Daddy Day!!!!

If you are anything like me, you have a pile of your child's paintings laying around because you either can't bear to part with them or you just know you can use them in another craft someday.  For our Father's Day cards this year we used a few of those paintings!  These are really easy to make if you are looking for a last minute gift.  I just took a sheet of card stock, folded it in half and then cut a two inch slit in the middle of the top.  Fold down from the slit so that the card looks like it has a collar and then glue on a tie cut out of your child's painting.  

Write your message inside and you are good to go!

Eva's daddy definitely deserves a wonderful Father's Day.  He is just so full of love for her and spends so much time caring for and teaching her.  She is one very lucky little girl!  He even spent Friday night building a James engine for her to ride in at our neighborhood party today.  What a super dad!

Garden News

A while back I posted about the beginning of our garden for the year.  Since then, seeds have been sprouting and other veggies and herbs have been planted.

Our peas have shot up and have blooms.  We can't wait for the pods to appear.  Last year not many peas made it out of the garden.  Eva would pick them as soon as they appeared and eat them right in the yard!

The carrots have also been growing away and we should soon have a harvest.

Here are a few of the other plants we have growing in our kitchen garden:

Tomatoes- Roma and cherry with lemongrass and dill in the planter

Eggplant (with two little guys starting to grow!)

Zucchinis

Cucumbers

Peppers- jalapenos, poblanos, habaneros, cubanelles and cayennes

Lettuce

Parsley and cilantro

Basil and purple basil

Oregano and rosemary

Sage and marjoram

Kale

Butternut squash

Watermelon

Pumpkin

And for the first time, we are trying an upside down tomato plant.

Our roses are also blooming beautifully!

And my favorite flower- peonies!

What do you have growing in your garden?

Butterfly Garden

The Easter Bunny brought Eva a butterfly garden and a few weeks ago the mail order caterpillars arrived.  Eva watched as they grew, spun their chrysalises and finally emerged as butterflies.  It was absolutely fascinating.  Every morning, as soon as she woke up, Eva had to run to peek at her creatures and observe how they were changing.  We referenced the butterfly lifecycle chart she made earlier in the spring throughout the experience.

Yesterday we released the butterflies back into the wild. 

I cannot recommend the Butterfly Garden enough.  We will definitely be ordering another set of caterpillars!  This time around we just observed but next time I plan on making a log for Eva to record her observations- counting caterpillars, their sizes, when they spun their chrysalises, when they emerged as butterflies, etc.  The options are endless!