How Beautiful!!!

It happened---they came out of their chrysalis and are absolutely gorgeous!! Ellie think the butterflies are great, but keeps asking if they are the caterpillar--NOPE, definitely didn't get it!

We let the butterflies flutter around for a day and then had a release party for Maggie and Green. It sure was fun watching them!! Maybe next time Ellie will get it:)

First Day of VBS

Great first day!! Ellie seems to really LOVE it--which is great. It is quite embarassing when the pastor's kid doesn't like VBS. Kind of like when Ellie knows the children choir songs at church, but REFUSES to sing. She stands in front of the entire church like a bump on the log. THAT KILLS ME!!

Anyways, we had 46 kids at VBS which is huge growth from our 12 kids last year. While it is nice to say we have more, I miss the amount of time that we got to spend with each individual child. I do think it will be a spectacular week of VBS!!

The simple things

I realize more and more each day how my kids just like the simple things.

Yesterday, we travelled to PA for my cousin's little boy's 1st birthday. It was a great party. The girls had a blast. After any activity that we do, we always ask the girls to tell us their favorite part. Ellie's words---"The cake." They had tons of toys, a inflatable bouncer, and a pinata. Yet, my kid was all about the cake.

Tonight, I came home from VBS set-up to find that my kids spent 2-3 hours playing babies in the tiny vestibule of our house. Hours spent dressing and undressing them--putting them down for "naps." The simple things---that is what they seem to enjoy the most. I can't wait to hear what Ellie enjoys most about VBS tomorrow.

They are Chrysalis

I must admit, I thought we were going to run out of parsely before the caterpillars ate enough:) But it has happened--in a period of 4 hours they have spun themselves into a chrysalis.

At dinner, Ellie was a little frantic that the caterpillars escaped. I tried to explain they were living in the brown thing dangling from the tree branch--that they made a house to live in while they are growing into a butterfly. Nope--don't think she got it!

Progress

Tonight, I came home to only steps leading out of the back of my home---that's progress.

I am looking forward to a night of eating dinner out, grabbing a cup of ice cream from this great shop down the street that makes their own, and playing at least 5 rounds of the Strawberry SHortcake game with Ellie and a few rounds of Lucky Ducks with Maggie.

Will it ever be finished?

Our deck is still not completely knocked down yet. They started on Monday, now it is Thursday and the lower deck is still standing. How long does it take to knock down some unstable wood posts?

We did have a major catastrophe happen today, at least in Ellie's eyes. I am not sure how it happened, but mankalet (Ellie's blanket) got left at the house today. Unfortunetly, the bad news was not discovered till we were more than half way to school. Whoops. I am proud to say that Ellie did survive the day without her beloved mankalet, but I am sure tomorrow she will double check her arms before walking out the door.

Watching Butterflies

It is so much fun to watch life happen though the eyes of children. The other day, the girls and I discovered two balck swallowtail caterpillars munching on our parsely. I tried to explain that these fat green things were going to become butterflies, but I could see in Ellie's dazed blue eyes that she wasn't getting it. So, into our house we welcomed our new pets: Maggie and Green. I am not sure why Ellie named one after her sister--they don't look anything alike:)

Amazing Questions

So, we are eating breakfast and talking about the back deck. (We are in the process of having our old decks torn down and replaced with new ones). The conversation goes somethign like this...

Mommy, where is our porch?
It is being torn down so a new one can be made.
Oh...(few second pause) who is making it.
Rick and a few of his friends
He's the man that came to our house when we ate dinner?
Yep, that's him
Mommy, God made me.
Yep, God sure did.
(Quite a long pause)
Who made God? Where is he?


I always knew these questions would be asked---but who would have thought that our deck construction would spark teh question. Kids make the MOST random connections

In all our free time...

It's crazy how fast life and times go by. As a kid, I can remember counting down the days before winter and summer break. And now, I want to keep the kids up past their bedtimes (which drives the hubby crazy) and snuggle extra snuggles in the morning because time is going by just too quick. What happened? What chnaged? Why don't the days drag our for an eternity anymore?

So, in all of my free time, I have decided to blog about the moments that seem mundane but are the fabric of our lives and are the moments that matter most.