- Growing Butterflies: ROUND 2 -

After a very successful session season of caterpillar raising/butterfly growing during the initial COVID lockdown of spring 2020,  we decided to take another stab at it this spring!  Scarlett was so excited to watch the process more intently this time [she was a fresh 2 years old in spring 2020!] and be able to "narrate" some of the vlogs for our followers [AKA a small group of very charitable family members who pretend to be ever-so-interested in even the smallest of small of updates!].

 

TBH, even though this was definitely a STEM activity for the kids, I was just as amazed at the beauty and perfection of nature and all of God's designs! The process of metamorphosis is truly miraculous, and it is sooo awesome to see the transformation of these caterpillars during their month inside the cup!  Needless to say, if you're a middle-aged adult like me and want to order a cup of these critters for yourself, I would not judge you even a tiny bit! ;) :)

 

 

 While we waited for the chrysalides to hatch, we stayed busy with crafts:

And AFTER they hatched, Scarlett was diligent about feeding them [with a sugar-saturated cotton ball!] each day: 

And thennnnn....what time is it, you say?!?  FLY HIGH DAY!  After not quite a month in total of feeding/growing/watching our caterpillar-turned-butterfly friends, we released them into their natural habitat!  A couple of them really stuck around for a while and the girls were able to hold and hang out with them before they fluttered away for good! :)

Don't be strangers, little friends...our back yard is always ready for visitors!!! :)

 

- Because TIME FLIES... -

Wow!  I just scrolled back through months' worth of posts, and I FOR REAL cannot even wrap my mind around how time just   f l i e s   right on by! Blink for 0.03 of a second, and *POOF*, it's Friday; blink again for another 0.03 of a second and *POOF*, it's April.  Oh!, you have a newborn baby that you want to snuggle every tiny inch of?  Blink and *POOF*, she's seven months old and sitting up and playing in a pile of toys all by herself.  Your oldest daughter went into 1st grade knowing about 50 sight words and so eager to learn more?  Blink and *POOF*, she's snuggled up in her top bunk bed reading Junie B. Jones chapter books all by herself.  You have a 4-going-on-14-year-old daughter who was juuuust learning to use scissors and glue not that long ago?  Blink and *POOF*, she's spotted at the dining room table with scissors, glitter glue pens, pipe cleaners, pom poms, and a random stash of other craft supplies that she's molded into the perfect masterpiece all by herself.  

A very large part of my momma heart loves seeing my babies learn and grow and become more accomplished and independent each day; but, another -- probably equally as large -- part just aches at the way time continues to *POOF* on by in the blink of an eye!  While my brain tells me to teach them more so they can survive without me, my heart tells me to cling to these special days when they truly do still need me!  ...Whiiiiiiiich is the reason why I absolutely love to use this blog as archive for even the smallest things that we do!  The days can be long, but the years are OH SO short; and when the days turn to years and the years turn to decades, these beautiful babies of ours will grow their wings and fly the nest and I just know I'll LOVE having a collection of little memories waiting here in this safe space to look back on and smile at.

...But therein lies the next problem!  After scrolling back through pages and pages of posts, I see a birthday memoir here ...a month-by-month milestone there ...a Scarlett-isms blurb here ...and a rare holiday chronicle there.  And it kind of makes me sad, because I know these fun events are just small drops in the large bucket of joys we share inside our home from day-to-day life.

And, TBH, I want to remember all the joys.  The smallest of joys, the biggest of joys, and even the mediocre and in-between and not-all-THAT-special of joys.

AND SO!  I'm making a few promises to myself:

...a promise to try harder with blogging...

...a promise to prioritize collecting photos and putting pen to paper more frequently...

...a promise to increase in writing with a little more rawness and detail and emotion so I can always come back here and remember in full detail what are sure to be the very best days of my life.

Time might fly, but I'mma make sure that the memories we've made won't fade!