Butterflies!

Yesterday, when we got up, we had butterflies. I was surprised as I was thinking maybe this weekend, but we now have 5 healthy butterflies and one that is not doing too well as he had trouble getting out of his chrysalis and has some issues with his wings and legs. We still have a few more we are waiting for. Everyone has really enjoyed watching them. 

We also got started on our garden bed, though we are pretty late. Better late than not at all, I guess. Andrew build the wooden frame and will be making the second one tomorrow as it rained all day long today. Now we need dirt and fertilizer and I need tomato plants. Everything else we are planting we have seeds for - though, again, I'm afraid we are a little late starting. I guess we will see what happens.

Waiting For Our Butterflies

The caterpillars we ordered have now turned into chrysalides and the kids are getting excited for them to become butterflies. I think we have about a week or less and then we will hopefully have 10 beautiful Painted Lady Butterflies. We do have a couple that did not hang onto the lid as they were supposed to so we just laid them in the bottom of our  butterfly garden. Bethany wants tadpoles after these and we are also thinking of a praying mantis egg since they would be good for our garden. 

Tess also made us some Snickerdoodle Cookies from the recipe book she got for Christmas. She  sure loves to bake. 

River Walk

Early this evening I dropped a book off on Joey's porch for his kids and immediately turned around to go back home. I had Bethany and Tess along for the 5 minute ride and we decided it would be nice to stop by the river on the way home just to walk a little. We got there and there were absolutely no people in sight which surprised me as it was a nice evening - though rather cool. So, we walked for about 30 or 40 minutes. As it started to get dark we headed home watching the sun go down. 

This Week So Far

We started off our week on Monday morning losing power at about 7:30 am. That really wasn't so bad as we have a generator - something we have to have if we want to be able to do Bethany's treatments when we lose power. Later that day our brand new microwave, that we just bought to replace the one that died a week ago, died. Immediately after that we lost internet. Losing the internet was bad because Bill has to work from home, but you obviously need internet for that. Thank goodness we got it back late this afternoon. 

Its been a long month. I'm so used to seeing my older kids and my grandkids several times a week and some of them every single day.  I have a brand new baby granddaughter that I can't visit and it's really sad. But, we have tried to find lots to do and make and read this past month. Today I took Bethany for a ride up the street to drop a letter she wrote to her Sunday school teacher in the mailbox. She was actually excited to just go for the ride. Anyway, I was talking about how everyone had to stay home more and there were many just like us with a "Stay at Home" mandate. I told her that lots of kids were probably bored not being able to see friends or teachers or do the extra activities they do. She kind of surprised me by immediately saying, "They must not have a very interesting home like we do then." And it just hit me how content she is. She's ok with being home and making things and finding projects to do or new things to bake. It actually made my day and you know it really isn't so bad. We are here together and spending a ton of time reading and talking - it's good. 

What We Are Reading

We read Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright as soon as we finished Gone-Away Lake. I think I loved it more than the first one, but hard to say. I loved the old house and discovering things - old furniture, trunks of clothes and jewels, etc. I can really get into them painting and decorating and making the old house a home. I loved when they took a walk and looked back at their home and started thinking about how it would look in the fall with the beautiful colored trees all around the house and in the winter with the lights all warm and shining in the windows. It sounded so warm and cozy and that is definitely my kind of book. 

I asked the kids which book they liked best and it was pretty much half and half and I understand why. Gone-Away Lake - so exciting and interesting and all the old run down houses and the marsh and wildlife and the brother and sister they met. It was a summer to remember. Then the "Return" book so homey but still lots of interesting things happening. As many times as I have read these two books they never get old to me. 

Bella, eating out on the deck - one of the hundreds of cookouts we have had since having to stay home - and it's not over till June 10. 

Getting The Garden Ready

We started cleaning out the old flower garden yesterday. It was a real mess - covered in weeds and sticks and who knows what. We want to get our flower seeds planted in the next week or two. I started working on it and as soon as the kids saw me they wanted to help. They almost always want to help if I'm working. They just don't like to do it alone. We just about got it done and now all we have to do is till it and add fertilizer and, of course, plant the seeds. I told Tess that the first picture I ever saw of her was her in a garden with a hoe. I asked if she remembered being in that garden in China and she said no. But, it seemed to thrill her that she was working in a garden in the very first picture I ever saw of her. It seemed to make her even more interested in gardening.

Surprise Delivery

We grilled out for lunch again today and as soon as we were finished eating we heard the doorbell ring. When we went to the door we had something from one of my older daughters. She sent the kids ice cream and they were so thrilled. It was the perfect ending to our lunch. Big sisters are great.