I realized this week that I am never cut out for pet ownership. Lisa and Marilyn set up a jar to hatch Monarch butterflies, and the responsibility inherent in this has me in a tizzy. The lone remaining caterpillar had devoured most of the milkweed leaves in the jar this morning, so I slipped on some (pink) rubber boots and drove to a field nearby (in my yellow sleep shorts and orange t-shirt-- fashion maven!) and picked milkweed leaves for it! The caterpillar did show gratitude for my early morning errand by eating a HUGE portion of the leaves right away. 
I had no idea the cocoon was so gorgeous. It doesn't even show up well in these pictures, but they are a gorgeous green, with little speckles of gold. I have no idea how they can make something so shiny and delicate. I might be tempted to wear jewelry if they could replicate the look of this! I found a site http://www.geocities.com/wyllz/id177.htm that has beautiful pictures of all the cycles.
I worry about the poor things a lot, but it is utterly fascinating.
One of Elliott's birthday presents was a sandbox. The sand in Elliott's hair every night attests that they are spending lots of time in that!
It just so happened that the best deal we found on a sandbox included a kid's picnic table with umbrella. Cheyenne and Elliott love having snacks on it.
Elliott enjoys his peanut butter sandwich and milk-- with a side of silliness.
Cheyenne is perfecting a summertime talent-- climbing trees!
I don't think I ever had that much physical courage when I was a kid, so I'm impressed!
Grandma and Grandpa White, Mammy and Auntie Lisa stopped here after they left Newry. Cheyenne went to the state fair with Daddy and the Whites, while Mammy stayed home with the baby, Elliott and I. Mammy and Elliott had a marvelous time together-- Mammy baked bread and Elliott made his own little loaves. They actually turned out good, despite the prolonged kneading they received! Then they had a picnic outside, and played on the swings, and generally were good buddies. Mammy even altered some clothes for me! While it was kind of disappointing not to go to the fair, Elliott and Marilla had a much better day here then they would have dragging around the fair.
This weekend, we got to hang out with Grandma Jill and the two girls. Elliott and Grandma Jill both caught up on the news on their laptops! (We are all so excited about the Sarah Palin nomination-- my brother Tyler works with her best friend in Wasilla, and Bethaney has met her-- hard to believe our state is in the spotlight!)
We had missed Tori's birthday, so we used that as an excuse to make a chocolate cake. Here, Elliott sings "Happy Birthday"-- he is singing so well these days!
Cheyenne (who has already sampled the frosting, as you can tell by the dab on her cheek) watches Tori blow out the candles. A big 11!
Elliott's been watching Daddy shaving-- this is a sledgehammer that came with a little construction set he had, but he was very carefully shaving with it today. He didn't miss a single spot on his face. I'm amazed he doesn't have razor burn after the thoroughness of that shave!
Cheyenne and Tori had their usual marvelous time together-- playing with the hand-me-down Little People we are still utterly fascinated with!
Marilla is really creeping around now. We're back to lots of gates in our split level house. (How I would like to meet the architect of such houses in a dark alley someday!) She is able to open the toy cupboards (pictured behind her) open and pull toys out. Great to have a third person adding to toy piles all over the house!
One of Elliott's birthday presents was a sandbox. The sand in Elliott's hair every night attests that they are spending lots of time in that!
It just so happened that the best deal we found on a sandbox included a kid's picnic table with umbrella. Cheyenne and Elliott love having snacks on it.
Elliott enjoys his peanut butter sandwich and milk-- with a side of silliness.
Cheyenne is perfecting a summertime talent-- climbing trees!
I don't think I ever had that much physical courage when I was a kid, so I'm impressed!
Grandma and Grandpa White, Mammy and Auntie Lisa stopped here after they left Newry. Cheyenne went to the state fair with Daddy and the Whites, while Mammy stayed home with the baby, Elliott and I. Mammy and Elliott had a marvelous time together-- Mammy baked bread and Elliott made his own little loaves. They actually turned out good, despite the prolonged kneading they received! Then they had a picnic outside, and played on the swings, and generally were good buddies. Mammy even altered some clothes for me! While it was kind of disappointing not to go to the fair, Elliott and Marilla had a much better day here then they would have dragging around the fair.
This weekend, we got to hang out with Grandma Jill and the two girls. Elliott and Grandma Jill both caught up on the news on their laptops! (We are all so excited about the Sarah Palin nomination-- my brother Tyler works with her best friend in Wasilla, and Bethaney has met her-- hard to believe our state is in the spotlight!)
We had missed Tori's birthday, so we used that as an excuse to make a chocolate cake. Here, Elliott sings "Happy Birthday"-- he is singing so well these days!
Cheyenne (who has already sampled the frosting, as you can tell by the dab on her cheek) watches Tori blow out the candles. A big 11!
Elliott's been watching Daddy shaving-- this is a sledgehammer that came with a little construction set he had, but he was very carefully shaving with it today. He didn't miss a single spot on his face. I'm amazed he doesn't have razor burn after the thoroughness of that shave!
Cheyenne and Tori had their usual marvelous time together-- playing with the hand-me-down Little People we are still utterly fascinated with!
Marilla is really creeping around now. We're back to lots of gates in our split level house. (How I would like to meet the architect of such houses in a dark alley someday!) She is able to open the toy cupboards (pictured behind her) open and pull toys out. Great to have a third person adding to toy piles all over the house!
Evan spent Labor Day laboring hard on our basement bedroom. He was able to get a coat of paint on today! It's "straw" and it looked more browny orange on the paint chip, but it came out a pretty unequivocal yellow-- pretty, though! We had picked out a quilt we liked the other day, and matched the paint chip to that. It looks good with the walls, even though the walls aren't exactly how we pictured.
So now we are looking ahead to fall. Cheyenne starts preschool Wednesday. I am not sure how I am going to handle letting my perfect little girl go! While I am excited because she is excited, it is a very mixed time, emotionally. It is just for 2 1/2 hours a day, and I know she will love it, but it just is a whole different phase in our very insular life. I'm sure in a few weeks it will seem like she's always known the other kids, and life will go on.
Miss Marilla will be six months old on Thursday, too! Lots of growth for all my kids!
1 comment:
Always love reading your blog, we had two out of our four hatch, one sat. and one today.....but I fear the others have rotted away....don't know what happens to them to make them do that. But they are so beautiful aren't they!!! Missed seeing you at the fair:-)
Post a Comment