So... I'm a really good mom. 

LAST YEAR I got a butterfly habitat, intending to let the kids do a little "science" study and then a butterfly release.

Well. We moved. Things were nuts. I never actually ordered the caterpillars.

But this year I finally did! (Affiliate note: we used this kit, which is fabulous and I love all their products)

Side note: I feel like the alternate title to this post should be "My Kids Have Dirty Faces" or something like that... 

They all crowded around the torn-up habitat, hoping that a butterfly might land on one of them on its way out of the netting.

My Sunday Best, Volume 19: Post-Blogging Conference

Whew! We hosted 30 ladies here yesterday (and... 7 babies? 8 babies?) for the Catholic Women Blogging Network Mid-Atlantic Conference (that's a mouthful, eh?) and while my body isn't as exhausted as I feel like it *should* be, my mind is moving a mile a minute!

It's just plain good to be among so many people with such good hearts. If it were up to me, we would all sit around for an entire week just talking and being that place of "you too? ME TOO!" understanding that sets in when suddenly you realize that you're surrounded by kindred spirits. But we all have family and lives to attend to, and so for now we can all just daydream about that sort of magical event ;)

Anyway, I will try to manage some sort of conference recap post - we're in vacation planning mode right now, which might eat up any of my free time, but I promise either I'll get a post together or I'll point you to some other thoughtful posts that some OTHER bloggers write that will make you feel like you were there!

My Sunday Best, Vol. 18

Happy Sunday! After a few days of gloriously perfect weather, it's hot and sticky again here in Virginia... I'm hoping for breezy fall-ish (Virginia fall-ish, so upper 70s/low 80s) weather again soon, but for now we're dealing with a little bit more summer weather!

Peter lasted approximately 5 minutes into Mass before Andrew had to take him out, COMPLETELY out, and they never made it back in. We found them in the car afterwards so... Thankful that I wasn't the one who had to deal with that!

33/52: First Day of School

I just can't. I can NOT. The series of pictures at the bottom of this post is KILLING ME. 

Last year I didn't bother with a "first day of school" post beyond this one (in which I recounted how horrible our first day was!), but this year I decided to do "school pictures" out by one of the maple trees in the yard, and the kids were ALL excited, even Peter!

Name: Peter Damian

Age: 21 months

Grade: Toddler

Most excited to: Color with crayons and NOT eat them

Future occupation: "Dive Dada car! Dive TUCK!" So... Truck driver? Chauffeur?

My Sunday Best, Vol. 17: John Paul Fashion Show

Happy Sunday! The weather has cooled down a teeeeny bit here, and we're sort of beginning to think about fall but not really... Summer lasts until October in Virginia, so I cringe every time I start seeing "pumpkin spice" on social media!