Thankful for...

Backyard birds in the early morning sun.

 Fresh fruit.

Tulips 

Beauty! 

The moon, always reminds me of God's faithfulness. 

Smoothies and warmer weather. 

My little Tia 

What a character! 

Markered fingernails and all, her babies always close by.

Silas's learning, its exciting to watch. 

Asher, has his hands in everything. 

Silas's thoughtfulness. Tia fell and got a fat lip, Silas offered to tell her a story to make her happy again. 

Library books, 20-30 at a time...librarians always ask me, "You want all of these?" 

Playing with the aperture mode on my camera, so fun! Little basil seedlings. 

Gardening, so excited to see the outcome of our perennial plantings this year. 

Birthday Hike

It has become our families tradition to have Daddy home from work on everyone's birthday and have a family day. My birthday is the first one and a spring hike was my choice. 30 years old this year! Wow, God has been merciful and good! If you would have asked me to go on a hike 10 years ago I would have said it's not my cup of tea. It's funny the way life changes things. Now, I so enjoy walking with my camera encapsulating God's beauty in photos, to ooh and aah over the marvels of creation with the kids, studying leaves, nuts, berries, insects, etc, and always keeping a close eye out for birds (now I can appreciate my mothers love for birds) and other creatures. 

Silas at 5, Asher at 22 months, Tirzah at 3

Baked Rice

We love rice, and eat quite a bit of it, mostly brown rice, along with some wild rice (as pictured above). However. I don't like the results of brown rice when cooked over the stove top (according to package directions) that comes out all soggy and sticky. I've figured out that you don't need so much water and that baking it is the best option ever.

2 cups rice of your choice

3 cups of water

good pinch or two of salt (close to half teaspoon)

2 T butter divided in small chunks 

1/4 cup finely chopped onion (optional) 

Place all in 9x13 baking dish, mix to incorporate, cover pan with foil tightly and bake at 350 for 60-70 minutes. Super easy for perfect rice. 

Banana Milk

Do you ever not know what to do with those brown spotted bananas sitting on your counter? I can only fit so many frozen ones in my freezer for future banana bread. I've got the solution...here is one of our favorite quick and satisfying drinks we often have for a snack or added to our breakfasts. It's real frothy and delicious.

You will need a blender to make this.

3-4 ripe bananas

4 cups of milk

1 T  vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup  ice

Place peeled ripe bananas into blender, pour in 1 cup of milk, add in ice and puree until smooth. Then add the rest of milk and vanilla and blend until nice and frothy, about 30 seconds. Enjoy!

Depending on how big of a glass you want it serves about 4-6 people. 

Visiting Creatures of the Wild

We had a wonderful day at the Bronx Zoo a few weeks ago with Lawrence and Ellen and the family.

It was feeding time for the Sea Lions, boy where they hungry and noisy...kind of reminds me of Asher when he is hungry:)

Beautiful flamingo's...the kids tried and tried to bend their knees backwards like these birds but it didn't work.

Also feeding time for the birds of prey...magnificent birds!

Jerusha and Tirzah

Tirzah doesn't own much endurance when it comes to walking so Ezra pushed her for most of the day.

Beautiful daffodils dotted the woods and gardens as we walked.

 Asher loved to be on his own...freedom!

This peacock proudly showed us his feathers! What an awesome design!

Here are the boys watching the polar bear play with his plastic tub, and crush it.

 Learning about poachers

My man. My love.

 I spotted this cardinal and tried my utmost to get close to it for a picture. I love birds.