Cocoon

A couple posts ago, we told you few folks that still visit that we had captured a cocoon and were hoping for a more positive outcome that our last butterfly hatching. Well, lo and feakin' behold.

We didn't notice that the critter had emerged until it had already dropped down and moved over to a plastic bag on the counter. The kitchen looks the way it does because Becky decided to paint the walls.....again.

We moved it outside pretty quick. I figure that if the oil-based paint fumes were burning MY eyes, it must have been even more uncomfortable for a newborn who breathes through its skin.

Learned Child of Mine

Our oldest child joined the ranks of the publicly educated this week. She even rode the bus to school. I will now narrate her thoughts during her arrival back to the house on Thursday.

"I may seem small compared to the vehicle on which I traveled, but I will soon have the power to destroy objects many times that size with a single, focused thought."

"Hello, youngest sister. I'm back from a day of intellectual growth and socialization. I'm sorry you had to deal with Lucy all by yourself, but I think my absence will ultimately lead to a closer bond between the two of you."
"Hello, Lucy. I'm sorry you had to deal with that screaming baby all by yourself today. Don't worry. I'm home now and you and I can immediately start giggling about the cute boys in my class. Most of them look and smell like hemorrhoids."

"The square of the hypotenuse of any right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the two remaining sides."

Squash and Metamorphasis

We had to figure out what to do with the one, enormous pumpkin that ripened in our garden two months early. It's too early for jack-o-lanterns, so we decided to make pumpkin-bean-chicken soup and a jack-o-lantern. We're not really doing the creativity thing.
We found a cocoon clinging to the drive gate. I believe it's the same species as the one we captivated two years ago. Hopefully, we'll have a more positive outcome than the last time we tried it.

Craftiness

We got a package in the mail the other day from my sister, Allison. She has four children, who have been making crafts indoors because the weather in Austin has been almost as miserable as the weather in Kansas City. They had apparently run out of things to make for themselves so they turned their attention on our girls, since they're small and cute like dolls.

Nora was not outwardly happy, but she looked very frilly.

Sam is planning on wearing her outfit to school in a couple weeks. You can't see the shoes very well, but there are little cube-beads that say IAM on one shoe and SAM on the other.

Becky has also been crafty. She made this cake here. The stuff under Barbie's skirt was surprisingly tasty.

We've had a number of zucchini's picked too late. Jon had to figure out something to do with the behemoth squash.

Vualah. Lucy used ionized particles trapped in her hair to craft a portal onto a beach in 1923, where she instigated a fight between two wet women

Seen here:

And this is an obligatory baby falling asleep video. Mommy had just finished reading to her out of the Ensign.