Jane's Birthday

Well, the last few weeks have trotted on by, but for some reason Jane's birthday seems like forever ago. She turned 9 whole years old on August 4.

The day began with the birthday girl opening her presents.

She sure likes presents.

She asked mostly for Moshi Monsters, and that's mostly what she got, along with some other odds and ends.


Aren't they cute? Jane forms these little obsessions with things. (No idea where she gets that tendency.)

After present time, our family went out to the lovely Golden Corral, Jane's "favorite". Apparently we need to introduce her to more dining options. =) I guess she's still at the age where anything she likes automatically gets labeled as her favorite. I'd given her the choice between IHOP and GC, and she picked GC with a big grin and a twinkle in her eye. Maybe next time we'll surprise her by taking her somewhere a little less familiar.
(Note: The only reason we ever "introduced" the kids to GC was because we've been invited there a few times with Ryan's dad who likes it.)

After we returned, we got to work decorating and bracing ourselves for her afternoon party.
That's the part where I never leave myself enough time to adequately prepare. I do my best work in scramble mode anyway. (Also, my only work.)

Jane bursting with enthusiasm as her guests begin to arrive.


Not a soul in sight.



The kids played freeze dance...


They also played a few other games, and of course jumped on the trampoline with water balloons.
I've already posted too many pictures of that happening this summer; I won't bore anyone with more today.


Bella, Natalie, Jane, Emma, and Maya. Back row: Cora. And Oliver lurking by the chair.

Crazy kids.


A few weeks before her birthday, Jane and Cora were looking at cake ideas online. She wanted her special cake to be Moshi Monster related. They found this picture:

It's called the Foodies' Yum Yum Lair. Foodies are Moshlings which resemble sweet foods such as donuts and cupcakes. So completely up my alley. =)

I don't know what came over me, but I decided I was going to try and make this cake. It couldn't be too difficult, right? Then why, out of all the thousands of adorable Moshi cake images we scrolled through, why didn't we see even one sugary attempt at the Yum Yum Lair? I was shocked and a little confused. Nobody has EVER attempted to make this into a cake?! It's such a cute design! Either nobody has tried, or their efforts turned out somewhat like mine, leaving the baker too sheepish to post proof on the World Wide Web.

I knew I'd have to try fondant for the first time. Frosting would look too sloppy. So I made some fondant the night before I needed to decorate the cake. This would be my first time ever completing a cake the night before an event. Usually I'm working feverishly until the party is about to begin. But not this time, no!

I had to omit the candy cane, as I could not see any possible way to fashion one out of fondant and have it stay upright. I wished I'd had some real candy canes in my stash. =(

Some of my fondant was a nightmare to work with! It was too stretchy or something, and I really had no idea what I was doing, but I was so worn out after the hours I'd spent coloring the fondant (kneading and kneading and...) and shaping the cakes that I didn't really care to try fixing the problem at that hour of the night. I just wanted it to be done!

Mmmm, that yellow layer looks like real banana chewing gum! And how did I get the aqua fondant to turn out so droopy? Shhhhh, it's a secret. I'll never tell!

It actually didn't look that bad from a distance. I was overall satisfied with how it turned out, considering I'd never tried a cake with fondant before. I'll just need to get some pointers about how to make it look seamless. The back looked like a dog had decorated it.

Enough about the cake!
Everyone sang the customary birthday song to her and she blew out nine candles.



Then we hacked all my hard work to pieces and served it with ice cream.

All in all, her birthday was a success.

We love our Jane!

Right Outside My Door

You know what makes me oh so happy? The stuff that goes on right in my own front yard.
What I mean to say is that I relish the miracles of nature that daily surround me. The easiest way for me to get my nature fix is to gaze beyond the panes of our front windows. That's been happening a heck of a lot lately, let me tell you. We have vibrant flowers, adorable bird babies, and leafy green trees. It may not be anything special to anyone else, but it's my personal piece of paradise.

I planted most of my flowers in May. Here's what my main flower spot looked like shortly after planting. . .


And below is the same area, only two months later. . .

Wowee! Merciful heavens, I'm in love!

I've heard people say that flowers are a waste of money because they die.
The way I look at it, what good is money if you don't buy flowers with it?!
Flowers+Shannon=Happiness


When I bought the individual packs of flowers they started out with only one or two blossoms each. Imagine my delight as I watched them multiply and replenish over the course of the summer. Yippee!!!





The smaller flower bed to the left of the garage. . .




Absolutely perfect pink petals.





The photo below was taken on Aug. 19



Here's the same basket on Aug. 25th.It bloomed! It's been struggling a lot. I can't remember what these flowers are called, but I adore them.


Just gorgeous.


Remember a few months ago when I mentioned my affection for cute little birds? Well, I think some of them must read my blog because, not long after my public proclamation, a bunch of them took up residence in our yard. It started with the careful construction of a nest in one of our trees. Then I kept noticing finches flitting around, walking up the path like so...


I went ahead and got a smallish bird feeder to hang in our tree. I wanted to find out if it would attract more cute birds for me to watch.

Soon there was a flurry of birdies. It's been fun watching them argue over the seeds. They basically push each other off the perch to get a turn at the trough. (Hey, I'm a poet.)
On three different occasions we saw a bright yellow bird. They are so unusual around here, I have to wonder if it escaped from a cage somewhere.


Isn't it all just so interesting?!


Here comes a really good part.

Two birds chose our front porch to build a nest upon! After some research, I've concluded they are swallows. The "research" consisted of me stumbling across a book at the library while looking for shark books for Oliver. It said "Swallows". I pulled it out to look at the cover picture, flipped through it, and decided I'd solved a mystery. A lady from church had told me they were sparrows, but I did a photo search on those and concluded she had been mistaken.

Note the above photo, day 1. The nest began as a smudge of mud. By the next day the nest was nearly halfway done!

Notice the splatters of mud on our window. That's hard work hauling beakfuls of mud all day long. Their building skills fascinate me. I'd like to see a human put together a mud house using only his mouth.

After a couple of weeks we noticed some movement within the depths of the nest.

I mowed the lawn so I could fill a box with clippings to hopefully catch any wiggly baby birds. Sometime in June a bird fell out of a different nest onto our sidewalk. Of course it didn't survive. It didn't even have feathers yet. =(

On a happier note, here's one of the first glimpses I got of the new additions to our front porch...

It was love at first sight! Look at the itty bitty yellow beak! Is that not the cutest thing ever?
They look like duck bills to me. =)



It turns out swallows generally have mates they stay with. The daddy helps build the nest, sit on the eggs, then feed the younglings.

SO PRECIOUS!!! (That blur is either Mommy or Daddy swooping through to distribute yummy bugs.)


Every time one of the parents approaches the nest, the three babies open their mouths as hugely as possible.
Check out the cute cheese grin on the baby.
I love the poise of these birds. They look so majestic. There isn't such a thing as a slouchy bird, is there? I'm trying to picture a slump-shouldered, lazy bird loafing around in the grass. I guess this is the first time I've taken time to focus on the excellent posture of these feathered creatures.


Help me, Mommy! I can't see!



I love when the mom's beak is open like this. Lalalala!




Days later, the birdlings are beginning to overcrowd the nest.

The pic above and the pic below were taken on the 19th.


Either by instinct or some kind of instruction they know to turn around and hang their bums over the edge of the nest to go potty. (Not pictured)


Not even a full week later, they've changed this much more.

There is no doubt in my mind that nature is purely miraculous.


What a cute family picture. That's the mom or dad on right. I haven't been able to tell the difference for sure.





Sometimes when we open the front door they all duck down into the safety of the nest.

But other times they let me step outside and take a clearer picture of them.



I'm glad I took more pictures of them just yesterday, because one of them was gone today. =(
Early this afternoon I couldn't see any of them, so I had a dreadful thought that maybe the terrible smoke looming over the city had killed them or at least made them sick.
The parents are typically coming and going constantly throughout the day, and for the hour I was watching after I got home from running errands they didn't come back. I felt helpless. I've grown kind of attached to my feathered friends these few weeks. I did the only thing I could to help the situation. I went upstairs in my closet and said a short prayer for them. I asked that the parents would come back, and hoped the babies were okay. After that I felt more optimistic.
I got the ladder out so I could investigate. I made the slow climb up, hoping to find 3 sleeping birds. What I did find was two sets of sweet (scared?) dark eyes staring back at me. They were alive!
They had snuggled down far enough that I couldn't detect any movement from my usual station on the ground. I watch them, entranced, every day, every time I walk past the front door. I've watched them eat from their parents' beaks, watched them warm their twitchy wings up for their first flight, watched them be cute beyond belief.
This is the type of thing that brings me honest to goodness joy. Call me silly, but I'm serious. =) These baby birds make me happy. But I'm sad that one is missing. Did it successfully fly away? Did it fall and get carried off by a darn cat? Needless to say, I've been worried sick today.
Minutes after my kid-like plea to heaven, one of the parental birds showed up. =) Not long after that, the youngsters emerged from the nest as normal. Maybe they really were just taking a rest, hanging out away from the smoky air. I dunno. All I do know is I'll miss their faces when they flit away from our porch. I've tried to be nice to them, so I hope they know they're always welcome at our house. Although next time they might want a place with a little more privacy. ;)