Happy Halloween

Our little butterfly fairy had a magical Halloween. Ben had to work, so we started off the evening on our own. A neighbor down the street had a little cookout, so we went there for some fun play in the backyard.

On her royal fairy throne

Trick or treat! The first house she went to, she walked up to the woman and said, "Happy Birthday!" I had to correct her that it wasn't that kind of party.

Ben met us at the end of our trek around the neighborhood, so was able to have the Halloween family experience too. We then rushed home to meet Grandma (Ben's Mom). We were lucky enough to have an adult weekend while Esther enjoyed a visit w/ Grandma and Poppi. Ben and I dressed up as Earl and Joy from the t.v. show, My Name is Earl. We went to a friend's house, then went downtown to see our favorite local bluegrass band, Packway Handle Band (you may remember Esther dancing at one of there shows this summer). We had a great time!

We picked Esther up this morning and headed back to Athens for the Fall Festival at the GA Nature Center. Our good friends and great band, Dubconscious, played (they played our wedding too). All the bands played solely off of solar power. Esther had fun dancing and playing with the rocks. Ben and I enjoyed having E back with us and seeing many friends we haven't seen in a while.

We both enjoyed some cuddle-time after our time apart

Esther tickling me

'Mama's nose'

Boogie! (and, yes, Ben shaved the awful mustache)

Dubconscious (minus Scott, who we couldn't fit in the picture) - link to their website

Hope yours was fun and spooky too!

Crafting

It's that time of year to get my crafty bug on. My sewing machine broke a month or so ago, right when I was had just gotten a bunch of inspiration for projects (mainly from other blogs). Well, my wonderful sister-in-law (thanks, Sara) had an extra machine and has let me borrow it. I was so excited! It is a REALLY nice Baby Lock machine that does way more than my old Singer. What a treat.

So, of course I had to get started on one of the projects I've had on my to-do list. With the cold weather, all of our scarves and hats have come back out. The last few years, I've kept them in a cloth bag and had to dig through it looking for the one I want. Well, I found this great idea for a scarf hanger on a blog - unfortunately, I could not find it again to give them credit. I used a piece of felt and some ribbon that I've had in my stash for quite a while. I used push pins to attach it to the back of our coat closet door. Tadah! Now I just have to figure out a way to hang all the hats - they're still in the bag.

And here's a sneak-peak at the goodies I've been hand-embroidering here and there.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the Washington Farms Pumpkin Patch last Saturday. My Mom, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew all came to join us (Dad was hunting). It was really fun! Mom made E this precious dress out of old corduroys. Great up-cycling!

Grammi w/ the two grand-babies

Looking at hoppies

Allegood Family pic (Spencer was distracted by all the pumpkins)

'I want this one!'

I originally got in the cow with Esther (really cramped). She told me she wanted to ride by herself. She went all around the farm on her own - Miss Independent.


We got one big pumpkin and a medium pumpkin to accompany the original baby pumpkin. I had grand ambitions to carve an owl into the pumpkin, but ended up with a simple face.

She didn't like the squishy feeling



Last night, E and I went to the library's Spook Night. She wore her Dr. Fleming scrubs that Aunt Sara got her last year. She looked so cute! Here's her Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde faces.

We still have the butterfly fairy outfit for Friday. Ben has to work, but E and I plan to take a lap around the neighborhood to show off the cuteness. She doesn't eat candy and we don' need to, so I don't plan on gathering too much. We will see....

Sick day

Esther came down with a bit of a cough yesterday. She's had some sort of cold every month since starting at Morningstar. I know it is normal for kids to get sick when they start school, but I'm really over it (and I'm sure she is too). Anyway, I called in to work and kept her home from school today, so not to pass on her germs.
So what do you do with a sick [almost] two year old when it is raining all day?

Make a fall leaf wreath out of a cereal box and yard nature collections

Collecting berries for the project



Final product to be hung on our door once the glue is dry


Make Harvest muffins (pumpkin, cranberries, apples, pecans) = YUM

Way to much watching tv for my liking - and enjoying muffins

Lots of books

Our arsenal of 'meds' - homeopathics, juice, and elderberry (the miracle herb for colds)

Hoping for a better day tomorrow. We have plans to go to the Pumpkin Patch with my brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and Mom. I'm really excited and hope Esther is up to it. (:

Monarch Update

Our monarch butterfly emerged this morning. I've been watching the chrysalis over the last few days as it darkened. A few days before the monarch emerges, the chrysalis become transparent and you can see the dark orange and black wings of the newly formed butterfly. Once out of its chrysalis, it pumps fluid into its crinkled wings and suns its wings to dry them before taking flight. Esther was very excited to see the 'big, beautiful butterfly'. As the wings are so fragile while drying, I didn't let her touch it. I wish we had a tagging kit at home so it could be tracked to Mexico. There are a couple of really neat programs where you place small, numbered stickers on the monarch's wings (no, this doesn't hurt them) and send in the information to a database. Then, local Mexicans are paid to gather the monarchs during their 'hibernation' and record the numbers. This information is placed on a public database. It is a really neat thing for classes and families to do. There are so many things that can be taught using monarchs and migration as a catalyst. Monarch Watch is one organization that we've used at the Garden. Another that covers many migrating species is Journey North. Scientists also use this data to study the species and factors that may be leading to their decline.
Okay, enough environmental education for the day . Can you tell I love what I do?
Here are some photos.

The empty chrysalis

Drying its wings and preparing for life as a butterfly. It is still on our pine, but has started flapping its wings some (I'm looking out the window as I type). I was just able to see that it (she) is a female, which is determined by a black spot on its wings if it is male and lack there of, if it is female. It is easier to see if you are looking at the monarch with its wings open.
She's soon to take off into this world. Good luck!

No, don't touch it! :)

Fall Weekend II

Dad reminded me yesterday that I haven't posted a new blog lately. Here are a few pics from our weekend. We didn't do much, just stayed around the house: cleaned, napped, and enjoyed the fall weather.

Cuddling with Papa on a cool morning

We are so lucky to have a few parks w/in walking distance of our house. We go to the Intermural fields/Lake Herrick once or twice a week to get some exercise, enjoy the scenery, and feed the ducks- if they're around. We especially enjoyed the beautiful fall colors this weekend!

Very proud of her rock skipping skills!

And with fall leaves, comes the joy of raking. We don't need to rake, as our landlord picks them up, but Esther really enjoys it. She rakes them into a 'piyal' and then jumps in them (like a bunny rabbit - 'hoppy, hoppy, hoppy" with hand motions of bunny ears)