Spring Has Sprung!

One of the nicest things about living in New Mexico is truly experiencing the four seasons. The summers are hot, the autumn is colorful, the winter can bring snow and the spring is alive with new growth. We began our spring with lots of little projects to get us in the spirit...starting with growing our own butterflies!

Our special delivery arrived in the mail courtesy of Granny. Five tiny little caterpillars that soon grew into big fat caterpillars. After carefully crawling to the top of the container and forming their chrysalis they were well on their way to becoming beautiful butterflies.



It was during this time that we conducted our own little experiment...courtesy of AJ. He just loved the caterpillars so much that he would walk around the house with their habitat. One day one of the chrysalis fell and we were very worried that it would not survive. But it did! Apparently once the chrysalis is formed they do not need to hang to become beautiful butterflies. We were overjoyed with our 100% success rate!



Our next Spring project was planting the garden. We installed a drip system in the winter which will require less work on my part. We added compost and all kinds of nutrients to the garden and prepped it for the best part!



The kids got to choose some of their favorite things to plant. This year we are trying raspberries, blackberries, tomatoes, basil, chives, mint, jalapenos, swiss chard, and kale. We are hoping for the best!



We then created hand prints to be placed in the yard. After decorating them with different gems they were complete and will forever add sunshine to our home.



Our last project was growing our own flowers. We built "The Croods" flower boxes at Lowe's Hardware Store last Saturday and then picked out seeds to plant and (hopefully) harvest. The kids are really enjoying this time of year!