Thursday, May 28, 2009

My Girly Entomologist

Remember my bug-loving little girl from last summer? Well, this weekend at the cabin, she found a few tent caterpillars, though not the hundreds we found last May. Like last year, she fell in love with them and played with them all weekend. This year was a bit different, though...

Last year, Hannah was content to keep the caterpillars in a fishbowl with a bunch of leaves and let them crawl on her hands and arms. This year, she decided that the first caterpillar she found was her pet and that he really wanted to play with her all day long.

She began by pushing him around in the little doll carriage.

She was thrilled that he grabbed the little doll rattle with his feet. "Look, mama!" she yelled. "He wants to play with it!"

Then, she tried to feed him a leaf in the high chair.

She decided that he would be happier if the whole doll house were full of leaves.

Then, she put him down for a nap.

I felt bad for the poor caterpillar and tried to convince her that she was killing him with all of her attention. She just insisted that he could not live without her! After two days of this, the caterpillar "escaped" while she was looking at the stream. Hannah was quite distraught, until she found another caterpillar a few hours later and started again...

Baby Birds

When we got back from vacation at the cabin, we had baby birds in our nest!

The first day:


Today:

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Preschool Graduation and Field Trip

Hannah and Ben had their last day of preschool on Monday. Instead of regular classes, they had a field trip to Malabar Farm. The kids loved all of the animals - cows, ponies, goats, sheep, rabbits, turkeys, and chickens. In the main barn, kids could pet the animals.

Just outside, they could feed chickens and turkeys. Hannah's favorite animal was a male turkey, who was gobbling and showing off his feathers. A while ago, she wrote a journal about wild turkeys based on a book she had read about them, and she loved that their heads turn red, white, and blue when they are excited. Seeing this turkey made her day:

After this, we walked down to the pond. A frog sat in the cool water:

And we saw raccoon tracks in the soft mud:

We finished the morning by spending some time in the visitors center, which had fun activities for the kids, and a walk through the aviary, where this crow hopped around and entertained the kids:

Later that evening, both classes met at a church for the end-of-the-year program and graduation. Ben was excessively excited. He danced all over the stage, yelled out random embarrassing comments, and made up his own rhythm to the songs they sang. He was wild and rather entertaining. I had to hide my head behind the pew so I could laugh without encouraging his off-the-wall behavior!

Other than that, though, they both did very well. Ben recited his sight words:

Hannah read the book Swimmy, by Leo Lionni, to the audience with good pronunciation and lots of expression. And, she proudly received her diploma.

I cannot believe she will be going into Kindergarten next year...

Hannah's Ballet Recital

After months of practice and lessons, Hannah's ballet school had its big recital this weekend. What a crazy week! The kids had dress rehearsal Tuesday and Friday and performances Saturday and Sunday. I signed up to be a helper mom, so I sat backstage with Hannah's class on Friday and Sunday. I was able to watch the show on Saturday with our family, who all came in from out of town for the weekend.

All of the kids had to arrive about an hour and a half before show time in order to get dressed and put on their make-up. Some parents brought snacks and coloring books for the girls because they would be backstage for around 3 hours. In the beginning, most of the girls sat nicely and waited, but by the end, they were running around the room, ready to be finished!

The school had a fun theme for their show this year. It was called "Dancing off the Page," and each dance was based on a different children's book. The show began in a library at closing time, and once the lights went out, the characters from the different stories started coming out of the pages of a large book onstage.

Hannah's teacher chose Clifford for her class's theme. Though the girls had a little trouble remembering their dance, which is expected considering their age, they did an excellent job and were quite adorable as well!

Their dance ended with them all giving Clifford a big hug:

After the show, my parents, Josh's mom, and I all had bouquets for Hannah. She could not stop grinning! She kept saying over and over how proud she felt and how much she loved her flowers. It was a perfect way to end the year!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

More Babies

Last Saturday was a very windy day, so I moved my hanging basket from its hook and set it on the porch so it would not blow away. The next day, I went outside to water my plants, and I noticed a tiny egg nestled among the sunflowers the kids planted. I could not find a nest, and I had no idea where the egg had come from.

Later that evening, Josh stood on the wall of the porch and looked into my hanging basket. There, well hidden in the middle of my fuchsia, sat a perfectly made little nest with a matching egg inside it. I placed the other egg in the nest, but worried that the mama bird had abandoned the nest, because I had moved the plant the day before.

All day on Monday, I glanced out of the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of a bird near the nest, but I saw nothing. Finally, in the evening, I thought about disposing of the nest so the eggs would not rot in my plant. However, when I climbed up and looked into the basket, I saw three tiny eggs instead of two!

Now, mama bird hangs out in the nest and sits on her eggs. We have identified the pair as house finches, and the male has pretty red feathers and a lovely song. I peered in the nest today, briefly, and counted six little eggs. I cannot wait until they hatch. I wonder if the mama bird will let me get close enough to see the babies or if she will defend them a little more than she has defended the eggs...

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Releasing the Babies

We released our praying mantis babies today! I opened the cup, scattered the babies in our bushes, and laid the egg on a lower branch. We marveled at how well they blended into the leaves and twigs, and then the kids ran off to play...

Beginning to crawl out of the cup:

In the bushes:

The egg case in the bush:

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Spring Science Update

Just a brief update on our spring science projects...

The flowers are continuing to grow. We will probably plant them in the garden sometime in the next two weeks.

A week or so ago:

Today:


And, this afternoon, I glanced over at the praying mantis egg on our mantle and noticed what appeared to be movement. I jumped up to examine it and discovered this:


We have babies! We cannot catch aphids to feed them, so we will have to release them tomorrow. I am afraid the birds in our bushes will have a feast, but we see many praying mantises in those bushes each year, so hopefully a few will survive and grow. They should blend in quite well with the branches on the bushes, so that should protect them somewhat as long as they are still. The kids were very excited!

Where homeschooling is just a small part of becoming life-long learners.