An Evening Grosbeak spotting here in the Valley

We spotted a rare Evening Grosbeak here in the Willamette Valley this past weekend.  It was a rare sight indeed because they are mostly winter birds seen during the months where it is colder.  Skylar was actually the eye behind the camera on this bird-watching capture.  He is making me proud with his camera skills, and he makes me even prouder that he knows what to look for when taking the photos.

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Evening Grosbeak

Bird

The Evening Grosbeak is a large finch. In the past, it was treated in a genus of its own as Hesperiphona vespertina, but is now usually placed in the same genus as the Hawfinch of Eurasia. Wikipedia

Scientific name: Coccothraustes vespertinus Rank: Species Higher classification: Coccothraustes

Above link source belongs to Google.  You can read more about it here.

Paper neighborhood from The Neighborhood

I've been following The Neighborhood and have enjoyed all of their posts from how to entertain during the summer, to enjoying the sun without consequences, to enjoying the benefits of a great neighborhood.  But recently I have been following their "Build your own Neighborhood" series.  They offer a free printable of a house or business to help build your own paper neighborhood and Skylar and I have had a blast with it.  Here is a snapshot of our paper neighborhood from The Neighborhood.

We pasted the trees to thicker cardboard so they would stand up better.  

We also love our new Paper Neighborhood stamp kit from Paper Neighborhood too.  You can get your hands on a stamp set from Paper Neighborhood for $49.

But you can get the paper neighborhood from The Neighborhood for free via their downloads HERE!

Enjoy your new neighborhood!

Eco-Tip:  When walking your neighborhood be sure and pick up stray litter laying around.  Let's all take pride in where we live and keep it clean.

The "I love you Bean"

During the Easter holiday Skylar received an "I Love You Bean" as part of his Easter basket from the "Easter Bunny."  We didn't really want to plant it right away, instead we waited and we're glad we did.  It was the neatest little bean to watch grow and it will be planted in our garden before too long and give us other beans to plant along side it the following year.

The pun on this bean is the fact that it's a play on words for Skylar.  His nickname is Bean, so technically it was the "I Love you Bean" for Bean.  

Such a fun little bean to grow and it's great for kids too.  Snag your own "I Love You Bean" here from Think Geek for under $7.

If you grew this bean too, talk to me about it in the comments below and let me know how awesome it was for you to see "I Love You" on the bean.

Eco-Tip:  Hit the yard sales this summer instead of buying things new.  Check out local thrift stores too and snag a one of a kind find.  For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.