Lunchtime

Since summer has begun we have been outside a lot. Our backyard is very shady and there are lots of things to do plus Mommy can relax and crochet on the swing while the kids go on adventures behind the bushes . . . well sort of behind them since the bottom of the bushes are 2-3ft off the ground so most of them is not at all hidden. Anyways Mattie thought we should eat lunch outside a few weeks ago and we have been doing it ever since, we love it. It is like having a picnic everyday, although we have moved from a picnic blanket to a small table because I got tired of washing the blanket everyday. Here are some pictures of our fun :-)

The Last Box

Here it is, the last box we are sending Daddy for this deployment. We could not really send him anything that he had to bring home because he is getting ready to send all his belongings aside from his A and B bags back to North Carolina. We made sure we packed everything, lots of pictures and letters, snacks, a cd, new razors . . . you know all the important stuff. Some baked goods will go in before it is sealed (before we also included books, games, clothing, soap and anything else he needed).





As soon as this box is gone we are going to start planning for his homecoming. I have already ordered a big banner to hang on the garage door and I am going to make some fun countdown projects with the kids, meal plan his favorite dinners and hopefully plan a camping trip. We are all so ready to be done with this deployment, we want our him as far from the Middle East as possible and of course home with us for good! I am excited to be a normal (whatever that really means :-P ) family again, for my kids to know what it is like to have a daddy that comes home every night (they are constantly confused that other daddy's come home and are not gone for long periods of time) I am also looking forward to a break. When James is gone it is hard in all aspects but lately the emotion toll has been hard on me. I am so looking forward to a break, not from my kids really but from being . . . well everything and doing everything. And I am never doing yard work again . . . at least not the big stuff :P

Raising Painted Lady Butterflies Part 3

And the final product, some pretty butterflies!



We did not get to see them emerge (maybe next time) as they all seemed to do it while we were sleeping but they are certainly out now! If you try and are able to see the emergence, apparently they will rest in a vertical position while pumping their wings to full size. They do that for about 2 hours until their wings are fully hardened and then they can fly! Also don't be alarmed by any red liquid, it is just meconium and is the left over color and unneeded tissues from the butterfly's wing formation.



Now all that was left is feeding them (sugar water on fake flowers or real flowers) for a few days so we could enjoy them, which included nameing them Sinny, Angelina, Little O, Sehla, Eli, and Train. Each kid named two <3 data-blogger-escaped-a="a" data-blogger-escaped-and="and" data-blogger-escaped-at="at" data-blogger-escaped-br="br" data-blogger-escaped-but="but" data-blogger-escaped-butterflies="butterflies" data-blogger-escaped-days="days" data-blogger-escaped-did="did" data-blogger-escaped-few="few" data-blogger-escaped-first="first" data-blogger-escaped-for="for" data-blogger-escaped-forever="forever" data-blogger-escaped-fun="fun" data-blogger-escaped-go="go" data-blogger-escaped-i="i" data-blogger-escaped-idea.="idea." data-blogger-escaped-in="in" data-blogger-escaped-just="just" data-blogger-escaped-keep="keep" data-blogger-escaped-kids="kids" data-blogger-escaped-letting="letting" data-blogger-escaped-like="like" data-blogger-escaped-live="live" data-blogger-escaped-living="living" data-blogger-escaped-normally="normally" data-blogger-escaped-not="not" data-blogger-escaped-okay="okay" data-blogger-escaped-open="open" data-blogger-escaped-place="place" data-blogger-escaped-reminded="reminded" data-blogger-escaped-small="small" data-blogger-escaped-something="something" data-blogger-escaped-such="such" data-blogger-escaped-that="that" data-blogger-escaped-the="the" data-blogger-escaped-them.="them." data-blogger-escaped-them="them" data-blogger-escaped-they="they" data-blogger-escaped-to="to" data-blogger-escaped-wanted="wanted" data-blogger-escaped-was="was" data-blogger-escaped-watch="watch" data-blogger-escaped-we="we" data-blogger-escaped-were="were" data-blogger-escaped-with="with" data-blogger-escaped-would="would">



Bye bye butterflies! Safe travels to you.

Sad

***UPDATE*** I found them!!!! I am so excited! Looks like I got something to keep me busy tonight :-)

Before this blog I had two other blogs, one about me here at blogger and one about my children at Baby Home Pages, it was a bit too much to keep up with. So, I took a break. For about a year. I decided to combine and start this blog after that break from blogging and had saved all my post from my old blogs to add to this one. However I can't find the files anywhere . . . I knew I should have printed them, I knew it. Sigh. Five years of what we were up to, what the kids were doing and other random things GONE :-( Needless to say, but I said it anyway, I am sad. At least I still have all my pictures.

Raising Painted Lady Butterflies Part 2

So we are ready to move the butterflies to their new home, well temporary home. Here are some pictures of them after they turned into crysalides. I put them up high on a shelf for this part because this is their most vulnerable stage, even though it seems to be a time of rest it is really a time of rapid change for them.




After leaving them there for a little less than a week I moved them to their habitat very very very carefully :P Right under the top of the lid is a paper disk which is what the butterflies are actually attached too so I simply took of the lid and carefully moved the butterflies through small door on the side of the habitat and pinned them to the wall. Two of them fell off but I just put them on a paper towel and according to the directions they should be okay.








It should be be about another week and we will have some pretty butterflies to release is our garden (well the start of our garden)! Stay tuned!

The Fair

We were able to hit up the fair with Grandma and Auntie and it was great. We only went for a few hours but the kids seemed to really enjoy it. I think they will enjoy it even more as they grow, only the girls were big enough for the rides. However aside from the rides it was really neat to see all the animals especially the baby bunnies, I think it was a tie between the baby bunnies and the very very large cows. We had never seen quite that close and I think our oldest was surprised at how big cows actually are. Especially when I mentioned buying one, for meat, she was very concerned about how it would fit in our house. All in all it was a fun evening with all the best parts:

Eating corn dogs

Ridding some rides

Checking out animals

Getting some ice cream