Happy things

Some things bringing me a little bit of happiness this week:

Reading time with the littles. One of the books we have been reading is The Very Clumsy Click Beetle. There have been tons of actual click beetles around here this summer and today we spent 20 minutes playing with one on the porch; watching it "click and flip" and letting it crawl on our hands and arms.  This is something I remember my mother showing me when I was little.

This lovely cactus dahlia bloomed.  I didn't have it last year so it must have been part of a pack I got from Aldi's.  It's small and very pretty.

Bee.  I had somehow forgotten how much Bee adores babies.  The baby and I were resting on the couch one evening and Bee came over to sniff him and lay down on the other side of him.  I remember when we brought our oldest home from the hospital she seemed to think about if for a couple of days and finally decide he was a tiny people kitten.  She fussed over him, slept with him and would get distressed when he cried.  They're still great friends.  I hope she and the baby continue to get along like this.

The "huge" egg is a regular chicken egg.  The bantams are laying super cute eggs and the ones on either end are unusual eggs that one of the female quail occasionally gifts me with.

Nigel is all done molting and looks amazing.  I love this guy and can barely resist holding and squeezing him when I see him.  I do ruffle his butt feathers on occasion.

Today the baby laughed for the first time and is learning to use his hands.  It's just perfect.  And wonderful.

I've been taking some time lately to try to remember who I was pre-children.  I've been doing yoga at the library and have started an insect collection.  This frame is just for holding purposes until I can tag and display them.  It's a great time to slow down and pay attention to the life around me.  Right now the goldenrod is blooming and covered with wasps and bees of all types.  I noticed for the first time today that the praying mantis are taking advantage of that fact; hiding in the goldenrod blossoms waiting to nab a wasp or passing bee.  I saw four of them doing this today, one of them was eating a yellow jacket and another was holding the leg of something (wasp?) and eating it like a piece of chicken.  I'm sure this has been going on every year and I've never noticed this cycle.  

These also make me smile; the covered dish from the thrift store and the little toy man.  Our neighbors had a garage sale and gifted some things to our oldest - I saw this guy and snagged him for myself.  Because he looks just like Bob from Bob's Burgers and it makes me happy.  He sits on a shelf and watches me cook.

All good things to remember.