Family Night

This evening Hubby and I decided to spend some time with the older Caterpillars. CW has expressed that he feels "lonely" and even said he wanted more attention. Which I guess is a good thing, that he is able to communicate his feelings. He's certainly not taking it out on the baby Caterpillar - oh, no, he's quite clear that Hubby and I aren't spending enough time with him!

So tonight, we had a delicious dinner (Italian breaded chicken fingers, corn, peas, applesauce) and then got together to play the Wii.

Hubby hasn't played Wii Mario Galaxy since January, which is a game they love, because they get to take turns helping him. We played for about an hour, while GO slept in her carseat.

Then Hubby played Wii Fit, while we had a bowls of healthy Cheerios (to not tempt him)! A bit of good news is that our home scale reads NINE POUNDS heavier than the other scale. Poor Hubby had weighted himself on our regular scale for the first time in over 6 months and had a heart attack - he felt so much better when he stepped back onto the Wii Fit and saw his real weight!

I was able to snuggle on the sofa with B10 and CW individually. It was a great night, something we've needed for a while. I'm glad we made the time and we'll need to do it again very soon.

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Cousin Baby Sheep Comes to Visit

Baby Sheep was in the neighborhood today, so she dropped by (with BooSheep, Hubby Sheep and Little Sheep) to visit.

Being born on the same day does not make you the same size! (Baby Sheep did not wake up for any of the photographs...)

HAPPY ONE MONTH BIRTHDAY BABY SHEEP AND GO!

~Lone Butterfly )i(

One Month Checkup

While technically she's one month old tomorrow, GO's doctor's appointment was today. Luckily - B10's emergency dentist appointment was over by 1 p.m. and we were able to grab a quick lunch before heading straight to the doctor's.

It's so funny to me that she'll sleep anywhere we go, except the doctor's office. She's been wide awake at every visit and this was no exception.

She's now at 20 inches long and her weight was 7 lbs 6 oz. She's growing so quickly! The doctor said she's looking wonderful and he'll see her in another month (then we have our first immunizations). :(

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Only A Boy Could Unravel This Story

I'm still not exactly clear on how it happened - as the story from each Caterpillar is different, but basically...

B10 was sitting on the floor in the hallway doing schoolwork and CW was helpfully doing laundry and somehow slammed the washing machine door into B10's face, thereby shattering the bottom half of his left front tooth.

Yay.

I mean, I had nothing to do tomorrow and plenty of cash to burn at the dentist....

~Lone Butterfly )i(

TV News!

I found an extremely exciting tidbit online today! I am a huge fan of the show NCIS (if I had to "be" someone on television - it would be Abby) and there have been rumors, then confirmations of a spinoff.

Today I found out that LL Cool J has signed on for NCIS: Legends - as an undercover agent in LA. And I am anxiously awaiting confirmation that Chris O'Donnell has also signed on.

I CANNOT wait to see the crossover episode that seems to be slated for May Sweeps. YAY!

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Happy Mardi Gras!

In celebration today, I cooked jambalaya and a homemade King Cake and we had guests over.


The King Cake was yummy, but a bit of a disappointment, because I bought was LOOKED like from the packaging the proper cinnamon rolls, but once I got home I found out they were more like biscuits then the ones that you can unroll.



They were still awesome (everyone likes sugar).



I even made homemade icing for the top (in green, of course) - I would have done green, yellow and purple, but that would have required me washing the whisk 3 times instead of just once.



GO was so wonderful sleeping in her carseat while I cooked.


Then, when she woke up, B10 was WONDERFUL - look how perfectly he is holding her. I was able to get dessert and dinner fixed (and even had time to read 3 chapters in the Henry Ford biography to CW) before our guests arrived.


Mum and Doc came over, along with Queen, Prince and Princess. Princess has been dying to hold GO, but Queen and I have been holding her off, because we've not been somewhere "safe" (ie: a sofa).


She was SO happy to finally get to sit and hold the baby Caterpillar.


We let the kids play the Wii for a bit (Mario Party 8 can have 4 players - which is good) and then the Royal Family headed home about 8 p.m.

There weren't any parades, but it was a nice Mardi Gras anyway!

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Jealous Much?

Anyone who has visited this blog in the last month has seen a picture similar to this:

GO in her Boppy with one of her Clan of the Cave Bear blankets.

Recently, you might have seen a picture like this:

Bathsheba, slowly becoming more comfortable with the littlest Caterpillar.

Then, this morning, I set up the Boppy and changed GO's diaper and prepared to snuggle her down so we could sleep for an hour or so before her big brothers woke up.

And I found this:

Think she's jealous much?

~Lone Butterfly )i(

More Visitors

This afternoon, Hubby's roommate from college and his wife came by to visit on their way home to Alabama.

They are expecting a little girl of their own at the beginning of July (currently named "Blueberry") and Hubby's roommate showed he was a pro at handling a little Caterpillar.

I'm sure he'll take it on as quickly and as well as Hubby did and be a Professional-girl-Daddy in no time! AND we can't wait for B10, CW and GO to meet another girl "cousin"! :)

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Relaxing

After a long day of helping her big brother Caterpillars at their Blue and Gold Banquet, GO came home and had a relaxing bath.

She was so wide awake and in such a good mood! Hubby just had to take a video (Daddy REALLY likes this video/picture thing...)

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Blue and Gold Banquet

Tonight was the Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet, one of the highlights of the year for the Caterpillars.

Hubby and I had to go early in the morning to help set up the tables (we were expecting 100+ guests) - GO came with us in her little blue fleece outfit.

It amazes me how many people thought she was a boy - when to me it's obviously a girly outfit, even if it's blue...

The rest of the day was spent at Cookie's house, the Caterpillars discovered her DVD Season 1 of the Smurfs and enjoyed a full afternoon of playing outside and watching Brainy Smurf get blown up by Jokey Smurf.

Hubby and I returned to the church at 4 p.m. (Mum was bringing the Caterpillars in uniform at 5 p.m. - when the event officially began, along with the lasagna). We had to set programs on tables and take care of the last minute things. The theme of this year's event was "American ABC's".

Each of the Dens created centerpieces. CW's Tiger Den made sparkly Cub Scout ones for their tables.

B10's Bear Den made Americana Flowerpots (with growing patriotic words).

Tonight also served as the February Pack Meeting, so awards and advancements were handed out to all the Scouts.

Mum sat with B10, GO and I at our Bear Den table.

We let the Tigers sit together at one table, with the parents sitting close by.

It was a fun evening, we actually finished early and Mum took the Caterpillars home to spend the night with her (they were promised "Inspector Gadget" after they took their baths). Hubby and I brought GO home to give her a bath and catch up on this week's TV viewing.

Overall, it was a really special night as our oldest Scouts (the Webelos II) crossedover into Boy Scouting. Their families came out in full force to see this important night - all three boys earned their Arrow of Light Award (the highest award you can earn as a Cub Scout).

I'm still a little in shock at the thought of B10 being a Boy Scout 2 years from now...

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Tyson Chicken

Okay, rarely do I use my blog to promote a product - however I feel very strongly about the social responsibility shown by Tyson Chicken this past week.

For those of you who watch "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" on ABC, I'm sure you know exactly what I am talking about (Episode 176 - "King Family"). For those of you who don't, I'll recap quickly.

This season, the show has been redoing homes for "heroes", that term being applied in many different ways. I've seen shows with soldiers returning from overseas, one that featured a family who lost the father and oldest son (the son died trying to save the father from drowning - after saving his youngest sister) and various other "heroes".

This week's hero was a family who runs a daycare for needy families. They live below the poverty line, because they give so much back to the families they serve. They keep the children until late at night if necessary and feed the kids lunch (and dinner and breakfast), not to mention running a clothes closet for the families.

Early in the episode Tyson Chicken announced that they were giving the family free food for a year AND giving the daycare free food for a year. That alone impressed me, especially in these economic times. At the end of the show, however, came the kicker - Ty (the host) announced that not only was Tyson doing that - but they were ALSO giving EVERY FAMILY who had children at the daycare free food FOR A YEAR.

We are talking about 15-20 families, from what I could roughly count.

Now, I know that this was a business decision - and very likely came out of a marketing budget. But I tell you what, I'm much more likely to pay $.50-$1.00 more for Tyson chicken (over the other brand), because they did this - no commercial would have ever convinced me to do that.

So, when you're standing in the frozen food aisle or in the meat section and trying to decide what to purchase, I encourage you to buy Tyson's products. I've decided to only purchase Tyson's for the months of February-July, six months of loyalty (and likely more), even if it costs me a bit.

To begin with - yes, the chicken served during Thinking Day - all Tyson's!

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Thinking Day 2009

Every year we (Scouts) celebrate the birthday of Scouting. For Cub Scouts, this is called "Blue and Gold Banquet" and we'll be attending our Pack's banquet tomorrow night.

For Girl Scouts this is called "Thinking Day" and tonight was the Thinking Day celebration for my Daisy Girl Scouts. It was brand-new to me, as the Thinking Day celebrations in Germany were very different. Here, there was a food fair, where all the Troops got together (each representing a different country) and brought food. Then the girls walked around and sampled food from each country.

Our country was Madagascar (chosen by the girls - the movie was certainly a factor!) and our food was a delicious chicken dish and white rice.

Because our girls are so young (6 and 7 years old), we didn't let the cook anything. We did sample the food for them at the last meeting and they had to memorize the ingredients in the dish so they could talk about it - but Queen made the rice and I made the chicken.

Something fascinating that I learned is that in Madagascar there are actually 3 different groups of Girl Guides/Girl Scouts - divided by their religious leanings. You can be a Catholic Girl Guide, a Protestant Girl Scout, or a Non-Denominational Girl Scout. I think my favorite part was that if you were the age of my girls and a Protestant Girl Scout, you would be a "Little Wing". How adorable is that?

The absolute best part of the night? How well-behaved our girls were. There were older girls acting like total hoodlums, running around and pushing and cutting in line - our girls were so wonderful. They sat and watched the program politely, tried the food dishes, said please and thank you and stood at the table and talked about Madagascar (without being shy). I am so proud of them!

~Lone Butterfly )i(

More Visitors

Hubby's dad and stepmum came out tonight to meet GO and have dinner with the family. They weren't able to make it to the hospital and between work and sickness, this was their first opportunity.

I decided to make a huge pot of jambalaya, Cajun toast and fix a salad in honor of Mardi Gras next Tuesday. It seemed to be a big hit (the Caterpillars LOVE jambalaya - it's in their blood).

It was a quiet, early evening - but she loved being held. She was wide awake (that could have been because B10 and CW were wrestling in their room, so I don't think anyone could have slept) and even smiled a few times at her Grandpa!

We're so glad they were both able to come out and spend a bit of time with the whole family.

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Homeschool History Class - Take Two

Last month we tried to take a class ("Roots") at the local historic museum - the one that was canceled and led to this day.

This month, we were signed up already - so I tried again. I must admit...it was awesome.

The class was entitled "We the People" and was about the US Government. B10 and CW memorized the preamble to the Constitution (with hand motions).

There were also stove pipe hats and all sorts of crafts. They focused on the three branches and what each one did, even going as far as to choose laws they wanted passed - and then attempting to pass them (with each Caterpillar being a different branch of government).

Their teacher (Miss Alisha) was amazing! She was young and energetic - and thought they were just the cat's pajamas (a feeling that was quite mutual). We can't wait to see her again next month for "Trial by Jury". They'll actually get to argue a case in the old historic courtroom!

Yet another reason I love my county!

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Weight Check

We headed to the doctor's office today for a quick weight check. GO's gained a little weight - and is up to 6lbs 5oz!

She hasn't grown any in length, but I'm not sure we should hold out for her being a tall kid...I'm pretty sure she's going to be a tiny little girl!

After our appointment Hubby and I took the boy Caterpillars to Krystal's for their favorite dessert (Milkquakes!), before heading to Cookie's house. I had quite a few papers to grade, plus I needed to watch the last two LOST episodes in order to be caught up.



Doc had found a remote control light-switch kit for CW's birthday and they decided to work to put it together tonight.

Please keep praying for GO, her digestive system just isn't fully developed yet - she's having a hard time keeping milk down. (She's gaining weight and has plenty of wet diapers, so the doctor's not worried...but it's still disconcerning to have a baby throw up so much!)

~Lone Butterfly )i(