Pledging To Help The Monarch Butterflies

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     A fellow blogger friend over at the 104 Homestead recently posted about her family taking the pledge to help Monarch Butterflies. I knew immediately, it was something Zoey and I would be interested in doing as well. As it was, Zoey spent most of winter on my Pinterest, pinning ideas for a Fairy/Butterfly Garden. Zoey is super excited to be getting the Monarch Butterfly Starter Kit provided by The National Wildlife Federation. 

     So how do you help Monarch Butterflies? By growing a butterfly habitat! We are going to use the area in our yard that is my wild flower garden. (Okay, so I had TRIED to get a wild flower garden going.  Every year I would sow seeds, and every year, the grass would choke out the plants.) And another spot over on the side of our property that I know will remain undisturbed. Butterflies love milkweed and it is their main source of food in the larva stage. We will also be planting some of the flowers from this list I found. Some of the plants will serve dual purposes as they are medicinal and butterflies and bees love them as well. Win, Win for all! 

We can't wait to get started on our Butterfly Garden! 

You too can take the pledge and build your own Monarch Butterfly Habitat at http://www.nwf.org/Butterfly-Heroes/Pledge.aspx. 

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Volunteering: Raising Money For The Seniors

   

     My mom works at a local senior health and rehabilitation center. A couple times a year, they do fundraisers for the Resident Fund.

This fund helps to pay for things like personal items the seniors can not afford to pay for themselves, outings, and various parties through out the year, including presents for their Christmas Party. Recently, they had a Loaded Brisket Potato Fundraiser. Zoey and I thought it would be nice to come and help. My Mom was already out delivering when we got there. 

Zoey with my mother's boss, the administrator of Sunny Springs Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. 

     The did not have a whole lot for us to do, but we we able to collect money and deliver 11 potatoes to a local childcare center. (Okay, it is the local childcare center where I work at but we did promote, gather orders with help of my office worker friend, collected the money, and then delivered the potatoes by lunch time.)

 The box was really heavy but she insisted on carrying it herself! 

Best Brisket Loaded Baked Potatoes Ever!

     It was my off day, so after we delivered potatoes, we sat down and enjoyed our own potatoes. When we were finished, I had to mail some packages off at the Post Office. On the way there, we drove by a local Methodist Church and the parking lot was quite full for a Wednesday afternoon. My daughter asked what was going on there. I explained the had a Program called 'The Dinner Bell' that opened up the churches kitchen for lunch on Wednesdays. Anyone can come in for a nice hot meal. Zoey lit up and asked, "Can we help?" So after we dropped off my packages, we went back in to find out if we could volunteer for the next luncheon. I'll post our adventure there next week.

     Other ways Zoey has volunteered her time, is decorating a large jar for United Way. She was given a budget of $5 and she went to a dollar store to get supplies. Zoey worked very hard on it using craft foam, cute stickers and some adorable owl felt stickers. Then, she filled the jar with the left over money from her budget and some more change from my car. Her collection jar was super cute. I love her creativity and her giving heart. Her collection jar helped the team fulfill their goal of raising money for United Way.

     Zoey has asked that we find other ways to help in our community. I'll keep you posted!