I wish you could understand just how elusive these guys were.  They seemed to be taunting all of us who just wanted one good shot.  They rarely landed and when they did they usually closed up revealing their boring, brown underside.  I snapped these shots just as we were about to give up and be happy with my blurry attempts to capture them flittering around us.

Gotcha!

At the end of the school year the kids did a project for their teachers that I was super-excited about and wanted to share with you.  Better late than never, right? Right.

So back up a year.  Remember this contraption?

That was the makeshift trellis that supported our bird house gourds.  When we planted them, we had no idea it would take them 9 months to fully dry out and cure.  We had actually given up that they would ever be useful since we cut them off the vine when we should have left them on, many rotted instead of drying, and they got lost under 80-some inches of snow this winter.  But when the snow cleared and the sun emerged, there were 3 survivors that were begging to be turned into birdhouses. 

So, of course, we obliged.

Patrick drilled bird-sized holes into each of the gourds. And two small holes at the top for hanging.

And then we set the kids loose with paint brushes, acrylics, smocks, and their imaginations.

They painted.

Imagined.

And painted some more.

After the paint dried, I coated them with a water-based, waterproof sealant and strung them with twine using a makeshift needle.

Aren’t they “gourd-geous”?

Free value meals……..4

Dalmation costume that doubled as a cow……$50.

Photographic evidence……priceless

In case your wondering, we’ve scored well over $100 in free food by dressing up as cows for last 3 years.

Am I the only one that is constantly fascinated that we live in a world where there are such swings in temperature and climate in one place?  On the other hand, God put us on a planet that is exactly the right distance from the sun so that the temperature only swings in a viable range (which is a tiny range in the grand cosmos). 

I could marvel at that all day.  But then who would feed the kids? Ok, back to reality.  Off to get some beach time in before the white stuff comes back

Building sandcastles.

But we’re not. Probably Thursday. Today we’ll be responsible and return library books and go grocery shopping.

Have drums.  Will play.

I just wish they all sounded as quiet as these.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Not-Me-Monday is a blog carnival started by MckMama. Hop over to her blog to see what others have NOT done this week.

We did NOT come home to find these in our garden.

I was NOT so tired from a weekend of tent camping that I left them all on the counter and went to bed.  I will NOT try to convince PJ that he wants to learn to pickle as part of summer learning.

I did NOT double dip in summer reading programs across two counties because we live so close to the line.

I did NOT fail to pack diapers for Ty when we went camping this weekend.  (At least we remembered the clothes this time).

What have you NOT done in the past week?