Bathsheba: AKA The Girl Caterpillar

Way back in 1998, I was preparing for my first marriage at the (very) young age of almost-21. I had been living with my mother and stepdad far away, and was moving back to Mississippi to live in a three bedroom trailer in a tiny town.

The trailer was situated about 50 yards from the church where my then-fiance was a Youth Minister.

All I could think about was living so far from civilization, and missing the cats in my Mum's house. I found a sweet male white kitten, whom I named Zachariah, and packed him up to make the long drive to my new home. When I got to Mississippi, right before the wedding, I went to a small vets office and inside they had a kitten.

She had been born with 4 other kittens and within 24 hours of her birth her mother, and all of her littermates, died. She was but 3 weeks old, a tiny thing, and I just had to scoop her up and bring her home with me to our tiny trailer.

I named her Bathsheba, my itty-bitty baby girl. She quickly learned to sleep under my chin, or curled up at my breastbone under my covers. She's been with me through nine moves, three pregnancies, two sons, two weddings, one divorce, and a multitude of job changes.

She's over 16 pounds at this point, but still tries to curl up on my chest, or hide under the covers with her fuzzy head on my pillow next to my own.

She's an indoor cat, who sneaks out when the door is left open (and then brings fleas back in!) so we have to watch her carefully.

Bathsheba is the most loyal animal I've ever seen. She truly knows I am her Mummy, and will quickly let you know she is as human as any daughter in the world.

She's my delight. She's heard more of my cries and her fur has soaked up more tears than my pillows.

I worry about how much longer she has, but then remember that 10 is young for an indoor cat. I've years to spend with my oldest child.

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Happy Birthday to COOKIE!

What to do on a Cookie's Birthday?

Why take all the grand-critters to the library!

Cookie and I drove B10 and CW to meet BooSheep and Little Sheep at one of our smaller County Libraries. As soon as we got there, B10 and CW did a good job of returning our books before we went inside to get more.

The boys had a blast all morning. They loved playing on the computers.

Little Sheep was enthralled with "Mel-Mo" on the computer screen. (You know - Mel-Mo - the Happy Red Monster on Sesame Street?)

They each were allowed to pick out books to check out.

Little Sheep enjoyed reading his books while we were still in the library.

See the blue bags on the shelf behind BooSheep? Those are these awesome bags that are labeled by topic. You check out the entire bag, and it's full of books, puppets, stamps, and sheets with songs to sing about the topic. It's a really cool thing for little kids, because you can have a great "at home preschool" with bags such as "Silly", "Family", "Community Helpers", "Picnics", "Spring", etc.

Happy BooSheep and Little Sheep!

Happy Birthday, Cookie! We LOVE you!

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Losing My Oasis

The first of our two yearly major fundraisers took place this weekend. It was a good evening, we broke all sorts of records in income, and the event went very smoothly overall.

Edelweiss and I spent all day Saturday working - minus our lunch break (this was the comfortable portion of the day).

The decor was beautiful this year. We were worried about rain, but luck held out and the showers never fell, at least not after the Terrace was set up with the tables and bars.

Hubby, BooSheep, and Hubby Sheep all came to the work party. I enjoy when I can share parts of my work with my family. Plus, it makes the work event more fun!

Of course, by the end of the evening, Edelweiss and I were quickly ripping off our shoes and working barefoot! (Can you see her cute nail polish?)

Overall, I'm glad the event did well and I am GLAD it is OVER!

~Lone Butterfly )i(

(What about the Kiddos? Why, the Caterpillars and Little Sheep had their own party at Cookie's House!)

Do You Get It?

Actual conversation held at 3:28 am, this morning, with my oldest heart, B10:

"Mummy, why are you eating a caveman?"

"What?" (I ask with bleary eyes and a scratchy voice)

"Why are you eating a caveman? You know, that caveman salad."

"Um, he tastes good?"

"Okay."

I talk in my sleep, so I'm not surprised my 8-year old does also. But the subject matter was a bit off-putting...

~Lone Butterfly )i(

A Special Day

Last night Hubby and I took the Caterpillars out to have dinner with BooSheep and Little Sheep. Hubby came home to sleep, while we spent the night and had a great evening.

I've been quite surprised at the overwhelming interest CW has been showing in The Food Network lately. He's certianly always watched the channel - Alton Brown's Good Eats and Unwrapped with Marc Summers have been hits in our house for years. But he's moved on to enjoying and asking to watch shows such as Iron Chef America and Ace of Cakes.

The Caterpillars went to sleep well (B10 was allowed to sleep with me in the guest bedroom, CW slept on the big sofa) and the next morning woke up and had a delicious breakfast that BooSheep cooked of waffles and bananas with Little Sheep. They started on their schoolwork, while BooSheep and I talked to Cookie on the phone.

We decided with the 90+ degree heat we needed an indoor activity - so we loaded up the truck and met Cookie at the mall. The Caterpillars worked hard on their schoolwork the whole way there - Little Sheep supervised.

~

The intention was to sneak in the bathing suits and let the kids play in the fountain - but the county won't let them turn the water on yet, because of the "drought".


Doesn't seem to stop the county from turning on their pools and water parks and charging to play there!


We did enjoy the indoor toddler playarea, where Little Sheep played and CW took pictures.




His favorite photo was this artistic capture of the foam pig hiney. ;)



Lunch was at the food court, which was good in that everyone was able to eat what they wanted, but bad in that it meant CW was almost finished with his meal before I sat down with mine.

~

So, then Cookie and I head out with the Caterpillars, with BooSheep heads home with Little Sheep for naptime. We were aiming to get to JoAnn's Fabrics, because they owed me a classtime for the Caterpillars to make their second pillowcases. Michele (who is in charge of education - and just a doll) actually canceled an empty class early for them, and scheduled their pillowcase class in it's place next Saturday at 10 am.


(As a side note - after they finish this second pillowcase class, their teacher Ms. Marianne, said they will be ready to take the Jammy Pant class and make their own pajamma pants!)


On our way home, Cookie offers us drinks from Sonic. I am not a huge Sonic fan, but I love Cherry Limeades (and the Caterpillars love Sonic in general), so we pulled into the little spot, turned off the car, and ordered our drinks. Cookie paid with her debit card in the little "do-it-yourself" slot, and the sweet little high school boy on rollerblades came out less than 4 minutes later with our drinks.


Less than 5 minutes has passed at this point from when we pulled into Sonic. Yet, when Cookie tried to turn the key to start the car....nothing happened. Nada. Zilch. Zero.


The battery had died for no apparent reason.


And it was going to take AAA an hour and a half to get to us and jump the car.


On a whim, I remembered there was an old shopping center across the street that I thought had one of those new-fangled indoor jumping zones. Sure enough, Bounce-A-Rama was open, and though it cost me $7 per boy to go in - they had 6 bouncey attractions to run around on and we weren't stuck in a hot car waiting for a guy in a tow truck to appear.




Needless to say, when we arrived back at Cookie's, everyone needed to take a rest.


It was a busy, good day - even with the small car trouble. It was not as productive of a day as I had hoped to have this week, but at least I managed to make a home cooked dinner and get the Caterpillers bathed early enough for us to watch American Gladiators as a family.


Oh, how I wish that I had more time at home to take care of all the things I need to do. Sometimes I just feel like a lousy mum, but I try to remember that when my Caterpillars grow up, what they'll remember is the excitement of surprise bouncing, rather than the pile of unfolded clothes in our guest bedroom.


~Lone Butterfly )i(

Meanwhile...The Other Caterpillar is Having Fun!

While CW and I were having our Date Night, B10 and Hubby were in the middle of Cub Scout Fun with Son Camp.

They seemed to have a wonderful time, the highlight according to Hubby being that they met up with two other boys and their parents, and all stayed together whilst at camp.

There were reptiles, leathercrafts, campfires, BB's, Archery, and a host of other activites. B10 said his favorite thing to do was hunt for frogs during free time.

Hubby said his favorite time was after the church service, when he and B10 took a walk around the lake, just the two of them.

I think it was a great time for the two of them of spend together, without a younger brother asking for attention or a Mum being "Mummish". I can't wait for CW to get the same chance.

~Lone Butterfly )i(

(Special thanks to one of the other parents for sharing these pictures from the weekend!)

Date Night

I'm way behind in posting - so I'll start with tonight and work my way backwards.

B10 and Hubby left this morning for Father/Son Cub Scout Camping. This gave CW and I an overnight to spend together having a special time.

CW had a wonderful day with Cookie and Doc, going to The Home Depot for their monthly woodworking project (June was a Catamaran Boat). Then he was allowed to choose lunch at McDonald's, watching Star Wars, and taking a great nap until I arrived to pick him up at 5:45 p.m. We came home to get all dressed up for our special evening.

~

My delightful date chose for us to have dinner at Burger King - where he asked for a grown up meal with a grown up cup (he very much wanted to play the Indian Jones peel and scratch game). He ended up winning a Whopper, Jr. and was rather proud of himself.

~

Then we headed to the movie theatre for Opening Weekend of Kung Fu Panda. I loved it, but then I loved Madagascar. Very similar animation, and the same sort of sense of humor. In fact, one of the highlights for me was the trailer for Madagascar 2: Back 2 Africa. (HIL-LARRY-US!)

When we got home, he took a quick bath, before pulling his blanket, pillow, and stuffed animals into my bed. He requested Food Network (Alton's on), and now he's practicing tying knots. We'll head to bed in a bit, to be well rested for church tomorrow. Depending on how B10 feels when he returns home, we might even spend the night at BooSheep's house tomorrow.

~

I really love having this special time with my youngest heart. My favorite part is that in two weeks, CW will go to Father/Son Cub Scout Camping, and B10 and I will be able to have this same special time. I am so thankful both Hubby and I are able to build these relationships with our sons so early in their lives.

~

I loved talking with CW about what he would do when he's old enough to date. He ordered his own food at Burger King, and even handled purchasing our movie tickets all by himself. I take my responsiblity to teach him these things very seriously. For his sake, and the sakes of his future girlfriends! I hope your weekends have been just as exciting.

~

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Just so You Don't Get the Wrong Idea -

I would hate to misrepresent my job. Sure, at first glance it seems fun and exciting. Donor events, cocktail parties, movie previews/premieres, lunches, breakfasts, Black-tie events.

Something tells me this wasn't what you were thinking when I said "Black-Tie Events"...

Because I am cautious about the information I put out on the internet, I'm not going to tell you where I work. If you can figure it out from the pictures, then you live in (or near) a certain city - because it's not the obvious answer.

Yes, I dressed up like a Penguin (with 10 co-workers) and paraded up and down the streets of my city for my job. I won't lie - it was hot, but I had a blast.

Here we are stopping at a local resturant for some lemonade to refresh ourselves.

It made for a nice break in the normal workweek, and was something different in what is one of our busiest months.

Ever been dressed silly for your job?

~Lone Butterfly )i(

RenFest 2008

It's the Renaissance Festival! This is Hubby's first trip ever, and we had so much fun. We took the Caterpillars today after church, and met BooSheep and Hubby Sheep out there. This was Hubby's first time, the rest of us are old pros (mostly at eating). As soon as we arrived it was time to chow down - fried dill pickles, fresh roasted corn ears, shaved ice, turkey legs (for some) and lots of bottles of water.


I've often said my children should be placed in stocks...

Mona B10 - the portrait.

Each of the boys got a sword, which we were bringing home to paint (it's 1/2 the price to get the plain wooden swords). B10 promptly got home and whacked his against the evil tree in our front yard and broke off a piece. So we'll be sanding that before we paint it next weekend.

Many of the little shoppes (there are over 150 vendors) had water features to "bring you in". B10 was fascinated by this one, in a shoppe that sold metal garden fixtures.

This is the cool frog that B10 found and asked for a picture of. Can you see him trying to get on the lily pad in the middle?

Here we are waiting to watch the first show. My shoulders are still pale - they will be fire engine red before we leave, along with my back. You'll notice B10 has a nice blue mouth, he shared a Blue Raspberry Shaved Ice with Hubby and me. CW paid for a Strawberry one, so he didn't have to share.

BooSheep and HubbySheep didn't bring Little Sheep - he stayed at home with Cookie. He would have been so hot and sad! :( He's not a fan of heat, much like his Mama.

We only watched one preforming group - but we saw both of their shows. The Barely Balanced Acrobats had their regular show, then at the end of the day they did a "Flaming" show with Fire. The Caterpillars loved the jokes and the really cool moves that the guys in the show did. This is CW with Cameron (otherwise known as "Medium").

This is B10 with "Small" - or Casey. She's amazing! I think she impressed me more than the guys, just because she spent plenty of time on the bottom of the stunts, even though she was much smaller. She's an incredibly strong gymnast/acrobat.

Here is just one of their stunts. I will be uploading random pictures from their Fire Show shortly.

We had such a great time. Hubby is already talking about coming back next year. I'm just so glad that we were able to make it out before it closed. Now, if I could just remember to wear enough sunscreen.

~Lone Butterfly )i(