A Little Egg Lay on a Leaf

I’ll get to the title of my post with the stolen passage in a moment. (In case you don’t know, it’s from The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle)

Been a minute (or two or so very many minutes) since I’ve done a Thankful Thursday post! Thought I better take some time to share one. Time seems to be going so fast this summer (technically though it’s still spring so maybe not?).  I’m torn between being in a hurry for my flowers to bloom and the weather to *finally* be warm and wanting to make sure I take time to savor my days. Just me?

I really want to be thankful and savor these sunny summer days as they happen. Especially with the weird weather where it’s taken a while longer for them to arrive.

However, the first thing I want to take time to be thankful for this week is last week’s successful band trip for J.

Safe Travels and Modern Communication

I’m so thankful the band (and my son) was able to go on their trip to Disney in Orlando, Florida. The planning began in 2021 or maybe even 2020 so obviously, a lot of holding of the breath as we sent in payments for it. Hooray for it still happening despite COVID and crazy high gas prices (we did end up needing to pay a bit extra due to gas prices. Boo!).  However, they were able to go and spend a week visiting different parks, the beach, and the Kennedy space center.

And despite my own anxieties about sending my kid with anxiety on this trip without either of us, he did great! I requested one text photo a day and didn’t really expect much. To my surprise, I often got more than one photo a day! While I’ve been one to curse the cell phones, I’m certainly thankful for the ease of communication from far away with them.  Here’s one of the photos he sent me: 

I love that he usually sent me bird pictures or things he thought would interest me each day.

Working a few days last week helped keep me busy and my mind off the fact that my youngest son was many miles away from us.

Job Perks

Working as a part-time substitute preschool teacher doesn’t come with a lot of traditional job perks. Definitely no golden parachutes over here. The ones I do have are priceless though.

Choosing my own hours essentially. While I seldom say no, I never have to say yes.

This week though….one of the best perks ever. Every job should have a playground and outside time shouldn’t it?

Now, we get to the title of the post. Yesterday, during the outdoor time before lunch, a few of the kids and I were able to observe a monarch butterfly lay an egg on a milkweed leaf. Hopefully, we’ll get to see the tiny caterpillar pop out sometime soon. (And just to note: last week we watched 2 mature monarch caterpillars form their chrysalis). How can you not be thankful for a chance to observe the miracles of nature as well as share the excitement with young children?

**No photos of the amazement as I generally don’t carry my phone when working**

Summer Produce on the Horizon

Speaking of miracles of nature at work, I observed a few at home this week as well. Such as our garden produce starting to come alive. Green cherry tomatoes are forming. The okra actually sprouted! And we have a few peppers, eggplants, and cucumbers growing as well. Each year we seem to do just a little better with the garden.

Other Thankful Thoughts 

Perhaps I needed a reminder to “bloom where you are planted” as I found this little pansy growing happily in the sidewalk crack beside a big planter of dianthus.

Or maybe a reminder to slow down and enjoy the last few days of spring official before summer kicks in full force? I am thankful for the scent of summer that’s starting to drift across the front porch in the evenings as the summer flowers start to respond to warm sunny days and put out more blooms. I’m thankful for a beautiful place to sit and soak up my summer. And for a house to provide shelter on the stormy, rainy days that we need for those flowers to bloom.

Mostly, right now, I’m just thankful we have enough. Not too much and not too little. Just enough.

What things are you thankful for this week?