Nature's Nest as it is today...

Alot has changed in my space since I last posted pics of it! These are the cubbies that hubby built, I just love them and they work so well for the kiddos! I can also use the top of it as a sort of desk, it works out well!
I finally got the long maple table I had been wanting forever for the kiddos! It works great!
The green volour chair was a thrift shop find and I LOVE it! It is so comfy, and get this, it swivels and rocks! I can fit just about 3 kiddos at a time on my lap, lol!
I really cherish all the books, it's hard to put any away for the seasons, lol...I've really been working on my story telling from memory as well...the kids like that.
The Waldorf style kitchen hubby made :) The kids play with this stuff for hours on end!

This is the home-made, wall unit, diaper changing station hubby built, it has been working wonderfully! It just folds down and folds back up out of the way!

Our summer nature table!

It's a bit busy, but I'm sure there will be some small changes here and there... Catriona loved this change!
HAPPY SOLSTICE everyone!!!

Kurtis' 8th grade graduation!

Well it's official, my son is now a freshman! Oy! how the time flies by... Kurtis is my only son, my sweet boy, sensitive yet strong...humorous and serious... I love you Kurtis, you will have so much fun with your friends this next school year, make some wonderful memories :)

He brought me his certificate and a rose :) aw...my eyes welled up with pride!
One of his best buds...
Gal pals :)
a sweet boy and his proud mamma!

Let's have a picnic!

In college I learned how to put together a prop box for the kids... I used a real picnic basket for this "picnic" prop box! As you can see the kids had so much fun pretending to pour different kinds of juice and serve up all kinds of different sandwiches and I asked them what else would be good to bring on a picnic? It was fun to hear their answers :)

New wooden animals.

These wooden animals are so pretty, what a great investment! Catriona and the other children should get many hours of play with these :)

Feathered friends...

The strangest thing happened to us last week! This parakeet landed on our picnic table in our back yard, just right out of the blue! I was so surprised to see a domestic bird just fly into our yard like that, we had no idea how long it had been loose either... After I took these photo's I captured it and put it in one of our cat carrier's with news paper on the bottom, a dish of water and a dish of bird see that we just happened to have! I went to Walmart that night to pick up a cage for it and some real parakeet food and a couple of toys, and in the meanwhile I had bumped into the Animal Control Officer! She said a cackatoo had landed in her yard just two weeks before and it was doing great! And come to find out she new who was letting these bird go... Apparently a nearby neighbor was at her quota, or something like that, for these exotic birds and was just letting them go! Well, I'm not at all into caging animals of any kind, but this bird needed a home, so I was going to give it that! On my way home I called hubby to touch base with him and he told me the bird had died...was lying on it's side in the cage...I was actualy sad. All I can think is at least it got to experience the beautiful outdoors before it died. It was so pretty and so very friendly. Here are some photo's of it.

Gardening...

I'm so proud of my hubby and Catriona for getting such an awesome garden going! He even used our own compost, I love it! He has taught Catriona so much about planting, and I'm sure he'll continue with each new Spring... I'll post some more pictures of the garden soon, it has sprouted all over the place!


This year I chose not to involve the daycare kids as I'm such a novice gardener, it's hubby that has the "green fingers" (as they call it in Scotland!)...so, maybe next year I will section off a small area for the children and I, to "experiement" with, lol!

Nature's Nest today :)

These are the children I have now, plus my Catriona... Christian, who was 5, no longer comes here, his stay with us was short, but he was a very nice boy...

"I see you all having fun over there" hehe
Mud pie anyone? YUMMO! What fun!
Solitary fun!
Nature walk in the yard...

My brand new neice!

Mikayla Skye, born April 23rd. Welcome to the world little sweetie!

Here I am holding my new neice and her sister Madison in the middle and Catriona.

Mother's Day

This year Richard brought me to a local vineyard for my first wine tasting, something I've always wanted to do! Afterwards he brought me and Catriona on a trail walk to a near by lake and we had a lovely picnic. Here are some photo's... This blueberry wine was a nice light wine, great for a picnic.

Richard made the best salad I think I've ever had, he even made the dressing himself! He did such a great job packing a delicious picnic lunch! We spotted some fairy homes and some tree gnome homes!!! :)
Although it doesn't look it in this picture, lol, Catriona had a blast with me building up thes fairy houses on the trai! Our little tree hugger was saying goobye to the trees in the forest... It was a nice day.