On the second day of school we were walking up to the school to get Jackson and found a little friend. We offered it to Jackson’s teacher thinking she might like a fun little thing for the kids to watch….she held back a shriek and rejected the poor little guy. So, we took him home and put him in our fanciest old spaghetti sauce jar with holes punched in the top.  I’m telling you, we lucked out. About 2 days later the butterfly had formed into a chrysalis. It remained that way for about 2 weeks. At that point I noticed it was looking much darker. It appeared to be turning black. I was worried that it was dying and getting moldy but at closer look it was actually the darkness of the black wings forming. The next morning we woke up to a beautiful swallowtail  butterfly.

stunning home, huh?

it appeared to attach to the stick by a few small strings…it looked so delicate but amazingly strong enough to withhold  the ear hands that jostled it.

almost there

ta da….

no one’s home! pretty impressive handywork!

We let her go after breakfast. It was a super windy morning so she hung out on our flowers out front most of the morning. Owen and I checked it out later in the morning and she blew onto the sidewalk. Yes, she was a she to us. Not sure how all of that works with butterflies. But she was a she to us. Anyhow, when she decided to fly it took her a little while to get the hang of it but we sat and watched her figure it out. Owen cheered as she began to get higher and higher!

It was such a neat process to watch. Those of you that know me know that my first instinct would not be to have a big caterpillar sitting in my kitchen but these boys are pulling me into their excitement and I might, I just might have a bit of my mom in me. She was notorious for hiding a fawn in the shed at boarding school to keep as a pet, attempting to break a wild horse behind the school gym and had a collection of monkeys and toucans.  No joke.

our not so fortunate guy (yes, this one was a guy) lived in another spaghetti jar paradise but only enjoyed it for a couple of days!

Well, we have successfully made it through the first couple of days of school. Jackson is loving it and he is EXHAUSTED. On the first day of school we took the pictures on the front porch and made all of the big fuss. When we got to the school I could tell that he was nervous but in true Jackson form he jumped out and said ” okay guys you can just let me go to school now, you don’t even need to walk into the school with me”….he quickly broke into a big laugh and said it was a big joke because he needed us to come.  Nice try buddy. We went in and sat with him in the cafeteria until his teacher was ready to take him to his class room. He sat down next to a little boy from his class and they both sat nervously and quietly for a minute trying to be strong. After a few minutes one of them noticed that the other has a big scar of his knee too and a spider man lunch box…at that point I knew Jackson would be okay. I had no idea if there would be tears (from any of us!) but he stayed strong. When he got into line he hesitated for a minute but when the class left he walked on with excitement and never looked back. Had he looked back he would have seen his mom crying! Just for a little minute. He looked so big and so excited and so independent.

this last look is the one that got me crying, before walking down the hall he gave us this serious “is this for real? I have to go?” look that made me want to tell him he could wait until next year!

I told him that when he came out of school he could give me a thumbs up if it was good or a thumbs down if it was bad! (knowing darn well he would love it!)

and in fact he did love it! and this is his first drawing of the year…one happy boy with yellow hair and bright blue eyes! I love it!

And Owen you ask….he loves his brother and misses him but this is a picture of him after we left Jackson! He has a little spring in his step

Hope you are all having happy back to school weeks wherever in the world you might be!

Here are a few pictures from our last week of summer!

summer legs….resulting in another black bath!

basil is always better from a friends garden!

not one bit tired!

cousins

hold on tight, James!

dance party

It was a really fun way to wrap up our summer with playdates and pool time and a family movie night and garage sale shopping and hanging a bazillion things around the house (more on that to come!)!

This is the last week of summer up in this neck of the woods. On a normal year it might feel like a late start but this year I am so thankful for the extra time to settle into a new normal before starting another big thing.

Most summers I have a list of must do’s. Fun stuff like hike here or have dinner there. This summer was more survival mode with summer fun thrown into the mix.  I can say now that we have made it to the last week and we have survived the move, unpacking and most of our settling in and have had lots of fun throughout.

Owen…after fighting his crocs every day of summer just yesterday mastered them the first time with no help. He typically engages in a little croc routine that includes: “I do by myself”, wrestle with croc, get upset and cry,  get upset when help is offered, try again, yell for help. But yesterday he managed to get it all coordinated with the back strap and getting his foot in and his pride was  evident. This is summer learning folks!  Owen has also taken on singing and has learned to sing along with the alphabet, “Where is thumbkin?”, Monkey’s on the bed and Jingle Bells. yes, jingle bells. The boy brings Christmas in the summer. He had 4 straight days last week of normal sleeping the mornings but he is back to his cooky 5 AM mornings.

Jackson…Has spent lots of time cultivating an enjoyment for writing and coloring. These are things in the past that he has less interest in but over the past few months he has been enjoying his “work” as he calls it. Jackson has loved going to the pool most days and has been making up for lost time from the past 2 summers. He had a crash course in swimming again last week for 4 days and has taken off in the past weeks.   We recently discovered the show Wild Kratts on PBS and he is learning so fast I am a bit scared of what kindergarten will bring. I might have to study up!

Seth….learned to be a professional painter, semiprofessional electrician and an amateur lawnmower this summer (kidding on the amateur…3 times of mowing and he’s a pro).  He has broken his back to spruce this place up. And it is MUCH improved. Seth is currently being trained for his new job and is looking forward to the pace picking up a bit.

As for me, I have hopefully finished this packing and unpacking business for a while. We have gotten good at it I guess but I don’t love it. The house still needs lots of little projects and decorating done so I am trying to not rush anything and hope to enjoy some of the process in the Fall. I am looking forward to starting Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPs) and Community Bible Study with Owen and can’t wait to meet some more local moms. I have been dragging myself to the Y for the last few weeks. Tonight I am attempting Zumba. All I can think about as I type this is when I got into show choir in high school my teacher said I made it only based on my singing and sight reading…not the dancing!   I will either leave laughing or crying!!

I am working on some posts for next week on back to school! I get about a paragraph in and my excitement turns to terror of sending Jackson to school…so I step away and come back when I am excited again! More coming on back to school!  In the meantime I am dragging my feet and eeeetching out every last inch of summer.

Here are a couple of cute summer shots with friends!

and a bath with black water wasn’t on our summer to do list but here you have it! Fun on the farm and ice cream cones equals very dirty kids!