Befitting

My oldest gal needed a special dress for the Christmas play. I had waited way too long to begin looking. The dress needed to be a flashy number to properly attire the diva-like character that Meg was set to portray. As I looked and looked and as the play's director looked and looked, a problem surfaced. It was a problem that has been presenting itself frequently as my family and I shop for clothes befitting young ladies.

Befitting clothes--ha!

Befitting clothes--good luck with THAT!

Befitting--I must be dreaming!

My Man and I spent a bit of time at the mall on our own the other day seeking this flashy dress for our gal.
It. Was. Depressing.

We sought flashy and fun and colorful, we found fleshy and revealing and suggestive. After a long search, we gave up and returned home sequin-less with no flash and no dress and with little hope in the future of the whole befitting concept!

What gives?

Who is buying these clothes for their little girls? How are there entire stores full of clothing that barely covers a human body turning a profit? It must be because they are spending so little money on actual fabric. I have purchased potatoes in more covering material than in what clothing marketers feel I should dress my daughters.

Again I pondered the target audience for this line of clothing as we went from store to store until, while moving hangers from right to left and right to left in yet another store, I heard a female voice say to a young teenaged girl, "Oh yeah. That's HOT! THAT's the one you're getting!"

Hmmmmmmm, thought I, must be her hip-trendy aunt taking her shopping, surely her mom is coming around the corner in a minute with a bag full of common sense in hand to step in and fix the situation. 

The next word I heard broke my heart.

"Mooooommmmmmmm," she said, exasperated and rolling her eyes, she took the swatch dress and headed into the fitting room. I continued my search for something with both snazz and material. The young girl came out of the fitting room and with her back to me, faced her mom AND a man whom I assumed was her father. The mom flitted and fussed over there almost-dressed daughter and the dad remained SILENT.

When we left the store, my girls' dad was not silent, saying something along the lines of, "In a few years that mom is going to wonder what when wrong and when it happened..." I had been thinking similar thoughts, completely flabbergasted at what we'd just witnessed.

My next thought was that perhaps we might find, somewhere on this planet, a flannel turtleneck covered with sequins with a matching prairie skirt? Or even something like these...

Then I began to wonder what kind of clothing options Kate and Molly will be faced with as they stand on the threshold of their teenage years? The optimist in me hopes for a trend that swings back in the direction of more material and less flesh. The realist in me thinks that perhaps Kate has the right plan...

 I think we can put this in the category "If you want something done right..."

Butterfly, Butterfly

They arrived in mid-August, a surprise to my girl who'd just begun to add an interest in bugs and such to her already lengthy list of topics. 

We opened the box, saw the five caterpillars and their food inside the plastic jar. We introduced ourselves, and after a few days, we discovered that our caterpillars weren't very good housekeepers.  They were, however, very good at following directions. Within the specified number of days, three of our new friends climbed to the top of the container, attached themselves to the tissue paper at the top, and formed the letter J with their bodies. 

The other two caterpillars were a little slower to the job...

...so we waited.

Finally two days later #4 #5 climbed to the top. After hanging for around 24 hours, the caterpillars began to form their chrysalids (what we commonly refer to as cocoons).

As each caterpillar formed its chrysalis, our excitement grew. So we watched...

...and we watched some more.

Finally, all five caterpillars had made it into their next phase in the cycle. All were in their chrysalids. Next, it was up to us to move them to their new home.

Behold the "Butterfly Garden" future home to our butterflies.

Now all we had to do was detach the tissue disk from the top of the plastic jar that had been serving as home for the caterpillars 

and attach it to the netting of the butterfly hut. 

No sudden movements!

Mission accomplished.

 It was time to wait 7-10 days for the butterflies to emerge.

Seven or eight days later, we awoke to find...

one empty chrasalis and one which had fallen to the bottom.

After closer look we found our first butterfly. 

We were all a bit bummed that we'd missed his exit from the chrysalis, but we were still confident about our chances of seeing the other four come forth.

Later that same day, another of the chrysalids began twitching and shaking. We were convinced that this was the moment, so we FaceTime-d our cousins' classroom and invited them to watch with us...

They watched and...

we watched...and

...nothing...

until the next day when, while six Wrights were in the kitchen eating breakfast, two more butterflies joined us...UNNOTICED!!!

During the next few days, the remaining butterflies emerged from their old homes into the new one, each with out being seen by anyone. Sigh.

Painted Lady butterflies live for 2-4 weeks after exiting their chrysalids. Ours lived long, laid eggs, and then one by one completed their cycles. 

Happily, our super-sentimental bug-crazy gal was off galavanting at her Grandma's during the final demise of her Painted Ladies.  

Additional Information: I ordered the butterflies from a company called Insect Lore and was pleased with the service, the product and the instructions provided. Their website insectlore.com is an excellent resource for information and all SORTS of bug related gear.

During the lifetime of the Painted Lady butterflies, we read lots of books about these amazing insects. Below is a list, linked to Amazon.com of some of our favorites.

Butterflies and Caterpillars

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

and our favorite, 

Waiting for Wings

We also colored some butterfly coloring pages which can be found here.

Some fun Painted Lady facts from the Insect Lore website:

~Her scientific name is "Vanessa Cardui L."

~She can lay up to 500 eggs.

~She may travel 1,000 miles in her lifetime.

~She tastes with her feet.

~She has 10,000 eyes.

~She breathes through her abdomen

AND now you know!!

Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life.  And everyone deserves a little sunshine.  

~Jeffrey Glassberg

Happy Labor Day

Today...may you find rest from your labor.

(This blurry pre-coffee picture is what we awoke to find in the chair beside of our bed a few mornings ago. Kate was upside-down and sound asleep and had kicked the top chair cushion back sometime during her slumber!)

"Come to ME, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." ~Matthew 11:28

Bathing...er...Rolling Beauty

What's a girl to do when she's done all she can do in Grandma's pool but she's not AT ALL finished stylin' in her new bathing suit?

She begins training for the Roller Derby...

of course!!

(She probably should have stopped before trying to conquer the ramps!)

Oh Kate!!

Close to You

We were closing down a full day of vacation fun with a snack at one of our favorite hang-outs. Some of us were sagging, some of us were sunburnt, and some of us were just plain starving. Plopping down on picnic-table-style benches, the six of us were comfortably arranged...or so I thought.

"Doesn't anyone want to sit by me?" a weary voice queried.

"Hey, look you and Cole got seats by yourselves, you two are big time," I said...too tired lazy to engineer a seating change and hoping to make her less lonely with mere words.

Then a much deeper voice said, "Of course I want to sit by you!"

And with one little scoot...

...all was right in her world.