The Circle of Life

It's A MIRACLE! Our pupa turned into a BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY! Last Wednesday, we were preparing to leave for our trip to Nauvoo, IL and the little chrysalis rested peacefully in the bug catcher. Our plan was to bring it with us because we were not going to take a chance on missing this unique event of nature. I was in the kitchen packing snacks when I unexpectedly saw a wing break through the cocoon.

I started jumping up and down and screaming for Wilson to come quick (Okay, so I had become attached to the pupa too.) It truly was amazing as we watched it break through the cocoon and appear as a monarch butterfly. The whole process really is a small miracle.
It was a very difficult decision, but we decided to let the butterfly go. Wilson said he needed to go find his friends and learn to fly with them.
Tears were shed as we placed him on the grass and said good-bye. Jake then spread his stunning wings for the first time. I think it was his way of saying good-bye to us.

Memorial Day

How did we spend our RAINY MEMORIAL DAY? With some tasty Navajo Tacos, great friends, and a little FAAR-KLE.

John, don't get too confident in your victorious swagger . That was total LUCK when you got 2,400 points on the turn right before I was about to win.

Aaron's face depicts perfectly the crazy excitement of the game.

Brett and Wilson roll another FARKLE. (Don't tell Wil that Farkle actually means you're a loser.)

Yo yo, Dawg. So, check it out...those Ashbys came to PARTY!

Thanks, guys for a great day. I'm so glad everyone enjoyed the Navajo Tacos too. And for those that are interested--here is the Fry Bread recipe courtsey of Mama Gus (although she claims it comes from the Navajo Elderlies.)

Fry Bread:

4 cups flour

1 Tbl baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 Tbl powdered milk

1 1/2 cups hot water

2 Tbl Crisco

Mix the dry ingredients. Then add the crisco and water. Mix until soft. Let the dough rise for a couple of hours and then mmmm...

Can I come in?

One of our favorite features in our new house is our JETTED BATHTUB. We have found that Brett has taken advantage of this fabulous feature more than anyone else in the family. One can often find Daddy relaxing in the bathtub on a lazy Saturday afternoon. (Comment by Brett: I don't deny it. It's delicious!)

In fact, this most recent Saturday Brett snuck away for a sumptuous soak; however, the little ones dutifully caught him in the act.

They stood right next to the bath--watching and adding their commentary: "Those bubbles sure look fun, Daddy," and "Can we come in?" Brett would urge them to go and play, but they continued with, "Is the water warm?" and "That's a lot of bubbles!"

So today, we decided to let them take their own bubble bath. I think Wilson and Maisy loved their bubble bath almost as much as Daddy loved his.

Is it alive?

Wilson received a bug catcher from his preschool teachers, and much to his excitement he caught a caterpillar. Wilson took the responsiblity of finding leaves and grass to make the larva feel at home. Maisy took the responsiblity of terrorizing it by shaking it around. Our hopes were not high, as we said goodnight to the little caterpillar.

When we woke up the next morning, we had a surprise waiting for us. The caterpillar had begun metamorphosis right before our eyes.

The kids were very excited and I had to remind them to be very gentle with the tiny caterpillar because he was working hard to make a cocoon. Wilson cunningly corrected me, "He's a chrysalis, not a caterpillar anymore!" Okay, whatever.
Because the caterpillar had been closely observed and rattled quite a bit, I wasn't sure if it had survived our domestic gestures; however, we have seen it move a few times (very cool) and so we can confirm that IT IS ALIVE.

Needless to say, the chrysalis has become a captivating part of our lives. Whenever we arrive home from running errands, Wilson always runs into the house and says, "How's the pupa doing? Is he a butterfly yet?"

So now we are just waiting for nature to finish its course. We are all rootin' for Jake(the caterpillar) to turn into a BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY. To be continued....

Wildflower Project

One of my most memorable projects from high school was my flower project. I actually ended up loving this project because I learned to identify the wildflowers of Oklahoma. Ever since then, I have loved flowers of all kinds. This spring has been so fun for us as a family, because my children and husband are discovering the wildflowers and I am rediscovering their beauty. So we decided to do our own flower project. Test your knowledge: What flowers can you identify?


The Indian Blanket

The Pink Evening Primrose

The Indian Paintbrush (Oklahoma state wildflower)

The Bluebonnet (Texas state wildflower)

Coreopsis (also known as Tickseed)

Scarlet Pimpernel? (I'm actually not sure what this is. I did not see this one in Oklahoma)

Verbena

Last day of Preschool

Some highlights from Wil's last day at Crossing Point Christian School, narrated by Wil, with parental notes in parentheses:

I love my teachers. They are Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Smith. I love them so much. They let me play dress-up. Mrs. Ford is always really nice, and Mrs. Smith is usually nice, but sometimes she is grumpy. (Wil's teachers think the world of him and have both done a tremendous job this year.)

This is my class. I love my class because they are all nice, expect Dallas (camoflage shorts next to Wil). Sometimes he is mean to the kids. Jake (back row, face hidden) is my best friend is the class. Sometimes when the girls try to get me, Jake helps me to get away from the girls. Kyle (back row, tallest kid) sometimes does things like Jake, but Jake does those things better. Simon (back row, red hair) was the famous one. He brought a silly toy to show and tell. You blow it up, then squeeze it, and it makes toot sounds. Christopher (middle, yellow shirt) actually does good stuff. One time he invited me to his birthday party at Jump-N-Land. Patrick (on the end, white shirt) is the boys' leader. He tells the boys where to go to get the girls. Jon (tall kid, right behind Wil) is kind of difficult because sometimes he was allergic to cheese, and he had to eat pretzels every time he came to school. But now he's not allergic to cheese anymore.

I pulled up my shirt in the picture because sometimes I just pull up my shirt for pictures. (By the way, every mom in the group was taking that same class picture with their own cameras, so they all now have pictures of shirtless Wil among the normal, smiling children.)

So, I got 4 bugs. 1 was a green spider, one was a blue spider, one was a red caterpillar, and 1 yellow snake. They are all not real. They are plastic toys. (It's a bug catcher that we will use this summer to catch real bugs.)

I really liked prescool this year. I'm sad that it's over.