For Kacey's birthday, she got a butterfly kit. She sent away for the caterpillars and they grew into butterflies!!! We've had them for a few days and Kacey wanted to release them, so this morning we went out into the yard and she got to open up the habitat. None of them flew out!!!! So after a few minutes, Kacey put her finger in and got one to walk on her finger then she carefully took it out and put her finger next to a rose and let it walk off. She could not have been happier!!!! She got all 4 out (there were 5 caterpillars but one only made it half way out of it's cocoon. It was very sad :(





Only 3 in the pic because one flew away!

Long but cute video of the release. At the very end is a bonus of David counting the butterflies. I have actually heard him count to 6!!

My mom had Kacey over the other night and was trying to think of something to do. She remembered playing clock solitaire with her grandmother so she taught Kacey! Kacey really liked it and picked it up pretty quickly.
My mom got to take Friday off work so we went to the Aquarium. Lucky kids, Nana bought them ice cream!







Kacey took these pics of the turtle. We might have to get her her own camera!


The other night Kacey woke up coughing and just couldn't stop. I got her some honey and that helped but then we were both wide awake. She liked sitting up with me as we each read a book for a bit to get sleepy again.
Driving home one afternoon, Kacey asked where we were going, when I said home she said she didn't want to and asked very nicely if we could get ice cream instead. I had no good reason to say no and we were right next to a McDonalds with a play area. So off we went! I figure being a stay at home mom has to have some perks!!


Last week Kacey went on her very first field trip with school. I asked if I could go and they said they had enough adults going so I let my baby go by herself! Oh my! What a big step!!! David and I stuck around to see them safely off to the La Brea Tar Pits. When they got home, Kacey kept talking about how you get stuck in tar if you step in it! She learned something. :)
Striking a pose with best friends Julia and Lilli before going on the field trip.
Kacey knitting all by herself.
After getting Kacey out of the bath, I was letting the water out and dealing with getting Kacey dressed. I heard splashing and went to investigate!!! David had climbed into the very shallow water and managed to get himself soaked!!!! Little nut!
Last weekend we went to a sidewalk chalk festival. Kacey loved it!
She sat and watched this woman for at least 20 minutes, asking her all sorts of questions.

At dinner David showed off his squinty face, seems to be his favorite expression right now.
and then a big smile!
Kacey and her face painting, it's all about the butterflies!

More ice cream with Nana and GG!!!!

Yesterday morning, while I was still in bed, I heard Kacey and David arguing. I thought how sweet, she let him out of his room. So after I got up I commented about it to her. She said she didn't let him out. Uh-oh. He figured out how to open the door himself.

I was worried about bedtime last night but it went fine and this morning he knocked. On his door for me to open it so I thought him opening it was a fluke.

Well it was no fluke. Kacey wasn't feeling well so she was asleep in my room in 3 minutes. David played around in his room for a while after being put to bed at 7. Around 8 he started opening the door.

The first time I led him back to bed and told him night night, tucked him in and left. The second time I just put him back in bed. Then the third, the fourth, the fifth, until I lost count. He started crying and saying "mommy, rock!" wanting me to rock him in the rocking chair. It was a bit heartbreaking but I knew if I gave in it would never end.

Some funny times were when he would crawl out, maybe thought he was hiding? When he went to the fridge. When he asked for kacey. Oh silly boy, he was trying everything.

Finally at 9 he gave in and fell asleep. I really hope he learned that getting up is no fun.

She's learning something, right?

 Today David and I were on our own as Kacey was with Nana. So I took him to Descanso Gardens and let him lead the way.

I just finished a book called Simplicity Parenting. It's very good and I highly recommend it. It's all about making everything simpler and less cluttered. The obvious first chapter is about getting rid of toys and clutter around the house. The thinking goes that too much chaos makes the kids crazy and with less around them, they can be calmer, learn more, focus more, etc. I absolutely agree with all this and at Christmas we had to move a bunch of the living room toys out to the garage to make room for the tree. When it was over, only a small percentage of the toys came back into the house. After reading the book I got rid of a bunch more toys. So since last Novemberish I think I have purged about 60% of their stuff. none of it has been missed!

The book also recommended limiting their books. What?!?!?! I always thought you could never have too may books, more books help encourage a love of reading. I guess I'm not the only one who thinks this as the book addressed that thinking exactly. Most kids read the same few books over and over. So if they have a bergillion books, they aren't reading them anyways. It suggested that if you can't get rid of books, put them away in a box and make that box like a library. Exchange a few books every weeks or so. Love the idea!!!!

So today, I cleared toys out of the top three shelves in Kacey's shelving and thinned out her books. All of her books were originally in the second row of shelves lined up and you could only see the spines. She rarely, if ever, pulled books out. Here is what it looks like now after I cleaned it out.

David's shelving has one cube of books with just spines showing and then books line up on the top with just spines. All the rest of the cubes had toys. All the toys from David's and Kacey's shelves got either moved or put in the garage to be given away or sold. David just doesn't need many toys. He has his train setup on the coffee table and that is all he ever plays with!!! So all of his shelves are now books.

I filled a huge bag of books to give to Kacey's school and then put the rest in 2 bins, one for each kid. David already liked the idea!

So the whole point of this is to make books more important than toys and try to encourage the kids to read more. Kacey is at Nana's house tonight so she hasn't seen it. David did and was already pulling some books down. We even read 2 new books at bedtime instead of the same ones we have been reading for the past week.

I don't know about the standing book idea though, after I put David to bed I watched him on the monitor. He went over to his selves and stacked all the books on the top shelf. Haha!

For her birthday, Kacey got a butterfly kit. We sent away for the caterpillars and she was so excited to get them! She even made a straw contraption to put in their house for them to climb on. She was most looking forward to having them crawl on her. Much disappointment when they arrived and the instructions said they had to stay in their jar for a week. :( She and Lilli and Julia had fun watching them in the jar though!


They are very much her pets now, she even created a responsibility chart for them.


In continuing the theme, we went to the Natural Science Museum which has a butterfly pavilion. David did not want to hold them, but was very much enjoying watching them!
This one David kept saying was sleeping (Night, night butterfly!)
Amazement all around him.
Kacey on the other hand, tried to get every single butterfly to land on her!
Then she became a butterfly in the attached store!
David didn't want to be left out!
He really thought it was a treat to sit on this turtle!
Looking through the jaws of a dino! Rawr!!
Feeding the dino it's own toe.
David isn't the only one who liked the turtle!
They were putting on a stage show with 2 cat puppets, a little one and a momma. Both kids sat up front (well David is standing with Kacey sitting next to him)
David then decided wandering was more fun. He eventually made it to my lap where he spent the rest of the show.
Kacey stayed up front, see her in the red and white with braids?
Big, scary, realistic cat! Mom watched Kacey get up and move two kids back, then she moved a couple more, eventually she was just walking backwards and slowly making her way out of the theatre! She said it was scary but still wanted to watch!