dane's butterfly

as you may know we have been into butterflies around here lately.

just recently we released our butterflies that we grew and we

think a couple of them have come back to visit us. but, today we saw

this little butter outside our window and it looked just like the butterfly

my neighbor released a couple of days ago. we are pretty much convinced

that this is dane's butterfly. we never see this kind of butterfly around here,

so it has to be his, right? i took some pics, so dane could see his butterfly and

let him know that his butter made a friend and is doing just fine.

here's to you dane...

the butter inflight

enjoying some nectar from this tasty flower

hanging out with his new buddy

fair bound

i just got word that this photo i submitted to the county fair got accepted.

i am super excited!

happy daddy day

happy father's day to the mister! i try not to fall into these commercial holiday's

and get all sappy, but i have to say that this fella deserves the most happy

wishes on this day. i love this guy. he truly is the best dad i know. i am so

grateful and thankful for him. without him i would not have the two most

precious things in my life. here are some of the reasons

why i think he's great....

he's fun, he's funny, he's smart, creative and talented, he can draw up a plan

and build you anything you want, he'll go to disneyland even though it's

really not the "happiest" place on earth for him, he'll hug and kiss you when

you're feeling sad and even when your not, he'll take you camping and

make you a s'more, he'll let you use his watercolor kit, he'll take you to the

beach and take you to the "rocks", he'll build you a bike, a garden box, a sandbox

and a clubhouse, but most of all he'll love you with all his heart no matter what.

he truly is the best daddy. we couldn't ask for better, we don't need any better,

we got the best!

happy daddy day my love - we love you!

exploring the tide pools

last year on father's day

being silly with the little fella

beach camping

the two most precious things in our life, who absolutely adore their daddy

flutter by

a few days back i posted this about are caterpillars that we had.

we have now finished the full life cycle of a butterfly.

we watched them develop through almost all of their

stages and learned a lot while enjoying these little creatures.

this was our second year raising butterflies and it definitely well not be our last.

you can see our first year here.

here are some photos of our butterfly life cycle...

the little fella really enjoyed the caterpillar stage

the chrysalis stage

this little butter fell off and was on the bottom of the jar.

we were hoping for the best:)

we have butterflies!

i think this is the first time any of us held a butterfly

the little fella's motto is seek and destroy, but we saved this one just in time

i think i was the only one fascinated by their long tongues to drink nectar

(that's the tongue in the middle)

the butterfly above and this one below didn't want to leave.

the one above stayed and drank nectar for about twenty minutes.

this is our little miracle butterfly.

she was the one that fell to the bottom of the jar and we weren't sure

if she would make it, but she did, yeah! i'm not sure if she could fly

so we put her on this flower in our yard. she took nectar from this

flower and stayed for awhile. when i came back to check on her she was gone.

i am hoping that she flew away and didn't become a part of the circle of life.

we hoped for the best that's all we could do. so far two of our butterflies have come

back to visit which was really exiciting.

quick and easy guacamole

it's been a couple of weekends ago since we went camping,

but i still wanted to share my quick and easy guacamole "recipe"

with you for your summer festivities. whether it's camping, going

to the beach or just staying home, if you like avocado's you will

enjoy this tasty dip. here's how to do it...

what you need: 4 large or 8 small avocados, one tomato,

one onion, salt and pepper, knife, med-lrg bowl,

and tortilla chips of course.

first: cut avocado's in half length wise,

pit and scoop avocado into bowl

second: chop tomato and onion. add to bowl

third: mix together adding salt and pepper to taste

fourth: enjoy!

sew fun wednesdays...five (this is it the last class)

i am sad to say this was my last sewing class until next fall.

i had so much fun and i feel like i accomplished a lot

this semester, so i am pleased. but, i will miss my three hours

of free time sewing, laughing, and hanging out with friends.

for my last project i decided to make a banner for the little misses

preschool teacher. i gave it to her as an end of the year gift.

i got the idea off of here from this blog. i have made buntings/banners

before, but i really like how she personalized hers with the teachers name.

i also like these for holidays, birthdays and even to decorate in

the kiddo's bedrooms. here's how i did it...

What you need:

scissors and pinking shears, heat-n-bond, felt,

bias tape or rick rack, scraps of fabric for the flags (9-12 inches in length),

sewing machine, thread and an iron.

first:

cut out flags (mine are double-sided) with pinking shears

and sew front to back, wrong sides together.

then follow these steps...

one: iron heat-n-bond onto felt.

two: print out letters on computer (unless you are good at free-hand....i am not)

three: pin to felt

four: cut out letters

five: iron on to flags

six: pin and sew rick-rack or bias tape to top of flags,

slightly overlapping the corners of the flags to make banner

viola, you have your banner for your special someone or special occasion

the shiner

well it's been a week since the incident of the shiner.

it is getting better even though it looks worse.

my poor, sweet boy.

sew fun wednesdays...four (even though i missed a few weeks)

i have to say i don't like to miss my sewing class,

but sometimes things just happen and i do.

i have missed sew fun wednesdays for the last two weeks,

but have not strayed away from my sewing agenda.

this week it was time to make some hooded towels for the kiddo's.

my kiddo's out grew their hooded baby towels along time ago

and when i saw these over here i knew it was time for some new ones.

i have seen these towels on a few different blogs,

but i like the one from make and take the best.

click here for full directions on how to make some

for the kiddo's in your life...

the little miss being my perfect model and showing off how wonderful her new towel is

this little fella just likes to run free

she's happy and so am i

photo reel

we welcome three day weekends here with open arms.

if you give us an extra day off we'll take it.

we'll fill it with things to do, use it to relax and+or just plain ol' enjoy it.

this three day weekend was all of the above.

here's what we did...

we started off with attending a star wars birthday party.

the little miss dressed up as none other than princess leia.

next, we headed over to hang out with some good friends

we haven't seen for awhile. we talked, played, jumped, ate , talked

some more - you know the things you do with friends.

but, before we went i cut up this watermelon to bring and

how cool is it that this is what i found!

i heart watermelon!

then, the kiddo's and the mister played outside on our new deck

while i cleaned up inside. it feels good to get things clean

and organized - don't ya think?

we observed our caterpillars on more than one occasion this weekend.

this little fella is super into them.

and guess what?

these little guys grew super fast and have already turned into chrysalis'!

we baked a cake from scratch - click here for the recipe

we celebrated the mister's birthday

and this little bruiser managed to get his first black eye - so sad...

which might lead to another blog post on how to make

a boo-boo pack that doesn't make the boo-boo hurt worse.

hmmm...

all in all we had a great, full, almost safe weekend!

like i said we will take those with open arms.

oh and by the way - happy june all!