Caterpillars and butterflies

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Tessa

This summer we ordered caterpillars to live in our butterfly habitat. They came in a little cup with lots of food. The directions said to leave them in the cup until they formed chrysalises and then move them to the habitat. We decided to let them live a better life in the habitat directly. The kids picked some branches and we put the food cup in and let the caterpillars roam.

The first step of the transformation is noticeable when the caterpillars attach to something and hang down in a J shape.

I used a high-tech tracking system to monitor their progress. :)

After 17 days in the habitat we had our first butterfly! These are painted lady butterflies that are drab on the underside and brightly colored on top.

Can you see the drab colored butterfly?

It’s hard to take pictures through the habitat walls. The camera just wants to focus on the netting, not what’s inside. Plus, of course, we have clutter in the background as well.

Three of the butterflies hatched in one day. We had a houseful of kids who enjoyed the process and eagerly prepared some butterfly food (sugar water) for them.

Three butterflies hatched the first day and a fourth hatched the next day. One caterpillar never fully completed the chrysalis transformation and one chrysalis fell and didn’t survive the butterfly transformation, so of the six caterpillars we started with we ended up with four butterflies.

We left them for a few days for our trip to Franklin and when we returned they were actively trying to fly in the habitat, despite the dried leaves and sticks in the way. We decided to let them free!

We took the habitat out on the front porch and opened the top.

Fly away little flutter-byes.

The first three butterflies flew away, one at at time, over the course of the first five minutes. We waited awhile on the last butterfly, but it didn’t fly away. After awhile we just left it on the porch. Then we put fresh branches in the habitat and put the butterfly food back, right near the top, hoping to tempt it up to the opening. Didn’t work. Eventually Eve just picked it up with her hands and blew it away. Success!

Overall a fun experience. I was thinking, later, that if I were a real sciency teacher/mom I should have made the kids keep a science journal with observations and predictions and whatnot. Instead we just ignored the directions and did what we wanted to with them. Great example to set. :) But we had fun and that’s important to. Maybe we’ll do it again next summer with more precision. Or not.

A walk in the country

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Tessa

The kids were playing outside today (all on their own without me kicking them out!) and I suggested we take a walk. Much to my surprise, they agreed! They grabbed their safari gear and off we went.

Checking out the wildlife.

When going on a safari it’s best to wear your pajamas.

Happiness is.

Catching tadpoles.

Catching tadpoles at pond number one. The kids wanted frogs and we only found tadpoles. so we decided to head over to another pond.

Pond number two. Surveying the area.

This boy. <3

Catching frogs.

Froggy girl. <3

Catching frogs.

Lex caught one!! They worked together to get it from the small container to the bigger container, gave it some grass and rocks, and a friend (they accidentally caught a stick bug as well) and then sat back and enjoyed their new pet.

Ben the Frog, or Jumpy, depending on who you ask. :)

Just a boy and his frog.

Ben the Frog/Jumpy, happy to be free again.

We found a newt on the way home, inspiring a newt-related rap for the walk home.

Life in the country. Fresh air and open spaces.

Eve really liked these flowers. The look like dandelions, but much bigger!

Life in the country. Happiness is.

Eve’s summer schedule

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Tessa

Eve woke up this morning and made an exercise schedule for herself. She also wants me to do this too! She has taken it upon herself to train me to run a 5K this fall. Eek! She just ran in place (and around the house) for 35 minutes straight! Talking the whole time! Oh, what we could do if we could harness her energy! We could power the whole neighborhood!

Yay! Christmas Cookies!

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Tessa

It is hard to take a picture of them both looking good these days. I don't know about that face Eve is making. She was very happy about the cookies.

“We are celebrating the first day of summer by eating Christmas cookies!” said Lex. Mom, thanks for the freezer suggestion so many months ago. It was a fun treat to pull out today.

Eve’s first track meet

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Tessa

We had a super fun day today. Eve ran in her first track meet, an AAU Junior Olympic qualifier! She did awesome!! We drove for over two hours to get there, but it was totally worth it. One of the best things about having kids is all the new areas they bring you in to. I remember watching the track team practicing, way back in my high school days, and being so amazed that anyone could run like that. It seemed like a world I would never know. Now I do! Anyway, back to Eve.

The meet was supposed to start at 11am, but we got a call from the coach at 10:30 saying Eve’s first field event, the long jump, was about to start! Luckily we were only five minutes away. I thought we were doing so good to get there early! We got there as fast as we could, Eve hopped out of the car, and ran over to do her first event! Whirl-wind! :)

Practicing the long jump before the actual, official jump.

I have some videos of this and Lex is working on an iMovie project, so I’ll try to get those posted soon too.

Long jump

Eve jumped 6'7" and earned the silver medal.

After the long jump she had a little break. We used that time to find the bathrooms and unpack the car, then it was time for the 400m. Mandy came to join us for the meet to so we helped her unload her car too. Mandy used to run track in high school so she had lots of good information to help us understand what the heck was going on. :)

The start of the 400m. Eve is in front, on the right.

Lex ran out to congratulate her at the end. He has the iPad because he made a video of the run and is working on an iMovie of the day.

Eve came in second, just three tenths of a second behind the first place finisher. She was ahead of the other girl for most of the race, but the girl pulled ahead right at the end. Eve’s coach was so impressed with her 400m that she suggested Eve try the 800m at the next meet. We’ll see what Eve thinks about that. :)

Another long break, then time for the 200m.

The finish line of the 200m.

This is the same as the picture above, just zoomed in more. Notice her feet aren't touching the ground?! I love this picture. She looks so happy.

Her final scores:
* Long jump – 6’7″
* 400m – 1:35.40
* 200m – 0:42.20
Official results are posted here on the AAU website.

After Eve had finished her three events we hung out for awhile longer, cheering on the rest of the team through their events.

Comparing medals. That fine social dance of being proud of your three and supportive of your friend's one.

What did the girls do during their down time? Run around, of course. Racing to the bathroom, playing tag, hopping and skipping. Oh, to have that energy!

Triple medal winner! Two silvers and a gold. Happy girl.

We were going to swing by the Atlantic Ocean and put our toes in the water on the way home, but everyone was so tired and they kids were falling apart, so instead we headed to Panera Bread for dinner at 4pm, and then headed home.

The cool Boston bridge!

After a long day in the sun ice cream seemed in order. :-)

This meet was the District Qualifiers. Eve qualified for advancement in all three of her events. Unfortunately the Regional Qualifers are being held in Conneticut, the same weekend we will be at Niagara Falls! Bummer. We will plan our vacations a little better next summer and see how far Eve can go. For this summer she’ll continue to run in the rec program and enjoy the two meets they do. Next year, if she wants, we can try AAU and Olympic Qualifiers again.

(Full disclosure, Eve is awesome, but participation in her age bracket was also pretty small. There were only two girls participating in the long jump, three in the 400m, and four in the 200m. She did win medals, and ran hard, but the competition wasn’t abundant.)

Happy Summer Vacation!

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Tessa

We celebrated the last day of school (yesterday) with ice cream sundaes, despite the fact that it was Friday, as Eve pointed out several times. :-) Let the summer fun begin!

The mudroom

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Tessa

New floors and sunshine!

Check out our beautiful new mudroom floor! The light shining in is from the new screen door. Alan and Amanda worked so hard on this. Eve helped too. I love all the love that went into making this house beautiful. ?

A persuasive essay from Eve

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Tessa

Last day at the Montessori School

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Tessa

The parents and children are kind and generous.

Today was the last day of school for the children at my Montessori School. It was a day of cleaning up and graduation ceremonies, culminating with a family picnic in the classroom because of the stormy weather outside.

Although I am leaving on my own accord, a choice in which I am confident about, it was still a sad day of goodbyes and farewells. I will miss the families and children at the Montessori School. One thing I really like about working with younger kids is the involvement of the families. In the older grades children take the bus and from school and you can go all year only meeting the parents once or twice. With young kids you see parents (or caregivers) daily. In the Montessori program children stay in the same classroom for three years so you truly form deep bonds with them. Families are also very committed to the program and generally send all of their kids through. As I leave this year I said goodbye to the children in my classroom, the parents, and also the younger siblings that I see each day and who will be attending the school next year. One graduating boy was very sad that I was leaving because he had told his incoming sister all about me and she was excited to have me as her teacher.

I know I will find something even better for next year, but I will miss the connections I have made. I promised everyone that I would be “out and about” this summer, hitting up all the playgrounds with my kids, so maybe we’ll see each other again. It is a small community we all live in.

(I still have a few in-service days of cleaning and preparing for next year, so I’m not entirely done, but it was the final day for the children.)

One busy week

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Tessa

We have had a busy week and a busy “stay at home” weekend and a busy week coming up! It’s the last week of school though, so maybe things will settle down a bit after that. Maybe.

Here are a few pictures of what we’ve been up to lately.

We are loving the Rick Riordan books. We are on book five, “The House of Hades.” Sometimes the kids like to fiddle with things or draw while I read. This is a picture Eve drew of Percy (middle) and Annabeth (left), following Bob the Titan (with Small Bob the cat on his shoulder) through the depths of Tartarus.

Last Thursday the kids had another belt test. They both did awesome and moved up from a yellow belt with a white stripe, to a full yellow belt. I was there for the beginning of the testing, but then I had to leave and go to the spring concert at my school. I was sad to leave their belt test, but I had responsibilities at the concert, and it was adorable. :) Alan was very impressed with the kids’ karate skills.

Can you find Eve and Lex from the back?

On Friday it was Crazy Hair Day in Eve’s classroom. Awhile back Eve and I were talking about her crazy hair and joking about how funny it would be to straighten her hair for the next Crazy Hair Day at school. She woke up Friday morning and said, “Oh, Mom, today is Crazy Hair Day!” Not a lot of prior notice, but we managed to get it straightened and still get everyone to school and work on time. Actually, it was much quicker than I was expecting. Her hair is fine and thin, so the straightener did it’s job quickly.

Half curly, half straight. A work in progress. Maybe we should have left it like that. Would that be extra crazy or just half crazy?

Straight hair. Mostly. I noticed later when looking at the picture that there are still some waves in there. :) I love her face in the mirror.

Who’s that girl?! That hair. That face. That big girl look. Where is my little girl?! Crazy!

By the time she got home it was looking pretty wavy, and after her shower Friday night it bounced right back to curly!

I already wrote about our fun Saturday. Sunday started with a long walk (for me), more garage work (for Alan and Amanda), and plenty of no-plans relaxing for the kids. In the afternoon we had some friends come over to hang out. My friend has volunteered to do face painting for Field Day at school this year and wanted to practice. She invited us over, but I told her I already had five kids at my house and maybe she’d like to come here instead. She and her boys hopped on their bikes and headed over.

It was like a carnival at my house with the kids lining up for face painting. Eve chose to be a lion.

We have a lion, a pumpkin, a pirate, Iron Man, and Lex digging a hole. They are planning to build an underground mansion just for kids. The first step is a very big hole. Two other boys were hanging around too, just not in this picture.

Next week is Spirit Week at school, and the last week of school! Mix-it Up Monday (wear crazy mismatched clothes), Tie-Dye Tuesday, Superhero Wednesday, Field Day Thursday, and Fancy Pants Friday (wear nice clothes for 5th grade graduation and step-up day). Can you guess who in my house is excited and who is not? :) At my school the kiddos are done on Tuesday and I have in-service for the rest of the week. I’m hoping it won’t really take all week. :) Thursday afternoon they are letting me leave a bit earl so I can volunteer at Field Day and maybe, just maybe, Friday won’t be a full day of work. A gal can dream, right? I’d like to say I would relax and enjoy, but likely I’d just spend the time trying to get packed up for Eve’s first track meet, happening next Saturday, 2.5hrs away. Sigh.

Life is busy, but life is good.