HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Happy New Year from the Mears Family!!

We followed our every-year tradition of "sleeping in" the new year ... we're just no good at staying up all night.  That's reserved for new babies, sick kids, and disasters, as far as we're concerned.

Ray and Gregory have been building a new bird feeder for us!  We love to watch the birds gather at our feeders, and with so much free time with all of us at home, it was a nice project.

Here is the nearly finished bird feeder.  Gregory chose that brilliant yellow color for the roof.  He called me from Home Depot, asked me what color I wanted, and I said he could choose any color he liked. 

Here is it, finished except for the decorating Lily and I plan to do on the roof, and the chain Ray will install for hanging it.  Henry demonstrates how the roof is hinged on one side to allow us to fill it easily.  The spike on the side of it is for attaching a half-ear of field corn for the birds who like that kind of thing (or ... maybe to make it extra-irrestible for squirrels?)

And I'll leave you with this cute picture.  Henry wanted some pretzels, and was given permission to have them.  But the grown-ups were both elbow-deep in jobs and couldn't help him open the package right then.  So Gregory helped him, and then the two little boys sat right on the floor and shared the whole bag of pretzels very sweetly and kindly.  And I'm happy to say that I have mopped very recently.