Can you see them!?

But first, a sad note. The first caterpillar I found has gone missing :( I don't know what happened, but I went out to check on him, and the plant he had been on was kinda pushed over, and he was gone :( I'm really sad. I hope he's okay!! But, for the good news! I found two more this morning!!

I'm guessing from their sizes that the one on the left is about 2-3 days old, and the one on the left hatched sometime yesterday. Can you believe how small they are!?

I couldn't get a good shot :( It was really windy, so i couldn't hold the camera still enough. But I'll keep trying!

Lisa, The Nature Nut apparently!

It HATCHED!!!!!

One of my eggs has hatched!! I can NOT believe how wee they are!!

This is on Day One. See that little hole? that's what he ate that day :)

Found another egg! :)

Day Two!! Notice how much more he's eaten? There's two holes in the leaf now!!

If you click on the picture you'll get to see the Awesome detail!! the pics are huge though!

Lisa

Right under my nose!

So, I was in the back yard with the kids the other day...as we are most every day now that the nice weather is here! I looked over into one of the gardens, and thougt to myself "Hmmm...that looks an awful lot like a Milkweed Plant." Sure enough, when I broke off one of the leaves and the white fluid seeped out, I knew for sure that it was!! Why is this so exciting you ask? Well! remember last summer? When we raised butterflies?! And I told you that the only thing Monarch butterlfies eat is Milkweed?! Well, I have some!!!

So then I thought to myself, "Hmmm....I saw Monarchs in North Bay and one here the other day, I wonder if they are laying eggs yet?" So, off I went to investigate. And I found about 7 of these little beauties!! Right in my own back yard!!

I can't believe how teeny tiny they are!! I'm so excited to be able to watch the process from pretty much day one! The caterpillars shed their skin a few times before finally turning into a Chrysalis...and I missed all that with the other ones we had last year.

So, stay tuned for updates!!!

Lisa

What a wonderful weekend!!

Everything went sooo smoothly!! The kids were great for my Dad and Marilyn, the drive up and home was perfect, the weather was amazing, the wedding was gorgeous, and SOOO much fun. But you know what the very best part was? Being back there.

The college smelled exactly like I remembered. Which is important to me, because I am addicted to smells :) The form a lot of my memories, and if the smell doesn't match the place, it gets kinda ruined for me. So when we walked in to Canadore, and it smelled so perfect, my weekend was set.

Despite thinking that I wouldn't have much fun, because we wouldn't know anyone, I was wrong!! We knew the Matron of honour, and one of the other bridesmaids...and had a BLAST with them and their husbands!! We were pretty much the last ones to leave :) And the Bride could DANCE!! I never knew that about her, but am thrilled to know, since, despite the fact that I have the rythym of a white girl (HA!), I LOVE to dance. I love all kinds of music. Actually, Al and I laughed ourselves silly over the number of crazy lyrics we both know :) My kids are like that too. I often catch them singing songs I wouldn't imagine them knowing :) I love it! But I digress.

So, we took two very important pictures while we were there. First, this one....

This is where it all began. I came through those doors, up the stairs, and that's where Al hugged me. Out of the blue. It was like magic being there again. I almost cried as we were leaving, I don't know if we'll ever be back. I hope to take the kids one day to show them where Al and I met...but that will probably be more for me than them :) We'll see. So, to commemorate the occasion, we took this one(that totally needs some serious photo editing since it's so dark :( )...

It was just like old times. Only better :)

So, that was all the mushy stuff...now for the wildlife adventures! I never knew we would see so many animals on our trip!! It started out with the family of groundhogs under our house...

There were 5 babies in all. SO cute, they would just lay on the path in the sun until someone came by.

Then at the wedding we saw a couple dozen Canadian Geese, and a Beaver! Sorry, so pictures though. After that we hit a lull, until the next morning, when we met this little guy...

Tiniest Squirrel EVER! There were two of them running around. Just after we took this, a chipmunk ran right behind our friend. Like literally right behind his feet! The same chipmunk had previously visited the Brides father and brother in the house they were staying in!! Like, right in the kitchen, and in one of the bedrooms! Yeah, classy joint this college residence!!

On the drive home we saw these....

Two White-Tailed Deer! We kept inching the car forward until they ran back up the hill, hopefully they didn't decide to try to cross again, that's a pretty busy stretch of highway.

And then to top it all off...

Funny eh?

So, that was our weekend. SO much fun. And, we get to go to my cousins' wedding this weekend!!! Another night without the kids, full of fun and dancing. I can't wait!!

Lisa

Looking forward to this weekend. And feeling pretty good.

Friends of our from college are getting married this weekend. And I am SO excited!!! Not so much about the wedding and reception, because I'll only know about 4 people there, and not very well...but because of the location!! They are getting married at our college!!! AND!! Al and I are staying in one of the residence townhouses!!! It's going to be Such a trip down memory lane!

And when I say Al and I, I totally mean NO KIDS!!! My Dad and step-Mom are coming tomorrow morning to pick the kids up, and then Al and I are on our way to North Bay! I am soooo looking forward to a weekend away.

Although, on the other hand, I am TOTALLY dreading it. I've never left Mason over night before. And Jenna and Aidan only once. I'm thinking that might sound a little sad and pathetic, but I just feel more at peace knowing that I'm in the same house with them. I'm hoping that being at my Dad's, breathing in the fresh air, and having them run around outside for HOURS will tire them out so much that they don't fuss over bedtime. Jenna has a hard time going to sleep in anyone else's house, even when I am there. And Mason...well, we all know how well Mason sleeps. HA! Aidan will just follow in Jenna's lead until he tuckers out and goes to sleep. I'm not as worried about him. But still. It's my job to worry about the what-ifs right!?

Now, on to the feeling good part! When Jenna got home today, I emptied her backpack like usual, but this time, there was a little card inside. At first I thought it was an invitation to a party for one of Jenna's classmates...but no! When I turned it over, the front said "In appreciation of Mrs. McAlendin" I was invited to the Volunteer tea! I'm feeling pretty damn special!! I'm not sure I'm going to go, since I don't know if any of the other Mom's I know will be going, but still, it was nice to be asked!

And then!! remember the lady across the street that went after Mason when he escaped? Well, I got a thank-you card, and made the Banana Bread(I love you JJBB!!), and took them over the next day. Today, her husband came over with my container, and inside were three little bags of gummy bears for the kids! How nice is that?! And all these years I've been calling her the crazy neighbour. LOL. Not anymore!! her husband was super funny, and told me that his wife didn't get any of the loaf, because he ate it all!! He said that because she's always on some crazy diet, and since he's a diabetic, he never gets that kind of thing :) I guess Mason escaping wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Well, I guess I'd better get back to my packing. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Love and Hugs!

Lisa

I'm such a bad blogger/blogger friend!

So, I'm totally hooked on Facebook. Like, totally. I'll be sitting at work, and out of nowhere a name will pop into my head, and I think to myself, OH! I totally have to facebook that person! It's crazy!!



So, because of that, I've been neglecting my blog, and your blog and everyone elses blog too :( I've read you all a few times, but haven't posted a comment in far too long, and for that I appologize.



I'm going to try really hard over the next few days to get all caught up on everyone!!! Promise!!



Love and hugs,


Lisa