Lovin' Summer

Summer has not yet officially started, but we have been enjoying the warm weather! It all started about 2 weeks ago when we decided to purchase a trampoline - it has turned out to be a great investment! The kids will go out and play for hours, switching from the tramp to the sandbox, to the swings and back to the trampoline. Hopefully it will last all summer:) We have also been in the swimming pool and on the slip and slide quite a bit. My sister's little boy decided to just leave his suit here since they use them almost every time he comes over!

The miracle of life

We did something really cool this past month, we raised some caterpillars and released them when they turned into butterflies! It was so interesting to watch them change. I have done this before in my classroom so I thought that it would be fun to let the girls do it at home. As soon as we released them DD1 asked if we could get some more caterpillars! The caterpillars came in the mail and they were tiny, about the size of a chocolate sprinkle. They ate and grew for about 10 days, they were really fat and ugly, and then they turned into chrysallises. They stayed inside for about 10 more days and then we had 5 painted lady butterflies. We kept them inside for about 3 days to watch them eat and flutter around but then I felt sorry for them so we let them go. It was really fun and we will definitely get more caterpillars next spring!

Cinco de Mayo

I know this post is a little belated, but we had a fun Cinco de Mayo party at my mom's house. I made carnitas (my favorite) and we had a taco bar, salads, and fried ice cream. (Now I can say I have made it once and I will probably never make it again - it was yummy but VERY messy!) Then we played pin the sombrero on the cactus and broke a pinata. The kids keep asking when we can have another pinata-they had so much fun breaking it and the candy and prizes weren't too shabby either! Thanks to everyone who helped out with this fabulous fiesta!

Validation

So, I have been a mother for about 5 years now, and every year I have received a flower at church on Mother's Day. Unfortunately, as mentioned in previous posts, I do not have a green thumb and each flower has eventually died. I told my hubby that I hoped the inability to nurture my Mother's Day flower was not a reflection of my nurturing abilities as a mother!
Last year I was determined that my Mother's Day mum would not die. I watered and cared for my little plant as it struggled for life. There were many times when I was sure that it was on its last leg, but it kept going. This spring I noticed a little bunch of flower buds on the original stem of the plant. I was estatic!
Imagine how happy I was when I noticed 5 more blossoms on the newer stems of the plant!! In fact, as you can see the plant is taking over my kitchen table and I don't know where to move it! I knew I wasn't a terrible mother:)