What's Up Wednesday

1. My Dad RETIRED
It's official - my dad has retired! It was 34 years ago when he graduated from West Virgina University and accepted an engineering position with Conoco. It's amazing to think how this job has shaped not only my dad but the entire family. As he and my mother began their family, he worked 28 and 28 (I can't imagine that with three kids, yikes mom!).  It moved us eleven different times and across four continents. It allowed us to travel to areas we had only read about in our text books. One attribute that I have always admired about my dad is his tremendous work ethic. If my siblings and I have inherited even a little of that we are fortunate.  His job kept him busy and traveling for so many years and I am so excited for him to finally be able to slow down and relax. I know there will be lots of family time, hobbies, leisure and of course golf in his future. Cheers dad!

2. Matilda Jane
I have recently discovered Matilda Jane and I am a little obsessed. I love everything about the line - the colors, patterns, styles...it's all so adorable!
    1. Layers- perfect for Texas. You can wear the knot dresses with or without layering shirts and obviously with or without tights/leggings. And the best part is that basically all the pieces in each collection coordinate with each other. Speaking of....
    2. It's not matchy matchy. This line makes me wish Hayden had a sister - the sibling outfit coordination is ridiculously cute. I am tempted to buy stuff for Lyla and Audrey just so all the girls can coordinate.
    3. Quality. Although this is MY first purchase I was handed down an MJ outfit and it's still in great condition. PLUS everything is so soft and comfy!

Whew - as you can tell I am quite into the whole thing right now. So it's probably no surprise that I am hosting a Holiday Trunk Show. They are releasing their holiday collection on November 2nd so I will have a preview party on Sunday November 1st. I can't wait to see all the adorable new stuff!

And if you have any interest in coming to my trunk show - let me know and I'll send you the invite! They do carry items for ALL ages - baby to adult!

3. One Stop Bow Shop
I love the whole monthly box trend. Like, Stitch Fix, Honest Company,  Fablectics, PopSugar, Citrus Lane to name a few....I love getting mail so it's even more exciting when it's a surprise box of goodies - I may have an addiction.  (Don't worry, I don't currently subscribe to ALL of those...but I have at some point.) When I found out that this adorable little bow shop (One Stop Bow Shop) offers a monthly bow box I had to try it out. I LOVE our first box and the colors work so well with our new MJ outfits!

 

I mean, how cute is this?

4. Birthday Tags
I finally sat down and created some Happy Birthday tags using the silhouette design studio. It was super easy and I love how bright and cheery they are - just like any birthday wish should be! I just printed these out on sticker paper, cut them with my silhouette and they are ready to go....now I just need to finish create some for the boys!

 
5. The Butterfly Guy

It's that time of year again - we are chrysalis parents. Oh yeah - big stuff! The boys love watching this whole process and to be honest...so do we. Here is my post from two years ago and apparently I totally forgot to blog about our experience last year. Sounds about right.
Anyhow, I hope this little guy makes it...the little tag said he was suppose to emerge on the 18th...I'm hoping that was a mistake

Mr. Butterfly

Oh dear! We got a butterfly. Mr. butterly emerged and scared the heebeegeebeez outta me! Since it was sitting on our kitchen countertop I was actually standing right next to it when it happened. I heard a fluttering and was like, um what is that weird noise?!? Then I looked over and the darn thing was out! It was around 6:00pm (Monday) and we were about to sit down and eat dinner so I didn't say anything to Ryan. It says that it takes about 2 hours for the butterfly to start moving around so I figured we would wait until after his bath.

After bath time I let Ryan come downstairs and check out his butterfly. He named him Mr. Butterfly..."poopy and elmo" were his other suggestions. Yeah. Since it was suppose to get down to 45 degrees that night I decided we would just hang on until tomorrow morning...hoping he wouldn't fly off overnight.

He didn't. He was there in the morning and all day. Finally after naptime we had some downtime so we planned our release party. 

 

We set him on this flower and then met some friends at the park. 

***

As soon as we got back Ryan was so excited to go and see if Mr. Butterfly was still there. And he WAS! Oh dear...now he really thinks he is his pet. Sooooo....we played with him...and decided to keep him another night (since it was going to be cold again!). 

On Wednesday morning before school we brought Mr. Butterfly outside again and said goodbye .

Ryan was satisfied and when we got home from school he ran outside to check on him...and was actually ok that Mr. Butterfly was gone. 

Bye Bye Mr. Butterfly!

The Butterfly Guy

At Ryan's new preschool The Butterfly Guy did a presentation for them!

It must have been a pretty cool presentation because Ryan was pretty excited to tell me all about it. When I picked him up from school he started telling me about the butterfly guy. He said he saw a bunch of butterflies and caterpillars. (I am not sure how much of this is actually true...but I know there were at least some butterflies). Heck, he even mentioned the word cocoon. Ryan explained that the butterfly man caught the butterflies with his net...as he told me this he pretended to have a net and he swooped up to catch some himself.  It was pretty darn cute and I was really happy that he was actually sharing some info with me! Everyday I ask him what he did and he usually responds with, "I just played with my friends". ha!

Anyways, since he was so taken with the butterfly guy I decided that I would go ahead and buy one of the live monarch chrysalis' that they were selling so that we could watch a butterfly emerge at home.

Here it is

Here it is today (10/20). As you can see it is already starting to turn black! You can actually see the butterfly inside of it which is pretty cool (you can't really tell in this picture). Anyhow, I am wondering when he will emerge...I am hoping we will actually be here to see it! 

Ryan loves his butterfly but he really wants a net. I am pretty sure he thinks it is his new pet that he will just chase around all day with a net. hmmmm.....