April Showers! A Good Day for Bluebirds, Sand Hill Cranes, Geese, and Snickerdoodles!

Hi all my friends in bloggy land!  It seems like I don't get to visit with you as much lately. Mommie says it's all her fault because she hasn't been taking me on as many adventures as before, and she says she apologizes!  But today we tried to make up for it!  It's the 2nd day of April, and it's been raining almost all day!!  Mommie said April is living up to its reputation of "April showers brings May flowers!" 

Well, this picture on the calendar says, "A Good Day for Ducks"

(John Sloane, artist, Country Seasons Calendar)

Mommie said it is a good day for ducks here at our own Still Waters Pond.  We don't have very many ducks...but we do have geese, Sand Hill Cranes, and Bluebirds!

I wanted to go outside and see the raindrops and also see what I could see on or around the pond. So I put on my rain poncho that Mommie's friend "Auntie Pamela" made for me last spring, and we went out on the back porch to see what we could see.

If you look really really closely at the birdhouse, you will see Mama Bluebird sticking her head out to look at me!! I guess she was just as curious about me as I was about her!! She poked her head out for a second or two,  and then...

when I looked again, she was gone!!! She flew away to the nearest tree, even though it was pouring down rain!  I hope I didn't scare her! Mommie said most likely she just needed to go get some more food for her babies, because she and Papa Bluebird have been very busy lately feeding the babies!

Oh lookie! There's Papa Bluebird now! And he's got a juicy bug or something to feed to his hungry little family in the house!!

Mommie said the Bluebirds take really good care of their babies!  She said God created them and gave them "instincts" so they would know just what to do to take care of their babies and each other.

And lookie here! There's another family taking care of its baby!  Mommie said she told you about the new baby Sand Hill Crane "Colt" HERE yesterday.  Well, this morning, before it started raining it got really really dark in the skies and was kind of scary. But when we looked outside we could see the Crane family way over on the little marsh island in the pond, and they had their baby Colt right there with them!

They were all walking around on that marshy little island poking their long beaks in the ground looking for food, and showing the baby how to hunt for his own food too.

Can you see him? Isn't he sweet?  I just love him so much!

Well, then the big thunderstorm broke loose, and there was lightning and thunder and lots and lots of rain! And the sky was really really dark.  I was scared and worried about the baby Colt, but Mommie said that Jesus was taking care of us, and He would also take care of the Colt and his parents out there on that little island.

Mommie said the mother crane was sitting on top of the baby, keeping him safe and dry under her wings.  She said the camera doesn't do a very good job of taking a picture so far away when it is dark and rainy like that, so please don't mind that these pictures are so blurry.

Mommie said this reminds her this Bible verse:

Psalm 91:4

"He (God) shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;"

Oh, the Sand Hill Cranes and the Bluebirds weren't the only ones out in the rain. Here are some of our Canada Geese swimming around the pond in the rain.  Mommie said it doesn't bother them because they live in the water most of the time anyway, and God created them to be in the water, so they, like ducks, are quite happy in the rain. 

Well, after all that, we came inside and decided to bake some cookies. Mommie says rainy days are good days to do some baking and make the house smell good with yummy things to eat!

Mommie said that today we would bake some "Snickerdoodle cookies!" 

"Snickerdoodles?" I asked.  "What kind of cookies are those?"  Mommie said they are really delicious cinnamon and sugar cookies, and that Daddy and my big brother Scott really love them,  and she thinks I will too.

Here's the recipe in case you are wondering what Snickerdoodles are too!

So here I am helping mix up the Snickerdoodles.  

And then Mommie said we had to roll the dough into little balls like the size of a walnut, and then we have to roll the ball in a dish of cinnamon and sugar:

I tried my best to help. It was a lot of fun!!!

And then I got to lick the beater!!!!!  Mommie said that she always got to lick the beater when she was a little girl, and that it never made her sick. And she said her three sons always got to lick the beater when they were little, and it never made them sick, and so I should also get to lick the beater, and she's quite sure it won't make me sick either!  Yummy! It was good!!!!

After a few minutes the hot cookies came out of the oven!  I had to wait a few minutes before I could taste one because they were too hot.

But when they were cool enough, Mommie let me take a bite, and WOW!! Those Snickerdoodles sure are delicious!!!!!

Oh, and then my big brother Scotty came out of his room (he's off from work today), and he tried one of the snickerdoodles, and he said, "WOW!"

 "These sure are GOOD!!"  I think he had to taste a few more just to be certain. At least that's what he said!

I asked Mommie if my puppy Bailey and I could have a little tea party and have some snickerdoodles.

She said sure, but that Bailey wasn't allowed to eat a cookie because she shouldn't have sugar.

So we got Bailey some of her special doggy cookies for her treat. She was happy about that!

And lookie! Her plate has a picture of Buster Brown and his doggy on it too, having a tea party!

The dishes we used for our tea party were my Grandma Mursch's Buster Brown Tea Set, which actually originally belonged to my mommie's Aunt Margie, who was Grandma's big sister. She said these dishes are very very old and special and we must be very careful not to break them. So we were careful, and we had a very nice little tea party.

Bailey loved her dog cookies, and I loved my snickerdoodle!

Well, it is still raining. And Mommie says it is time for us to quit writing and go cook supper. Maybe I can help?

Thank you for visiting with me on this rainy day. I hope wherever you are that you are safe and happy and warm.

Mommie said that this month we will celebrate Easter! I am very excited about that! And I am so happy that Jesus loved me enough to die on the cross for my sins, and that He rose again from the grave to show us how to find everlasting life!

I hope you are excited about that Good News too!!

Bye bye for now.

Love,

Lily Grace and Bailey

xoxoxoxoxo