Drum Roll Please....

Set off the fireworks, light the sparkler, pour your beer, blow your noise-maker, pull out your best dance moves, bust out the champagne.  Whatever you do to celebrate---do that, cause Kevin graduated with his MBA!  Over 2 years of papers, journals, projects, books, and presentations have ceased.  Hallelujah!  Do I hear an Amen?  Seriously, I'm excited.

Musing about the past 2+ years and why I'm glad it has ended:

1) No more kids-by-myself from sun-up to sun-down.  This is okay on a once-in-awhile basis.  But, days and weeks on end get old.  It gets downright lonely.  It gets downright exhausting.
2) No more group meetings on Sunday afternoons and evenings.  I would get home from church, and Kevin would leave for the weekly 'group meeting.'  Blah.
3) No more Saturday mornings where I pretend to Benny that Daddy is not home.  (But, really Daddy is in the basement doing school work.)

Things I'm looking forward to:

1) Family dinners!
2) Family fun!
3) Going grocery shopping by myself.  Both of the kids are super-good at the store.  But, loading both of them into the car, putting Benny in the cart, putting Claire in my Infantino carrier, getting all the items, putting items and children in the car, putting items and children in the house---and all before the ice cream melts.  Its a workout!  And, if you are lucky, you get out the door early enough in the morning so that Claire doesn't fall asleep in the car and mess up the nap schedule.

We had a celebration dinner about a week ago.  Our good friend David from New York was even able to make it.  Benny crafted Daddy a diploma, complete with pictures of race cars.  Yes, University.  You can keep your fancy piece of paper.  Benny's is better :)

This past weekend was Labor Day weekend.  Kevin didn't have to work at his job.  Kevin didn't have to do school work.  And I took Sunday morning off from church.  We went on bike rides, went to a birthday party, got some projects done around the house, and went to a fair.  Surreal.

Metamorphasis, It is Amazing!

Several weeks ago a dear friend's mother passed away.  Kevin and I had only met her a few times, but she seemed like quite a lovely person.  I didn't know before her passing, but she was a great lover of nature and monarch butterflies.  (Now it makes perfect sense that she gave Benny and Claire the book "The Lorax" and this neat ladybug that shines stars and the moon in the dark.)  Each year, she liked to order caterpillars and watch them become butterflies.  Turns out she ordered the caterpillars before her passing.  Our friend was kind enough to give Benny a few caterpillars and a few milkweed plants to plant in our backyard.

3 very hungry caterpillars munching on their milkweed...

Benny the butterfly farmer

When the caterpillars are reading to make their chrysalis, they hang upside down in this "J" shape

Making its chrysalis

The chrysalis stayed green until day 10.  Then, it became a purplish/black color.

A butterfly emerges!  This happens fast.  I was keeping a close eye on it all morning.  I went to put Claire down for her nap.  When I came back downstairs, we had a butterfly!

Getting ready to release our butterfly a day later.

Beautiful.

So sweet.

We had so much fun watching our caterpillar turn into a butterfly.  Benny already loves the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" so he was thrilled to feed our caterpillars new leaves everyday.  The transformation from egg, to caterpillar, to butterfly really is amazing.  A testament to the beauty of God's creation and the intricacy in which He made all things.

For the beauty of the earth

For the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.