One Eye Squint

I got the CUTEST picture of Peter and Katharine playing on the trampoline yesterday! Just look at these two!

They both are doing a one eyed squint that is just adorable. And Katharine's taking a lesson from her older sisters with that little bent over pose. I love it. 

Heart is full today feeling like I'm the luckiest mom in the world. P&K Looking at each other - 

"Yeah, we ARE pretty cute, huh!"

Katharine still being cute and smiley after a bath. I made her look like a little Russian babuskha with this silk handkerchief my mom gave me. 

So as I mentioned earlier this week, Katharine has been reading and drawing a lot, it's really fun. She was back at it again this morning, being cute AND smart!

Carefully capturing her thoughts - 

Then excitedly sharing her insights with us!

Peter has been writing a lot too! I caught him writing his name yesterday. Little PETE! So cute. And I think I've pointed out before that Peter appears to be left handed!

I also loved this drawing he did of some of his siblings. The only one I recognized was Sophi. 

And loved these little people drawings too!

Coloring with markers. 

Writing is important, especially cause that comes in handy when finding work. Hyrum sent this meme that made us laugh, ha. 

He is thinking of how to make money. He got a job at Chick Fil A up there at BYU on campus, so that's good that it is close to his apartment and he can walk to it. He just needs me to mail him his birth certificate, so that's on it's way to him. I've been doing work preparing for my Sunday lesson on being reconciled to God. I got a book a week ago called "In Awe" by John Leary, which stood out to me because the word "awe" has personal meaning from my patriarchal blessing. Anyway, In Awe is his second book - I went back to the library to check out his first book, On Fire, it's really good! I'm going to use some of it in my lesson on Sunday. I did some lesson prep today while the girls were at group violin class. I got interrupted, but I'm sure the lesson will be ok. Someday I'll have quiet interruption free days. In my lesson on Sunday I'm hoping we will talk about being committed to God even (especially!) in our trials! No excuses! "It's my life and I'm responsible for it!" 

A few other things I was listening to in preparation for Sunday. So first - what we think is so important for how we live, and along that line I listened to this TED Talk by Amy Cuddy which also shared how yes, our thoughts influence our bodies, but our bodies can influence our minds too (start around minute 10)! It would be great to do the Wonder Woman Pose for a few minutes everyday!Katharine putting her hands up, cheering for herself! An expression that even blind people do when they are feeling victorious, even though they've never seen it done. It's a natural expression of triumph. 

Really cool stuff in that talk. Be reconciled unto God! 

Chrysalide Drama

So things have been going very very well with our butterflies so far this year. We have had a few get stuck molting between the instar sizes, which is common. Thankfully we haven't had any have trouble changing into chrysalis like last year, 2019, and in 2018. I used to hold out hope that they'd still make it, but now I know they are gonners if they don't do that transformation correctly. And there have been no issues with them having any problems eclosing, like with Jerry and Maria. Caterpillar drama is about the same as usual, with some sick and oozing, dying, and/or disappearing. I haven't been keeping good count of the egg and caterpillar numbers, I'm trying to just count successful butterflies. I didn't even know some caterpillars were missing inside until I found their chrysalis under the cupboards (2 were under there!) or one made it's silk pad up high on a storage lid on top of the cupboards. It was several days before we even noticed that hanging there in plain sight. I only found the ones under the cupboards after I found their skins as I was sweeping the floor after they changed into the chrysalis. There's also been some who are just barely hanging onto their silk, one missed it's silk pad and fell, but luckily I had some tissue wrap under it so it didn't get hurt. I was able to get it stuck on a sweat shirt's fuzz and it hardened there, and then I made it more secure after that. I also three other problems with four other chrysalides, and I froze three of these - one of them had it's wing drop down and fill with fluid! It was dripping green, and I figured it was doomed. 

That one had trouble molting each time, and left his skin with a line down it and half green half yellow looking. You can barely see the line in the pic above. I named him two face. It was too bad he didn't make it. And then there were these two - one that I found after noticing lots of black drops below it. Ugh, it looked like a zombie chrysalis! 

and this one only had a few drops of black, but looked sunken like a raisin. I "euthanized" those three (froze them).

And then the most sad one for me was this chrysalis. I was moving all the chrysalides to a branch after they were hard. I clipped off the milkweek to move this one - Looked good, right?

But then I turned it over and saw that it had been in the path of a hungry caterpillar...

Doh!! Eaten alive, darn it. That has never happened before. A lot of chrysalis drama that is a first this year. 12 years doing this and new things still happen. But when a butterfly makes it and flies free, it's worth it. 

I sent a polo to Mel sharing some of the exciting and tragic butterfly events, and I had to get a screen shot of this cute smile that K made at the end of the video - ha! 

Katharine is liking the butterflies, and she loves the shirt that I got in June at Kid to Kid. I love that she loves it!!!

She's gently tap the butterfly with her pointer finger and say butterfly "Bah-fie!" She is so cute. 

Reading and Drawing

Today I finally washed the red marker off of the wall in the boys room. I did a little bit of it a few weeks ago, to test if it was permanent marker or not, and thankfully it wasn't. So then I wasn't in a hurry to get to work getting it off. Now it's been there for a few weeks. Peter said Katharine did it, and I'm sure she helped, but there were some stick figures with smiley faces on the wall, and Katharine is good at drawing, but not that good yet. So I knew Peter helped a little bit. I decided to clean the wall after I took a few pics and this short video of Katharine drawing. 

Writing so intently!

She was also picking out this small furniture nail from a chest today. She's carefully pry it out, then put it back in and "push!" Good as new. 

She's doing such a good job with all her fine motor skills! I'm so impressed. Katharine also did some stretching with me today. 

It made me think of Sister Jones' talk that I listened to recently - "Children are great imitators, so give them something great to imitate." Katharine was also suuuper cute yesterday - waking up from a nap. Wesley went in and got her, and she reached up for the stuffed dogs that were on the shelf. 

Looking so sweet and innocent, and a bit overwhelmed perhaps?

She held on to these for like 30 minutes. 

A few more cute pics of K reading books at violin on Monday - Little board books...

Then she'd run over to the book shelf, grab another book, and come sit on the little fireplace step and read again... a bigger book this time ~

I was reading my Simple Abundance book on the carpet. Katharine came up to read next to me, imitating how I was on the floor. 

"Let's try lying on my back..." - 

So many ways to read! 

Chrysalis Trees

I have a new Chrysalis Tree (We sing "O Christmas Tree" but say Chryslis Tree, haha). I went with a fall theme this year instead of spring blossoms. This was from a week ago - with 20 chrysalides on it.

I also had a chrysalis bush, but it is gone now. Yesterday at church I gave away 12 chrysalides, like I did last year. I had tried to put them 1, 2, or 3 on a stick, and I put several sticks in a pot with rocks, so that I would be able to remove them and give them to anyone that wanted one. I didn't make them pretty with flowers this year though, so it kinda made an ugly display, in my opinion. An ugly chrysalis dead bush.

I also haven't kept track this year of which ones went to j-hook and then to chrysalis first, so they haven't been in order, I just glued them wherever. That pic was from Sept 5. By the time Sunday came around, I had 8 sticks that still had chrysalides on them. So yesterday, I gave away 11 at church, then I gave one to a neighbor after we went to their house for the walkabout. They are from Korea and their backyard was so so gorgeous, like an Asian nature paradise. It was so beautiful, so then I went home and got a butterfly chrysalis cause it just seemed like an appropriate place for a butterfly to be born at. And I saw another neighbor boy, Jack (4th pic), who took our butterflies to St. George last year, and he asked for some, so I gave him two large caterpillars to finish raising. Today I released 2 males and 1 female (I have been trying to keep track of what I release). Here is one that I released today. I decided not to move this one to a stick, since he wasn't on a leaf...

We were in the kitchen when it emerged. Katharine says "butterfly" as a combination of "butterfly" and caterpillar - so like "Bacacaca!" (She's so smart!)

Released one male today, and even with the 12 I gave away yesterday, I added on a few more that went to chrysalis over the weekend and now I have 27 chrysalides! I added them to my chrysalis fall centerpiece ~ isn't that lovely?

I have one more that will be changing soon, so he's our last guy and that will make 28 (unless any of them emerge tomorrow... I haven't kept track so I don't know who is leaving soon). I went to get our last caterpillar some milkweek tonight and found a few babies, so now I have 4 baby caterpillars too. Also yesterday, a huge swallowtail was in the backyard. The kids brought it in - it seemed very lethargic. I tried to feed it a wedge of a clementine but it didn't seem interested. Natalie holding a monarch below - 

The kids were excited about seeing a different kind of butterfly up close! The baby wasn't so sure...

I went to take it to my neighbor Terry, for her butterfly hospital, but she wasn't home. 

Daniel took matters into his own hands and wouldn't give up! He squeezed a whole clementine and put the juice in a cup and continued to try and feed it. Then Owen came in and told me that it flew away. They had brought it back to life! Such is the faith of a child. 

Owen’s Baptism

We had the whole Utah gang together today for Owen's baptism today. 

Hyrum is currently the sole member of the Idaho gang as of yesterday, so we were missing him. Wesley took Hyrum up to Rexburg yesterday morning, since there were lots of orientation activities scheduled for this weekend. He was able to zoom in for it thought - it felt like he was back on the mission! It was a very sweet service. Owen was the only one in the stake to be baptized today. Owen dressed and ready.

His primary teachers were there. One of them, Diane, played the piano for us at the beginning but then she had to leave, so Mel played it the closing hymn and it was funny. She did better than any one else could have done, but we probably need to get a pianist in our family. His other teacher is my butterfly friend Terry. Terry had a male butterfly emerge today with bad wings, so she'll be taking care of it in her butterfly hospice habitat. She named it Owen Nelson after Owen, for his baptism, and President Nelson, who turned 99 today! That could be a cool way for Owen to remember his baptism date too - it was on President Nelson's birthday. Group pic after the baptism.

I had food at home to feed everyone after, and I took Owen to Smiths to buy a treat to share. He was excited to ride in the car cart. So he has gotten bigger, but it's obvious he is still a little boy by how excited he was to drive the car.

At home, Joseh, Ethan and Bella enjoying playing with Katharine. 

This morning Owen, Daniel, and Natalie all had soccer games at 9, but we told their coaches we  wouldn't make it today because of the baptism. And, since we didn't have to have them at games at 9, Corey and Joseph were able to go on a ride in Corner Canyon, I let J take my bike while I went on a 2+ mile walk. I also went by the school and did 3 passes on the monkey bars. Then Owen's baptism at 10 am. 

Yesterday Wes took Hyrum to BYU Idaho today, so I had to take carpool, but I did get in a ride yesterday around 2pm, just up the canyon here. Then date night Aubergine. A few pics from yesterday - Katharine playing with a toy dish in our room - 

The circumference of the bowl looked like a perfect fit for her two tiny feet. 

Pretty good balancing on a toy bowl!

That picture reminded Joseph of a principle that in order to keep balance on a bike, you need direction and momentum. Seems like there is a balance in life application there somewhere - direction (focus, know where you're going) and momentum (press forward, faith is a principle of action!) Wes tonight wearing a cowboy hat and making a marbleworks run for Katharine. 

He's a good kid. He's started his mission papers! Exciting.

Simple Abundance

When Nicole was out here for BYU Education Week, she sent me a picture of herself book thrifting. She found a great book that she's wanted for a while. She read a little bit of the intro to me and it sounded so good, just what I've been thinking about - AND it turns out I have a quote from the author on my wall - it's the quote from 1000 gifts (end of this post) that I've had on my wall for the past 10 years! “Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend" - Sarah Ban Breathnach 

So then I was like "I need that book too." I put it in my Amazon cart, just so I could remember to get it, and then... I was at the DI on Aug 30, looking for clothes for our family pictures, and I thought I'd just go look at books for a second too, and look what I found! Tada!

I texted Nicole - "I got it!" Even better than Amazon - I got it now AND for cheaper and no shipping! Just $2 bucks! Nicole and I are going to read it together. A lot of things are coming together - life coaching, zion, simplifying, getting our thoughts right, and James Clear's weekly email newsletter from today was another one that just hit the spot of things I've been thinking about, especially his ideas #2 and 3:

II. “People spend a lot of time talking about other people’s bodies, gossiping about other people’s relationships, critiquing other people’s business, etc. Keep your eyes on your own paper. Work on your body. Nurture your relationships. Improve your business. We all have plenty to improve.”

III. “Many people view their habits and routines as obstacles or, at the very least, obligations to get through. Making the morning coffee, driving your kids to the next activity, preparing the next meal—we often see our routines as chores to be completed. But these are not moments to be dismissed. They are life. Making coffee can be a peaceful ritual—perhaps even a fulfilling one—if done with care rather than rushed to completion. It’s about the amount of attention you devote to these simple moments, and whether you choose to appreciate them or bulldoze through them on the way to the next task. Find the beauty and joy in your daily rituals and you will find beauty and joy in your daily life. To love your habits is to love your days, and to love your days is to love your life.”

Nicole and I are going to learn how to be simple, how to create good habits, and how to love the moments of our days each day! 

Katharine had her 15 month well visit today. She had an ear infection, might explain why she was a bit moody this past Saturday for pictures. She's doing better now. There are lots of butterflies being born and things are good. I'll give a butterfly update soon. 

Sophia is 12!

Happy Birthday to Sophia! 12 years old today ~

My mom and Corey's dad came over this evening to bring her some gifts and wish her happy birthday.

They came at 8pm, cause Sophi was at the temple with the youth from our ward. That activity started at 5:15, and took a few hours, so they were back shortly after 7:30. They stopped for ice cream at Macey's on the way home after the temple, so Lily and Sophi both said they were full already and didn't want any. But their brothers hadn't had any, so we sang and were going to give the boys some dessert. 12 candles - 

Turn off the lights for ambiance - 

She successfully blew out the candles - so wishes granted. 

Good job Sophi. So that was fun. Tonight Abi had Lyceum (she just joined that and it is every Wednesday) and after that she and Wes and JMEH (Joe Mel Ethan Hyrum) all went down to go country dancing in Provo. They arranged it last week with each other to have one last hurrah with Hyrum before he goes up to Rexburg. They each found a dancing partner, and went out to eat at Costa Vida - 

And I was looking at this photo and I thought "How fun is that!?!?" How many kids do you know that can have a group date this big with their SIBLINGS being HALF of the group???

I told them "You guys are so Lucky!!! And you're welcome!" - cause I'm the one who made that happen. Corey and I (and the Lord) gave them to each other. Pretty cool. 

Hyrum was a little stressed trying to find a date, and yesterday he asked Laura, who is studying at BYU who he knew back in Chile... 

Little kids playing prodigy tonight, and Natalie likes and is a champ at typing club. 

She's got the lead in the whole 5th grade! Over one million points! 1,551,871! 

The next two best scores are both boys in our neighborhood, Grant with 846,195 and Jack at 735,319. Natalie's almost double, wow. She's either just an achiever or super competitive! There is butterfly stuff going on, and I'll put all that in one post soon. Katharine watching one come out this morning - 

and today was also good cause we finally fixed Wesley's phone. His screen broke months ago, and we got him a new phone, but when this one came, it doesn't allow him to answer calls. Like he can hear it ring, but there's nothing that comes up telling him who is calling or allowing him to accept the call. So for month's he just waits for the person calling to hang up, then he can see who it was and he calls them back. So yay, I got in touch with Gabb's customer service and over the chat they were able to help me fix it. Good job, go me.