Rainy Days, Dinosaurs and Constellations

If April showers bring May flowers we are going to have some gorgeous gardens!

Growing up on a farm in the Oklahoma panhandle you learn you are always thankful for rain.

This particular rainy day we just had to have a rainy day recess. :)

Forget the umbrellas! Lets get soaked!

Another fun activity was a dinosaur traveling museum. It came to one of the local elementary schools and was a free event, so we had to take the chance to check it out.

One of Makin's Favorites, the Ankylosaurus

Our kiddos need lots of sleep and we rarely budge on bedtime, so they don't get a chance to see stars much. We went visit Jerry and Joyce one evening, so they were up when the stars were out and they were over-the-moon excited. (Can't imagine how they will be when they get to see them in the country!) We knew about a constellation app and thought it would be fun for them to try and find the constellations since Lorelei learned about them recently in school.

Brad and I were wondering about a really bright star we were seeing so we had them hold the phone up to ID it, and it turned out to be Jupiter! :)

This N That

This spring has been plenty busy with various activities, but somehow I have taken quite a few pictures that don't fit into a certain category! :) So here you go!

Makin learned how to whistle. Loves to practice and has improved a lot!

Now that we do not have soccer after copies on Tuesdays we have a few hours of Mommy and Makin date time.
This particular day he decided to practice soccer at a park. Yes, mom plays goalie in flip flops.
I'm starting to get a bit sentimental that these are our last few weeks to enjoy this!

The kids had fun labeling Brad's office one day.
I also found a note on my grocery list.
Lorelei also makes it a habit to always write "I love you" somewhere on my grocery list.

There were a few days where Makin seemed to want extra Daddy time.
He camped out in his office listening to music on his headphones.

These may fit into a school category! :) How about, random school stuff? ;)

Fun Project Lorelei Did At School,
I was told they did get to eat the cream. :)

There were a few days where listening to music on her headphones was a "thing",
when it was not a distraction from her assignment. The kids usually listen to Pandora stations - Steve Songs or Disney.

Learning Money With Dad
Brad took the teaching reins and set up a store for our supper for extra money practice.

Keeping Busy Building A Lego Horse During Home School

Now back to random...

We had a decent sized hail storm.
L and M loved seeing it up close after the storm settled.

One thing I love about being a no-tv house...the kids have endless chances to get creative.

One evening when I was cooking supper they decided paper bag puppets was the way to go.

It became quite the phase for that week or so and I loved seeing their creations. :)

And yes, tape is definitely on the grocery list.

Makin is participating in spring soccer right now. We were excited to use the Soccer Shots program again and signed up for a mid-day class on Wednesdays. This has made a bit of a mess of our school day, but I'm trying to avoid evening activities as long as possible. This is a different coach than he had in the winter, and while I liked the first coach better, this one will probably push Makin to improve, which is really the next step up from his first class. We have gotten rained out a couple of times already, so this will go a bit into summer. The bottom right picture we had to move to the basketball courts because the grass was so soggy, and it did rain for a few minutes during the class as well. :) Guess that is what you get when you play spring soccer!

Peyton gave Makin his old socks and shin guards and Makin is so excited to wear them!

One bit of unplanned news is that we got a new vehicle! We had hoped Big Red would last us one more year, but the AC went out, followed by the fuel pump...and there were just a lot of things wrong. So the decision was made that we buy something that (hopefully) won't break too many more times this year. ;) We have been wanting a Durango for a while now, so when Brad found one in our price-range (with a DVD player already specially installed for us to use on long road trips!) we felt the timing seemed right. While Makin was super-sad about Big Red (Lorelei doesn't get as attached to cars), he is excited for our new vehicle...who we are still working on naming.

Butterflies

I have wanted to order a butterfly "kit" for my own kids since before I even had kids! At a long term subbing job pre-kids I got to enjoy releasing the butterflies with a 4th grade class, so I have always known about this type of project. This year seemed like a good fit. Makin had a batch in his preschool class as well, but I knew he would like to see them more often than 2 days a week to see the growth. We couldn't believe how tiny the caterpillars were when we opened the box and how quickly they grew. The kids were over-the-moon that we finally had a pet, even if it is temporary. (Yes, a perfect pet, you don't have to walk it or pick up its poop!!!) I quickly found some printable journals on pinterest for the kids to fill out during our project.

I cannot explain how excited they were and wish I had gotten a video.
Makin's jump on the top right shows a gimpse of it.
We put a jelly bean next to the jar to show how tiny they were. (about 1 cm)

Just a few days later...

And a few more days...

They grew to 4 cm long and then started to transform into chrysalises. Yes, I was surprised that they really transformed, not put some kind of silk around themselves! There is a reason it is called metamorphosis. I think The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a great book but it made me forget that real fact! The kids were so enamored they asked to eat breakfast watching them in action.

And then we waited for the chrysalises to fully harden...

prepared the enclosure and waited some more...

Two of the little stinkers decided to emerge while Lorelei was at school! :) Thankfully she wasn't bummed, just super-excited to see them when she got home. There were still two left for her to watch and wait while she did her home school work on Friday, Makin and I were lucky enough to get to watch one through the entire process before he went to preschool. It was so neat. :) Lorelei did see one right after it emerged on Friday and saw how it's wings were still folded and needed to spread out etc. Another highlight was watching them use their proboscis to drink. Just nothing like being able to observe all of this close-up!

Excited Face Getting To See It Emerge From Chrysalis

Intently Watching During Breakfast

Attempting to do math and not miss a chance to see the last two emerge.

Up Close While It Takes A Drink

We ended up deciding to release them a day earlier than planned because of a lot of rain the forecast. We really wanted to hold out for sunny skies because that is what they like best, but there were a lot of days of rain coming up and only bits of clear skies on Saturday so we thought it best to release them a bit early. The kids took it well and loved seeing them fly away. One butterfly had no desire to fly and we aren't sure why, only that perhaps it wasn't sunny enough, so we hope it decided to leave its orange slice eventually. We put it up in a tree that comes to our backyard with it's orange. It gave us all a chance to see it so close without the net in the way since it didn't want to fly though!

Caught a bit of their reactions, but a few of the butterflies even snuck out while the kids were watching their friends fly away. On the top picture (below) you can see they are looking up, but there is one just flying out right above the enclosure.

We loved getting to learn so much about the butterfly life cycle and it was such a fun experience!

Butterfly House Field Trip

Mary and I headed out for a field trip to the Texas Discovery Gardens.

We got there right when it opened, so got to enjoy the place mostly to ourselves and with just few other visitors for about an hour before we headed to the garden area for a picnic lunch. Then we headed back in for the butterfly release, which is the same time each day. They release the newly emerged butterflies, do a little talk and answer questions.

The kids highlights were having a butterfly land on them (didn't get M in a pic) and having the caterpillars crawl on them. (They found some outside in the garden area while they were exploring afterwards.)

Makin Ran Ahead To The First Floor While I Was Still At The Top
(down a ramp, one big room)

Bluebonnets

After several days of late nights with all the fun we have been having, I opted not to keep the kids up late for bluebonnet pictures, even though evening is really the best natural lighting. So, we took advantage of our flexible schedule and did a before-schoolwork photo shoot early(ish) in the morning. (Next best natural lighting.) There is a hill just about 10 minutes from our house that is usually covered in bluebonnets. This year they were quite a bit more spread out and not nearly as full and tall as they have been previous years. (I realized a bit later I probaby should have waited a week or so longer and perhaps they would be bigger...but we probably won't try again.) I decided to call this "good enough" for this year. :) So here are our bluebonnet pictures!

(We couldn't ask for a prettier state flower!)

An Amanda and Sydney Visit

Amanda and Sydney made a weekend trip to our house and we were so excited for our special visitors! Amanda and I love how well our three kiddos play together even though they only see each other occasionally. :)

We girls enjoyed some Starbucks and sunshine on the patio Saturday morning and Brad was gracious enough to take care of the kiddos so we could get extra chatting time in. :) What a hubby!

These two managed to fit in a game of bumper remote cars any chance they could get. :)

They had never had Raising Canes so that was a lunch must. :) We love any excuse for a RC!

Three goofballs. ;)

Then we headed for the lake. It was our coldest visit yet, but they still got wet!

They also loved playing in the sand and Brad was happy to join in on the fun.

We enjoyed lots of feasting, wine and chill time and loved an excuse for a little weekend vacation with you! Thanks for the visit Amanda and Sydney!