Spring Surprises

We've been housing several cocoons in our garage this fall....hoping that we would have a flurry of milkweed tiger moths this spring. I went out to do laundry last night and was surprised to see our first moth AND a black swallowtail. We had several black swallowtails and monarchs this fall and there was one that never emerged from its chrysallis. I thought it didn't make it for some reason, but I guess it decided to wait until Spring. He does have gimpy wing and wasn't able to fly when we tried to set it free. We put it back in the cage and hope to keep it alive as long as possible.

Here is a photo (by the quality, you can tell that I stole it =)). of a black swallowtail caterpillar. When you poke their backs, they have these little horns that poke out...the kids had fun with this litte feature. =)

Here is a photo of the butterfly shortly after it had emerged from it's chrysallis, which is that bark looking thing next to it. (You can see its injured wing...)

Trying to set it free...

Still trying...

Our little injured friend

milkweed tiger moth caterpillar

little bitty milkweed tiger moth caterpillar (on left)

milkweed tiger moth coccon

and alas, our first milkweed tiger moth

Walls

I've always had big plans for the walls in our house, but never the time/money to see them through. But recently I found two good ideas I HAD to do ASAP. And they were so cheap and easy that I could no longer use time/money as excuses. The first idea was to use vinyl rain gutters as bookshelves....they look cool and with the titles facing out, we've been reading a broader selection of books. There were some we've just forgotten about, but not anymore. The girls were giddy the first night to select which books would be on the their shelves. (Notice that half of Sophie's shelf is dedicated to superheros.) I cut a 10 foot gutter (under $7 at Lowes, plus a couple $'s each for end caps) in half for the girls and I cut one in thirds for Oliver's room, but only used two of them. I say "I", but really Nana did most of the work while big, bury men hovered over us at Lowes and one even had the nerve to ask us to cut a rope for him with our saw. Where is the chivarly?! Now, to the next great idea: pegboard art displays. I had a $14 4x8 piece of peg board cut into fourths, painted them, added bull dog clips (2/$1 online) and had Stephen hang them up...and now we have a place to rotate the kiddos' masterpieces. Thanks to my friend Christa for the gutter idea (which she found on somebody's blog) and to nufer for the peg board idea (which she found on mayamade.com). This is about all we have to show for our spring break. We had big plans to clean out the garage, but somehow let that go and mostly had fun doing a whole lot of nothing together. But really, I guess that is something....=)

Oliver

Our sweet "Verster" turned two this week. He is our dirt-loving, bow-wearing, silly-acting, ball-throwing, mess of a boy...and we love every minute with him....(well, nearly every minute ;)).

"Knock Knock"

Sophie: Knock knock!
Stephen: Who's there?
Sophie: Banana
Stephen: Banana who?
Sophie: Knock knock
Stephen: Who's there?
Sophie: Banana
Stephen: Banana who?
Sophie: Knock knock
Stephen: Who's there?
Sophie: Orange
Stephen: Orange who?
Sophie: Orange you glad I didn't say banana?
Stephen: Yeah, but you know what I'd really be glad for you not to say?
Sophie: What?
Stephen: Knock knock
(pause)
Sophie: Okay....Ding dong!