Birthday, Bluebirds, and Rainbows

I must say that I really like the way this card came out.  It was for a dear friend whom we got to spend some time with this past weekend.

It gave me a chance to use some of the tools and toys that I had purchased lately and not yet used.  The lovely leafy frame die and a new embossing folder and yes, the daisy was hand created too.  

I found some shades of purple butterfly buttons cleaning the craft cave recently and they wanted to be part of the card too!

As we helped friends on LBI this weekend relocate dune grass back onto the dune and to plant their flower bed there were intermittent showers and in between we were treated to a rainbow over the ocean.

I find it hard to get a good picture of rainbows with my digital camera as the camera doesn't really know what to focus on.  So I just click away and hope for the best.  There must be a trick to it and if anyone knows one, please share.  

We had such a good time with our Table 7 group and I'm sure we were the source of entertainment for our hosts' other guests with the stories from our more youthful days that sometimes get more and more embellished as the years go on, but are always so much fun to rehash.  It never ceases to amaze me the amount of detail that HWNSNBP can remember about a camping trip with his buddies back in 1972, or a particular party back then but he can't tell me where we keep the crockpot!  

We've been monitoring the bluebird nest for several weeks now with the nest cam and when we got back from our visit I finally got HWNSNBP to get a picture of the actual occupants.  There are 4 babies who are being very well taken care of by both parents.  HWNSNBP has name them Hercules and Delilah.  I have no I idea why, but I'll indulge him.  I'm sure the birds won't mind.

They hatched on the 17th of May and we got to watch them hatch.  Surprisingly, we also saw the Mrs. eating the egg shells after the hatchings which was something new to us.  We always thought that they carried the shells away from the nest.  We know they do do that with the poop sacs.

Their eyes are open now and they are very demanding when they hear their parents come to the box.  And they're getting so big that mom and dad just step right on top of them when they go in to tidy things up.   None of them seem to mind.  

We might get one more opportunity to get a picture before they start hopping around.  We don't want any of them hopping out before they're ready.