Butterfly Garden

Ugh, I'm so behind on the blog again. What can I say... it's cause I've got 13 kids, including a nursing 3 month old, plus I've been busy raising 150+ caterpillars and monarch eggs that all need attention. My priorities are always changing. It's violin for a few months, then genealogy, then exercise, then biking, then blogging and I'll get all caught up, and then it will be fall and I'll just want to be in the mountains and then we'll be skiing and I'll fall behind again. Oh well, ya do what you can. I've also, surprise surprise, actually been outside for two days in a row now doing yard work! We made a butterfly memorial garden in Jerry's honor. 

We put two big cement pots (which were very heavy to move, Abi helped me 💪) over by one of the milkweed spots and planted the nectar flowers I bought for Jerry in the pots.

The yellow flowers are Black Eyes Susan, the magenta are Coneflower, behind that are Butterfly Bush on the left and Salvia on the right. I think the Salvia smells so nice! It's my favorite. Jerry also seemed to especially enjoy those flowers . 

We released one male yesterday, we said it was Jerry reincarnated. Three emerged perfectly today and we released them. 2 male and 1 female. 

I've been trying to write down all my monarch stats and I'll crunch the numbers for my 2022 totals next month after they've all flown the nest. Today I also found 6 more eggs as I was working outside. Not many of the eggs have hatched yet, we're hoping they are viable. I searched the blog to see what happened in years past, and in 2017 I recorded that in 2016, we had 30+ eggs but only 2 or 3 made it to adulthood. I hope it's not like that this year.

It was fun to work on it today. All the spiders are really confused about where we came from and why all of a sudden, after years of peaceful living between our species, we've up and suddenly decided to come destroy their homes and livelihood. Well, it's because a neighbor ripped out their parking strip and had a sign that said "Free sod". So then I got some. Cause the kids have been ruining the grass in the back yard. (It might also be from all the pine needles...) So I thought I'd just go grab a few, put them in coolers and that would keep the back of my car clean, but after picking up my first piece and getting dirt all over me and the car, It became apparent I would be getting messy if I did decide to try this. So, I got more when I took Daniel to the bus stop. Abi and Natalie were both home feeling unwell. Natalie got sent home from school for looking ill, and Abi just had a cough, but coughing is the new leprosy in this covid world. Abi was interested in what I was doing, so she helped me and we dug up the parts that are dirt in the back yard, and Natalie watched Katharine, and we laid some sod down as we shared our visions for the house and yard. So we'll see if it takes! I thought it looked pretty good for a lady who doesn't know what the heck she's doing.

Katharine being very patient before Natalie took her on a walk.

Katharine being patient with me today as I finished putting down the sod we got yesterday. 

And let's zoom in on that cute cute face!! Katharine, you are sooo sweet. She is almost 3 months old! I love 3-6 months - it's my favorite time cause the baby gets more interactive and is so squishy and chubby, but still so little. 

Katharine felt a little neglected yesterday cause I was busy playing with the sod, and then we had violin lessons, and then a hockey parent meeting for Wes, and then rush home for dinner, then we went as a family to corner canyon for a quick bike ride at the cycle park. 

I had never been to this part before, but Corey took the kids there on Saturday. Some of the kids on the cycle park, holy cow, they were FLYING through the air on this track - it was CRAZY. We just did the green and blue pump tracks. 

It was fun, but we got there just barely before sunset so we didn't have a lot of time to ride, but it was good for silhouettes!

So yeah, we've been busy, and especially yesterday I was working or on the go all day. Katharine let me know she was upset about it when it was time to go to bed and she just cried and cried. I'm a one trick pony mother, all I can do for a baby is feed it, and if that doesn't work, well, then we're both just outta luck. So I talked with K last night "I know what it is... You're tired of being good all the time, huh. You want to be a sad baby, you want to see what it's like to throw a fit! That's ok, that's your right. You go ahead and cry..." She also likes baths, so we did that, and she was fine in there, but then when we were getting dressed, she reverted back to crying. I rocked her and she eventually gave up and decided to nurse. She was a little more happy today, but I also did less work. I finished off the sod, and we spent lots of time snuggling.