Monarch butterflies

This week we took a trip with our play group to Santa Cruz to see the Monarch butterflies at Natural Bridges State Park. It was amazing to see them hanging off the trees, and fluttering around in the sunshine, and unfortunately I think that most of it was lost to the kids. A few more years and they may appreciate it. Still I greatly enjoyed it, and plan to take a trip to Ardenwood soon to see the butterflies there.

It was difficult to get a decent photo of the butterflies on the trees of flying, but we were lucky to observe a newly "born" butterfly in the milkweed garden, still freshly out of the cocoon and unable to fly. It reminded me of an email forward that has circulated in the past which is also very relevant to the children in our lives and having to know when to let them struggle through things themselves!

The story is told about a man who once found a cocoon. It seems a small opening had just appeared in the cocoon and through this small opening the man watched as the young butterfly struggled to escape the confines of the container that had protected it during its metamorphosis.

After several hours it appeared the butterfly’s progress had stopped completely, prompting the man to take action. He very carefully took the cocoon in hand and used his fingers to pry it apart at the opening begun by the butterfly.

When the butterfly emerged the man noted its strange appearance. Instead of a beautiful butterfly he saw a swollen body and shriveled wings. He watched to see if it would continue to develop into the graceful beauty that adorns gardens but nothing changed. The butterfly just sat there unable to fly.

The man then began to realize that the butterfly would never fly. For it is through the struggle to escape the cocoon that the butterfly completes their transformation as the effort to break through causes the bodily fluid to flow to the new wings and gives them the strength they need for flight.

Happy 6-month birthday!

It is hard to believe that our little girl was six months old on Saturday. The time has truly flown by, and we are enjoying every moment of it (except for when Hannah has trouble sleeping!) Kyle helped Daddy to pick out a chocolate birthday cake for Hannah, which unfortunately Hannah wasn't able to taste yet. Just 6 more months to go until she can have some for the first time.

Hannah had her check-up today and weighed in at 15 pounds 3 ounces and is 26.25" tall. She was very brave through 3 shots, and stopped crying as soon as I picked her up. I think Kyle gets more upset for her shots than she does!

She's been sitting up by herself for 2 months now, and very rarely topples over these days. Her rolling has increased a lot lately, and she now loves to pull herself up wherever she can - including an upturned laundry basket. This was always a favorite "walker" for Kyle, and I can see that Hannah will be pushing it around the house before we know it.


Kyle has his own use for the hamper these days!

October photos

I've been delayed on updating the blog lately, busy with both kids, and just having far too many photos to wade through. Here are a few more of my favorites from this month.

Hannah started solid foods more "seriously" just before she turned 6 months. She's still not too wild about it, and it is much more play time for her than eating. She loves to grab for the bowl, getting a good handful of whatever is inside to squish, then trying to eat the bowl as well as playing with as many spoons as she can get her hands on. Most of the time whatever I manage to get in to her mouth just comes squirting out again, but at least she is getting a taste for it and we are beginning to practice table skills.

Sometimes when Kyle wakes up from his nap, we have some play time in his crib, including some cuddles under the blanket, or playing with toys. Hannah's face always lights up when we walk in to Kyle's room and she sees her brother, it will be great to see them playing together once she is more mobile!

One of Kyle's newest activities is "art supply time" which has recently branched out in to decorating his sister with stickers. It often extends in to attacking me with stickers as well as his toys or teddy bears. Especially fun was decorating Hannah for Halloween...

Happy Halloween

We have yet to take Kyle (or Hannah) trick-or-treating. It's just around their bedtime, and as they don't yet know what they are missing it is easier to skip it than to try to wrestle candy out of Kyle's hands! Still, we had our fill of costume time, with 2 Halloween parties and wearing the costumes to Tiny Treks this week too. Kyle has gotten into the spirit, with making sure that his Jack-o-Lantern has a candle in it every night as soon as it starts to get dark, and Hannah just loves trying to get the pumpkins into her mouth!

Here's a favorite one of our little ladybug who was a true sport and never seemed to mind the multiple times she was put in to her costume, even with the hood on - Guess that's what having an older brother around will do to you!






Here's our little curious girl, who carefully studies everything that she comes across...













...before trying to put it in to her mouth!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, more pumpkins

October wouldn't be complete without attending Abby and Tony's annual Pumpkin Carving Party. This was of course the first year that Kyle could actually participate in the carving, and he had a great time poking holes all over the face, as well as honing his skills with enlarging the eye holes.
Also this week we attended our friends Ben and Katie's Halloween party. Hannah enjoyed watching all of the activity around her, while Kyle had a great time checking out every one's costumes, making masks and enjoying snacks.

Below is Handyman Kyle with his best friend Farmer Ben, enjoying their Halloween treats.

A Visit to Auntie Laura and Uncle Scott

Kyle had a wonderful time with his Auntie Laura here when she came for a visit just after Hannah was born, but he had a hard time remembering his Uncle Scott. So it was long overdue that we made a trip to Washington for a visit. We had a very non-eventful flight on the way up, with a very brief wait in the terminal and Kyle sleeping as soon as we were in the air, so it went much more smoothly than we had planned.

Our visit was unfortunately quite short, only 4 days when we didn't count the travel time, so it was pretty low key, with just enjoying time with Laura and Scott. We made a trip to the Tacoma Children's Museum which kept Kyle occupied for a few hours.

We also made a trip to the Tacoma Zoo, as well as a trip to the beach at Point Defiance for some play time with Bailey, as well as a family photo shoot with our favorite photographer! The four days flew by far too quickly, and Kyle was sad to leave it all behind.

Our trip on the way back was "fan-tas-tic" as far as Kyle was concerned, and that was in regards to our Mickey Mouse airplane. He has seen it out the car window as we approached the airport, but we of course couldn't promise him that we would be flying on one. Imagine his surprise when he looked out the window at our gate! Hopefully he doesn't expect Mickey Mouse to be on our airplane every time that we fly now.

Pumpkin Time

It is hard to believe that it is already October and pumpkin season yet again. As part of the Tiny Treks class which we attend each Wednesday, we made a trip to Webb Ranch Pumpkin Patch this week. Appropriately dressed in his overalls, Kyle loved all of the pumpkins, wheelbarrows! and tractors!

Hannah wasn't quite sure what was going on with all of the orange things scattered around, and perhaps she was a little upset with getting mud all over her from Kyle sharing pumpkins.