Rick's Birthday...

We celebrated Rick's 34th birthday yesterday at Nene Orange's house with Aaron and family along with family friend Gail. Rick thoroughly enjoyed the meal of fried chicken and mashed potatoes and we were all happy to follow that up with a mulch-layered chocolate cake- mmmm!

Blowing out the candles ;)

Kieran with his berries and cream- he also had a very large portion of cake ;)

Braydon and Kieran playing with an old keyboard- which Kieran insisted we bring home with us... thanks a lot Nene! ;)

Looking ever-more like a Rother with each passing day :)

Cool kid!

Lovin' on his Nene!

"Soooo big!"

Hamming it up for the camera this morning while playing on the deck...

Our first trip back to the ARC "Little Swimmers" this year... it was soooo much easier and more fun this time around... he has grown up so much!

Camden and Kieran Pool Time!

We went over to Camden's yesterday for an impromptu play date in their pool.

The boys incorporated t-ball toys in their play ;)

A slight disagreement over the wheel-barrel ;)

A little silly rest time after snacks on the "veranda" :)

The Dangers of Butterfly Rearing...

So I "presented" two days ago with a few misshapen red spots on my arm and leg that had a mild burning sensation- similar to a sun burn. From there I developed a few small blisters- again similar to a burn. At first I thought I had a spider bite and a dr. at urgent care prescribed an anti-biotic in case of possible skin necrosis (gross) and then secondary infection. I have been on-line the past two days trying to figure out what I have since there was more than one affected area and no swelling, itch or intense pain (like one might see with a spider bite).
Finally, this morning, I had the "aha!" moment I had been searching for- Phytophotodermatitis caused by contact with wild parsnip! In case you were not aware (and who the hell would be?!)- the "juices" from the wild parsnip plant (which I have been handling recently with my caterpillar rearing) can cause hyper-sensitivity to sun light (I have also been lying out in the sun daily in preparation for our trip to Mexico) and produce burns where ever the parsnip juice touched skin. Duh! Okay- so who the hell would have ever guessed that? Not my urgent care doctor- that's for sure! Not that he wasn't knowledgeable and helpful- but as it turns out, the internet is where I finally got an answer to my medical mystery. Also- the antibiotics prescribed by the doctor can cause photo-sensitivity- so probably should stop taking those huh?

Kind of a creepy chrysalis... alien-like.

It's strange how one cocoon is brown and this one is bright yellow-green.

One of my phytophotodermatitis burns.

Yuck!

The offending plant- pretty isn't it? ;)

On a sunnier note (pun  intended;) the caterpillars are doing great! Two chrysalis formed a couple days ago and the other two caterpillars are getting bigger and fatter all the time- I expect they will begin to form cocoons today or tomorrow. The next time I raise black swallowtails, I will be sure to use more care in handling the wild parsnip plant!

Weekend fun...

Kieran with a puzzle he insisted we put together in our bathroom while I was trying to get ready for date night... love that grin!

Watching Frosty the Snowman in the middle of this May heat-wave... Nene Orange reports he watched a few times while she was over last night ;)

Breaking all the rules with Nene- eating in the living room- pizza and juice box ;)

Kieran may need another straw ;)

This morning at Cafe Berlin on a Kieran/mommy date... We went to the farmers market next and Kieran had a great time selecting produce and stuffing his bag full of broccoli, carrots, tomatoes and blueberries! He also really loved the honey ice cream and spending time in the corn-box (sort of like a sandbox but with corn;) Unfortunately, I forgot the camera in the car... so you will just have to use your imagination ;)

After farmers market we hung out at the library for a while- here Kieran is exploring that magnet table...

He loves the doll house and made friends with all the children that came and went ;)

Kieran's first experience playing computer games... the mouse was a bit tricky for him at first but he was getting it down by the end :)

 Kieran "tending" to eat pizza out of a cup.

 

Art and Caterpillars

My first Kieran-made mother's day card... so sweet :)

My mother's day gift from Rick- LOVE :)

I found some swallowtail caterpillars on my jog yesterday morning so we are going to try our hand at butterfly rearing again this year...

Kieran loves the idea that caterpillars are transformers ;)

A day later and we now have two soon-to-be chrysalis...

Dress up and dirt!

Kieran loves this hand-me-down Transformers helmet- I love it with his Star Wars t-shirt from Auntie Shannon- so cute!

Superman uses his super strength to pull the car up the hill in the back yard.

Love this fashion statement- super K cape, pop art style Muppet's shirt and fish swim trunks- yes!

Take off!

So many great action pics!

KP and Neko head inside :)

Kieran in the dirt box papa built... he LOVES it! Thanks papa ;)

Papa and the boy in the dirt ;)

Silly papa!

Heading into the house for a bath with a wheel-barrel full of dirty superheros!