Butterflies

On Friday morning, Bunny's school had a music concert (which I'll post about tomorrow).  After the concert we walked past her classroom so I could own up to the fact that I had been a terrible Room Mom over the last few months.  Seriously, I have been way too caught up in my own work drama and ignoring my responsibilities to Bunny's classroom.  I thought maybe, right before Spring Break, I could own up to it and get myself back on track by checking in with her teacher (who BTW, is amazing).

After apologizing profusely and asking if there was anything I could do to help, we were gifted with the class chrysalides.  For those of you not in the know, a chrysalis is the little home caterpillars make to turn into butterflies.  More than one chrysalis is called chrysalides.  See how I'm learning stuff every day.  Don't feel bad if you didn't know this already, I had to look it up myself!

Turns out, they were likely to "hatch" while everyone was on Spring Break next week, and no one would be around to make sure they had some flowers sprayed with sugar water to eat.  So home they came with us.  I had planned on taking "before" photos today after church.  However, our wee little butterflies had different plans.  This morning when we woke up, we found two of the 6 little fellas (ladies?) had come out to spread their wings. (Forgive the photos, they're in a plastic and mesh container that was really hard to get a good shot through.)

This little guy we noticed first.  Cute isn't he?  I think he might actually be a moth not a butterfly, but I'm not to clear on the distinction, so I'll wait to hear what Bunny's teacher has to say.  This was one of two wild caterpillars the kids caught on the school campus.

Then we noticed this fella.  He has the most beautiful orange wings! Butterfly for sure.  This is one of the caterpillars Bunny's teacher purchased expressly to show the kids the process. Also notice in the lower right hand corner the pretty and big orange flower we drenched in sugar water to feed our new friends.

Bunny and Bug have been really excited about our new guests.  Even GG, the Hubs and myself are suitably impressed with the wonders of nature.  I'm so glad we got to babysit and witness first hand this event.  We're going to keep an eye on the rest of them this weekend and maybe we'll catch one actually hatching.

Seriously.. Thoughts?

Is There Anything Sweeter than a Country Church?

This is my Grandmother's Church.  And since I was baptized there, it's my church too.  Although, can either my Grandmother or I still claim this as our church since my Grandma passed away a while ago and I live half a country away?  I think yes.  If home is where your heart is, then I think a church can be too.  Don't you?

Although, even this country church has come a long way from when I was a kid.  To start, this half on the right, it didn't exist when I was a kid.  When I was a kid, it was just the main chapel with open crawl space underneath.  Under the church was a great place to catch crickets and lizards.  And yes, I managed to do both in a dress, and still be lady-like.  Sorta.

The original church also used to have out-houses out back.  We didn't use them of course, the Church had indoor plumbing by then.  And out back, we used to have picnic tables under a porch where we'd celebrate during revival. Mmmmm.  Cornbread, fried chicken, black eyed peas and deviled eggs.  I can smell the southern cooking now!  That's all done in the new addition now.  It has a lot of indoor seating and a lovely kitchenette space.

But one thing that hasn't changed?  The view.  Something about this view always makes me feel closer to God and at one with the nature around me.  And if you look really hard, you can see the farm from here.

Seriously.. Thoughts?

Progression

LW took the Tweedles out hiking a few weeks ago.  Here is just a few minutes in the lives of the Tweedles.  Enjoy the progression.

Seriously.. Thoughts?

He's a Bielieber

Unless you've been hiding under a rock lately, you know who Justin Bieber is.  Love him or hate him, you can't deny he's a rising star.  And Bug?  He a Bielieber (what the fans call themselves).

Hoodie wearing, foot tappin' and all.  Is it any wonder why I love that kid?  (Sorry the video is sideways.  LW took this with her phone and I don't know if it's even possible to turn it).

Seriously.. Thoughts?

Can't Stop Smiling!

I submitted a photo - granted, not mine as I'm actually in it - to Ree over at The Pioneer Woman for her photo contest.  (If you know me, or followed this blog even a little bit, you'll know that she was the inspiration for me to start this blog and to really work on my photography.) The theme was "Sisters".  I submitted the one below of me and my older sister Teri who passed away two years ago.

There are 174,751 images currently submitted to this contest.  And Ree chose my picture (follow this link to see!).  I can't stop smiling.  Thank you Ree. 

Seriously.. Thoughts?

Can You Believe I Live Like This?

A few days ago, we celebrated The Hub's birthday.  Now, The Hubs, I think is a pretty typical man and had made several comments about not wanting us to do any sort of celebration.  I also think I'm a pretty typical woman, and that meant we would celebrate because I know that deep down, he loves it.  At least, I think I know it.

(Please forgive the quality of these images - I forgot my camera and had to use my phone and it's not a very good one).

Our evening celebration started with dinner out to the Dog Haus. 

We'd been here before and loved the food.  They have a huge list of different gourmet hot dog choices as well as burgers and sandwiches, onion rings, hot dogs and tots.  And all of their burgers and hot dogs come surprisingly not on typical buns, but on Hawaiian Sweet Bread.  This makes for an amazing taste combination.  This is a favorite for everyone.  And in a family of 6, finding some place that we all like, is nothing short of a miracle.

We ordered our food and found a place to sit down and that's when things started to get  - well normal for us.

GG started making a moustache out of her straw paper.  

LW contributed by making "Napkin Man" faces.

And The Hubs, vacillated between pretending he didn't know us..

And pretending he was some kind of cape crusader.

I worried about the influence they're having on the younger kids.

Can you believe I live like this?

Seriously.. Thoughts?

Jiggly

I confess, I weigh a little more than I'd like.  I jiggle in a lot of places I'd rather not.  And Bug has this annoying habit of poking my fat.  I'd call it baby weight, but since the "baby" is now 3, I think that ship has sailed.  It's more like, chocolate cake, candy, and cooking from the Pioneer Woman's cooking blog (today's chicken fried steak recipe looks amazing!).  Active farm folk, we are not.

I've spent the last year or so giving great though to what I should do with these few extra pounds and really pondering how I would get rid of them.  I didn't want to do anything rash like exercising or God forbid, stop eating chocolaty goodness. Oh, I knew exercise would have to come into play at some point mind you, I just didn't want it to be me riding a stationary bike to no where.  Or squish my fat into a bathing suit.  I wanted whatever I did to be fun as well as hidden in the comfort of my own home.  So, a few weeks ago, I started out slowly and warmed my Nintendo Wii back up and re-weighed myself with my Wii Fit so I'd know exactly how jiggly I was.  I even did some of the exercises one day.  You're proud of me, aren't you?  You should be!  I was sore for a week after that one 15 minute work out! However, since I never actually got to day two of my workout, I figured I needed something with a bit more fun value.

Then I introduced myself to Just Dance 2 for the Wii.  I brought it home one Saturday afternoon, and when Glamour Girl managed to pull her lazy bones out of bed, we put it in.  The first dance we did was a duet - meaning we both got to dance at the same time.  I have never laughed so hard in my entire life!  We both did.  We laughed, we danced, we laughed some more and an hour later she had to go spend time with her Grandmother and I spent another 1/2 hour dancing solo.  I was officially hooked.

This really looked like it was going to be the answer to my jiggly prayers.  There's only one catch.  Everyone else seems to have caught Dance Fever!

Even my rhythm challenged LW got into the act.  I'd like to point out here, that only LW is actually "playing".  She's playing the game solo and is the only one with a Wii controller in her hand.

The game is just so addictive, that GG couldn't help but get into the fun.  And Bunny was soon to follow.

If that wasn't enough to convince me that this was a game meant for us, here's a short video (Thank you H!) taken by my friend of Bunny and her guy friend G, getting down with their funky selves.

I haven't laughed this much in a long time. They aren't very coordinated, but man did they have fun trying!

If I can ever get to play, I think this just might be what me and my jiggly body need!

Seriously.. Thoughts?