PAINTED LADIES ON THE LOOSE!

 Last night we discovered that two butterflies had emerged from their chrysalises. This morning there was a third. Since the cats seemed more than a little interested in the little captive fliers, we thought we should go ahead and let them go.

 Cora proudly carried the butterfly house outside. And there ended her involvement in the release.

 James wanted me to take the first one out, to show him how to do it. Then he coaxed it over onto his hand, where it sat for just a few seconds before taking off and flying over the house. Both kids were very impressed and squealed with excitement!

 Then he got down to business and convinced butterfly #2 to climb onto his hand.

 While Cora refused to hold a butterfly (probably a good idea, actually, since she gets jumpy when little animals start crawling on her, and we wouldn't want any squished butterflies), she was more than happy to show them flowers and blow them kisses bye-bye.

 The one that emerged last didn't fly away, so we left it perched on a plant (and left the cat locked up inside) as we headed out to school.

Once we got to school, James was proud to run straight up to his teacher and tell her "Hey Miss Reese! I got to let butterflies go this morning! We grew them in our house. The caterpillars ate lots of food like the very very hungry caterpillar and got into a cocoon, I mean chrysalis, and then they hatched!" I asked him what the caterpillars were doing in the chrysalis and he said "Metamorphosis!", so he definitely learned some cool things during this adventure. Perhaps we'll send the last two butterflies to school tomorrow (if they emerge tonight) so that James and Cora can share what they've learned with their classmates...

WHAT, NO SOUL?

"Stop singing mommy. I don't LIKE that song!"

Apparently James isn't a fan of Soul Asylum. And here I thought he'd like the song since it has the word "train" in it...

SOME MONDAYS...

 ...deserve a little treat!

ENJOYING THE SPRING WEATHER

Like I say every year, we only get to enjoy spring-like weather around here for a short time (though I think we may have been given an extension this year!), so we try to make the most out of every opportunity. This weekend the kids spent each afternoon post-nap right up through bedtime outside, in their swimsuits, just splashing and building and exploring. I can't emphasize enough how important it is for our little family to have downtime like this. It recharges us all and reminds us how lucky we are to have this time with each other. 

  Working with his water pipe builders while daddy washes windows:

 Snack time for Cora, with 2 snack cups and 2 drinks (it's always snack time for Cora, in case you were wondering...)

 Here he was showing me how goats eat. Or maybe he said ghosts, I'm not sure... It was a two-handed, speed chomp kind of technique. And dude, those Spiderman crackers are yummy.

After snacks and drinks and dinner, we let the kids play until sunset. Well, until past sunset - we didn't pull them inside until it was too dark to play anymore. Before that though, I had to take a picture of James' food belly. He may be lean and muscular, but give him a big meal and you can still see that famous belly of his!

Sunday afternoon started off the same way (post rain storm though). Batman and his mismatched, shoes-on-the-wrong-feet sidekick were ready to splash!

With more bubbles, more waterway building, and more snacking in the sunshine. 

 Oh, and our many irises are in full bloom right now, and combined with the bright green of all the new spring growth, our backyard is just so pretty!

We found a couple toads too (this one we saved to show daddy after his run):

Since Jay couldn't run earlier in the day due to rain, he headed out for 6 loops (that's 6 miles) around the neighborhood after the storm. His form looked good to me (and yes, our neighborhood is hilly - long, rolling hills in 3 directions)!

And just for good measure, here are some cute kitty pictures for ya. Maxine, and the new cat (that we're pretty sure is a female) who BADLY wants to befriend Maxine (who is not yet on board with the idea of making a new friend).

Hope you all had a lovely weekend too!

LAST GAME OF SPRING SOCCER, CATS AND DOGS, AND A BEAUTIFUL DAY

Today was James' last soccer game of the season, and it was our teams' best game yet! I think the kids were just finally all starting to "get it" (the boys seemed to stick to the ball better and spend less time being superheroes, and Manu scored his first goal), to work up some bravery (Lanier actually played for the first time today, and then scored an awesome goal), and work together to get the ball into OUR goal (our ringer Kalista scored a lot of goals solo, but also shared the ball with her teammates, and those teammates were better about keeping up with her on the field). We missed having Will there today (his mama was participating in the BluzCruz (kayaking 22 miles down the Mississippi River!), especially for team photos!

Don't worry, photographer Jay took better photos than my phone did. I'll substitute them in when he has them ready!

The kids received medals to commemorate their season, and our little medal ceremony with coach Alex placing the medal around each child's neck individually while all the parents and siblings and grandparents cheered was pretty cute - the kids were all so proud!

The coach's wife (Sophie) made the kids goodie bags to go along with their medals, which were an equally big hit with the kids. Even Cora scored a goodie bag for being a good sport about staying OFF the field during all the games and practices ;-)

Soccer man James!

And in other noteworthy news, check out Cora walking a DOG. Yes, the tiniest (and probably oldest) dog she's ever seen, but a dog nonetheless. She pet him and picked him up and walked him all around. Maybe if we someday get a dog who is smaller than the cats she'll be ok with it...

 After soccer, we found out from Al that Christina hadn't crossed her finish line yet, so we made a beeline for the river and made it in time to see her paddle in. It was pretty cool to watch all those kayakers coming in off the Mighty Mississippi (and Yazoo), tired and soaking wet and hungry. Talk about some tough athletes! I couldn't imagine battling those waves for multiple hours! Christina said her arms were wiped out. There just so happened to be a little fair-type thingy going on down at Catfish Row at the same time, so we headed over there for a vendor lunch and to let the kids run around the playground and jump in the bounce houses. They were obviously exhausted by the time we finally made it home for nap (and so was I, after running almost 8 miles this morning, about 5 miles further than I'd run in a few weeks due to sickness), but after a couple hours rest, we went right back outside and enjoyed our gorgeous (unplanned!) weather until bedtime, letting the kids play with their sensory table and pipe builders and bubbles, and eat dinner outside (which is always a huge hit with them). Oh, and we may have had another neighborhood cat adopt us today... We'll update on him/her if he/she actually sticks around...

CRISS-CROSS

This is how Cora fastens her shoes these days...

JAMES-FACE

This boy was making eyes at me. The cutest little look you've ever seen! Until asked him to do it for the camera... Stinkerpot.

AMCA FIELD DAY

RACE PHOTOS FROM THE DASH

 

 Sorry, we were too cheap to buy the actual photos this year, so these are snapshots from the Sport Photo website. These last two really crack me up because you can see me almost doubled-over in laughter at poor Dave who fell crossing the finish line (which was REALLY slippery). Watching people slip in the mud all day certainly kept a smile on my face. I mean, really, as adults, how often to we get to play in the mud? If you're craving some child-like mud flinging (along with some serious obstacle challenges, of course), then Warrior Dash is for you! Just remember to bring your patience and your sense of humor!

WORM HUNTING

And finding a Jack-in-the-Pulpit (or similar?) plant, like they've seen in their outdoor explorers book

W IS FOR WONDERFUL

I don't often get good news texts (or calls) from daycare. Usually it's a "you forgot _____" or "so-and-so is not feeling well". But this morning I got a text from the director that sure made me smile (once my heart stopped panicking and I actually opened the message to see what she wanted...)

The director's message said that James had come looking for her in the office so he could show her his seat work, and that he was very proud of himself. We're proud of him too - way to go James!

SHE'S READY TO GO!

James wanted to help me fix Cora's hair this morning. Fancy, right?

METAMORPHOSIS

Stephen and Robyn sent the kids a butterfly kit a few weeks ago and we've gone through the steps of ordering the caterpillars, reading the book, receiving the caterpillars, watching them eat and grow, and watching them form their chrysalises. Two days after chrysalis formation we were allowed to move them from their little cup into the butterfly house, which was quite the fascinating process for James and Cora. Just wait until they see the butterflies start to emerge over the next 1.5-2 weeks!

P.S. When reading the butterfly book, as we explained the process of metamorphosis, we asked the kids to say metamorphosis. And you guessed it, Cora just repeated it immediately, perfectly, clear as day. James did his best, and had it down by his third try. Jay just laughed and told me "Sometimes even I have trouble with that word. Cora is amazing!" Yup, she sure is!