A sneak peek:

(I am not going to bed tonight until this thing is finished.)

Around here

My calendar pages are generally pretty boring, blank for the most part with a random appointment here or there. But this month...oh boy. I sat down with a pen two nights ago to make sure I had everything down, because commitments left to the safe keeping of my mind alone are really not very safe. I still feel overwhelmed when I look at my calendar, but at least now I know (or hope) that nothing will be overlooked or forgotten.

Darren's birthday ended as beautifully as it had begun, with his favorite meal of green chile chicken enchiladas, a tall pitcher of cold iced tea, a sinfully rich chocolate cake, and a stack of presents including new framed pictures for his office and an absolutely precious piggy bank that Dylan saw in a craft book yesterday and just had to make for his Daddy.

I've been working at a frenzied pace these past few days on a wedding gift for my mom, who will be getting married this Saturday. I don't know what on earth possessed me to think that I could start a project on Sunday and actually have it finished by Saturday...but I'm not about to quit now! Is it enough that my kids have been dressed and well fed but otherwise left to their own devices for long portions of the day? I keep telling myself: this is just one week. As soon as I get this finished we can resume normalcy. In the meantime, they seem to be happy and are actually quite enjoying having free reign of the house! I just turn a blind eye to the havoc wreaked in their wake, and we tidy it all up again before bed each night. It works for me!

My mind is swimming with all the wonderful ideas that Celeste and Crafty Mom so kindly suggested in response to the amazing things happening in our backyard. I am getting more and more excited about homeschooling, and what a perfect opportunity we have right now for some incredible nature studies! We've been hearing the unmistakable hum of cicadas for a while now, but could never quite pinpoint the source of any until a few days ago, when we finally found one on one of our Ocotillos. Dylan and Caitlyn were both so excited to actually see one close up, but, though we stood very still for quite some time, he never did "sing" for us!We are also finding more and more little caterpillars every day, and others, such as this one, are growing so fast!Our vitex is in bloom now, too, and I can only hope that it will be as frequently visited as Jennifer's. I foresee many more summer meals being enjoyed out at our picnic table, particularly if we are as successful at attracting butterflies as I hope we will be!You know what else is really nice? The sunflowers we planted just below our kitchen window are finally tall enough now that their bright, cheerful heads peek shyly in at me when I'm standing at the sink. What a beautiful sight to see! I have my sweet son to thank for choosing them, and my darling husband for planning their pleasant placement. Such thoughtful boys!
Hungry children are now awaiting breakfast, but I promise to return soon to address a couple other topics I just didn't get to this morning, including my camera, about which some of you have recently inquired, and a meme I've been tagged for and have been thinking about ever since! And there are blog posts I've read while holding squirmy children that I just haven't been able to comment on, but desperately want to! Hopefully I'll get to that later today, too. I really don't mean to be a neglectful friend! I think of so many of you so often; I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Wishing my Beloved...

...a blessedly beautiful birthday!


We love you, sweetie! Hurry home tonight!


(Cake and presents and one adoring little family happily await your return!)

More Nature Notes

It couldn't have been more than an hour after I posted pictures of our caterpillars this morning when Darren, who had been working out in the vegetable garden, came in to tell us that he had just seen several different varieties of butterflies fluttering about, darker than the little white ones who are frequent visitors to our backyard. "Really?!" I squealed. (Um, yeah. I'm pretty sure I squealed.) I dashed out to go investigate, but...nothing. I didn't see any butterflies, nor did I find any new caterpillars. Dejected, I came back inside, but a little while later we all went outside to play and it was then that we discovered the tiniest new caterpillars establishing themselves quite comfortably on our Parsley! I am just beyond thrilled. Black Swallowtail caterpillars! In our garden!

Another exciting observation we made today was that of this beautiful butterfly, which Darren found hiding on the leaf of a sunflower. After doing a bit of research, I think I've finally identified it as a Bordered Patch butterfly. We're hoping that we just might find some eggs when we check again tomorrow!

And finally, to add just one more last bit of excitement to our day, Darren called me out late this afternoon to his cactus garden, where he had been removing and relocating several plants. There, on our Spanish Broom, were the most fascinating caterpillars I think I've ever seen. These, too, required a bit of investigating, because neither of us had any idea what they were. The answer: Genista caterpillars. Aren't they amazing?

Nature Notes

I've written recently about how much my kids and I are enjoying the prolific caterpillars and butterflies who have happily taken up residence in our broccoli crop. Several days ago, Dylan and I agreed that it would be a fun experiment to keep a couple of the caterpillars in his bug catcher to more closely monitor their development. Every morning, he has been going out to check their progress, and yesterday, we were delighted to discover that, in place of these fuzzy friends...

we now had these!

We are just amazed by the intricacy of each chrysalis, and particularly marvel at their delicate silk anchoring strands. It is with great anticipation that we await the emergence of two beautiful, brand new butterflies!

The Rainbow Collection

Okay, so that's a completely irreverent play on the title "The Rainbow Connection", one of my favorite songs, made famous by Kermit the Frog in "The Muppet Movie", but one I nonetheless thought suitable for this post. Yesterday afternoon, while transferring a few (or twenty or thirty) images from my camera to the computer, I noticed something really cool. "Hey, guys, come look at this!" I called to the kids. As they crowded together around the computer, I pointed out my discovery. "See? We have pictures of flowers from our gardens here in every color of the rainbow! Aren't they beautiful?" Here are just a few of my favorites, beginning and ending with white because I just can't bear to omit these pristine blooms:

White: Lilies, finally opening along our front walk.

Red: Yarrow, a brilliant explosion of color at the front of our flower bed.

Orange: Lantana, a sunny surprise spreading in and around a significant portion of Darren's cactus garden.

Yellow: Lemon Queen Sunflower, one of several varieties planted by Dylan.

Green: Poppy flower bud, which my kids think are hysterical. (But if I wasn't so polite, I'd admit that I think they look rather obscene.) Fascinating, they are.

Blue: Bachelor's Button, one of my favorites not only because it is blue (my favorite color), but also because I find it's irregular edges quite striking.

Purple: Penstemon, currently dominating the front left corner of our flower bed.

And finally, a white Shasta Daisy. I can't count the number of times I sneak out during the day just to steal a quick peek at the serene faces of these unassuming beauties. They calm me, instantly.