Sneak Peek

I'm sorry I checked out for a few days, but it was for good reason. I mentioned several posts back that I had some big news to share [and no, I'm not pregnant with twins]. For the last six weeks we've been preparing like mad  to get our house ready for something exciting, and Saturday was the big day. I'll share the rest sometime this week, but until then, here's a little peek of what went down.

xo

nessa dee

Elmo the Butterfly

Success! I can't tell you how proud I am of this beautiful butterfly. I was so afraid something would happen to him before he made his appearance [i.e. we'd kill him.] But, no! We have achieved what millions of others before have achieved; we have raised a butterfly from it's larvae state.

Is he not the most beautiful butterfly you've ever seen? [Maybe I'm just a bit partial.]

We had a bit of a set back when we let him go. He had been in his bugbox all day and hadn't tested out his wings. We placed him on a plant that butterflies love, and checked on him periodically, but he was not budging. With thunderstorms in our forecast that night, we put Operation Butterfly Transfer in effect. We moved Elmo to our front porch, placed him on a potted plant, and hoped. The next morning, fearing the worst, Jonathan went to check on our baby. To our surprise, he was still alive, but seemed weak. The kids and I researched what we could feed Mr. Elmo, and fruit juice was on the menu. We tried to coax him onto our delectable cuisine, but he seemed irritated and tried to flutter off without success. We had to leave him for a while, and when we came back, we found him drinking away. After our second trip to town, he was gone...out on his own in the big wide world. I was so relieved and proud and sad and happy. [Is this what it's like sending your kids to college?]

Now that we're old hands at raising caterpillars, we've taken on another. Since finding Mr. Grover last Thursday, he has tripled in size, and is eating through as many leaves as we can provide.

We just hope Mr. Grover can thrive as well as his older brother.

As for the cocoon that is my growing belly, I just had a sonogram showing that this little Mr. is already weighing in at three and a half pounds.  He is above average, hence the extra large belly. I was hoping this would push my due date up a bit, but those doctors won't give a pregnant lady a break, or at least false hope! I got some new pics of my baby, though, and I can't help but smile each time I look at them [which  has been about a hundred times today.] I can't wait to meet this big boy, even if it means waiting a bit longer.

xo

nessa dee

Hello, Monday!

Today...

:: I'm enjoying my Mother's Day flowers from my dad. Tulips are my favorite!

I'm also enjoying my new camera from Jonathan, although, there's something wrong with auto focus, but I'm sure it's just me. I'm using the manual mode until I can take the class on how to use this fancy thing. Me + technology = disaster.

:: We are raising our second caterpillar. This is Grover. He was found the day Elmo came out of his cocoon. [I'll post about that tomorrow]

:: I've got newly painted cabinets and shiny hardware to match!

:: I started this last night. My neck and shoulders aren't happy with me this morning.

Jonathan says it looks like the Space Invaders video game, and I have to agree, which means that we love it!

:: I finished the alphabet. Now to figure out a way to hang everything without turning the wall into Swiss cheese.

:: I also finished the robot. I managed to hang this one all by myself.

Happy Monday!

xo

nessa dee

Happy Mother's Day...

to all the moms in my life.

My mother's day is going to be spent trying to locate my feet.

Oh, there they are!

They look so small and far away. My doctor just told me that I'm measuring large for my due date. I just don't see it.

I hope all the mom's have a wonderful day!

xo

nessa dee

Night Stories

I went to tuck my kids in bed the other night and found them busy at work. Finn was narrating a story and Audrie was quickly writing everything down. The funny thing was that despite our having modern conveniences like electricity, they chose to do this by flashlight.

It sure was a cute scene. The story, however, was filled with a lot of gross little boy humor, so I'll spare you.

xo

nessa dee

Hello, Monday!

Today...

:: I carried my new and improved chair back into my studio, and realized how poorly a job I did painting the thing. Three coats, and I gave up. This paint did not cover that well, but we'll just say it's antiqued and leave it at that.

:: I'm working on a little project for the baby's room. Yes, I know I'm missing an H.

::Look what I snagged at some garage sales this weekend. My globe collection has finally increased to more than one.

:: The baby's quilt is finished! So far, Audrie, both of the baby's grandma's, and one great-grandmother have had a hand in making this quilt. How special is that? Now, if I add a few stitches, I can say I helped as well. :)

Happy Monday!

xo

nessa dee

Crafty Friday: The Box House

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted. I woke up this morning with a cold, and didn't feel like doing much of anything today, but I finally made myself get out of bed and get to work. Hopefully this craft will be worth the wait.

To be honest, I'd been telling my children that we were going to build a box house for months now, and I had them gathering boxes all that time. What it amounted to was a big box trash pile in our game room for that time. We had so many boxes and it looked so bad that I started throwing things away thinking we would never get to this project. I'm glad we didn't give up on it, though because I love what it has become.

Here's what you need:

-a ton of boxes, all difefrent shapes and sizes
-a hot glue gun
-packing tape
-scissors
-markers

Extra embellishments we used:
-straws
-moss
-pipe cleaners
-construction paper
-fabric/felt
-string
-golf tees
-styrofoam balls
-old jewelry

We started by cutting out windows and doors in some of our boxes, and drawing windows and doors on other ones.

Then we did a "dry fit" so to speak, stacking and arranging boxes. You need to have a few bigger boxes at the bottom to give the structure a sturdy foundation. We used a combination of packing tape and hot glue to attach the pieces together.

Then, it was an "arrange as you" go format to figure out the layout as we built up, making sure that we added any text, or drawings onto the boxes before we glued them to the structure. Finally, we added all kinds of embellishments including trees made out of styrofoam balls, golf tees, and moss, balconies out of cardboard, a clothes line in the alley, a mail box, a trash can, stairs, window boxes pieces of jewelry used as signs or garden stones, and a flag pole and lamp post out of straws. 

[Wasn't it sweet that my daughter put my business at the top of the structure. It was all her idea...I promise!]

We had more fun figuring out all of the tiny details, and that's the other reason I'm posting this so late. As I'm typing this, Audrie is still working on embellishments. I don't know if we are ever going to quit. Who knows, by the time this baby's born, our whole game room might consist of a box world with it's own government, indoor plumbing, electricity. That reminds me...where did I pack the Christmas lights?

Happy crafting!

xo

nessa dee