Farewell, Butterfly

Our last monarch eclosed yesterday. It was rainy and overcast, so I waited to release him today. It wasn't much sunnier but at least it wasn't raining. My milkweed is about dead and the days are turning colder, so I think we've seen the last of the monarch eggs and caterpillars for this season. I think we had 13 monarchs successfully eclose this summer. That's a lot more than the past several years!

This & That

I put up my fall bulletin board at work the other day. I love the way it looks. I added a picture of radishes this year. I was at Meijer one day and was looking for fresh veggies of some sort and I was so impressed with all the different produce they had. And it all looked so nice. I thought the radishes looked especially nice...so I bought some just to photograph. Silly, I know, but they looked photogenic. I was happy with how the pictures turned out, so the $1.98 was worth it.

 

 

Speaking of groceries, I decided to try Giant Eagle's new curbside service and my grocery shopping will never be the same. :) I really hate to grocery shop. With this service, you order online and schedule a pick up day & time. You can arrive within a 30 minute window of your scheduled time. You park in a designated spot, call the store to let them know you're there, and they bring your groceries out. You are not supposed to get out of the car, and they will not accept tips. They load all the groceries and then come to your window for payment. It's as easy as that. And, the service is only $4.95!! The first 3 visits are free and the lady who loaded my groceries gave me a $10 off coupon for today's order. It was such a good experience and my grocery bill was lower than usual. I'm kind of excited about shopping for next week now!



This is me, working hard at getting groceries...or not.

I couldn't find the smaller bag of potatoes on the ordering site, but the lady who loaded my groceries said to just make a note in the comments next time about the actual amount I want.

Danielle got her school pictures today. She looks so much older. She also had her 12 year well check visit today. (I will post birthday pictures some day. It was only almost 2 months ago. :( ) She grew 2.5" last year. The pediatrician says she is yet to hit her big growth spurt, so Danielle's holding out hope she'll eventually do a little better than that 49th percentile. Apparently those 48 out of 100 kids she's taller than don't play 6th grade softball, volleyball, or basketball!

Farewell Until Next Year

I think my hummingbirds have migrated. I haven't seen any since Wednesday. Maybe I'll see a few as the ones further north head south. I saw this guy on Tuesday. The pictures aren't the best but it was interesting because his head was covered in white. Usually the pollen is yellow, so this was a little different. He ignored me and continued to prepare for his long trip.

More Monarchs

Our "Nutty" Family

I could not resist the "peanutize me" ads. I visited the website and made our whole family. I think they look very similar to us, especially the boys. It was fun! Here we are:

Ron

Lori

Tyler

Danielle

Today's Pic

One Last Celebration

Tyler brought in pizza, chips, and pop to share with his friends at lunch today to finish off his birthday celebration. The lady who has him in a headlock is his science teacher. She's one of those teachers you hope your kid has at some point in their school career...and one of those teachers your kid will never forget. She is pretty wonderful and she makes Tyler feel like he's pretty wonderful, too.

This picture makes my heart happy. There was a time in Tyler's grade school years when he struggled to find friends who understood him, and when teachers probably day dreamed about putting him in a headlock for real. ;) He is growing up nicely. Thank God for answered prayers!!

Happy Birthday, Tyler!!

 

It was a teacher planning day, so Tyler got to enjoy his birthday off school. He opted to sleep in and play video games.  We went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant tonight and then opened gifts and ate cake.

I am happy to report that Tyler is no longer the only 8th grader in the entire world without a cell phone. Well, he is for another week. We bought him the new iPhone 6s. It won't be released until Friday, so he'll have to wait a few more days. He was really excited about finally getting one!

I think he had a good day!

Reminiscing

After wrapping his presents and icing his cake, I thought I would look back at some pictures of Tyler around his past birthdays. All of these were taken in the month of September, beginning in 2001 and ending last year in 2014.  Where has the time gone??

 

 

 

 

This & That

I saw this in the store the other day and thought it was disgusting. Not sure why...it just sounds gross.

Last night we had a nice dinner out with my aunt and her friend, who are visiting from out of state.

In other news:

We found out tonight that Danielle made the travel basketball team. Yay!

The owner of the volleyball club where Danielle is playing in the fall league stopped her tonight and told her she should try out for their 13u nationals team. This is definitely a step up from where she's currently playing, so it was quite a compliment. She was pretty excited. It's terribly expensive, so I'm not sure she'll do it, but it's always nice to be pursued. She may try out just to see if she can make it.  If she wants to play in college, at some point she will need to make the move to a national team. I'm just not sure it's time for that yet. We'll see.

Tyler ran for student council. I don't know if he made it yet or not, but it's a big deal that he even cared enough to give it a shot. He also started attending a prayer breakfast before school on Wednesday mornings. I am often amazed at just how well adjusted and confident he is (or appears to be) in who he is. It takes some people a lifetime to learn that. I can't believe he'll be 14 in just a couple days, but at the same time, he seems so much older and always has.

For the Birds

The hummingbirds will be heading south any day now. It's too bad. Their arrival brings hope for warmer days filled with sunshine and flowers, and their departure is a reminder that colder weather and less hours of daylight are just around the corner. Yesterday I enjoyed watching this little guy enjoy the sunshine from his seat on a broken flower stem amid the cardinal flowers. I hope he has a safe journey south and comes back to visit me again next spring!