Little Buddy Swimmer

That is the offical name of our little Beta. The kids were super excited about the new fish. Rachel asked me a million times when we were going to leave my grandma's so that we could get home to see their new fish. She was afraid it would be dead b/c we wouldn't be home to feed it!

This one was by accident....I tried to do it again where her eye was big and the fish was in focus, but it didn't happen. I never could get her in just the right spot to make her eye look big again.

They are emerging...

When we left this morning to get the kids, there had been no change in our chrysalis. By the time we got home....one had begun emerging. The kids were worried about it today. They were afraid they had missed it being gone.

These are very hard to photograph now that they are in their home. That netting....I can't take a picture through it. So, I unzipped the little door, then pushed down on the net with one hand(the paper they are hanging from is pinned to the netting), while holding my heavy good camera with the other hand...one handed holding/pressing the button at the same time....then the butterfly started wiggling, so I zipped it back up quick. Then I ran to the computer to load it, and Clay walked in and I said, "I am just loading this pic to see if I need to retake it." And he just told me, "Yep, you do, it's blurry!" Well, Thanks ALOT, b/c I was proud it turned out this well after all I went through to get this picture! In the first picture, you can see the body of the butterfly, it is kinda hairy, and then the wings that are still folded up.

Quiz.....Do Butterflies Fly immediately after emerging. Quiz 2, am I spelling emerging correctly?? LOL

We've got a new pet!

Besides the fact that we will have 5 new butterflies in just a couple of more days, we now have a pet fish! The kids are still at their grandma's, we go get them in the morning so they don't know yet. At our wedding yesterday, part of the table decorations were fish bowls with Beta fish in them. They had a table set up where you could "adopt" a fish. Two of the bride's cousins were sitting at the table, in charge of the adoptions. They were so sweet, and I found out after talking to them, they are homeschooled, and it was nice to talk to teenage boys that have been homeschooled and get their perspective. They were really nice, and they talked me into adopting one of the fish....so the kids will be excited when they get home! We had a 30 gallon fish tank the whole time we lived in Warren that we sold when we moved, and they have mentioned from time to time that they miss them. I will have pictures soon, I am sure! And, the mom sent home 3 little favor pails for our kids that had some goodies in it. That was so sweet of her! And this has been my high maintenance bride, I feel bad for dreading it now! We are taking the pails along to the kids tomorrow for treats on the road to my g-ma's. They will really think they got something cool!

It doesn't take much to entertain us!!

I caught Leah taking this pic of herself the other night...so I plopped myself down in the chair with her, and we just had a good ol time. Clay kept looking at us smiling, b/c we were just being so goofy and laughing at ourselves while we were taking these. We were both just thinking up stuff we could do at the same time, taking the picture of ourselves, and then just laughing at what it looked like on the screen.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!

I hope you have a great holiday weekend! We are off for a big wedding today, and then to my grandmother's on Monday when we go down to pick up the kids. They are down in Monticello having a blast with their grandparents while we have to work.

my Aunt's house

My aunt is a folklorist. Definition....Folklore is the body of expressive culture, including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions (including oral traditions) of that culture, subculture, or group. Got all that?? She is a teacher at Louisiana Tech University, and she also does all kind of work in here area with artists. Her house has a little bit of everything that she has picked up along the years from the people she has worked with. Some really cool stuff. On our way back from our vacation, we stopped off and spent the night with her. We usually go to my grandmother's house, so my kids hadn't been there since they were little and not allowed to touch anything. They were so fascinated by all her stuff!

These wooden toys are replicas of homemade toys that kids used to have. The one above that Noah is holding, she also had one like that one that my grandfather had made for her and my mom when they were little.
This chair is an antique that someone gave to my aunt. Leah loved the childsized rocking chair!

Are all those kids yours?!?!

The kids and I went down to the Farmer's Market in downtown LR yesterday, and I cannot tell you how many time someone asked us that question! And, I guess we were a sight with a double stroller and 7 kids....all age 6 and under. One man asked me if we ran a daycare...and I said...well...it is kinda like that! The kids were all very well behaved and we were proud of them! We had a lot of fun, and she and I both agreed that we are going to have to do it more often b/c the food was a hit with the kids and us.

There was a thing set up outside the Museum of Discovery to demonstrate how they had to crawl close to the floor in a fire.

at the Farmer's Market
We got all the kids rings for a $1

Yep, my strong Leah can carry that bag better than her brother!
Yep....that's a lot of kids!

Hmmm not too sure of that strawberry!
So sweet....Leah held her hand on the way back to the car
I love this picture! Everyone is looking in a different direction...but it is almost like it is planned! LOL
And here we are shelling our purple hull peas that we got from the Market. They were SO YUMMY!