The Proof is in the Strawberry

Avyrlie has been gathering evidence to make her case that summer will indeed arrive this year at some point. I'm not much of a summer fan and tease her quite a bit that summer is not happening this year, but maybe when she's 12.

One of the proof's she has been looking for is the first strawberry. Her and Aimee both make a very strong association between strawberries and summertime. Every time we arrive home the first thing she has done is check the strawberry patch for signs of summer's arrival, and the other day she finally found her proof: the very first strawberry starting to grow :)

Bird Murder aka Liza's Absolution

We have arrived home on several occasions to find the above pictured 'bird murder' scene in our front yard. For whatever reason, Aimee decided that Liza had acquired a taste for quail and was sneaking out of the back yard to pounce on unsuspecting quail.
A couple problems with this theory are that quail are very suspicious little birds and Liza's stalking skills are something like a giraffe practicing yoga. Just not likely, but still the accusation stood. Until recently.

Avyrlie and I came home the other day just in time to see a hawk swoop into the front yard atop a herd of quail, land on its chosen victim, and squeeze it until it quit moving. Ian arrived home shortly after and saw the hawk take off with its meal to find a quiet place for dinner.
Sadly for Liza, Aimee witnessed none of this and still harbors some suspicions ;)

Avyrlie thinks you're cute ;)

Our Next Competitor

Avyrlie asked to play soccer this year so we signed her up and crossed our fingers that she wouldn't spend most of her time crying on the field. She has never been competitive and is usually a little sensitive about getting kicked by strangers.

During her first game we were still a bit unsure. She came off in tear once after getting kicked in the back of the knee and seemed to spend the rest of the game practicing her ballerina soccer dance. Very cute. Not competitive.



Today, for her second game she caught on to the whole scoring and teamwork concept. I don't try to push either kid to be overly competitive, but I do hope they at least catch on to the general point of the game. Today Avyrlie caught on that it is not actually ballerina soccer dancing ;)