Our Life On The Hill

Summer in....March?

 

 

 

It's been so warm here this week.  I'm not complaining, although the low 80s with some humidity is a bit much to start out with for me.   We've been enjoying staying outside late and taking in the gorgeous sunsets.  I took these photos the other night at sunset.  You can just feel the warmth.  

 

Butterfly Love

My mom gives us butterfly chrysalises each summer and the kids just love it.  She works for a dentist and they have a patient that raises butterflies.  It's amazing to watch this process.    We had two batches this summer.  

Here is the first batch.

I caught this one as it was hatching. (Is hatching the correct word for a butterfly?  I have no idea, but I'm using it.  lol )

The second batch

I love how you can see the one on the far right hatched first and looks normal, the middle one hatched second and is thinning out, and the one on the far left just hatched and is still swollen.

After they dried for a few hours and started to fly, we let them go.  They flew to the trees.

wicked clouds

On August 4th around 6am, Jerry called from work to tell me about a storm that was blowing in.  He said the clouds were crazy.  So I got up to look and he was right.  It didn't really storm and just blew over, but the clouds had me a little nervous.  

   

     Hadleigh waited for the storm to pass while sporting her "100th day of school" crown that she made in school on the 100th day.  

 

Winter Wonderland

Winter can be long and treacherous, but it's also so beautiful!

Our Bald Cypress

Our Weeping Willow

Our little barn with it's snow covered roof.  I can't wait to paint and fix the cupolas on this barn. 

        

Monarch Butterflies

 My mom works for a dentist as a dental assistant and they have a patient that raises butterflies.  Every year my mom gives each kid a chrysalis from this man.

The kids get up early and run downstairs every morning to check their chrysalis.  They love getting these and watching the butterflies "hatch."

Here they are on August 21st, each with their own chrysalis.

Here is what they looked like on Sunday morning. 

That afternoon, Hadleigh's butterfly emerged...

The boys waiting for their butterflies to come out.  They look like they are willing them to come out with their eyes. lol

Here is Sawyer's butterfly

Hadleigh is home from Great Grandpa's where she was holding piglets.  She missed her butterfly emerging, but she was able to see Sawyer's.

We actually were able to see Ashton's butterfly emerge and I snapped this photo the moment it came out of the chrysalis.

I set them in the sun so they could dry and exercise their wings on something a little easier to hang on to.  They seemed to not like hanging on their stick very much.

Outside at last to do what they are supposed to do... fly free

I had to get a photo of this sweet little bee gathering pollen.

spring on the farm

Spring is in full bloom. 

 

How sweet are these birds?

Mommy robin sitting on her babies.

Momma dove sitting on her eggs. 

I think these eggs may have been abandoned.  

These baby robins are getting so big and they ducked their little heads everytime I tried getting their picture.  If you look closely you can see their beaks.  They have since left the nest.   

 

These are the sweet robin babies of the mom in the first picture.  She flew off to find food and I snapped their photo.

 

We have 4 lilac trees.  Two light purple, one white, and one dark plum.  The dark plum is my favorite.  They bloom and leave too quickly for my liking.

 

 

 

 

Some sneak peeks at the garden.

 

Our melon patch going in.

 

 

 

Our asparagus is doing well.  Too bad I won't be able to eat it for a couple of more years.