I have loved seeing all the butterflies in my yard this year.
Red Spotted Purple
Painted Lady
Eastern comma
Question-mark Butterflies
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Emperors
Monarch
spring Azure
Eastern Tailed Blue
skipper
Common Wood-nymph
Pearly Crescent
Common Buckeye
Red Admiral
Checkered White
Orange Sulfur
Not from MY yard
Pearly Eye
Giant Swallowtail
You left me out
You brought them in
They left you cold
Hardened I stand
Aside where put
You wonder now
Why, I do not hold you dear
I think its beyond healthy (within reason) to have a hobby besides being a mom. Mine is gardening. I love to be outdoors. Being in nature can 180 my mood.
Ive loved gardening since I turned 6 and my neighbor bought me mums to plant for my birthday. Possibly to hinder me from picking her flowers, but we’ll never know.
I watched the ants in at first horror that they were on my moms peonies. Only to learn they are part of the process. Accepting that bugs are an instrument & not all “bad”.
One bug that seemed to allude me was the caterpillar. I remember one that became a wasp. We tried once more but caterpillars don’t eat grass who knew 🤷♀️. But truly I only remember 2 my whole childhood.
I imagine we didn’t have many caterpillars or butterflies because of all the “iscides” used not only in our yard in the 90’s but the farming community as a whole.
When we moved into our place the old man that lived here before had plants and trees to welcome the hummingbirds. I added more of my favorites. Doing my best to have something blooming most of the season. I didn’t notice butterflies but I wasn’t looking.
Id say it wasn’t until I was pregnant that I noticed caterpillars. I banned pesticides and herbicides that year. I enjoy being barefoot in the yard.
Last year though was the year. I believe I saw a swallowtail. From there I slipped into a butterfly photography & identification rabbit hole. I learned my garden was already a decent butterfly and larva host spot. So I have begun to added add and add to further that as well as invite the butterflies I haven’t seen into my yard.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from this year and last.
id’s listed as determined by application I downloaded
Beckers White
Hairstreak
Common Buckeye
Orange Sulfur
Checkered White
Cabbage White
Red Admiral
Hair streak
Comma
Red Admiral
Common Wood Nymph
Emperor 
Comma
Pearl cresent
I have had this feeling with no words to describe it lately. After Binge watching Handmaids tale Sunday with friends I decided to rewatch season one.
Is the perfect fit for how I feel.
Well we did it, we finally went camping. We’ve talked about it for the last few years. My husband went with his friends last year, after I had bought him a decent amount of gear for fathers day. I got him a 1 man tent for his birthday, & he got a grill for Christmas from his dad. He’d had a family tent in the amazon cart he was mulling over, I bought for us as a surprise when I was buying myself some flower seeds. Basically, we HAD to go camping or all these supplies we’d been acquiring would be for not. I grew up camping, and camping for my birthday is what I wanted to do.
I researched things to do with kids, planned to go to my favorite lake in my home state. I pinned, I planned, I primed. Set plans with friends for the first time in years. Memorial day was going to be a blast. Then we were blasted with rain. Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain. I pouted. We tried to figure out other things to do or other weekends to go, but this was our chance. Other weekends wouldn’t be as long for the both of us. We looked at other lakes nearby. The whole state engulfed in rain. We both began looking at the surrounding states. 5 hours drive too far. Then campsites filled. 9 hours started looking appealing. Colorado was out, we were not ready to deal with Bears. Maybe next year. Missouri, rain also unless we were going in that 7+ drive. Arkansas we decided was far enough south to get out of the rain, still a drive but we were determined to make it happen. However, Arkansa is a state neither of us had been to in our adult lives.
In all of our research we found a few camping apps, Hipcamp, and the Dyrt. The dirt I really know nothing about other than its like Yelp for camping. Hipcamp seems to be peoples property they allow you to camp on for small fees. Location and Amenities being the driving factors for pricing.
By Luck we managed to book Gateway Getaway in Arkansas because of cancellations.
We had a lovely time. We hiked. We glamped, we sat fireside, slept in a tent, we made ice cream in a bag, cake in a dutch oven, ate farm fresh eggs, chased a boy chasing chickens, swung in a tree swing, ate at a picnic table, and made coffee on the grill, & we cooked in cast iron for the first time ever. I was certain we planned and packed in excess. However, besides extra clothes there is only a couple things we didn’t use and they weren’t large items. I am so happy we had to venture out of our comfort zone and find somewhere new to explore. I can’t wait to do it again. Below are some pictures of our trip in no particular order.
Top 10 glamping items we loved
My perfect pancake.
Dad said there were Bears in this cave. Poor little dude. He made us b-line away from the second cave on this trail. Although, in Devil’s Den he seemed to gain a sense of humor and made up stories about the creatures living in those caves.
This is Blake, he did not like Elliott.
He was trying to convince me there were dragons & alligators in this cave. The hike to the waterfall was somewhat long with a 3 year old but we all made it. It took teamwork & patience, and guidance from fellow hikers familiar with the trails as there were many somewhat confusing off-shoots on the trail.
Our campsite was very sweet to begin with, I think some of the little touches I packed set the ambiance, to fun and outdoorsy yet still comfortable. I loved breathing in the fresh air all night and day long. Cooking outside was fun and I feel like we were happy with how well our meals turned out.
I am particularly proud of my cake. I offered some to our host, with the disclaimer it was slightly under done in the middle, yet I forgot to tell her it had no eggs, or milk so it was safe to eat a bit gooey. She politely gave no true answer. LOL, my coworkers scavenged it once they were brave enough to try it. I did disclaim to them it was Vegan (excluding the frosting) so they were very big skeptics.
Little man was very sweet when we could keep him from chasing the chickens and playing monster trucks with the dogs.
We literally just got a swing like this for Elliott, and we’re considering bringing it but space did not allow for it. Not to mention it didn’t come with tree straps so if you get one don’t forget the Tree Straps!
Extras that were nice to have but not necessary.
Things to upgrade or add in
See more pics of our campsite at their Hipcamp website! Gateway Getaway
Happy Camping All!
So, I fell into a role with Little Apple Families. My ‘title’ is large group events coordinator. Basically, its event planning for small childrens holiday parties. I will unashamedly admit, I absolutely love doing it. Do I go overboard? Likely. My hubs, mom, boss and fellow leadership team members would probably agree. Do I get credit for being self-aware? Hahaha. As they say, “do what makes you happy.” And it does. I am beyond thankful the team is eager to help. My family also rocks. Dane will occasionally admit he enjoys some of the crafting. My mom loves it no question.
Truly, I think the best part is that it helps E more prepared for everything that happens at these things the day of. Which in turn I feel makes the entire experience go smoother for both of us, sometimes dad too! Not only that but we get to experience each holiday longer, talk about them more, prepare earlier. Now it seems we enjoy the actual day of Halloween, Easter, Christmas, etc. because I was planning, preparing and READY before the last event or holiday was finished.
Loads of work at least in the research and planning department. But little man likes watching me cut, sew, draw, paint, glue, destroy my house clean my house eat sleep repeat. I occasionally let him sew which may be his favorite. 🤷♀️. I bet its the machine and I spent so long trying to jeep him away from it.
There are challenges involved with everything that goes into it. I actually like limitations. It requires me to get creative and solve problems. First and would have to be budget. We have a decent budget. However, we have 5 large group events to host throughout the year. Valentines, The local Saint Patricks Day Parade, an Easter egg hunt, Trunk-or-Treat, a Winter Holiday Party and a few potlucks in between. Besides new members who join throughout the year we collect dues at the beginning of the year and our last party is our largest expense. Special guests and venues can be expensive! So we have to mindful of doing things on the cheap all year long.
The next biggest challenge would be durability (not even going to talk about storing this stuff but storage is a factor). I have to make things that will last through 60 some kids. Creating things I have no attachment to but that I think will be enjoyed and are worth the time and effort if it doesn’t survive. I don’t need to be secretly crying on the inside over kids party items. This stuff has to be something I truly mind the destruction of. After the first event I helped organize I learned to anticipate damage.
Speaking of lessons learned, at last years Holiday party I realized I hadn’t planned very well. There was no accounting for the amount of work set up. No plan of attack. No concept of how much time it would take to set up. Lets also acknowledge I was not mindful of how long cleanup would take either. 🙄 We had too many crafts, too many tables, too many chairs out, to then put away. I had activities I made that didn’t get set up because I brought decor that took too long to set up. And all of us had small children in tow.
Valentines went smoother. I was for sure more cognizant of set up time, cleanup time and scaled back on how many crafts. This saved me prep time and I learned to start planning crafting deciding well in advance. Evolution? I’m evolving right? Maybe developing & improving are better words to describe the process.
So here I am about a month out from the Winter Holiday Party. Nearly everything is planned out.
Date ✅ Time ✅ Venue ✅ 🎅🏽 ✅ Activities✅ Crafts nearly decided just need narrowed down and I think we’re on track to have costs at HALF of last years!
I even was a crazy person who went and measured the venue. In my defense, I wanted to see how I could set up activities. Where they should be and how much space I should allot….I want set up to happen quickly. I may have mapped it all out too …as long as my spacing for table and chairs is on target I think It’ll all fit.
Not only do I have set up & tear down goals, I also have goals for how much crap I lug with me.
My goals for this Winter Party are:
– we provide napkins, plates, cups, silverware
&
– Which may fit in the same tote as decor and activities!!!!
I’ll confess I have spent my own money on a few things here and there. I try to only do that for things I think would be fun to have as a family over the years, or for E to take to school parties. So far this year I’ve only spent $27. Hot glue being a big chunk of that. My crafter box is becoming hefty. And I’ve set my sights on a Cricut. Maybe, I’ll sell some of my crafts some day on etsy. I have the perfect focus group to test quality, functionality, and interest level. 🥳
Here are sone photos of past events. Keep in mind not a lot of time can be spent taking pinterest worthy photos. and sometimes photos at all. 🤦🏽♀️
So far E hasn’t been terribly interested in the monarchs caterpillars or butterflies. He’s looked at them and I think is more entertained at how much I like them! He’s held a caterpillar and poked one 🙄 enough to irritate it but do no damage. They are now beginning to emerge from their chrysalis’. I put one on him today and by far that’s the most Interaction he’s had with them all together. Of course it got loose in The house. I was able to quickly capture him so we could release them in the wild.
I have enjoyed doing this, this summer. I may or may not do it again next year. It will be heavily dependent if we have travel plans or not. And if E has more interest. It really is time intensive. That doesn’t mean I won’t ever do it again just that I don’t see my self committing to the indoor reading EVERY year.
If I don’t bring them inside again next year. I will look into at least netting my milkweed to help boost their survival rate.
Anyways down to the good part pictures!
So cool, I didn’t expect to happen like this!
