The Birth of a Butterfly Series - Day 4

The wings are starting to dry but the butterfly is showing no signs of taking off any time soon. Plenty of time for a few more photos....


Day 1 (with linky for your own butterfly posts)
Day 2
Day 3

Birth of a Butterfly - Day 2 of the series

Our monarch was still in its chrysalis when we started this series yesterday, but today, there is major progress as the butterfly emerges and takes its first steps.....right towards Sam and then well....he just kept going...right up the side of his head!

Stop back tomorrow for day 3 of our week long series on the birth of a butterfly and if you blogged about raising butterflies (or moths) this summer click here to link up so we can visit and relive the remarkable transformation again and again.

My friend Darcie has some great photos of their summer butterfly adventures so be sure to check out the links and add one of your own!

The Birth of a Butterfly - a week long series

Out of the eight or so caterpillars we've raised until they flew off as butterflies, only once were we privy to the awesome sight of watching a butterfly emerge from it's cocoon.

In celebration of a summer of observing all things insect, I invite you to join us this week as we share in photographs the birth of a butterfly.

Also if YOU have raised butterflies this summer and blogged about it, go ahead and link up your posts. I will link back to this original post every day this week so others can find your blogs and read about what bug business your family has been up to this summer.

This particular photograph is of the butterfly soon after the chrysalis cracked open. Stop back tomorrow to see what a newborn monarch butterfly looks like!

Warning - put your beverage down before opening this post

{I wouldn't want you to spray anything all over your computer screen}

The Bug Whisperer

Alphabitty Moments - The letter K

Welcome to Alphabitty Moments where we stop and remember the little things of childhood. These are not the milestones or the well documented events like holidays or birthdays, but the every day things, events, and emotions that might be forgotten as our children's interests and abilities evolve.

I'm writing this from work so I can't share the cute pics I took of Sam with his King Cobra, but I wanted to get a linky up for those of you who continue to put up with my tardiness and excuses for slacking in my Alphabitty Moment posts. I don't know about you but K was a tough one for me! I ended up choosing King Cobra so I could remember the stage where Sam was (and still is) obsessed with snakes. Remember the day the kids drew snakes (to scale) for hours on 12 feet of craft paper? Yeah, I'd consider that obsessed. :)

So how about you? What K moment do you want to remember?

Yellow

It's the color of the big ball in the sky that has been baking BearCountry in 95-100 degree temps for far too long.

It's the color of Julia's dress that her second cousin wore five years ago.

It's the color of the first apple* of the season that we promptly turned into apple crisp for dinner last night....after we ate yellow corn, carrots, fresh bread, and garlic roast with gravy. Yum!

Now if only I could figure out a way to spread out my motivation to cook throughout the week instead of doing it all in one night....

*we still don't know what kind of apples these are...anyone out there know? What we do know is that they don't get any more red than that little tinge at the top, they are soft, tart, and HUGE!

Can you tell what she's doing?

Missing the target

So my "how I spent my summer vacation" series isn't going as planned. I got behind, like always, and have yet to catch up. When I get behind everything piles up waiting for me to write about our days in chronological order.

I made it through a month of posts and have still been taking pictures, but with three weeks left until school starts chances are I'm going to miss the target at least one more time, but we're going to have in the meantime!

today

....Sam rode his two wheeler without training wheels. Had he been wearing long sleeves I would have encouraged him to ride a little longer and 100% by himself. Instead he asked to go back to riding his trike which was fine by me!

...families from our church happenend to come to our playground while we were there. So much more fun for my kids!

...I harvest 4 giant and 2 small yellow squash, 1 head of broccoli, a handful of beans, a handul of cherry tomatoes, and a couple of Big Boys. I'm on the hunt for a good pickle recipe because I have 5 giant cucumbers waiting to be harvested.

...it's not as humid and it's very pleasant in the shade. It's been miserable lately.

....we might make a trip to Target. I don't think we've been there in a month and we're in need of quite a few household things.

...I hope to get my internet back up and running again in my house so I can post alphabitty moments.

...I hope to get a few more things sorted for our upcoming (and long overdue) garage sale.

...I will bathe my kids twice.

...Julia practiced pumping on the swing

...I will start thinking up our new routine for school and researching lunchbox options for Sam.

It's not a super exciting day, but it's a day with my kids and I'm grateful for it!

Before I go to bed

...I need to get some of the things rattling around in my head OUT. I'm surprised I don't have a headache from all the banging together of thoughts going on in there! It's probably because I'm so tired that the coherent thoughts are cushioned by the mush that is the rest of my brain.

I've been working non stop (hence my lack of blogging). I knew that in order to have everything done that needed to be completed by the end of the month I was going to have to push myself. And push I did!

690 book pages will be published by midnight on Saturday to take advantage of a promotion Blurb is having until the 31st. If I can swing it I want to get an extra 80 page book completed so I can take current pictures of my kids to my high school reunion in a couple of weeks. It has been two years since I made a photobook and I gotta tell ya - it's strange to see my own photos in a book! I am loving the feeling of being caught up though! I will share excerpts as time allows in the next few weeks.

One of the books I'm having printed this week is my FAVORITE blog book I've ever done. I'm going to order a second copy so I can share it with the bloggers who attend my session at the MN Blogger Conference. What am I going to be talking about at the conference? Well you can probably guess, but you'll have to wait for the specifics until I write my presentation summary, a bio, and scrounge up a headshot and get them to Missy by...gulp....tomorrow - uh...I mean later today. It is after midnight again. This is my last late night of the week - no more 3am bedtimes or even 2am bedtimes! I'm shooting a wedding on Saturday so I need to rest up!

We're taking a day trip tomorrow so I'll be able to do some napping in the car - just in case I better get to bed.

I'll leave you with the kids' latest obsession: Caterpillars.

lots and lots of them. Can you see the baby on the underside of the leaf? It's right above the hole and behind it on the other leaf is a bigger Monarch caterpillar. They get twice that big and once that happens we transfer them to our butterfly cage. At this point there are 3 coccoons, 1 in the process of forming its cocoon and 4-5 babies. We used to have eggs on some milkweed leaves but they got gobbled up by hungry caterpillars. Live and learn I guess!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Alphabitty Moments - The letter I

Welcome to Alphabitty Moments where we highlight the ordinary and fleeting moments of childhood one letter of the alphabet at a time!

This week I'm on the letter "I" and chose the word INFLATABLES. Those cumbersome toys that the kids love to play with at the beach will be too small for them someday, but bring so much joy right now.

What "I" word do you want to remember?

Fun (and free!)

Our favorite garden center has a Family Fun weekend every summer. We went last year and had so much fun! The staff is super friendly and everything is FREE. We were exited to go again this year. The kids bounced, played games, looked at fish, fed the donkeys, and Julia had her face painted...

It was a short visit because we had plans to celebrate my middle sister's birthday at 12:30. They didn't mind the long (hot, because our AC doesn't work) car ride because they had their prizes to play with. Bonus!

When we arrived at the restaurant it turned out that it was Family Fun Day there too! EVERY Sunday is Family Fun Day with a full schedule of events for kids AND there is a playground for them to play on in between games. Kids even eat FREE with an paid adult meal. Double bonus!


The kids were exhausted by the end and not even this giant brownie sundae provided enough sugar to keep them going. Julia was asleep less than a minute after we pulled out of the parking lot. So much fun for one day and all of it FREE!

Summer of Firsts for Sam

First time jumping off the end of the dock by himself


first sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house


first time being able to volley the tennis ball back and forth


first time across the monkey bars by himself



As much as I feel guilty for not spending as much time with the kids as I'd like, I've been blessed to be a part of all of these firsts and for that I'm grateful! Oh how I love those confidence building moments!

One first that I don't mind missing is Sam learning to ride without training wheels....PapaBear takes him up to the tennis courts which is fine by me. I'm such a wimp when it comes to that sort of thing. Better for Daddy to teach him I say!

Hands down

The food Julia eats the most of when we go out for pizza?

Peas and Corn.

3 cups worth.

Full of hot air

The kids read a book about using balloons attached to paper airplanes and wanted to make some of their own. On Sam's special day we took a trip to the dollar store to pick up some balloons. Normally we don't buy stuff on their special days but I considered the balloons supplies instead. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Back at home we used paper that had been drawn and/or painted on already to construct our winged masterpieces. It didn't really work very well, but we had fun trying and that's what counts! I treasure the times I get to do do projects with the kids because my time is so limited. They are like little sponges who love to soak up information. I miss being the one to witness that all day long.

Summer vacation will be over before we know it!

Wordless Wednesday - She was not part of our summer vacation plans

A summer checklist (for three year olds)

I'm behind in writing what we've been doing this summer for my 'how I spent my summer vacation series' and I thought this would be a fun way to catch up from last week. This is Julia's version:


Saturday - visit friends and swim in their big pool. check

Sunday - Eat first tomatoes from the garden.

check

Monday - Bring Mommy breakfast in bed.

check

Tuesday - Play "library program" and perform new acts

check

Wednesday - Play Tennis

check
Thursday - Jump off the dock and

go to a concert in the park (alternate option - nap)
check, check

Friday - Pack suitcase for a sleepover at Grandma's

check

A rare treat

I took the kids to see Toy Story 3 the Thursday before the 4th as their reward for doing so well at Sharon's wedding. I don't think I shared the story of how they walked down the aisle did I? Sammy walked down all by himself but Julia hung back so PapaBear went back up the aisle to walk with her. The next time he walks her down the aisle, him in a tux, her in a white dress, it will be her wedding day. Gulp.

But back to the movie outing rundown:
We went to a 7:30 show a few towns away. We took along their blankets and a stuffed animal for each of them. Their eyes got HUGE when they saw how much popcorn came in a a large tub. We sipped water and watched the previews. Sam asked, "is it going to start now?" at least three times.

Julia's chair squeaked and she wasn't heavy enough to make it stay open. Figures.

The kids enjoyed the movie - except for the parts where Sam covered his eyes. It was a little intense in my opinion.

After the movie we went grocery shopping. Yes I know it was 10pm but we make it a point to do at least two things during every trip to town. Gas is way too expensive to not stick to this rule. Shopping was fine - the store was nice and empty so we could get what we needed and head out. Julia said she heard thunder but that didn't make any sense because I could see stars.

The thunder was fireworks! On a Thursday? We went with it and sat and watched them from the Perkin's parking lot before making the long drive home.

Not a typical Thursday or a typical summer vacation day in the least, but it was a good one.

another wedding

I'm out of town so I don't have to do so much driving for a wedding tomorrow. I've made it a habit to attend wedding rehearsals so I am as prepared as possible for the big day. Tonight I also had the opportunity to also do some preschooting of the beautiful reception site. (See twitter for a couple pics of the location)

I was most impressed with the design details and smart thinking that went into a couple of things. The flowers are done and already on site. Yes they are fake but believe me, they are just as pretty and won't get beat up in the heat tomorrow. Also they skipped flowers on the guys. No waiting to pin flowers before we can start pictures!! Guy's flowers always get smooshed anyway. I'm sure the guys will look plenty sharp without them. The color scheme is beautiful and fits the location perfectly. I can't wait to get back there to start shooting!

Actually I take that back. I'm pretty comfortable here in my hotel room. I better not wish away this time alone. I'm not really alone though....I have a bag of M&M's, a cup of coffee, a king sized bed all to myself, a hot tub, cheese and crackers and a TV.

The kids are having their very first sleepover at grandma and grandpa's tonight so daddy can work in the office tonight and tomorrow morning. You should have seen how excited they were about packing their suitcases!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!