Pretty things

another homeade butterfly! This was right after it hatched...not ready to fly yet.

Smart car

Rod brought a dealer's car home this weekend (with his permission). It's a Smart car! Boys had a good ride up and down the runway. It's just a tad smaller then the "burban".

Great Grandma and Clay

My Grandma with Great-Grandchild #20. (they have 21 total) I like this picture of the 2 of them:

Butterflies!

These pretty, green caterpillars live on my carrot tops in the garden. A friend told me to keep them, and they turn into beautiful butterflies in just a couple weeks. So we put 4 in our butterfly house and got our first butterfly today!! So amazing! It took this guy one day to hang himself and get his cocoon and 10 days to hatch. I'm facinated with this.

In the chrysalis:

They are called Black Swallowtail Butterflies:

We will set him free after I'm done looking at him...maybe tomorrow. Truly amazing.

Yummy treat

The boys and i made parfaits earlier this week. Very simple to make, even with little ones :) The idea came from Adam's magazine. It's funny to hear the boys ask for their "parfaits" They are so sophisticated. HA!

Layer Nilla Waffers (the mini ones work good), Instant Vanilla pudding, strawberries (or other fruit). Layer the above again and top with whipped cream.

Dig in!

Funny conversation

Adam and i had quite the discussion last night. I asked him "Where do you think you'll work when you get big?"

Adam's immediate reply: "No where. I'm staying home and making the mom go to work" (meaning his wife).

Me: "What are you going to do at home".

Adam: "teach the kids homeschool. Well actually the mom can stay home at first when the babies are young, then when they get old the mom can go to work and i'll stay home and do school with them."

Cracked me up! i had to jot this one down, so i can look back on it. He said it so matter-of-fact. Like, this is how it WILL be! yikes!

July

The month is almost gone. I love summer with little ones. So much exploring to do that can't be done in the wintertime. Ever notice kids don't seem to mind the heat? The boys don't complain about it being hot. Meanwhile sweat is dripped off them. It's a challenge to make the twins drink, they don't drink much which i normally don't think too much about. But they have to when the thermometer says 102!

Lots of gardening was done this month, green beans & corn were the main ones. The garden looks like a jungle now, but still have carrots, tomatoes, and peppers to do.

Started writing a list of chores for the boys to do every day. They usually don't mind working. It's just a matter of me staying on top of it. Cause of course it's much faster to just do it myself!!

We're trying to take people on the boat that didn't go last year. Clay being one of them..

Krista being another....

I often find frogs when i'm weeding. We keep them for a day then take them down to the creek. The frog looks about as thrilled as Clay did on the boat :)

Cousin Dustin came for a sleepover...The pool was definetely maxed out! I know we show deer photos a lot, but these beauties just amaze us! This is 1 of 2 bucks eating our applesTeaching the boys sign laungage, the little that i know. I love you too, Brad!The boys like the water this year. We've gone swimming a lot..

Reading the bug book with daddy:
A good month, no big ouchies or sickness. Thank you God for the enjoyment and excitment of life!