MIA and Bird "Cakes"

I have definitely been missing in action for the past couple of months.

There are several reasons for that:

1.  I had a bad headache that just wouldn't leave me alone,

2.  Christmas (need I say more??),

3.  I just needed more time to get some important things done around my house,

4.   and I just needed to focus on my family.

Now, I am ready to have fun blogging again . . .

I decided to start with a repost from last January because Caroline and I made these fun bird cakes again today.

Enjoy! and I will see you again real soon!!

Caroline has so much fun watching this squirrel eat from her bird feeder. She wanted me to take this picture because she just loves how he hangs on with his little feet.

Since Caroline likes watching her new bird feeder so closely (thanks Uncle Steve, Auntie Becca, and family!) we checked a book out at the library called Birds in Your Backyard by Barbara Herkert. I think it was written especially for Caroline. :) It gives so many cool ideas about how to attract and identify birds and the illustrations are beautiful. Today, we made a recipe for little "cakes" to feed the birds.

First, you hollow out oranges. We hollowed out 2 to make 4 cakes. (we used a grapefruit spoon to do this)

Then, we mixed the following in a bowl:

1 cup of bird seed

1/2 cup melted vegetable shortening

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (Caroline insisted on making homemade peanut butter . . .nothing but the best for the birds!)

Last, we scooped it into the hollowed out oranges and . . . voila!!

Don't they look yummy?

We put one outside and waited and waited for the birds to come, but they must have seen us. After a while, we looked and . . . the whole thing was gone! That pesky squirrel. :) That'll feed him for the rest of the winter.

Oh, I tried to get Luke involved in the project, but he was perfectly happy playing Jake's Nintendo DS. :)

Bittersweet

I always get a little bit sad when my babies go back to school.

I would like it if I could have them by my side forever and always.

Last year, I home schooled Caroline and it was lovely, but now it is time for her to go back. It makes me so very happy to see them with their buddies. Is it just me, or does Caroline look so much older??

(check out her new kickers . . . she adores them!!)

Luke will be starting pre-K next week. I'll have to admit that I am pretty excited that I will have two and one half hours to myself four days a week.

What will I do??

:)

Caroline's Butterflies

Caroline was one happy little girl when she saw this box on our doorstep!
She ordered 10 caterpillars from California and waited patiently for two whole weeks for them to arrive.

I wonder what the mailman thought.

:)

Then she waited patiently for them to turn into chrysalids. (I had never heard that term before these came in the mail . . . I always thought it was chrysalis's . . . I think both are correct)

Anyway . . .as soon as they all turned into chrysalids, we attached them to her butterfly tent.

In about 10 days, they all began to hatch!! ALL of them!! How wonderful! They were Painted Lady butterflies.

Caroline enjoyed taking them out to "play", then she let them go (one each day).

It was really a great experience to watch the miracle of metamorphosis. God is amazing . . . to be able to change an ugly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly like that. Just think of what he can do with us, if we let Him.

:)

"Bathematics"

The other day, Caroline and I were studying liquid measurements. What better place to study liquid than in the bath?! She had a great time figuring out how many quarts were in a gallon, how many cups were in a quart, etc. . .

Science Experiments

Caroline and I are studying all about the states of matter in Science so we checked this book out at the library.The first experiment that we did was "Ooblik". You just mix corn starch and water together until you get a gooey mixture. When you hold it tightly in your hand, it feels like a solid, but then when you let go, it oozes through your fingers like it is a liquid. The kids played with their Ooblik mixture for quite some time. Since it was nice outside, they took it out and really had a blast with it.

(Notice the bare feet and green grass?? The very next day that grass was covered with two inches of snow!!)

Caroline decided to get her feet in the ooblik. :) Why not??Oh, to be a kid again!

The next experiment was "Balloon Blow - Up" to show how gas fills up a space.

We filled a juice bottle half way with vinegar and then we put two tablespoons of baking soda in a large, stretched out balloon with a funnel. (we just made a funnel out of a rolled up piece of paper) We then put the balloon over the mouth of the juice bottle and let the baking soda fall into the vinegar. Voila!!! The balloon filled up with the gas (carbon dioxide) that was released. Cool!!

I love the look on Caroline's face in this next picture as the balloon is blowing up from the gases that are being realeased and I love how you can see Luke running away in the distance because he is afraid the balloon is going to explode. ;) After the balloon was blown up, Caroline drew a silly face on it.
The kids sure had fun doing these experiments.

Arboretum

Last week it got up to 70 degrees so we erased all of our plans and headed to the Arboretum for a picnic and some fun!! Look at that clear blue sky!!

The kids had so much fun being outside with no coats on!!

Eating a snack on "Big Rock"

You can do it!!

Making a "zen" garden.

Caroline took this picture of a twisted tree. Can you tell why the Arboretum is one of our very favorite places to be??