I haven't been around much these days. I'm just trying to get through each day which is a constant deepening emotional struggle. I've been feeling like the waves are just constantly crashing and I'm doing my best to stay afloat.  Last night, a little while after I put the girls to bed, I saw a pink glow out the windows.  Knowing it was something that I had to see, I stepped out into the evening, offering up myself up to the mosquito's, all in the name of capturing a great sunset.

So much has happened in the past month which I have not blogged. I'll try to catch it all up soon.

*Sigh* I'll try my best to pull out of this low. I just thank God every day for the smiles that spread across my heart and face as I watch my children grow and take in the world around them. I've been doing my best to ensure that they are happy and loved beyond measure.

Oh...did I mention that we are fully into spring now? It's beautiful! This picture of my house was actually taken earlier this month. It's already changed so much in my garden. My peonies are about to pop and some of my irises have begun to bloom today.

The birds have been happily posing for lots of pictures. Madeline and Tara both are able to identify all the different birds that come to feed. Here are a few of them:

This is Tinkerbell. She's been featured in a couple of my posts. She joined our family 1 1/2 years ago. She's feral cat whom befriended our dog Jack. She's tolerant of us, but never lets us pet her.

Tinkerbell gave birth to Faline last March. Now faline is a VERY friendly cat. She lets the girls carry her around, pet her....

....and she and Tinkerbell were really nice company for Jack.

But Tinkerbell kind of "gets a round". She gave birth to Tiger here at the end of summer, early fall. I was glad she only had one kitten each time. Tiger is a lot like his mommy and never lets us get near him yet he's always hanging around (we don't even know for sure if he's a boy or girl). Well I've noticed how pregnant Tinkerbell has been looking lately. She gave birth once again 2 days ago to her first "litter" of 5 !! I think I'm going to be gathering these babies up and taking them to a shelter. The prospect of 8 cats hanging around and then again multiplying ? Yikes!

....Tara had a sleep over at Sissy's new place. How sweet is this??

Yesterday afternoon, I took Madeline to Wal Mart and I bought her bedding for her big girl bed.

She's so tiny in it.

Last night she spent her first night out of her crib. She woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me...."I yike my new bed mommy".   Tara graduated into her big bed at the age of 25 months.  Madeline is going to be three in a few weeks.  Clearly mommy is trying to cling to her baby and make it last. 

I took this last picture about about 1:45am.  What a precious child.  

She meandered about my property and gave me plenty of opportunity to photograph her. At one point, she was about 10 feet away from our kitchen doorwall while Madeline stood motionless (as she knows she needs to) while the doe stared directly at her. It was very cute.

We're still waiting for spring here.  We are well below normal temperatures for this time of year as we were for much of winter.  So if you haven't gotten yours already, you'd better hurry and order your carbon offset notes.  After all, according to the Global Warming "Climate Change" alarmists, the sky is falling and world is doomed to floods, famine, extreme allergies, hurricanes, and fires.  You've heard Al Gore justify his enormous emission of CO₂ gasses by his use of carbon offsets?  Well now you can get yours too!  They come in 10 and 5 carbon units.  Stock up folks!!