Another Flowering Tree

These pictures are also from April 12th. We think this is an ornamental pear tree and it actually started blooming before the Eastern Redbud. I caught just these few pictures after the peak.

Fleeting Flowers

Here are some pictures of the lovely pink flowering tree outside our front door. I took these on April 12the and 13th and the flowers are basically already gone.

I'm pretty sure it's an Eastern Redbud. I'm still searching for a good field guide for tree identification. I'd also love to find a book or some worksheets I could take outside, gather all the information on the tree and then return inside to identify it (without actually breaking off a part of the tree to bring it in). Actually, I really want something I could copy or print for the kids to use. I could design my own based on a few things I've found online...but that seems like a lot of work.

Our Pine Tree Bonfire

A month or so again, one of the pine trees lining our driveway died. We noticed it, but hadn't discussed what to do about it when a man stoppped by and told us we needed to cut it down and burn it or our other trees would die. He, of course, wanted the job, but encouraged us to do it even if we didn't hire him.

It didn't take Kansas Dad long to realize this was a perfect opportunity to tune up his chainsaw (a very generous gift from his brother) and build a huge fire.

There it goes:

And here's the fire:

I missed the beginning of it, which was apparently rather impressive. Kansas Dad was a little worried about the tree branches of the next tree when the pine needles all went up at once, but it very quickly died down.

Second Daughter was enthralled (almost too enthralled):

If you're interested in learning more about pine wilt, you can read about it here and here. We didn't send a sample in for official testing, but it does seem to describe what happened to our poor tree. Hopefully we've saved the others from those evil nematodes.

My Small Successes XVIII

I haven't posted about any Small Successes since last November. I was too busy keeping the minimum done around the house and growing a baby and couldn't mention Fourth Baby because I was being mum on the blog until I was farther along. Things are moving along much closer to normal now, at least for a while.

It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, Faith & Family does exactly that. Here are mine:

1. I started to tackle the "clothes to put away" pile in my closet. These are the clothes kids have outgrown or when seasons change or when we receive clothes that are too big just yet. I eventually sort them into boxes by gender and size. It's not something I maintain in a regular way, though I should. I am almost ashamed to admit (but I will because I hope you find it amusing) that I found in the pile some 24 month dresses First Daughter wore that somehow didn't make it back in the 24 month box when I did the rest of her clothes. I hung them back in the closet for Second Daughter to wear.

2. I recently discovered my new bread machine has a pizza dough setting that takes only 45 minutes (compared to the hours I used to wait for the regular bread dough setting). It seems to work best if I let it sit in the machine for a little while to rise some more (which it will not do on the counter after I roll it out because the kitchen is so cold), but we can still have pizza dough in an hour. Yum!

3. I started planning for our homeschool next year. I've bought a few things, picked out what else we need (except what we're going to do for music appreciation; I'm a bit at a loss there still) and then made a wish list of a bunch of other stuff I want, if I can fit them in the budget. I'm excited about it, which is good because I want to get everything purchased and the first month planned before baby is born so it'll be ready to go when I emerge from the newborn fog just in time for school.

And, a bonus fourth: Kansas Dad had a fabulous time cutting down our dead pine tree with his chainsaw and then having a massive bonfire last night. (Burn, pine wilt-causing nematodes!) Hopefully I'll get some pictures up later tonight.

Go read some more small successes and add your own!