Success!

If you look back at this post, then you'll remember our butterfly kit!

Well, this afternoon Ashlan went to check on the cocoons and started screaming, "Mommy, Daddy! There's a BUTTERFLY!"
Oh, was that pure excitement! Simply awesome! We have our first butterfly and she's a beauty!

FFF - Daddy and Me!

A great theme for Fun Foto Friday! Daddy and Me!

I had no problems finding pictures of the kids with Daddy. I do wish I had pictures of Kate and Nick when they were younger with their daddy, but their mother has all those.

I posted so many pictures. I try to capture ALL those moments when the kids are with their Daddy. I can't tell you how important I think a Daddy's role is, especially for little girls. I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband who loves his children with all his heart! Brent makes an awesome Daddy to the kids!

Daddy took Ashlan to her first Air Show! This was also her first experience with a gun. Why not go big, right?


I absolutely love this picture!


Getting ready for the Panama Canal!


The kids with Daddy! You can barely see Ashlan she's so tiny!












Nick's 10th Birthday. Daddy threw cake in his face....and Nick returned the gesture!
























Daddy randomly brought home flowers for his littlest sweetheart!










Daddy teaching Kate to ride the dirt bike!


Resting after a near wipe-out on the dirt bike.


Next week's FFF theme is Summer Lovin'

Ashlan's Garden

Ashlan is very interested in gardening, which is great because I love it too! Well, actually I only like it when it's below 90 degrees outside. Sometimes it gets so hot, I don't even want to go outside to water what we've planted.

The nursery, dollar store, Target - everywhere we go we see packets of seeds and I always give in and buy her packet after packet after packet.... Our issue is - I am only willing to plant wild seeds in certain sections. Sometimes those seeds can take off growing and either they overrun your yard (like pumpkins), they end up looking like weeds everywhere (some wild flowers), or/and they attract the rabbits (like strawberries and squash)

So what was our solution? Memomma had the best idea! She had a large metal tub that Papa drilled holes in on the bottom. We filled it with potting soil and gave it to Ashlan to plant WHATEVER she wanted! Now I don't have to worry about random plants, etc growing in the landscaping. In this tub, Ashlan has planted strawberries, tomatoes, squash, pumpkin, and wild flowers. For awhile, we were getting some great strawberries! The tomatoes really haven't grown and the squash is quite fickle about whether it wants to grow or not. The wildflowers are taking off! They look great!

Here's a picture!

Fun Foto Friday - BLOOPERS

I had one problem with the theme this week and that was - where am I going to find the time to post all my blooper pictures on this post? You see, this family is full of bloopers!! There are hundreds of pictures that I would consider 'bloopers'. And to go back and look at them just make me laugh! This was a great theme, let me tell you! I only have a handful of blooper pictures posted. Maybe I'll post more when I have the time...

I must start with the wedding. Of course the ONE picture they take of us leaving our reception is the one of me looking down and inside my dress at the flower petals going in.....


Who knew carrots stained that bad? It took multiple scrubs to get those yummy carrots off her face!


Ashlan's first Thanksgiving and I'm pretty sure she wants to spank that turkey!


Yep, that's Ashlan showing us what's under her dress and in the process kicking Cole in the head! Ugh!


I took hundreds of pictures of Ashlan that day in the carriage. Not ONE came out right!


It is so hard to get THREE smiling faces at one time!


This picture is simply for Marcy, Amanda, and Brent. This picture alone should remind you of quite a BLOOPER!


Again, my daughter showing you what's under her dress.....


Don't order fish in Bulgaria. Below is what you get. I was so disgusted I picked it up and placed it in the ashtray!


There's another great use for the cup holders from McDonalds....a Hat!


Right before she knocked herself out with the shovel.


Where'd Ashlan go?


Next week's FFF theme is Daddy and Me!

We should be dancin', yeah.....Dancin', yeah....

Her first class was yesterday and boy did she LOVE it!

Ashlan started her Creative Movement summer session. Creative Movement meaning ballet and tap. This is not her first time to be enrolled in Dance but it IS the first time she has REALLY enjoyed it! This year her teacher is very animated and really knows what she is doing! Ashlan couldn't stop talking about Dance yesterday. In fact, as soon as class was over, she had to call Memomma and tell her all about it!

And this isn't just any summer dance session either. They are actually having a recital in August. I had to pay for the costume and theatre rental fee yesterday. Can I say NOT CHEAP??

Anyways, I forgot my nice camera so the iPhone camera was all I had to capture yesterday's moments. And unfortunately, my pictures were either blurry or Ashlan's eyes were closed. Needless to say, next time I'm taking my nice camera.

Here are two pictures from yesterday. Ashlan is in the blue leotard!

Painted Lady's

In about 3 weeks, we should have 10 Painted Lady's in our home! This is so exciting! Thank you to Liz for the recommendation!

It all started in Ashlan's preschool class. They grew Ladybugs in her class. Ashlan talked about it constantly. I figured if the school could do that, we could do something similar at home. Liz directed me here! You can buy kits of almost any kind, depending on what you want to grow! Whether it is ladybugs, butterflies, frogs, etc....they've got a kit for it!

Ashlan and I decided to grow Painted Lady Butterflies! We ordered the kit with 10 caterpillars and it arrived this morning! We were so excited!

Here is Ashlan opening up the box!














We have two cups of caterpillars. We must leave the caterpillars in the cups for 24 hours until they are all hanging upside down from the top of the cups. Then we can move them to the big blue net where, within 3 weeks, they will grow into beautiful Painted Lady's. Now once they form into Butterflies, they recommend you only keep them for 48 hours, then release them into the wild. I'm excited about that 48 hours of Butterfly time because we get to feed them sugar water, watermelon and oranges.

We will keep you updated on our growing family!

My girls

So, I had a flashback today. This afternoon Ashlan was changing out of her swimsuit and wanted to put a dress on. Well, for the first time, she picked the white and red gingham dress with tulips. So, where did the flashback come from? I save back several of Kate's clothes in future hopes that Ashlan will grow into them during the right season. Well, when Ashlan grabbed this dress, I happened to remember we had a picture of Kate in that exact dress. I thought Ashlan would find it fun to see a picture of her big sister wearing that same dress. So we went downstairs to the computer and found the picture of Kate. Too cute! Kate was 2 when she wore this dress.....Ashlan is 4 and wearing the dress.

Kate - Age 2
I love it when Kate smiles. She has such narrow eyes that they nearly close every time she smiles!




Ashlan - Age 4. In the same dress Kate wore.




I love my girls!