The Bird Sanctuary, Part 1

You may have noticed that I'm not the greatest at sharing RECENT pictures on this blog. The reason is that our pictures get filled up on the computer and since I don't know how to put them on the computer, they stay there for a while until Dad switches them. I've been getting such new pictures, though, that it's hard to go back and do some I haven't done. But now that I've gone on and on about this, here are my bird pictures from about a month ago!!

 This swan is really pretty!

 Some geeeeeeese.

I love this picture since you can see the swan's long neck under the water! He was pecking the bottom for corn.

 A baby goose!!!! It was SO cute. It was just peep, peep, peeping the whole time! He had a hard time keeping up with his parents too!

 Feeding the birds. They came running, walking, waddling, whatever. The geese and swans would usually scare away the ducks!! They made a hissing sound!

 On the side, they have some cages full of birds with broken wings, legs, etc. In other words, they have birds that no longer can take care of themselves in the wild. Most of them just stared at you, but there was one poor hawk that was trying to get out! That was really sad! (Ethan in red, Jessi in pink, Ana in pink and black coat, and Alli in blue).

 Looking at the birds. That's Mom, Ana in front of her, Ethan in the red, Aunt Jody is in the blue and her girls arein front of her, but you can't really see them.

 There were a lot of places to feed the birds!

 A mute swan! My favorite!

 A really neat, huge Bald Eagle. Most Bald Eagles are really gorgeous!!

And in these cages they had amazing birds with gorgeous feathers and features!!! They were really neat!

 I'll give you a picture of one of those birds! More to come in another post!

                     

Prayers

Please be praying for Minte. Some of you may know that he walks sideways on his foot with it facing outward. This was something we thought could be fixed with therapy.

However, now Minte is having more trouble. After being held for a short time or sitting in a seat, he is not able to put any weight on his leg. He either immediately falls to his knees to crawl around, grabs tight to your arm to help him stand, or limps really bad. This can last for just a few seconds or for a few minutes. He doesn't seem to be in any pain. Dad wonders if it may be numb and he can't walk because he can't feel his leg. Either way, it's very scary to watch him!

He also gets these random cramps or something in his limbs. He will run crying to someone showing that something hurts and it seems to help when we rub it hard. When we stop rubbing, he cries and pulls our hands back to his "ow". And then after a while, he goes off to play

When he is not having these problems though, he is running around, skipping through the rooms, jabbering nonsense, and just being a normal, healthy two-year old.

Min is going to the doctor tomorrow for a check-up and Mom plans on mentioning his problems to the doctor then. Please pray that the doctor will know what it is, that it's not something serious, and that it won't get any worse and slow this happy little guy down!!! Thanks a  lot!

Cake and ICECREAM????

Minte's first taste of cake and icecream at his birthday party. And his reaction...

BLUE frosting?? You think I'm nuts?

Cake WITHOUT frosting is best! The funny thing is he used to not like chocolate so we didn't give him chocolate cake. But yesterday and today he eagerly ate up dark chocolate brownies!!!! I guess the dark chocolate part makes all the difference!!! :-)

Soccer Pictures

 Having sports in the family began when Luke was pretty little and playing t-ball. I played soccer for a tiny bit, but soon stopped to my parent's relief! Lucas continued playing baseball the next few years until I started basketball in 7th grade and he decided to follow me. So we began as a baseball family, then a basketball family, and then when Ethan and Ana played t-ball, a baseball and basketball family. But NOW Ethan has decided to play soccer. So the last few Friday nights have been full of soccer games.

 As he is with most sports he tries, Ethan was really good.

When he actually hussled down the field and followed the ball, he did a great job. He could kick hard! He  made 3 goals in one game!

 I don't think his team lost a game!!!!!

And there he is- Ethan the soccer player, making a goal. He says he wants to play next year too.

Ring around the Rosy

This is one of Minte's favorite games. He loves to fall, (as most kids do!), and will fall right in the middle of the rhyme! He squeals when Lucas falls down with a boom sometimes!

Check out this bird!!

This bird was at the bird sanctuary. He, (or she), was pretty mad at me, but I found him very amusing. He looks like a lion and shakes his "mane" in anger in between pecks at the fence that's holding him back from attacking! I never knew such a bird existed and loved annoying him. Sorry this video is long!

Thoughts of a Purse Snatcher

"Hi! I'm Minte! I love purses! I even know how to swing it over my shoulder when I walk."

"After snatching a purse, your next step is to hide in another room."

"This is where the fun begins! Now you can get into it!"

"This certain purse has some kind of beady, stringy thingy in it. This is kind of interesting..."

"Not interesting enough. Let's see what else is in here!"

"AHA! SUNGLASSES! My favorite! I'm going to put these on upside down just to see how they look..."

"Wow! What a fun time I had! Now I must look cute and innocent, (with sunglasses in hand), so I don't get in trouble! Have I ever mentioned how much I love you, Emily?? Aren't I sweet???"