Nana's Garden:

Charli's love for the outdoors was never something we questioned on where she got it from; both Steven and I were always"outdoor" kind of people. Between both playing sports every day of our lives growing up, to Steven's cycling, to just loving being at the pool or beach in the sunshine... It's in our blood. Charli's love for the Garden and all things related was a different story though... Steven enjoys doing yard work and is good at it but I wouldn't call him a "gardner" and I sure as heck don't have a green thumb. I can barely keep my hydrangea center pieces alive. Then one day it dawned on me... NANA! 

My mom has the greenest thumb around and her yard shows for it!

Charli's pure love and joy that she gets when she is outside working in the yard definitely comes from her Nana! Charli helps Nana pick weeds, water flowers, feed the birds & squirrels, and loves watching her mow the grass! Now you know why a Garden Party was even more perfect for our little three year old (especially having it at Nana & Papa's house)!

One thing I told my mom I wanted to do for Charli for her birthday was to get her a Caterpillar/Butterfly kit. I knew of several people who had done them with their little ones before and loved it and I thought how perfect for Charli and her Garden Party! Well, my mom had a different idea... One that wouldn't cost us any money, and one that we could watch through Mother Nature right here in our very own yard! 

My mom has a ton of butterflies in her garden, so every day Charli and Nana walked outside to see if they could find any eggs on the bottom side of any of the leaves the butterflies landed on. Charli would lift up each little leaf, tilt her head to look, and would reply "nope" upon not seeing a tiny white egg. Then one day they found one, and then another, and this my friends was the start to a beautiful life cycle...

  

We watched each stage of this amazing process unfold right in our very own yard! It was the neatest thing (even for me) to watch the caterpillars grow big, then go into hiding for a day, then finding their chrysalis! Watching the chrysalis transform was also really spectacular! Towards the end you could actually see the the wings of the butterfly inside! Seriously neat! 

There were two butterflies that emerged from their chrysalis' the morning of Charli's birthday! It was already a special day for our little girl but this was the icing on the cake! She absolutely loved it when the butterflies were crawling on her as they dried their wings and learned to fly! 

Now we wait for the cycle to begin again!

Happy Sunday!