Wordless Wednesday: Scenes from a Snowy Morning is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

The running through Grandpa’s corn in the garden.

I am thrilled that the boys get to have the same experience in their great-grandfather’s cornfield as well. We spent some time at FireDad’s grandparents’ house while FireDad helped Gramps with some outdoor tasks. I took the opportunity to let them run up and down the rows.

The laughter coming from deep inside the rows made my heart warmer than the sun beating down on us. It also made me think of my days back on The Farm, the carefree summers I spent outdoors with various members of my family. I may love the city, but I also love the wide open spaces in our lives. I love their blatant enthusiasm for all things outdoor, even as much as they love technology. I know my Papau would be proud to know that the boys spent time running back and forth, getting corn stalk scratches and generally embracing the land.

I hope that someday these two wild and crazy (and loud) boys can look back on some of the things we do in the summer with the same sort of happy nostalgia that I do. Maybe they won’t remember all of this summer: our first summer of geocaching, many fishing trips, camping, carnival rides, playing in the park, swimming and, yes, the cornfield. But I will remember them.

I also hope I will remember how bright the sun was…

…and how LittleBrother — my moon spotter — found the moon before any of us did. (See small white spot in right hand side of photo.)

Lucky, lucky children in the corn.

_
[What are you doing with your last two weeks of summer (or...less)? Tell me and win $100!]

Children of the Corn (or In It…) is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

Wordless Wednesday: Oh, Summer is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

_
[This is the last week to win the $100 Visa gift card!]
[This blog is nominated for two BlogLuxe awards (Eye Candy & Blog You Learned the Most From) while Chronicles of Munchkin Land is nominated for Most Inspiring. Vote if you feel so inclined.]

Wordless Wednesday: Day Lilies in the Morning is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

I’ll publish this now to give me hope for the next week!

(I’m visible in this photo! Upside down but visible!)

I know I keep taking pics of these but, man, they’re my favorite.

We taught BigBrother the magic of throwing helicopters in the air.

FireDad took one day off this week which meant he didn’t have to shave for five days. Hello, Sexy.

T-ball started again. Someone is happy.

Someone would be happier if he could actually play.

In fact, we’re all happy.

Did I mention this guy is happy?

I’m a day late posting these this week because I was gone all day yesterday. Here’s hoping we have another fun week of happy, outside memories!

Pics of the Week: The One with the Outsideness is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

We were out geocaching recently with the boys. We walked through a field that had seen better days. LittleBrother (two-and-a-half years old) yells out, “SOMEBODY LITTERED!” He pointed at the offending piece of trash and looked at me with his big green eyes. He was upset. Then he and BigBrother launched into a Very Important Discussion about litter, trash and why we don’t drop things on the ground. Later that day, as BigBrother finished up his juice with a snack, he looked at the bottom and said, “Mommy, we have to recycle this. It has the recycling sign.”

I’m raising little tree huggers.

I love to be outside. I’ve always loved to be outside. I also love to be outside when it’s clean. I don’t know when I exactly taught my kids the word and concept of litter and littering. It’s just part of what we talk about, what we do. I would suggest not to litter in front of them because they will totally call you out. They have no shame and they are also showing a love of our Earth. I’ve been so pleased that, given the choice since the weather has warmed up, they prefer to be outside.

We got a few new books about the environment this month in preparation for Earth Day. Curious George Plants A Tree is actually my new favorite. While the story is cute, a list of 20 things that kids can do to help keep our Earth safe and clean provides BigBrother with lots of talking points. He has apparently told his preschool teacher that they need to recycle their paper. Our Earth by Anne Rockwell is another book that we’re enjoying. BigBrother really likes the pages about the dessert. And, obviously, we’ll be reading The Lorax tonight.

We’ve done little things over the years to help reduce our impact on the environment. We cloth diapered. We being green versus just buying green. We try. I talk about these things with my kids because it’s important to me. Some of my favorite memories with my family come from times we spent outdoors. I want them to be able to have those memories with their children in the future. More over, I want to make those memories with my grandchildren someday. I hope raising them with an awareness about things like littering, recycling and environmentally responsible choices will make a difference.

Happy Earth Day! We’ll be spending some time outside today. Not littering. Promise.

_
Need some ideas on how to celebrate Earth Day? Visit my post at Mom Central Technology for 5 Ways to Use Technology to Celebrate Earth Day!

Raising Little Tree Huggers is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

A lot of these are nature shots as Spring has fully sprung but there’s some cute kid goodness as well.

This photo is evidence of my favorite iPhone app, Hipstamatic. More on that next week!

This is the storm that has rendered our Apple Tree done. I woke up this morning to find that she is mostly brown and frost-bitten now. So sad. I am pleased, however, that I photographed her from beginning to end this year. I’ll get some brown shots today for a total view.

In sharing these, I’m amused at the total lack of my presence. I didn’t even do any self-portraits this week. It’s amazing that the photographer in the family (being me) can go for months on end and never show up in a photo. It’s almost as if I don’t exist in this family.

Except I do.

Enjoy your weekend!

Pics of the Week: The One Where I Return is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

_
I’m wearing purple today and our hearts go out to the Spohr family today, as always. The pinkish purple of these flowers, in full bloom now, seem a fitting tribute.

Wordless Wednesday: Magnolia in Bloom is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

He/she/it/they is/are living in the pine tree at the corner of our yard. I didn’t know about their nest until yesterday evening. I have experience with mockingbirds as my parents have had two sets on The Farm, nesting behind their house for the past few years. I slept at my parents with the windows open once last year and woke up with a bird frantically cycling through multiple bird songs and random sounds. Over and over and over and over. By 9:15, I wanted to shoot the thing, ala Failure to Launch. I didn’t. I can’t even shoot a water gun. Wouldn’t have worked.

Last night, my mom and I were sitting on my deck, talking over some coffee. I heard a siren. I listened closely because that’s what fire spouses do. Nothing. We went back to talking. The siren sounded again. Just the two woo-woos that you normally pick up on first. I stopped talking again. Nothing. A few seconds later, the siren went off again. In the pine tree. Followed by the awful sound that is the mockingbird’s actual bird call. I twitched as my mom said, “You have a mockingbird!”

Great.

I didn’t even know that mockingbirds could imitate sirens. This is not a good thing. Every time I hear a siren in the background of a song on the radio, I think I’m being pulled over. When my children are playing with one of their many fire trucks, most with obnoxious sound effects, I think that there’s an emergency on a nearby street. Now when I’m outside, free from noisy-tech toys, I’m going to think that a fire truck is about to careen through the pine tree. Except that it’s not.

As I read more about the mockingbird, I’m further annoyed.

They sing a long succession of notes, and phrases, which will be repeated several times, and then changed. The call phrases can be imitations of songs of other birds. Other sounds are a raspy chijjjand a harsh chewk. The male sings in the spring, and both birds will sing in the fall. They will often sing long into the night.

Long into the night? (Quote: What the [heck] kind of Devil bird chirps at night?!) Sirens and long successions of notes and phrases? And eventually more than one? To make it all the more awesome, they dive bomb anyone who comes near their nest, humans included. Sounds fun. (Speaking of sounds, you can listen to a long phrase at this link. No sirens though.)

Whatever the case, I find it somewhat amusing that a mockingbird with a specialty for fire siren sounds has decided to nest in the yard of a firefighter and his family. I would say it was fitting or appropriate if it didn’t make me so twitchy. I will, however, try to catch a photo of the noisy offender in the near future. With or without water gun in hand.

Fire Sirens in My Backyard is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

Wordless Wednesday: Things Are Greening Up is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.