May

Tommy took this picture of Samson because he "awww"ed over his cuddly baby brother.

Thora rocked pigtails for something like 5 months straight.

Would you believe it, I did this braid!!! And it actually looks good! Tommy came up right as I finished and asked Katie who did her hair, while complimenting the good looking braid. I proudly answered that I did. We're pretty excited that my braiding skills are improving.

You know, because he did this one day while I was reading aloud to them.

Out at Sebelius Reservoir watching the waterfowl.

Pelicans at Prairie Dog State Park

This was one of the saddest days ever. We have had the same sparrow pair in our birdhouse for 6 years and for 6 years we've enjoyed watching them with their new babies each spring. We've defended their residency as each spring a different breed of birds tries to conquest the real estate. We added the block of wood one May for Mother's Day after I observed the exhausting fluttering of the mother hovering to feed her babies. And then one day in May there was a ruckus. One of the babies died. The mom and dad were so distressed! Dad was trying to haul the body out, but was struggling to get it out of the hole. Mom kept swooping in on Dad and beating him with her wings to leave her baby alone. Oh, how we cried for our birds! And there was nothing we could do to help without being human interference. So we took the pinecones that we have in buckets in my office (yeah, that's a thing), pasted them up with peanut butter (after verifying that it's safe for birds) and rolling them in the bird seed I bought last spring. It was the best offering we could make to hang those pinecone feeders for our mourning bird family as we mourned with them.

Momma defending her baby's body from Dad.

And then the next day they moved out and new birds immediately moved in. We miss our birds, but understand them moving. We haven't gotten to know the new residents yet.

Happier times: Lego Club! Tommy and his friend Marcus built Gringotts Bank. Note the piles of gold, marble walls and structures, and Hagrid with goblin.

Ah, yes! And there's Harry...threatening the goblin with his wand?

Katie built the Gateway Arch.