This morning, when we pulled into church, Meredith exclaimed "Mom! Grass!" Sure enough, as some of the snow melted during our few just-above freezing days last week, spots of grass have once again been uncovered after what seemed like an eternity of not seeing the ground. Granted, the grass we can now see is still dead and frozen, but it's grass nonetheless.
Another welcomed changed we've noticed lately is the birds! One day last week, as I was opening some windows to get a little fresh air in the house (it's amazing how great 40 degrees feels after days and days of record low temps), I heard a glorious sound.....birdies! Several birdies! Wonderful.
Just yesterday, we noticed a ton of birds flying around in our backyard so I decided to put out our bird feeder. This morning, as we were eating breakfast, Shane asked "Mom, who are those guys?" He was referring to the several birds that were snacking on the seed we had put out for them. Poor kid couldn't even remember what a bird was.
The kids were so excited to see the birds out there eating and flying around. I snapped some pictures, though I was in my kitchen the entire time, so
they aren't super great close-ups. And, for most of them, I took the
pictures with the glass door closed because every time I opened it to
snap a photo, they flew off (despite my attempts at being super quiet)....so, don't mind that they aren't the clearest pics ever.
We were EXTRA excited when we saw a Cardinal! Not only is a cardinal a cool bird because of its vibrant color, but we love cardinals because, well, we are a family that loves The Cardinals!
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| This was pretty far away, in a tree behind our back fence, but he's so red you should have no problem spotting him! |
Oh, and we got a little science lesson this morning as well, because we noticed a brown bird that looked a little different than the robins and finches (or whatever they are) that we typically see. It had red on the underside of its tail, and a very red beak. I wondered if it was perhaps a female cardinal. So we went to the computer to check...and sure enough, this is a female cardinal.
I asked the kids if they had an idea why the males are brightly colored
and the females brown, and of course my fact-absorbing Caleb shared that
it was so the females could camouflage and protect her eggs.
Hoping that we begin seeing even more signs of Spring as we head into March this weekend. I'm trying to look past the fact that wind chills may once again reach -25 degrees tomorrow morning.
