August 31

Butterfly #19 was out when we got up this morning.  We had a little fun with him at the bus stop.

August 30

Keira with her newly broken arm.  This picture was actually taken yesterday.  We were too busy today with follow up visits and chaos to take any pictures.  :)

August 29

We woke up this morning to butterfly #18.  We didn't get to spend much time with her since we had to leave for church.  She was gone by the time we got home.  :(

August 28

Five more butterflies today!  Unfortunately they didn't all arrive at the same time so I couldn't photograph them all together.  I did manage to get a few group shots though.  More pics and info on my other blog.

August 27

We have butterfly #12.  She (we think it is a female since it is so petite) decided to not emerge until just before Keira and Nick got home from school.  Which was good because they got to see her before we set her free.  She's still hanging out on my irises.

August 26

Keira and Nick's first day of school.  Keira 6th grade; Nick 2nd grade.

August 25

A spiderweb on a milkweed plant.  I saw it when getting leaves for our hungry caterpillars.  That's the sun in the background.  Not a great pic but kinda cool, I think.

August 24

A close up of my hibiscus flower.

August 23

Presenting butterfly #11!

August 22

Butterfly #10 emerged today!

We've got several more in chrysalis so we'll have lots of butterflies coming soon!

August 21

We watched my nieces this morning for a couple hours.  They are both so sweet. 

 Jordan is 5, lost her first 2 teeth recently, and will be starting Kindergarten on September 1.

  

Christy is 9 months, is into everything, and is starting to walk along furniture.  As great as she is, she reminds me why I'm done having babies.  :)

August 20

You knew I had to post a pic of our crazy, scary looking Hickory Horned Devil caterpillar today!  If you didn't read the story about him on my other blog, go check it out!

August 19

Nicholas is so proud of our first cantaloupe and the 2 small bunches of grapes he harvested from one of our several gardens this year.

August 18

Doug planted grapevines this year and this is our first harvest.  You can see how small they are in the palm of my hard-working husband's hand.  Not exactly prize winning.  And quite bitter.  Hopefully next year we'll have grapes you can actually eat and enjoy.  :)

August 17

Yeah, another flippin' butterfly picture.  But this is my way of knowing when they emerge.

This is butterfly #9.  I believe it is a female because she was so petite compared to the others we've had.  Thankfully my irises bloomed so I had some flowers to put her on for her photo shoot before she flew away.  :)  We're having quite the dry summer so many of my flowers are dead or dying.  :(

August 16

Nicholas and I found this Monarch butterfly while we were gathering milkweed leaves today for our many hungry caterpillars.  He is obviously at the end of his life.  The kids brought him home so they could observe him for a while.  Keira put him on one of my irises but he flew away after a while.  He didn't go far though.  Last I saw him, he was in our front yard.  We'll see if we can find his body tomorrow.  :(  I know they have a short life span (just a couple months), but it is still sad to see one near the end.

August 15

I know this isn't a great picture, but I love what it represents.  These 9 creepy, crawly, eating, pooping caterpillars represent 9 beautiful Monarch butterflies.  Keira was cleaning out their house and giving them fresh milkweed and she decided to put them on a tissue (not sure why).  These guys are all pretty big and will be forming their chrysalides in the next couple days, I'm sure.  We have other smaller ones in a different container.  I believe we have 19 or 20 caterpillars in all.  Plus the 3 that are in their chrysalides right now.  Plus the 8 butterflies we already released.  I am just loving this ongoing science experiment.  :)

August 14

Nicholas took this picture of me just before I crossed the finish line at this morning's 5K race.  He didn't do too bad of a job.

August 13

My sweet baby niece, Christy.  Love those 2 little teeth!

August 12

Okay, so I didn't take this one, but I like to throw a picture of myself in here and there, so people know that I do actually exist.  We were riding the ferris wheel at the Butler Farm Show when Doug took this photo of me (with my little pocket camera since my Nikon's battery went dead shortly after we arrived - grrr.  I must buy a spare battery!).

August 11

I was finally able to get close enough to get a clear picture of the goldfinch eating my sunflowers.  Yay!

August 10

Butterflies #7 and #8 emerged today!  We'll have a short break while we wait for #9 ... probably in another week or so.

In case you haven't noticed, I am thoroughly enjoying this whole process!  We even bought an official butterfly house today for the rest of our caterpillars (we think we have 19 more right now!).

Nicholas and I walked down a back road near our house on Sunday to get some leaves for the caterpillars we had and we found 8 more that day and brought them home.  Yesterday morning when we awoke, there was a "Mowing - next 2 miles" sign set up at the end of the road.  The milkweed plants that we got the caterpillars from on Sunday probably got mowed down on Monday!  No wonder monarchs have a better chance of survival in captivity.

Anyway, Nicholas and I are glad we saved the 8 that we did.

August 9

Yeah, I know ... another bug picture!  This guy perched himself on Doug's car's antennae and just waited patiently while I took his picture.

August 8

Keira found this leaf bug this evening while we were showing some friends how to find monarch caterpillars on milkweed plants.  We found 2 caterpillars (and loads of milkweed!) and they chose to take 1 home with them to raise. 

August 7

Butterfly #6!  This beauty emerged this afternoon.  After a few hours of waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting, she decided to join the world.  Thankfully I had a book to read to kill the time while waiting.  :)

August 6

How awesome is this?!  Four of our butterflies emerged today!!!  I stayed home from the gym so I could see them and I'm so glad I did!  It was sooooo cool!  The first 2 came out while we weren't looking, but we got to watch the other 2 in action.  It is truly amazing!!!

August 5

Our first monarch butterfly emerged today!!!!!!!

August 4

I saw this cool-looking mushroom near a creek we went to today ... fishing (which was a bust) and crayfishing (which we caught some and was great fun).  A thunderstorm rolled in and sent us home.

August 3

I know this isn't the greatest picture, but I'm so excited about it!  We found these 4 baby monarch caterpillars this afternoon at a local park!  The smallest one is about 4mm long and the 2 biggest ones are about 6mm long.  Babies!!!  That's puts our current count at 11 ... 6 in their chrysalis, one "teenager" who is busy eating and pooping :), and these 4 babes.  Yay!  Can't wait to see the butterflies!

August 2

Yeah, I know ... another flippin' butterfly!  But it IS a pretty one, isn't it?  :)

August 1

My mom invited us to her company's annual picnic.  It was held at an apartment complex that her boss owns in Washington, Pa.  It was quite a drive to get there (1.5 hours!) but the kids and I had a blast.  Once we ate lunch and let our bellies digest a while, we got in the pool.  And that's where the kids stayed for the rest of the day!  Nick and Keira kept running and jumping in, having a good time.  I managed to catch Nick in mid-air.  Fun!