Do you sometimes look at a photo and it just says to you, “PLAY WITH ME.” NO? Oh. ; )

Photo Credit: This picture was taken by my mom, I just played around with it!

Do you KNOW how hard it is to to take a picture of a butterfly?

The fields around our house are flitting with dozens of butterflies this time of year.. oranges, yellows, whites..

Of course there are Monarchs, too. My favorite are the black butterflies, the Pipevine Swallowtails.

Yesterday, I was moved by the number of butterflies in our yard so I tried to follow the biggest one around and capture a few shots — I didn’t know how many pictures I was going to have to try to take to finally “catch” him! I finally did, the two below turned out the best:

I believe these are Variegated Fritillary butterflies, or Euptoieta Claudia. Even it’s scientific name sounds beautiful! These pretty little butterflies can be found all over nearly the entire state of Texas. You should check out the pictures on that link (the ones taken by people who actually know what they are doing..) it’s a very beautiful little creature.

Recently the kids and I have been learning a bit about butterflies, and we found a ton of videos on YouTube showing caterpillars making their chrysalis and the butterfly emerging from it. AMAZING.

These two were my favorite, because they were so short!! The kids enjoyed it, but we learned a lot, too. (Like butterfly caterpillars make a chrysalis and moth caterpillars spin a cocoon. I did not know that!) We noticed it while we were watching videos so we looked it up and yup, it’s true.

One thing that struck me as I walked among the butterflies yesterday, is how often I overlook them. I’m sure there weren’t any more in the yard yesterday than there were the day before! I’m just too busy to stop and pay attention. I am…too busy.

As you’re out and about today, I wonder if you’ll see any butterflies?

This post has been happily submitted to Sweet Shot Tuesday at Life With My 3 Boybarians. Life is sweet – go take a taste.

Wordless Wednesday is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom. Hop over and browse for more fun photography moments. While you’re here, enjoy this week’s Wordless Wednesday moment:

Spring-Itus

This week’s Popinjay word is “angry.”

I am not proud that this week’s challenge was NOT very hard for me. Anger and I have a bad past.

Case in point: The full length mirror on the back of my bathroom door, which is now a bottom half length mirror, since I cracked it straight across the middle when I slammed it. I’m fortunate that it didn’t shatter right then. The top half managed to stay in place and later slipped neatly to the floor without further damage.

Cracking that mirror really brought me to my senses, made an impact on me. I still haven’t completely conquered my anger, I still sometimes react inappropriately under stress. But I’m working on it. That incident was a long time ago, but we haven’t replaced that mirror. Every time I look at it, it reminds me. I’ve lost my temper a few times (or a few dozen) but I haven’t slammed any doors since then.

It’s a step.

Visit Michelle’s for more Popinjay participants.

No, I’m not cheating again…but I AM taking a different interpretation of this week’s Popinjay word, “Clueless” than what Michelle probably expected.

No, I am not clueless, but I am… Clue-Less.

Behold, all that remains of the Clue Master Detective board game that I got when I was a kid, over 20 years ago, and kept all this time. It had been well used and well played with, the box was in terrible shape, but I still had many of the score sheets and ALL of the pieces.

It was.  Until a couple of weeks ago when the girls got it down, didn’t put it back like they were told to, and the 4 year old got into it and tore it up. The pieces were probably all still there, just scattered in his room. The board was probably intact. But the box was ripped apart (it was barely together to begin with), the rule book was trampled and the score sheets were scattered and stepped on. I was so frustrated, disappointed (and in one of those dangerous moods where I purge with abandon and without a look back) that I just started shoving it all in the trash can.

As I sit here and write this I am tearing up and regretting that decision for the 1st time.

Especially after looking on line for a link and seeing how much vintage sets of this version are worth. OH MY GOSH I CAN NOT BELIEVE I JUST STUFFED IT IN THE TRASH CAN. The above pieces were found today under the tv stand in his room – and now they’re probably going to go in the garbage, too. They are worth NOTHING by themselves.

I guess I was clueless after all…

And now, I am also.. Clue-Less. *sniff*

For more Popinjay, visit Michelle.

I am a bit of a freebie junkie. Though not as big of a junkie as some other Twitter and bloggy peoples I know, (and though thankfully I have not crossed the line into hoarding) I do love some freebies!

Of course, very little in life is actually free. One could argue that even a free item from Freecycle or Craigslist requires the gas money to go fetch it. So this week’s Popinjay challenge made me question:

“What is free?”

My first and obvious answer would be “God’s love,” or “freedom from sin.” {Yes there was a cost involved but Christ paid it for me. I did not have to pay the debt I rightly owed and yet I get to experience these freedoms without paying.} I’m not quite sure how I’d capture that on camera, aside from taking a picture of my bible — which I’ve already done. So to avoid repeating myself and taking the easy road, I kept thinking.

What else is free?

There are the freebies in the mail, the free food samples at Sams…
There are coupons for free items and “free after rebates” and so on…
There are always free puppies and free kittens being given away in some Wal-Mart parking lot somewhere in America on any given weekend…

But none of these were really good enough for me. They’re bottom level free. I don’t know how to explain it. You know what I mean?

Hm, so what else is free?

I’d like to say that my husband’s love is free (or mine for him) but let’s be honest… love and marriage takes WORK! Even if it’s daily working to let go of the little things, to let of your pride, to practice forgiveness. Even if it’s working to arrange schedules to free up some time together to strengthen and build your relationship. Even if it’s daily spending time in prayer. This kind of work doesn’t have a monetary price, but it is the cost for a good strong marriage.

What is free?

In the end I could think of one thing that really symbolized “free” for me (besides the love of Christ of course). And that would be– the love of a child.

Our children love so freely. Even when we screw up they still love us. Yes, we need to spend time on them, too, and yes they need work, too, but the love of a child flows so freely without strings. Open. Trusting. With their whole heart. Perhaps this is why Jesus said that we should come to the kingdom of God as a small child??

I know that one day, as my children grow older, things will change. And how much is yet to be seen. But for now, my three babes are endless founts of hugs and kisses and “I love you”s.

My youngest, at four, is often precocious and fickle; how freely he hands out hugs and kisses changes on a whim. But not for me. There are always free kisses for me. Abundantly, overflowing, precious kisses.

FREE.

Visit Michelle for more Popinjay photos. (And yeah, I bent the rules! Unashamedly, too, I  might add.) =P