Mornings, a little whining and Robins...

I have a love/hate relationship with mornings. Generally I like them, when I have had enough sleep; something I don't feel like I have had lately. Hubby went to Pittsburgh this past weekend with some of the guys to watch the Tigers play the Pirates and I took the opportunity of that, nice weather, and the motivation of his parents coming into town later this week to do some work. I desperately needed to cut the grass and wanted to do a little painting in the upstairs hall.
That hall has been a nightmare since we moved in 5 years ago. It was covered with 6 layers of very old brittle wallpaper and we found ourselves discouraged even more after discovering that half the hallway has not only wallpaper, but the wall itself is made from some type of pressed cardboard. Ugh. Naturally this is also the wall that goes up the stairs. So I concentrated on finishing the scraping on the other walls. They are finally done and this weekend I put on a couple layers of white paint. Hurray! Today after work I hope to put up a coat of a light of white color and call it done for the time being until we figure out how to finish the rest of the cardboard wall. I really need a few days off. :)

Big D has Field Day at school today. I think I will try to take half a day to help at the school. It's tough; there just never feels like I have enough time to get everything done.

Lil A joined the karate class that Big goes to yesterday. Of course I missed it because I was at work, but Hubby sent me a couple pictures. A tiny little girl in pink right in the middle of a group of little white belts. She was very excited to tell me all about it.

As for crafting, it has been on hold a bit lately. We have had so many home projects and things to do at work that I just haven't had time to do much. Which brings me back to mornings...so tired! If I just have a chance to clean off my craft table this week I will call that an accomplishment! I do have one card to share. I submitted this to Paper Crafts but it wasn't accepted. In looking at it, the sentiment is a bit crooked...but there could be a million other reasons why it wasn't accepted. No worries, I still liked having a sketch to work from and overall I was happy with the way it turned out. Now I have a chance to share it. I used Lawn Fawn stamps, and you know how I love my Lawn Fawn stamps!




I haven't kept up on the Robin family outside our kitchen window, so I wanted to share a few pics from the last few weeks:

Only 3 of the 4 eggs hatched. This was the last picture I could get over the nest. The parents are constantly keeping watch if they aren't on the nest and have no problem swooping down to peck at any intruders (as I found out! lol)

Three mouths were plenty to keep Mama busy! I could still get some pretty good side view photos from the kitchen window and eventually Mama learned that I wasn't going to hurt the nest.

These are the three healthy baby robins today...too big for their nest and working on their wing strength. They are soooo cute! I think they will be gone within a few days, and wish them well!

Hope you have a lovely day!

Keeping busy...

Happy Tuesday! I'm hoping you are having a great day! I have a very welcomed day off after working this weekend. I work at a museum and weekends tend to be busy for us, especially when we are launching new family-focused programs. This one involves a certain little blue engine...that's right, THOMAS the Tank Engine! I will have Thomas related songs in my head for months, I know it! :)

Anyway, on this day off, Lil A and I have been doing a bit of crafting for Mother's Day. Check out this card that we made together...she colored this super cute C.C. Designs stamp (Gretel) and I layered her on a card using Nana's Kids paper, which I have had for ages! The sentiment stamp is from "Just Cheese" by Lawn Fawn. And of course it needed extra flowers and a little bit of glitter on the wings! She is so proud of her card for her Grandma. :)





This is another card that I made today, inspired by DCSrappinDiva1 on YouTube. I haven't used my birdcage die in far too long, so I cut a few using the Lemon Flower mat stack from DCWV. I'm loving this paper!



And an update on the robin...I took another peek into the nest and she has 4 eggs now! Still no sign of the male though. We also saw the most adorable tiny hummingbird right outside the kitchen window but I didn't get my camera in time. Hopefully it comes back.

A little visitor!

We have a little guest! A robin has built a nest outside our family room! I noticed her over the weekend when I was doing dishes. The nest is built on the top of the vent of the wall heater and we have a clear view of her from the kitchen. The kids have been very interested in her also and we regularly peer out of the window to see what she is up to. I went out a couple days ago to see if she has any eggs, and was excited to see one bright blue egg in her nest. In my research on robins the smallest clutch of eggs is usually 2, but who knows. I also haven't seen a male anywhere in the area, which is also strange since the male usually stays close by to protect his mate. I hope nothing has happened to him.

So hopefully we'll see a little hatchling in less than 2 weeks, which will delight the kids. I'm pretty excited too! And we are fine with the spot she has chosen...much better than the pair last year who decided to build a nest on the light fixture just outside our front door. Not that we use that door much, but the mail lady didn't like the birds and stopped delivering mail. We were more than a little irritated since no one from USPS bothered to let us know that there was an issue. We had even put out a box for the mail off the porch so the birds would have some privacy, but apparently that wasn't good enough. Ah well.

Take a peek at a couple of pictures from 2 days ago. I'm going to try to take pics every few days, but I don't want to disturb her too much. She does seem to appreciate the birdbath we put nearby. If she is a single bird mom, at least she won't have to go too far for water.

I'm hoping to do a little crafting later today...I've been cleaning quite a bit in anticipation of some pals of hubby's to come by for the Red Wings game tonight. Go Wings! :)