September fun

We're in the groove of school now and the kids have handled their "hybrid" learning like champs! They're in the building Tues and Fri, then at home Mon, Wed, and Thurs. Mr. Seth continues to hold his title of Teacher of the Year as well. Willow is playing soccer and Owen is back in ninja class. Willow and I have enjoyed a few bike rides while Owen and Canton are usually found together, often in the backyard (just follow the noise!).

In other news, we enjoyed some nice fall weather by getting takeout from Which Wich and ate picnic style at a fun arboretum that we discovered this summer. A nearby school had just installed a new playground so we checked it out after we ate. It was awesome!

Check out how big it is compared to Owen!

Note: There are natural AND imposed consequences when you stay up all night with your tablet then have to be woken up at 10:00am! (Bright side: At least it was an educational show on PBS kids???)

 
We haven't had the same monarch population that we've had in the past but were happy to find 8-10 caterpillars this year!

They always find interesting places to form their chrysalis! 

This one is between the siding and the downspout!

It's almost time!

The library had a "chalk the walk" event where you could sign up for a time to decorate a section of the sidewalk. I copied this from my favorite "letteringbykaren" account on IG.

I made this one at home, based on the same account.

A rare "Kristen original" on the chalkboard:

At least I spelled y'all right this year!

Rare non-kitten pics

My phone storage is filling up fast with kitten pictures! It's just hard to resist since they're so cute!! Here are a few "catch up" pictures from June. Owen hadn't played with Canton since the shut down but we let them start playing together again at the beginning of June but they stay outside (their preference anyways!). It's been sweet to see Willow joining them more (I think she's just looking for someone else to be with!!). 

 Willow helped make a bird house with Chris. 

 One of Willow's friends lives in the other culdesac in our neighborhood so we walked over to her house to deliver a cupcake and card. She had an awesome yard sign! They were excited to see each other for a few minutes!

The kids have loved the sprinkler-saucer swing combination!

Willow has gotten more adventurous in jumping off the swing! (slow motion)

We went to get free donuts for Donut Day and this is how Willow was sitting. You know you're deprived of "seeing things" when you can't keep your eyes out the window!

The milkweed has come back strong and the bees are happy!!

We've spotted one caterpillar so far!

Owen got this 300 piece Star Wars puzzle as a gift but he hasn't been interested in puzzles much. He let me walk him through strategy for it and was excited at multiple points in the process!

I'm super excited about my new school for next year. I've met with the principal twice and think it's going to be a great fit! I even got to pick out my own classroom out of 3 that were available. I haven't had my own classroom for 10 years! It'll be quite an upgrade from my 4' counter and table in my office before! Eventually it'll be turned into a camping themed room with flexible seating (picnic table, tent, log stools, camping chairs, etc.).

On Father's Day we went to Dunkin Donuts and Owen got frustrated saying that he didn't know what they had. In my confusion I told him to just look at the wall of donuts. What he was trying to say was that he couldn't read the signs under the donuts to know what they were called. Yikes!! Good thing we were due for new eye exams that same week! His "new look" will be coming soon!

Willow got a keyboard for her birthday and we've enjoyed an app that's teaching her how to play. At the end of lesson 11 it had her do a "recital" for others. She's doing great and already playing with both hands! (Excuse the mid-day pajama look...we're still in Corona mode!!)

Meanwhile, the flowers blooming around our yard bring us joy and peace!!

Monarchs

We didn't have as many monarchs show up this year as we've had in the past but we still enjoyed checking on them every day and hunting for their chrysalises. We found about 8 chrysalises but a couple of them didn't emerge. It's funny to us how they pick some of the same spots as years past. For example, this cover Chris made for the blueberry bush. Can you spot the butterfly in the corner? We check 3 times as often when they're about to emerge so they don't get trapped in but BOTH that were inside found their own way out this year!?!?!?!

A chrysalis on the left that's joined evidence of 3 chrysalises past!

 One chrysalis got knocked down by a soccer ball so Chris diligently hot glued it onto a stick and we kept it inside. I was very skeptical about it making it, but.....

it did!!!

We enjoyed watching it fly off!

Monarchs!

Chris planted milkweed a few years ago and we enjoyed having a few monarch caterpillars a couple years ago . One of them even made its chrysalis on Owen's bulldozer toy, then I pulled an all-nighter hoping to see it emerge, only to have it emerge at naptime the following day when no one was watching. That hasn't compared to this year though! One afternoon we counted 8 chrysalises and 13 caterpillars but know there are more that we haven't found!

This is the main patch of milkweed they've been on:

This is what it looks like today:

Evidence of some hungry hungry caterpillars!

They start off so small!

But get to be so big!!

Can you spot the 6 caterpillars in this picture?

They seem to be sharing nicely at least! It must be a tasty leaf!

They eat the leaves right down to the spine!

Check out the time-lapse video Chris got of one eating

Nothing but the stems are left behind!

Once they get nice and big, they seem to go find their special spot and rest for a half day horizontally. Eventually they start hanging in a J-shape for about half a day. They seem to pulse/strain a bit...not sure if that's loosening their skin or what?! The next time you check, you see a perfectly formed chrysalis!! They pick some interesting spots! This one is on the soffit under the roof!

 Phase One:

 Phase Two:

Phase Three:

We've been lucky enough to catch them at just the right time twice to see their back split open and within 5 minutes they're into their chrysalis. It's remarkable to watch!! Here's a time lapse and a real-time transformation. 

 We've even had some "pair up" in their location:

This one is on the kids' soccer net:

We have two blueberry bushes with these net covers to keep the birds away. We started off with one on each. 

Then two...

Then three!!

On a large pot...because why not??

I call this picture "The Circle of Life" haha! At least the caterpillars don't eat the spine of the leaf! They eat right up to it though!

I'm curious what caused this one to have a black spot:

We learned online a couple years ago that they'll turn dark and transparent before emerging. We haven't caught the emerging process but enjoying looking for signs that they're getting ready!

 Almost ready!

I'm not sure what the red liquid is?! Maybe it was too close to the siding.

Unfortunately we've found a couple that were struggling or had fallen. We've been able to get two of them to grab onto a stick then they're able to hang to dry their wings.

This poor little guy emerged when we were getting a lot of rain from Hurricane Florence and was found walking, dragging his wings. He grabbed onto the stick and stayed there to dry for a couple hours, then flew off! Hopefully he flew far enough west to be clear of the rain bands quickly!

We did our best to protect a couple caterpillars from the rain of the hurricane!

 They've been so much fun to watch!!!