Who Cares About the Bug?!

Okay, so back when I posted about the caterpillar transformation several people were interested in knowing what kind of bug it was! And I tried to answer the question. I even posted my pictures on a bug identification blog (really). Well, NO ONE asked me about the spider! Remember this guy girl?!

The one Emily stuck her face next to?
Well, yesterday we peeked in on her and she had a HUGE egg sac!
I showed Emily and thought, "that's pretty cool, Emily might get to see all of the spiderlings!" The mama was pretty lethargic, seeming close to death, which intrigued me. I mean, we have all read Charlotte's Web but I was curious, do all spiders die after laying eggs? I looked it up and no, some are eaten by their spiderlings when hatched, and some live on. Regardless, I continued my research because I wanted to make sure that was indeed an egg sac. Well, when I googled "spider egg sac..." it offered the ending "with spikes." Interesting, that's just what I was going to type! I guess it IS an egg sac! Yes, an egg sac for a BROWN WIDOW SPIDER!!!!! AAAAHHHH!!! In truth, I had seen something orange and hourglass like, on the belly of the spider and even shared that picture on the blog...
But, the spider was brown, not black and the hourglass was orange, not red. I left it alone - ignored it. I didn't know there was such a spider as a brown widow. Now I did know and it was time to get her OUT of my yard! I grabbed a Ziploc bag, my gardening gloves, a bubble wand, my camera (OF COURSE), and said a little prayer that the egg sac would still be intact. Phew, it was! Both of them...

overnight our "near death" spider added a second sac! (potentially multiple thousands of babies)

I did not have an assistant to take pictures but the first thing I did was get mama out. A little hairy but not bad. Then, I went in for the two egg sacs. I said another prayer that they wouldn't rupture. I don't know how long the incubation period is on these things nor how long the first one has been there! Thankfully, they didn't tear and after just a couple minutes I had everyone in my bag.
Mama was kinda ticked off!
But I made her lay down to get a clear shot of her belly.
And now they are all double bagged and in the backyard.
Waiting. For what, I don't know.

So, I ask you all. Who cares about that silly little caterpillar/bug?! Unless... Nah. I don't think I better research that one. Surely the bug man from the ID blog will contact me if I should be worried.

4th of July II

We continued our weekend celebration of Independence Day on Sunday when we went over to Aunt Patty and Uncle Kevin's house for a BBQ. We all know Emily isn't a fan of BBQs for the food... she likes the pools that sometimes accompany them though! We weren't there 5 minutes before Emily and Mama were in the pool...

joined by Michelle and her son Ryan.
Ryan and Emily seem to have more fun together every time they meet.
Everett did not get in the pool, however. He was snuggled by Ryan's grandma, Diane, instead.
Which he thoroughly enjoyed.
(Here is the best shot I have of his July 4th outfit.)

As the party was winding down, Zack got out his guitar and was playing around on it for a while. Emily was REALLY happy to have live music and, of course, wanted to do nothing but dance! She asked Ryan to dance with her and after a bit... he agreed.

It was so cute!
A Happy 4th of July indeed!

Thanks for having us!!

The Dance

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

4th of July I

Last year we had just moved in when Emily watched the neighborhood 4th of July parade from the front door.

Not this year! This year she was excited to ride in the parade herself!
Daddy made a few changes to her bicycle to make it parade ready...
and then she and I set off for the starting point where these cars, motorcycle,
and a lot of people were gathering and waiting...

for our "leader," the fire truck, to arrive!

Once the fire truck was in the front, everyone got in their cars, on their bikes, and in their wagons and started parading!
Emily was pretty happy to stay close to the dad with the bubbles...
and really enjoyed being a part of the parade.
She especially liked waving at the neighbors along the route.
The parade ended up at our neighborhood park where even the parking lot was decorated...
and a lot of food and fun was arranged!
Before partaking in the party we came home to get Everett and Daddy.
Also, if you remember last year (when we were ill prepared for the type of activity there was at the park- aka water slide)...
you'll understand why we had to have a little wardrobe change as well.
Good thing too because this year they had kiddie pools! Emily was in heaven swimming with some of the other little ones.

After a time in the water Emily wanted to get a balloon from the balloon artist. And what an artist he was! The wait was long but it's no wonder... check out his masterpieces!

But, a long wait meant a lot of down time. Or, better yet, time to "down" popcorn by the fistfuls.
Finally, it was our turn and Emily stepped right up to place her order.



That's right folks, Ariel!
Then Ariel "swam" back over to the water area where Emily found a teenage girl to help her up the stairs so she could enjoy a ride (or ten) on the water slide!
It was really fun, but after a few hours it was time to head home.
(Apparently Ariel didn't like the sun in her eyes.)
But, instead of coming home with me and Everett right then, Emily and Daddy stopped off at the face painter.
There were so many beautiful types of "masks" to choose from...
but Emily was very clear when she ordered "the scary face."
I love it! Girlie Ariel balloon and scary green face - that's Emily!

Putting (colored) Pencil to Paper

Emily has never really shown a lot of interest in coloring. She usually tires of it quickly and doesn't select it as an activity very readily. Maybe she never will have much of an interest but I decided the other day that maybe we just needed to sit and work with a purpose instead of what we have done in the past. I started with having her copy me - drawing circles (she has always done a million circles, more like ongoing spirals, but never just one), and lines in all directions. I wasn't too surprised to see that she was perfectly capable of everything I asked. Then we talked about drawing a person. A stick person. I talked about a head, the "body," the arms and the legs. She brought up the eyes and the hair (and since then has added ears to her list of required body parts). I think she did a pretty great job for her first attempt ever.

After the success of the person we moved on to her name. She has seen it written a thousand times, can tell you how to spell it, can recognize it, and has made little attempts to write it before but this time I encouraged her to look at every letter, how I formed it, and to copy me. Again, I think she did a pretty great job.

And something tells me that she will be doing this more and more. Especially because she showed me (after she brought out some paints to use) that she can reach the art cubbies that were meant to be out of reach.

Oh well.