Butterflies!

Grandma, our butterflies started to hatch today! For Easter, Grandma Gayle got the kids a butterfly habitat. We patiently waited while the larvae grew bigger- it was amazing how much they would grow in just one day! Then we watched them (mostly) all form cocoons. We put them safely into the habitat and left it to hang in the dining room. I glanced up at it today and there were two butterflies drying their wings! We went about our business for an hour or so and came back to find two more. Headed to the store to get them food (flowers with sugar water and orange slices) and came back to find another. Four so far and waiting on four more! They've all been named, so we have Bendaroo (he has something going on with his wings and they're kind of folded over), Orangey (the first to find the orange slices), Matt (the one who won't leave the mat they were 'born' on yet), and Climbey (likes to scale the walls).
FYI, I'm going to start watermarking our blog photos because I have some friends who have found their blog photos in really scary places and I guess you can never be too careful. Sorry if it's in the way.






The last photo is Bendaroo- can you see how his little wing is folded?
We'll get to keep the butterflies for about a week and then we'll set them free. The book we got with the habitat says that butterflies tend to stay close to where you release them, so they might hang out in the backyard. Eddie just might get his butterfly garden this year, so that we can entice them to stay for a while. :)

Saturday in spring!

Just the way a Saturday morning should be in spring!
Eddie and I were cleaning out the garage and realized we hadn't seen the kids (or the dog) in a while. Never would have guessed I'd find them here!
Hope you're enjoying your Saturday like we are!

Hip to be a Square

Last night was Neily's kindergarten music program, Amazing Shapes. We have been hearing about this recital for about three months, asking how many months, weeks, and days were left. She was as excited about this as she was for Disney World, I swear! The morning of the recital, Eddie went to wake her up and I heard her pop up and say, "Today is my recital!" Neily seems to have quite a flair for the dramatic! ;)
Each class had a shape song and had to dress that way. Her class was 'square' and their song was about square dancing.
Showing off her 'square'

Her speaking part that we heard no less than 496, 783 times- "But what is its name and what does it do? If I find out, I'll share it with YOU!"

YEE-HAW!


I helped to create the scenery boards for the show, and I can't believe I didn't think to take a picture of THAT, because I'd blow you all away with my fabulousness. HA!

Happy Easter... a little late!

I was so sick over spring break and Easter that it's kind of like it didn't even happen for me... found these on the memory card and whaddya know, we DID have Easter after all. ;)
All credit for photography goes to Eddie, I'm sad to say that I barely got off the couch the entire day. He may not know the technical side of the camera (yet) but he actually has a much better eye for creative photography than I do! He always catches great moments. :)

GOAL!

A moment three seasons in the making! The Blue Dolphins soccer team started their season today and... drumroll please... Neily scored her first goal!!! We could not be more proud of the little punk, she has been on cloud nine all day. EVERYONE was there to watch her, all grandparents and Jessie, so maybe she was just waiting for her audience. I have to say, there is no better feeling as a parent than watching your child succeed at something and being there to celebrate it with them. We felt lucky to have friends and family there cheering just as loud as we are, I felt very blessed in that moment. I didn't think I was shooting at all during the goal, but I did get some of it.

She gets the ball.. is this finally it?! She had to WORK for this goal, she took it 3/4 of the way up the field to the goal.

Oh, yeah... she knows it's going in!


GOAL!



Getting a congratulatory hug from a teammate, the sweetest thing! I was cheering so loud that I did miss the excitement on her face, and I'm sad that I don't have a picture but the image I'll always keep in my mind of that moment is much more precious!


Jackster and Papa cheering on the Blue Dolphins!


We're very excited for soccer to have started up again and proud of our little punk! Can't wait to see more this season, Miss Neily!

Our weekend warrior project

When we (I) saw that this weekend's weather was supposed to be nice, we (I) decided it was time to shape up the backyard. Our backyard is my nemesis. We back up to woods and see lots of critters, which is fun, until they help themselves to everything you just put in the ground. There has been a long-running deck/patio argument that isn't being solved anytime soon, plus we lost a tree in the yard last fall that changed the entire yard- where we had spent years growing shade plants under our tree, that is now full sun and completely fried.
This is the before, that I am truly embarrassed to show. It still has that sad post winter look- no plants, bare grass...

Started with a loooooooooooooot of wood chips.

Then came the flagstone. I *heart* flagstone and I was so happy to finally use it in the yard.

Almost done! We put a stone border around it and it is now affectionately known as the Hidden Mickey patio. I told you we love Disney World!
We also laid the wood chips around the playset and bordered it with more stone.

Oh my gosh! He's smiling! Imagine that.

We only ran into one snag in the project. Lucas didn't want to give us the chair back and he wasn't kidding.


Ta-da! The results! When we're clear of frost, we will be adding boxwoods and some color in the 'Mickey ears'. I think the plan is also going to make a path to the swing set and another path to where our tree used to be, and put in a fountain now that the kids are old enough to trust around water.
I can't believe we got it all done in a weekend! And that included buying all the supplies, which took all morning yesterday. Like it? I'm REALLY pleased- it's exactly what I wanted. I really wanted a more informal, free flowing plan, I really didn't want any major hardscaping. Every time I look through pictures, I gravitate towards this look so it turned out just as planned... which is NOT often around here!