men on the left and any children they had would follow the same pattern, with sons on the left and daughters on the right.

I gathered my supplies, printed out all the necessary info and started punching, gluing and assembling.

Assorted papers, punches, floral wire and my new favorite,
"quick grab" tacky glue.

 After printing all the information onto card stock and punching
out the shapes, I glued the wire between the layers.   

  I added a third accent layer in the middle
 for the flowers to give the project a little
more color .

Florist wire seemed best for the trunk and branches.  At first, as you'll see in some of the pictures, I used regular florist wire and wrapped it with floral tape.  When I finished the project, it looked too plastic-y , so I carefully removed all the leaves and flowers and re-glued them to a cloth wrapped wire for the branches and  a heavier wire wrapped with jute for the trunk and larger boughs.  

To cover any unsightly joins,
I unwrapped the cloth/jute the glued
 it back into place in such a way
that it would hide the wires.

I worked my way from  oldest to newest ancestors forming smaller groups that could
be twisted together.  This is the back side before I switched the wire.

To prepare the shadowbox for mounting, I placed a layer of batting onto the board, covered it with my fabric, and very carefully hot glued the fabric to edges making sure I stretched it evenly as I went.

I attached the tree I using heavy duty craft thread to tack it down securely at the base of the trunk and any other points that seemed to need support.

This is how it looked after I changed the wire and mounted it, before it was put into the frame.

Should my Sister-in-law choose to have more children, it would be quite easy to add another apple.  Hear that sis?  I'm ready for ya!

Now if only I was ready to make another one of these for myself.  

Georgia on my mind.

We recently took a short vacation to Dahlonega, GA.  It's best known as the site of the first U.S. gold rush.  If you've never been there, and you can appreciate the "charm" of a small southern mountain town, it is worth a visit.  Just be sure to load up on Dramamine before you load into the car. 

Smith House  
We stayed at the Smith House, a historic hotel about a block from the town square. It is located directly above a gold vein.  You can go downstairs and see the mine shaft and a mini exhibit which is quite good.  In addition to historic lodgings, the Smith House also boasts of family style dining in the basement, all you can eat "home cooking" for a price.  Since our youngest(under 3) was free and dessert and drink were included, it ended up being not much more than a normal night out at a nicer restaurant.  The food was good and plentiful, but the decor was mid 1980's.  For some reason I was expecting Angela from Who's the Boss to walk through the door. 

The decor of the guest rooms was much nicer.  The beds were cozy and appointed with "luxury" linens.  We couldn't resist having a lie down before snapping the picture below.  Lots of charming details, and we enjoyed our stay.  However, this is a 100+ year old building and has many characteristics of an old building.  It had a clean, but old smell and some minor maintenance issues like a broken towel rack in the bathroom.

The fresh rose was a nice touch.

 Consolidated Gold Mines
The highlight of the Dahlonega trip was an excursion to Consolidated Gold Mines.  My husband and I went into this, eyes wide open that it was likely a tourist trap, but left rather impressed by the whole operation.  We ended up doing a tour of the mine, the complimentary sample gold panning, and gem panning which we paid extra for. 

Bottom of stairs leading into the mine.  Do you see the image in the shadows?  Is it a ghost, or just shadows on the rock?

The kids Gem panning.  The man is one of the friendly employees.  He was very good with the kids.

  All of the staff was very friendly and knowledgeable.  The tour was a quality experience and since a sample pan for gold panning was included, it was a great value.  It took the kids about 20 min. to complete their pan of gold and sand and each of us left with a few tiny gold nuggets as a souvenir.  The Gem panning although extra was a hoot!  We now have a rather large collection of precious and semi precious stones.  Days later, the kids are still talking about there "gems" collections.

Chestatee Wild Life Preserve

We also visited the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve, a non profit "zoo". It was small, and a bit confusing since there was no official ticket booth and signage was minimal. However, as "backyard zoos" go, it was really nice. The animals seemed happy, healthy, and well cared for. The enclosures were clean and well maintained. They had dispensers (like candy machines) where you could buy corn to feed some of the animals like the zedonk, miniature horses/ponies, turkeys and chickens. The ponies and zedonk were very tame and ate very gently out of my hand. There were plenty of places to picnic and even a nice little playground for the kids. However, if you are expecting a "big zoo" experience you'll be disappointed. But for the price, it was a fun way to spend a couple of hours and cheaper than taking the family to a movie.

This is what happens when daddy watches
the little guy. ;o)

Playground

Zedonk, miniature horse, and miniature donkey(?)

Stone Mountain, Georgia

On our way home, we made a detour to Stone Mountain, GA and took the sky lift all the way to the top where we found a visitors center and of course, the entrance to the top of the mountain where you can walk around or even picnic.  The top is rather impressive.  Not being a huge fan of heights or shear drops, it was also a bit creepy knowing the only thing between us and the edge was a short chain link fence.  

You can go all the way up to the fence.
It was only about 4 ft high.   



There is an alien quality to this place, the kids loved it.



Sky lift up to the top.  Don't miss the carving.