fletch is getting big!

So the first week without Rick wasn't nearly as bad as expected. He was only gone until Thursday! Which was definitely a pleasant surprise. The bad thing was that Fletch started to get used to the schedule we had so it sort of threw things off last weekend. I think it was going through a "protect my house" kind of mentality and did not appreciate Rick leaving his "scent" all over the place.

This week Rick didn't have to go out of town. The place where his work was, was close enough that they didn't have to stay at a hotel. I think this has helped Fletch having both of us around. But Rick does leave on Monday morning for 4 days so we will see how that goes!

Don't know if I mentioned it before...
We learned about Life Cycles a few weeks ago. This included egg-baby chick-hen/rooster, egg-tadpole-frog, seed-plant and egg-caterpillar-chrysalis-butterfly. Well, part of our preschool program is to have live butterfly eggs! So over the last few weeks our caterpillars hatched, ate and ate and ate until they formed their chrysalids and over last weekend they emerged into butterflies! All 10 of them! On Tuesday, we released them because quite honestly I am not interested in explaining death to my 3/4 year olds!

Say "BUTTERFLY"

Opening our habitat...

Absolutely one of the coolest moments, my kids were in awe!

That speck about the trees is one of our butterflies!

On a different note...

We had our first vet visit today! Fletch has gained 7 pounds since we got him. I was a little concerned that he wasn't eating enough, but apparently that was unnecessary. I guess the Iams bag says to give him too much food!

After the vet, Fletch and I went with my friend, Meredith and her dog Maddy to Barker Field. It was Fletch's first time and boy did he have fun!

He was very nervous, as it is very overwhelming to see all those dogs for the first time. But he got comfortable and even play fought with a few dogs. He was so worn out he fell asleep in the car on the ride home and is now taking a nap on his favorite blanket!

Fletch playing in his favorite place, the leaves!

Sleepy puppy! He looks so old in this picture! :(

"Stop taking pictures of me!"

Down for the count!

Well, that is all in our extremely exciting rice world. Hope this finds you all happy, healthy and enjoying the sunshine!

Love,
your lazy-saturday richmond rices.