Heralding Monarchs

Thursday we found these.

Danny Kay is excited to have new royalty to entertain while Emma Peel prepares for their arrival by reading up on King Arthur.

By Saturday we had one of these green treasures, by Sunday we had two.

If you can't tell, this is a picture of a hazy jar filled with 2 chrysalises, milkweed, and caterpillar poop.

How much longer until the monarchs grand arrivals? Only time can tell. Until then, we'll continue watching this little clip over and over and over and over ...



LOL: Tomy says that the little girl in the background of this clip is Asher.

Fruit Loop Diplomacy

It's oft been said that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Evidently, this holds true for little boys, too.

Tomas has been displeased with Hazel's presence ever since she stopped being a teeny baby and became competition. His violent and mean attempts at removing the attention stealing interloper have met with only limited success since Hazel thinks he's the bee's knees and follows him endlessly.

I've been at my wits end wondering and praying for a solution to the constant fighting. Who knew it could be solved as easily as this?


Since the Fruit Loop Accord, the children have repeatedly been seen playing together and peacefully coexisting in close proximity. There has also been a marked reduction in the number of reported injuries and violent incidents.

"Falls Park"

So, I didn't know that Sheep's Bridge or Sheep's Ridge or Sheep Bridge or however one calls the place, was officially called "Falls Park." Is this a new thing or is everyone in denial that that's what it's called? Okay, so who really cares? Not I. I'm just rambling... so get to the pictures of the cute kids already!

Hazel and Daddy liked splashing everybody and I've got the mud splattered shirt to prove it. Hazel also kept trying to run around in the water by herself, only to frequently avoid drowning.

Tomy was rather intimidated by the water and had to hold hands the whole time. (Yeah, he even felt the need to wear his floaty swimsuit! Okay, so he mostly wears it because it a has a fishy on the front.) And thus it is that he preferred being near the shore playing in the very stinky, sticky mud.

All in all, we had a swell FHE playing in the water and the mud, with the sticks and the crud.

hope springs eternal

Pictured is one of the four rose bushes that I bought last Fall for Levi to give me as an early birthday present. They sat, slowly withering to dust in their water-forsaken buckets, until the Spring when they finally found their rest in the comfy front planting bed. The promise of regular watering coaxed even the most "mostly dead" of the bunch to green up and bloom. It was a miracle!

pathetic, it's true :(

Unfortunately, their caregiver is a rather lackluster one, and the regular waterings soon petered off into a distant memory. The valiant little rose bushes kept trying to keep on keeping on, but eventually had to give up a few of their pretty green leaves and shoots to conserve their strength, until they looked more like a conglomeration of dead twigs, than beautiful roses.

new growth :)

Later in the Summer, that unfaithful caregiver repented her negligent ways, and rewarded her faithful plants with a week of wetness and weeding. Oh joy! The roses are coaxed to life once more! Isn't it a wonder that with good roots and care, life and beauty can spring from even the most desperate places.