Make Way for Ducklings!

This morning Z and I were out in the backyard when we noticed a family of ducks in the yard right behind us! The ducklings were brand new and very tiny -- probably about ten of them. The mother was wildly running around the fenced in yard trying to find a way out. I have no idea how the whole family got in there in the first place. She wasn't a mallard -- she looked more like the duck in the picture above.

Anyway, after a couple of minutes of her running around and all ten of the babies running after her, she flew over the fence into our backyard. Then she was quite frantic, because the babies couldn't get over the fence and didn't know where she had gone. The peeping! The mother ran all over our yard quacking her head off. Z and I tried to show her where her babies were, but that just seemed to upset her more. Then, we noticed a cat in the other yard, stalking the babies. Oh no! Fortunately, just as it was about to pounce, the babies all ran right through the chain link fence into the other yard. The cat then turned his attention to the mother, who immediately led him on a wild goose (or duck, in this case) chase down the block.

The poor babies had now attracted the attention of some more of our neighbors, and Z and I had called Nathan over. Two of the babies got separated and came into our yard. Nathan caught one of them and I caught the other. By that time, the other babies had been reunited with their mother. We put one of the babies we'd caught in our little swimming pool. While it was swimming around I ran inside to get the camera, but just as I got back outside, it jumped out of the pool and went running off to find mother. So no pictures. But what an adventure -- wild kingdom in our backyard!

Mutual Education

Z caught me (Nathan) urinating today, and, like most two year-olds, he decided to watch and contemplate the whole act. I figured it was as good a time as any for a teachable moment. Here was the conversation:

N: "Z, do you know why you go pee? Because your body needs to get the bad stuff out, and when you go pee, all the bad things in your body get into the water, and then you pee out the bad stuff with the water. That's why you go pee."

Z: [pause] "And then you get a treat."

Just a Picture

New Z Videos

Sharing an icecream cone with Lu:

Drumming with Josh Ritter:

"A Real Professor . . . Damnation!"

I remember sending out an e-mail eight years ago with that same title, because I had finally received my doctorate. Well, I'm very happy to announce now that although Nathan hasn't quite finished his Ph.D. yet (although look for that post at the end of the summer!), he has received a full-time job as a professor! We are very, very excited and thankful! At this point it is a one-year contract, but Nathan will be working for Sioux Falls Seminary as an Assistant Professor, teaching three classes in the fall and three classes in the spring. These are three different classes each semester, so he'll have six preps (which, for you non-teachers out there, is a lot!). The first year or two of teaching can be pretty grueling, but I don't think anyone really minds because we're all so happy to be done with school and getting on with the wonderful job. So we are thanking God for this gift that allows us to stay in Sioux Falls and both be teaching full time.

(By the way, can anyone name the movie from which the title quote comes?)

A Month in Pictures

Well, it has been way too long! As a result, I have a million pictures, all from the same month. During that time, the snow has melted, Nathan spent two weeks in Edinburgh, Z and I spent one week and Kansas, and we celebrated Easter! So, here we go!

A few weeks ago I was in the car with Z and asked, "How you doing?" He said, "I the man!" I turned around to see this:



Z enjoyed raking the snow as it was all melting away. Just about a week before this picture was taken, the snow in our backyard was about 2 feet high.

Z was in the bathtub one night and I heard him say, "Mama, I made the sun shine!" I came into the bathroom to find he had made this with his bath toys:

While Nathan was in Edinburgh, Z and I went to Kansas and stayed with Yaya and Papu for a week during my spring break. We spent one day at the Topeka Zoo with Papu, Uncle Micah, Aunt Christie, Grady, Charis, and Katy. It was a GORGEOUS day, especially for us sun and heat starved South Dakotans. What fun!

There's my beautiful boy.

Micah, Christie, et.al. with the gorilla.

Ditto for me and Z.

Inside the rain forest.

The iguana was sunning himself on the sidewalk. We even got to touch him!

Instead of Goldilocks and the three bears, this looks like the bear and the three goldilocks (ok, the two goldilocks and the one . . . darklocks?)

Z and Grady hanging out at the pond. About 2 minutes after I took this picture, Z fell in. Ah. . . the boy's life!

Nathan came home from Edinburgh and we very happily celebrated Easter. Here we are Sunday morning.

Opening Easter baskets! (or boxes)

Z got a Vikings balloon with his basket.

And a Veggie Tales coloring book . . .

which included a page of stickers!

We had Easter lunch with some friends, and concluded the day with a huge Easter egg hunt!

Here's the whole crowd. It was a very happy day.