Bright Eyes Full of Wonder!

My three children love to play outside. They love animals, bugs (especially Anna), flowers and grow and tend to their very own tomato plants. Well, this summer, our backyard has been a breeding ground for natures finest...

We have a lovely rabbit couple who lives under our deck. How they manage to have any "alone time" with Wrigley always on their tail, I will never know. He barks and scratches at the deck daily. They are on their third litter since just this spring! That mama has got to be tired! The kids love to see the mommy and daddy bunnies hopping together, and those babies are so cute!

Then we have Jennifer, the boy caterpillar. Anna found him Saturday and played with him and then put him in her bug catcher with twigs, leaves, and some damp parsley. Jennifer, well he was as happy as can be... so happy, and fat with food and good care that he spun his cocoon yesterday. We will have a butterfly or moth in about 10 days.

Finally, we have our mama bird, Back-n-Forth. Anna named her this because she goes back and forth a lot. Back-n-Forth built her nest in the garage in my garden tool bag. She laid 2 or 3 eggs and has carefully watched over them. If the garage is closed, she tweets loudly on my kitchen window sill until I open it for her. We checked on her today and she looked at us, poked her nose down, (and you will not believe this part...) pulled out one of the hatched babies as if she was showing it to us. I was startled and excited all at the same time! So, now Back-n-Forth has her babies to tend to.

All of this is so good for Mac, Anna and Elan to see. They look with bright eyes and they are filled with amazement and excitement! They want to learn about all the things they see and aren't afraid to dig in and get their hands dirty! I love that about them and I hope it sticks with them as they get older. We may have a born Zoologist or Veterinarian in our family! Time will tell...

And speaking of bright eyes, these are some big, bright ones! Elan in Harbour Town in Hilton Head this past June. I used papers from the Studio Calico June kit and mom stitched around the edges for me. Stephen took this pic, isn't it awesome?! It's by far, one of my favorites! Here's a close up of some stitching and embellies:

Enjoy, and have a lovely night!