Ants and Butterflies

Our kindergarten curriculum calls for a few observation exercises involving ants and insects.  The lesson with the ants is with the letter I.  I is for insects.  The truth to be learned is:  I am a wise child.  I work hard.  For B, butterflies, it is that God makes me new.  We did both of these when Ella was in kindergarten as well and she was just as excited as Leah to be seeing it all again. 

Ants

Our ants had issues.  The first time we mailed off for them, they were apparently lost in the mail.  I contacted the company because we never received them, so they were going to mail us some new ones.  Well, the next day, the ants arrived.  The original batch...obviously.  They were well on their way to death.  They were alive, however, so we put them in the ant hill and fed and watered them hoping they might perk up.  No such luck.  They were pitiful.  They certainly did not help enforce the truth we were to learn.  Luckily, though, it only took about a week and a half to get the new ants and wow, what a difference.  These guys worked around the clock!  I don't think they ever stopped.  As a matter of fact, when they did start to die, we were certain it was because they had worked themselves to death!

 

Butterflies

So excited to get the catepillars in the mail!

Teeny, tiny catepillars

They are attaching to the paper....should be soon.....

 

We have chrysalides (is that the plural of chrysalis?)

A butterfly!!

The broken chrysalides...the red stuff is dye from the butterfly.  Cool, huh?

We had to put flowers with sugar water dripped on them into the net to feed them.

Setting them free...........

A Tadpole

We also have a tadpole that we are trying to grow into a frog.  This was not recommended by MFW but Leah LOVES frogs, so when I saw this at the store, I knew she would love it.  So we have had ants, butterflies, and a tadpole all at the same time.  The ants and butterflies are gone, but this tadpole is trying to become a part of the family long-term, I think.  I'm not including pictures yet, because I want to show his progression.  I thought for certain he would at least have some hindlimbs but no.  More on him to follow.........

 

 

****Update:  The tadpole croaked....haha...pun intended....okay, that was lame.  But, indeed, the tadpole never reached full froghood.  Leah is disappointed so we will try again....someday.  Here are a couple pix of him anyway.

Super little

Growing

 

Block Party

Our neighborhood decided to have a block party back in March.  It was a good way to get to meet neighbors that we hadn't got to meet yet and socialize with each other.  Everyone brought a dish and we had food ranging from homemade BBQ to cake.  Everything was so good.  There were also some inflatables for the kids to play on and that is where mine stayed almost the entire time.  As I've said before, we were quite apprehensive about moving into a neighborhood but we couldn't have picked a better one!

A Few Science Experiments

Just wanted to share some pictures of a few of the science experiments we have done in school lately.  (I use the term "lately" loosely as this dates back to January....geez, I'm so far behind on my blogging....eek.)  Either way, here goes...........

A Volcano

We made a volcano out of clay, baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring (if I'm remembering correctly).  The girls got a kick out of it.  We did this last year, too, but it didn't erupt as well as this years. 

 

Rock Candy

Here are a few pictures of us making rock candy.  This was obviously about learning principles of evaporation and crystallization.  The kids really enjoyed this.  They took turns breaking the top layer each day.  And, though, my kids will eat some crazy candy, neither of them ate this.  Weird.

Lung Capacity

This experiment was to sort of test lung capacity.  We were talking about volume, etc.  They took turns doing this and both were able to blow out all of the water.  They were so excited!

 

First Piano Lesson

Ella has been wanting to take piano lessons for quite some time now.  Just before Christmas we were blessed to be able to purchase a piano at a very reasonable price.  It was such a blessing.  A lady that my mom works with...her mother...had a piano she wanted to get rid of just because she didn't play it and it was taking up space in her house.
Then, it was a matter of finding a teacher.  I asked around but everyone I talked to was already full and had extensive waiting lists.  Then, Shelia called me one morning to say that she sat next to a lady at a basketball game that would come to your house and teach lessons.  Not only that, she is a great Christian lady.  So, I talked with her and she has been teaching Ella ever since.
Leah wants to take lessons as well and has already picked up on some things just by listening.  Interesting that my Mamaw used to play by ear and Leah seems to be doing the same :)  However, she can't take lessons until she is officially in the first grade, so not much longer. 
Here is a picture of Ella just after her first lesson.

Ella is 8 !!!!!!!!

I cannot believe that my first born is 8!  It feels like just yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital.  The years have certainly gone quickly.  I tell her all the time that I want to freeze her so she will stop growing so fast! 

Anyway, she chose to go to Snow Mountain this year instead of having a traditional birthday party.  So we got up early to go to Atlanta, played all day, then stopped back by Uncle Bobby and Aunt Tina's for the night.  I had ordered a cookie cake and Aunt Tina picked it up for us and so it was a total surprise to Ella!  She had a great time and told me it "was the best birthday ever!" 

All bundled up

Building a snow castle

Leah making a snow angel

Ella making a snow angel

A view of the slopes

Another view, just a little closer

The cookie cake

My totally silly girls

American Village

One of my favorite field trips this year has been to The American Village in Montevallo.  Our focus on history for second grade has been American History.  This was a great place to see some of that with skits and replicas.

 

The day started with a skit (actually an audience participation rally) concerning no taxation without representation.  We were all chanting and it was quite fun to kind of get to see what our forefathers did.

 

 This is a statue of George Washington.  We spent a good deal of time on him this year and there was quite a bit at American Village devoted to him.

This is a replica of The Oval Office to the exact specifications.  There was alot of nuggets from multiple past presidents (such as a jar of jelly beans from Ronald Reagan's administration).  We all found this room very interesting.  They give you a lot of history and information on site.  I learned so much I didn't know.  Homeschooling has proven to be very educational for Mom, too :)

This was one of the gardens.  All of the gardens were so beautiful but we weren't able to enjoy them.  You can't really tell in this picture, but it was nasty weather that day.  We were soaked to the bones by the time we left.

There was this entire building of miniatures.  This case was of each of the president's and their wives.  This was probably my favorite building.  There was so much to take in.  There is no way to take and post all of the stuff, but trust me, it was good.  There were miniature combat zones from the war, miniature space exploration scenes, and more. 

These are my little prisioners.  Leah wouldn' actually put her head in.  She said it was too scary. 

This is a replica of the Liberty Bell.

This man was one of the actors and he was good.  He wouldn't even get out of character when we were just having a regular conversation.  He was quite humerous.

I forgot what they actually call this building, but I just thought it looked fancy and worthy of a picture.  There was a lot of good stuff in here.  Replicas of the early Congressional meeting rooms, framed copies of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution and much more.

Like I said, this was one of my favorite field trips (despite the super yucky weather).  It definitely reinforced much of what we have learned this year.

Zebra Cupcakes and Ice Skating

These are some cupcakes that I did for the girls' friend, Eva.  She LOVES zebra print.  Last year I made her a zebra print cake and this year she wanted cupcakes.  After some brainstorming with her mom, we decided on zebra print holders with some 'E's and '8's as cupcake toppers.  I cut those out of zebra print scrapbook paper with my Cricut and put them on lollipop sticks.  I used hot pink icing and sprinkled it with black sugar crystals.

The girls got to ice skate again.  They absolutely LOVE to do this.  Notice they are hugging the wall at first, but were soon out in the middle.  [The pictures are really poor quality.  I desparately need a new camera :(  ]