A post about raising young ones and having them disappoint you

You know, when you have young ones, you hope the best for them.
You hope they have a wonderful magical childhood, you hope they meet nice kids just like them.
Who they hang out with can dictate whether they are good kids, or they pick up bad habits and become punks.
Well, the latter has happened to us.


.....



The juvenile cardinal is hanging out with house sparrows.

I know! Isn't that disappointing?
I tried. Really I did.


Yesterday, we had to inform Lorelei that her beloved Betta, Twinkle, had died.
We had a quick "burial at sea", and then I asked her if she wanted to get another one.
She wanted a goldfish.
We went to the pet store and as we were watching the goldfish, I pointed out one who looked as if it was wearing lipstick. Lorelei wanted that one.
Meet Lipstick the Goldfish:

I had a program today, and while Geoff was watching the girls, Isabelle was especially helpful and well-behaved, so we decided that she could pick out something at the pet store, too.
She wanted a snail, to keep her Betta, Cuter, company.
Meet Lolly the Snail:

(Lolly is the name of a snail in a book we have been reading, "Let's Spot Dot", a story about a turtle named Dash who loses his friend Dot, who is a ladybug. Cute book. Available at Starbucks)
Coming home from RAPTOR, I passed this sign and couldn't resist getting a picture of it.
I think they might mean yard "sale".

Ahh...dumb people make the rest of us feel better about ourselves, don't they?

The pipevine caterpillars are still going strong...originally there were 12, but I have only been able to find 8 now.
Here are the smallest of the bunch:

...and the largest of the bunch, off on his own leaf:

When the cocoons begin, we are going to bring ONE inside and place it in our butterfly habitat so we can watch the transformation.
Anyone remember our butterfly disaster from last year?

While bending down to get pictures of the cats, I noticed a spider hanging under the fence right by my face...

It's either one spider molting out of his old exoskeleton, or one spider eating another spider. I didn't get close enough to find out which.

I haven't done a "Sunday Sketch" in a long time, but I have been doodling...


Tomorrow is the BOOK RELEASE DAY!
We will be seeing the inside of many bookstores...
I'm so proud of Geoff, I could burst into a million shiny pieces.