A Good Start to February

Our first stop today was the grocery store to pick up a few last minute additions to Mr. Hubs and his friend's care packages, and then we were off to the post office:

Then during Baby D's nap, we did a bit of schoolwork.  Later, because it was a beautiful afternoon, we headed back outside for a nature study and some play:

Don't mind the dead grass...  I'm really not looking forward to all the work it's going to need in a few months!

This was Miss Dainty's first official entry into her nature journal.  I've been meaning to start doing this with her for forever, it seems, and just hadn't gotten around to it.  Well, remember that undone to-do list I mentioned in my last post?  Well, the  motivation is returning.  I suppose I just needed a few weeks to feel all "blah" about the deployment and to just sulk around the house.  But now that's done, and we can get back to doing what we need to do.

We studied our backyard's pine tree today.  Miss Dainty drew her own picture of it, although the perspective was really hard since we were basically under it.  But it was so neat to watch her draw how she saw the tree and her pine cone.  I joined her in this activity and drew on my own paper.  I'm not good at drawing at all, but I think it will be fun to do this alongside her.

These are Miss Dainty's two drawings:

I find her pine tree so amusing, it makes me smile.  From where she was sitting, that probably is exactly what she saw the most: the main trunk and the lowest branches.  The objects to the bottom right are the bird house and bird bath.  Apparently, she thought they needed more color than what they actually have.

Back to the photo:  the flock of birds was hilarious to Miss Dainty.  They were noisily squawking the entire time we were outside and they made her laugh.  The rabbit was an unexpected guest.  Miss Dainty startled it while she was running around, and he shot across the yard.  He was pretty big!  and gorgeous.  We put out some lettuce for him, and Miss Dainty sat by the backdoor eating her snack after we came inside, patiently waiting for him to come back.  (He hasn't yet.)

It was a great afternoon.  I love days like today, they are very uplifting.  And I'm so glad to be done with the "blahs."