Guns N' Mothers

This Mother's Day found me content and very blessed. I couldn't help contrasting from a year before:

• Baby coming out of NICU
• Whooping cough in my kids schools
• Me hiding from the world and Whooping Cough (in Idaho)
• Plus a deep underlying stress about paying an intensive care bill without insurance. 

This year I have 4 healthy beautiful kids, no hospitals, not even hospital bills! The Mister of the House made me a---what 6? egg omelet with cheese and ham. There were flowers, cards, earrings, back rubs, and texts and messages from family and friends in general celebrating Mothers! There was also intermittent gun shots coming from the backyard throughout the day.

  Come children! Let's practice your songs you will sing during church today... (I'm now the Primary Music Lady...aahh!)
 {Background: Crank. Crank. POP!}



Oh Rainbow Girl. You are such a gooood back-rubber. Thank you!
{Backbround: Crank. Crank. POP!}


  You see, I'm not the only mom feeling relief this spring.  Remember this gal?

This breed of duck lives in our backyard because of their amazing ability to eat mosquito larvae and bugs.  With a temporary pond in the summer, they have proven vital to our little farm. They are also a duck with one of the longest gestation periods.  Try about 60 days instead of 30.

That means since February, through cold and snow, then warming spells, rain, St. Patty's Day, Spring Break, Church, School, Soccer, and Birthdays...this duck has been quietly sitting in the corner of the coop sitting on her nest.

Many a dinner conversation has wagered whether or not she started too early.  We have wondered if her once-a-day runs for water and food during February proved fatal when it was bitterly cold outside.  Months later, when those dinner conversations turned to The Mister of the House stating: I think tomorrow I might just grab an egg and crack it open and see if there's even a chick growing in there.

Well, the day after he said that, we had the first baby chick come out and play.  By the next morning, there were two!  They were fluffy, adorable, and would jump up on Mama's back.  She even ventured outside the coop, and took her ducklings through the chicken yard.

As a mother, I couldn't help have a sense of relief and accomplishment for our Mama Muscovy Duck!  We doubted you but you knew.  You did it!  You gave up a lot of sunshine, meals, swims, and preening, but it was worth it.

She proved to be the ultimate symbol of Mother's Day.

But her nest wasn't fully hatched.  So her outdoor escort was short-lived as she rushed back to sit on the eggs still left.  We went about our business, and then:

The Mister was doing chores and saw a Magpie pecking the baby duckling and flinging it in the air!

Peck! Peck! Fling!

So that was met with our pellet gun and a:
{Crank. Crank.  POP!}

And wouldn't you know those damn magpies won.

So I thought of my Mother's Day last year, the stress and worry, and this year feeling blessed and holy.  And my heart yearned for Mothers dealing with loss this year: be it an empty nest, a cancer scare (Wendy? Prayers for you!), or a teenage punk not giving away free kisses anymore.

Thankfully, for now, I have none of these worries.  But the Olsen's are thinking of all the mothers that do (Wendy? Prayers for you!) and are crankin' our pellet guns in your honor.

** The biggest irony of our Muscovy Duck Saga is that with my new music calling in church, I came across this song that came through the children's magazine back in 1979.  It's called "Don't Kill the Birds" and I laughed and thought about how these are different times.   Or are they?

So in honor of what makes me a mother, here's a quick update on the mutts:

Last year Chloe read "Jenny of the Tetons".  It's a historical fiction about an old trapper in the 1800's named Beaver Dick who married an Indian Woman and they had six kids.  Rexburg folks these ringing a bell: Beaver Dick Park, Jenny Lake, Leigh Lake?  Ends up there old homestead is just along the Snake River outside good ole' Rexburg.  Of course Grandpa knew how we could find it, and so we did!

This picture is a bit cliche right?  Chloe was fooling around with the camera and this is what I found when she was done.  She's hoping to "practice photography" this summer.

Leif is showing tell-tale signs of being a boy.  Ninjago Lego's, Spiderman, and Star Wars.  I found this little gem on my phone recently and thought it was adorable.

 Don't hit your brother!

Soccer!  He's doing so good and The Mister is having fun living vicariously through his son.

Isaac never stops talking.  Even while I was brushing his teeth, he was yak yak yakking away.  And yet, he will shrivel up and die before getting up and talking in front of an audience.

And Gideon can swallow a......fly? cat? dog? horse?  That's quite the gape going on old lady.