This has been one of the most incredible weeks of my life. To celebrate Abbott's birthday (two times!) was awesome. They arrived at our home late Saturday. Sunday we went to the Arboretum to get everyone out in the fresh air. Then Tata & Casey went to an FC Dallas Football game. Heidi & I spent the day knowing each other better. Both of our boys slept well beyond usual which was just another blessing from God. It was an incredible day for me personally. That night we ate dinner at Pappadeaux for some good seafood & pre-birthday celebration for sweet Abbott.
As a side note, Abbott really liked the #1 candle. He would dig it into the cake & basically come back with frosting. Heidi & I are pretty sure he got some candle wax on this morning adventure.
Danijela has her first boy crush. I'm amazed & horrified that at the age of 4 a girl would talk about marriage & giggle when "the" boy enters the room. Grayson is a great kid. However, I explained to her that girls do not call boys. Girls do not ask men to marry them. She sat quitely in the car. She asked why I married Tata & I explained. Then she asked why she couldn't go to Florida with Grayson next week because she will miss him. Oh, ... then the story was repeated.
My sweet Aunt Anne died. I posted about her. Less than a month later her husband, my Uncle Ebly & my Daddy's only living family member, died. Ebly died this last week. It actually occurred when my parents returned to Denver to care for him after Anne's death.
Because she hangs from the top of the container it was difficult for everyone to get a good glimpse. Danny held the lid while I shot images outside. We put her back. I called Melanie asking how long it would be. She said anytime. Well, the above image was taken at 8:24am. We kept a close eye on her minus the various distractions. At 9:10am I looked at the container & this is what I saw (below). The image is not too clear because we were inside. Her "feet" were still stuck in the outer casing. I cannot believe we missed it. It must happen really fast.
We turned the lid down outside to see what would happen. Girl wanted to move. "Her" wings were definitely not cooperating as they are too wet. To fly might take hours. She liked to climb on me. It felt pretty strange. Monarchs are big. It was almost like having a beautiful roach climb on me. I could see all kinds of amazing detail. The wonders of God.
It is now 2:29pm. She is peacefully sitting on a deck chair. Her wings are definitely drying now. I would love to get an image of her before she takes flight. We'll see.
"After awhile, the caterpillars attach themselves head down to a convenient twig, they shed their outer skin and begin the transformation into a pupa (or chrysalis), a process which is completed in a matter of hours."
Miss Danijela decided to name our caterpillar "Ariel" from the Little Mermaid. I want to state here I've never seen the movie myself. And at this point there is no way to determine the butterfly's gender. I've read you can when it moves into the pupa stage & certainly when the Monarch emerges based on the wing design.
She's just getting bigger. We cleaned her container & put in all the new milkweed. Girl's been going to town overnight. Need to keep a close eye so I get some good images of the next stage. How cool!
I'm a 42 year old mother of two sweet kids. Danijela is 4 and Luka is 2. I'm married to a wonderful man. I wonder if I'll ever truly understand why he chose me to live life with as I am quite a handful.
Tracy & I started a photography business called Moon Cookie Photography. After her encouragement, I decided I needed to take the leap. Our website is not yet complete, but you can view it at mooncookie.com. Tracy has a great business plan for the near-term. Basically we setup a studio in my home for Saturday-only appointments so our husbands are available to watch the kiddos. The hard part is learning the studio aspect & equipment placing. I am so used to documentary-type photography that this is a whole new deal. Thank you to Nick & Trisha for letting Sophie be our little model while we work out all the details.
Tell me, what should I have done?
Foster, you are not allowed to grow more teeth. You are cute as a button. Spending extra time with you and your mama was a blesssing on Monday. She is an amazing person. She loves you & Grayson so much. You will never be able to fathom how deep love dwells in her heart. We started our first earth garden on this day. Yet, truly, the garden that matters are our amazing children like you. We work so hard to love and teach you all well. Thank you for the smile. Man, you are too cute. And it is not a surprise knowing your mama as I do.
Love you, friend. Thank you for your inspiration, enthusiasm and final push to get the ball rolling. I needed that badly & look forward to the future. 
Enchanted Rock State Natural Area consists of 1643.5 acres on Big Sandy Creek, north of Fredericksburg. It was acquired by warranty deed in 1978 by the Nature Conservancy of Texas, Inc., from the Moss family. Enchanted Rock was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1970 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The Rock is a huge, pink granite exfoliation dome, that rises 425 feet above ground, 1825 feet above sea level, and covers 640 acres. It is one of the largest batholiths (underground rock formation uncovered by erosion) in the United States.
Goose (aka Drayce) spent the night with us last night. He did so well. The kids played & all went down very fast. Drayce slept in our master bathroom with the exhaust fan going. I stayed in the bed very near. He made a couple sounds at one point & I had to bring him into bed with me. He probably didn't need that. He fell asleep quickly, but, naturally, I stayed awake all night. I finally put him back in the crib when I knew he was fast asleep. He woke again about 6am. I brought him to bed again, gave him a bottle, & we slept for few more minutes. About 7am the whole house started waking & having fun. We were blessed by this night.
