Looking Back

We have had a very nice Christmas break. It’s been nice to get away from all the distractions of life and to just enjoy spending time together, but suddenly 2020 is here. 

2020 is a big year. It’s the year Tyler graduates from high school. When they welcomed the class of 2020 at kindergarten registration all those years ago, it seemed so far away. Now it’s here, knocking on the door. So much of what has become “routine” for our family will change this coming year. We will celebrate some “lasts” and also some new “firsts” and hopefully lots of memorable moments in between those times. It will definitely be a year of change. 

2019 was a good year. (We have been blessed to have so many good years.) There are some moments that stand out - Danielle’s school ball team winning the state championship, Tyler’s final high school marching band season, our Thanksgiving trip to the Smoky Mountains, all the softball adventures (camps, games, road trips), the senior moments (pictures, college tours, college applications & acceptances), Tyler’s 18th birthday.  And then there are all the little moments along the way. The filler between the big moments. Most of those moments are special times that were made special just because we were together: Laughing over gingerbread houses, a walk at the park with the kids, being silly in the condo elevator, giggling over failed family pictures, time with extended family. So many happy little moments filled our year. 

Here’s to a 2020 filled with many more happy little moments! Happy New Year!

Time for Sr Pictures

Unbelievably, it is time to order Tyler’s cap and gown and start thinking about graduation announcements. Today Tyler had his senior pictures taken. He hasn’t had his picture taken professionally in quite some time (school photos don’t count), so we decided to make the most out of this opportunity. We went to 2 different locations today and got lots of pictures. The ladies did a great job making it fun. I’m excited to see the results...which will be in a couple weeks. 
Definitely not a professional picture, but I like his shirt!

He made this sign for one of his pictures. He had a vision. 😜 I think the idea turned out great, but we’ll know for sure in about 2 weeks. 

It was fun spending the morning with him. We enjoyed lunch together afterward. It was a good day.

A Little Fall Decorating

We finally put out our Halloween decorations tonight. We meant to get them up a few days ago but we’ve been a little busy.

After Halloween was over last year we bought Tyler a fog machine we found on clearance. He tried to set that up tonight just to test it out. It was a bust! ☹️ It made a terrible high pitched beep the whole time it was making fog but only put out tiny puffs of fog. Our neighbor stuck her head out to check on us because she thought it was our smoke detector going off and she saw smoke. Guess we won’t be incorporating that into our fall decor this year.

Clara was helping.

The ghost and projector looked good though. We need to add the window lights and a few “expertly” carved jack-o-lanterns to the front steps to complete the look.

Homecoming

Last Saturday evening was our homecoming dance. Danielle decided not to go. Instead her best friend spent the night. They ordered pizza, watched movies, ate snacks, and fell asleep long before they had planned. :)

Tyler went with his group of friends. They all met up for pictures, went to dinner & then ice cream, went to the dance, and then hung out at one of their houses until the early morning hours. It was his last high school homecoming and he made every minute count. We went along for pictures before hand. He seemed genuinely happy - it wasn’t hard to get good pictures.

^ Danielle’s pic



^ This is the pic Danielle was taking above :)

Football Friday Night

Fall Friday nights are for high school football. Well, more accurately, they’re for the band half time show during the football game. I love our Football Friday night routines and look forward to it all week.

Tonight’s game was an away game. We left after half time so we could get some dinner and get home in good time because Danielle has an early morning softball game tomorrow. 

The sunset was beautiful. The band sounded amazing. We got to watch Tyler have fun with his friends. And we won the game. I will miss these Friday nights next year when Tyler is in college.

Publishing from My Phone - a Test

I downloaded an app for my phone that will hopefully allow me to post a little more frequently. (Once every 6 weeks would even be more frequent!)

So this is a test. 

Monarch Time

We've had lots of monarch activity this summer. One day I watched a monarch lay several eggs. When I went back out to look at them later, most of them were already black. After doing some research, I concluded that they were all parasitized by a type of wasp. I squished them all to prevent being overrun by these tiny wasps and hoped the butterfly would come back. It did. This time I picked several leaves right after the eggs were laid. I brought 27 eggs in the house to take care of. 21 of them made it into their chrysalis. Today the first one of that batch eclosed. The other day I found 15 more tiny little caterpillars and 6 larger ones on the plants outside. I left them outside this time and am hoping they all make it.

Female laying an egg

The tiny white dot is the egg.

The rest of these are cell phone pictures. I haven't had a chance to download pictures from my good camera since we've been back from our softball "vacation".

It's kind of hard to believe that Danielle and I have been doing this for almost 11 years. We first started looking for monarch caterpillars and raising milkweed after she got painted lady butterflies for her 5th birthday. She will be 16 next week.

 

A Walk in the Park

I had a very nice evening at the park yesterday evening. I saw so many little things - katydids, a tiny praying mantis, caterpillars of all sorts, a walking stick (both the insect kind and the other kind) ;) , frogs, dragonflies, flowers. While I didn't actually see the mosquitoes, I do have proof they were there. Here are some of my pictures.



This was the tiniest tree frog I've ever seen. I stopped to look at a little yellow bug and happened to find this guy tucked in the leaves close to the ground.

My index finger for size reference.

Tiny inchworm (Maybe a 1/8" worm?) ;)

This guy was making a lot of noise.