Black Swallowtail

The boys found a bunch of these caterpillars on our parsley. They wanted to put one in a jar, so we picked the big one.
Within two days, it had formed its chrysalis. In this picture, it is already out. You can see through it since its empty.
Exactly two weeks after we captured the caterpillar, 6yo noticed the butterfly in the jar!

We took it outside, but it wouldn't yet fly away.

It didn't take long until it was ready, though.

My Watermelon Ship Has Come In

My generous midwife gave me some watermelons the other day that we have been munching on. WOW! They are good! Can you tell we like them? These are better than candy.

Ten Years and Watermelons

My husband and I just celebrated our tenth anniversary! What great times we've had! When we got married, children were not in my mind, only the thought of being with my husband every day. Now that we have three and one coming soon, I'm able to see how the Lord has added blessing to blessing by not only joining me with my husband, but giving us even more love in our home in these wonderful boys.

And the good times just keep rolling!

On a totally unrelated note...my friend trimmed my hair for me today and fixed it up in a twist braid. And THEN she brought a yummy watermelon over for us....you know how I've been craving yummy watermelons?Mmmmm.

Easy Homemade Yogurt (or Yoghurt)

This is how I've been making yogurt that has been working well for me.

First, I bring the milk to about 180 degrees, give or take. Do this on a medium heat so as not to burn the milk. This will take a while. (cow's or goats- this is a mixture of both. I only like yogurt made from cow's milk, but the boys like both.)

While that's happening, boil some water and pour it into a small cooler and put the lid on it. This will make your cooler into a heater.

After the milk has reached its temperature, take it off the heat and let it cool back down to around 115-125 degrees. Stirring will help it cool a little more quickly- but it still takes a while.

Next, pour the milk into jars that are already hot. You can pour some hot water from your teapot into them and swish it around to heat them up.

Now, add a couple big scoops of a previous batch of yogurt or a quality store bought yogurt (I used Dannon since we ate up our last batch of yogurt). Stir it up and put the lids on.

Pour the HOT water out of your cooler, then place a towel in it. Put the jars inside and wrap them up well with the towel(s) and put the cooler lid on. Lastly, put the whole cooler in an out-of-the-way warm place for 6-12 hours.

Get the jars out and refrigerate them...that's it. Its never failed me yet...yet. Some don't like to heat the milk up to 180 degrees because it kills all the goodness in raw milk. So far, this is how I've done it...but I'm planning on making "raw" yogurt one of these days by only heating it to 110 degrees.

This is very very easy, but that doesn't mean its very quick. It does take a while, so try it when you'll already be hanging around the kitchen or at least the house.