Friday, September 19, 2008

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Our Monarch Butterfly


We were surprised and delighted when our butterfly emerged today. (Can you see my daughter in the background smiling?) She's actually a day early! (I know it's female because of her markings - males are more orange and have spots along the veins in their wings) This is such an amazing thing to watch and we do it every year. It never gets old.
The caterpillar's are in their pupa for almost exactly 14 days and when they emerge their wings are folded up and their abdomens are fat. This is because they have to pump the blood from their stomachs into their wings before they are ready to fly.
After they are filed out they flap them for a while so they can dry out and become stronger. Our butterfly only took a few hours from hatching before she was ready to take off. She flew away before I could get any pictures of her with my kids! So today she began her 2 month journey to Mexico ( traveling 50-80 miles a day!) and in the Spring she will return to New England and lay her eggs before she dies. And next fall her offspring will continue the cycle.

Amazing, isn't it?

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Like Father, Like Son





My husband loves math and science. It's just who he is and I think it's cool I married a geek! As I was finishing up my morning chores I walked by the kitchen table to see our 7 year old son working very diligently on something. This is the conversation that followed:



Mom: "Hey whatch'a doing hun?"

7 year old: "Making a magnetic forcefield."

And it worked too.

Me and My Daddy

*Taken at a family wedding*


I don't get to see him much and he is a man of few words, but I love him so!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Oh yeah- GIRLS ROCK!!

For all those "punk rockers" at heart- this ones for you!

My Boy

The Many faces of Monkey



None of these were posed by me, she did this all on her own. My spunky little monkey!