Nature, nature, everywhere

In recent news, Jack made it through to "Mindy's Room" on XM Kids and got to play 2 Realsies and a Whopper, it got cold again, and Andrew received this....

as an Easter gift from his Nana & Papaw.  It has consumed him.  First, incase you don't know what this is, this is the "Live Butterfly Garden" from insectlore dot com.  We had to send off for his live larvae.  Which meant the 7-10 longest business days were ahead for my middle child.  BUT on the blessed day when those little larvae arrived, JOY burst forth from all 40 pounds of my nearly 6 and a half year old with the force of a might fount!



These are the larvae on Day 4. 

They've doubled in size since arriving Monday.

He has watched over these larvae, caterpillars, like a hawk.  He has memorized the instruction papers.  He is absolutely convinced now that they indeed are not d.o.a.  Which they did seem to be.  These caterpillars spin silk, live in their frass (look it up), climb the walls of their cup (sending Andrew into a frenzy that a chrysalid is about to form...b/c they do this at the top of the cup...duh). 

                                                              Oh and they grow!

This is Andrew on alert. 

He has been carful not to let anyone get too close to the caterpillars.

Did I mention they are all named?

1. Godzilla
2. King Kong
3. Dude
4. Andrew
5. Superman

                                   Andrew (the boy) is the only one able to tell them apart.

To date all is well with the caterpillars,

and only we've only had one known occurence of shaken cup.

News from the front porch:

These uninvited guests of spring don't pay rent, are messy,

and break all kinds of noise ordinances.

Yes, ma'am. I'm talking about you and your babies.

She isn't too fond of having her picture taken.

And she leaves the nest whenever I come out on "her" porch.

How rude.

I can see-eee you.

Miss spring-thing can keep those babies in-line though.  As soon as she leaves the nest, their bobbing headings go down out of sight and they don't make a peep.  She sits in the bradford pear just off of her porch and makes a distinct "stay down and keep quiet" chirp. 

She's mocking me.  I just know it.

For Pete's Sake

“Them syreens did this to Pete. They loved him up and turned him into a horny toad." ~Delmar

But these are frogs for Pete's sake!  

Introducing...

Tad,

Michigan J., 

Kermit, 

Jeremy Fisher, 

Frogger, 

Jeremy Fisher (foreground), Frogger (background), 

Michigan J. again, 

Tad again, 

Tad again again, 

Kermit again, 

Frogger again,

Jeremy Fisher again.

It saddens me to say that I haven't any guts and goo pics to share with you.  I got busy going over the internal anatomy with each student.  They did a great job!  

Biology Rocks!

By the way, this is the highschool biology co-op class I am working with.  We are using Apologia Biology: Exploring Creation With Biology 2nd Edition.  This is our first year to be in a co-op and my first time to facilitate this course.  I am loving it!  If you're using this text or are considering it for yourself or your co-op, please go here for more information. 

Kickin' It Kindergarten Style

It has been such a hoot and a holler to be Drew Dog's Kindergarten teacher.  You know how most of us had that Kindergarten teacher that was just sooooo sweet, and was probably one of your favorite teachers...well I get to be that teacher for my boy!  How cool is that???  Pressure.  Now I  feel pressure.


Well, as most of you may...or may not...know, Kinnygartners love to cut.  Cut paper. Cut magazines. Cut hair.  Cut the cheese.  You know how it is if you have boys or A boy.  Anyway, cuttin' and gluin', 2 of our favorite Kinnygarten activities and I try to make sure we get in enough.  They are important activities and sometimes we moms can omit things that get messy and that could well...impale someone.


Anyway, all is intact today after some mighty fine cuttin'.  I know I'm the proud Mama, but even if I do say so myself, my boy has skillz. yo


Here you go....

K5 Cuttin' from Wendy Hogan on Vimeo.


And in case your kiddos need a little encouragement in the right direction lest they find themselves cuttin' in all the wrong places on all the wrong things, Andrew has shared with us this public service announcement....

Andrew's Rules For Cutting from Wendy Hogan on Vimeo.

Lafayette Childrens Museum

If I'm anything, I'm flexible.  Just call me "Elastigirl".  My ability to adjust, go-with-the-flow, and adapt is but one of my super-human faculties.  Faculties that sometimes throw my not-so-go-with-the-flow men for a loop.  Faculties I had to employ on the situation at hand this morning...

Let me back up a bit...we switched out our summer attire for cool weather duds yesterday thus ensuring Summer's awakening from its cat-nap.  You may have noticed the effects of our unannounced actions.  Switching out your summer clothes for fall clothes in these parts all but guarantees getting Summer all stirred up so it can go out in a blaze of glory.  

The situation at hand was "Field Trip Day".  Ah yes, I...we...love field trips.  We take them frequently as homeschoolers.  The world is our classroom and today the intended classroom was the Audubon Zoo; by the way, last time I went to the Audubon Zoo they all asked for you. HA!

However, due to Summer's last hoo-rah it was just too warm to walk around the zoo.

So we went west to Lafayette and visited the Lafayette Childrens Museum.  It was new to us.  It was fun.  It was crazy.  It was a rip-roaring good time.  It was in the A.C.  You feel me? AC.

this is me without AC

this is me with AC

Who would you rather spend the day with?

Even Elastigirl needs her AC.

Well, that's one way to make bubbles...

and THAT's another!

My 3 even made big bubbles...and not in the tub this time. 

Lafayette Childrens Museum from Wendy Hogan on Vimeo.


All that bubblin' fun can sure make a body hungry...

3 Brothers Cafe: the next 'Triple D' sensation.

makin' groceries @ the Winn Dixie

We finished up at the museum and found a fun fro-yo shop.  Our little whippersnappers love making their own yogurt at these charge by the oz shops.  The yogurt dude made us guess the weight of each cup for a promo that the fro-yo shop is doing...guess the weight of your cup exactly and it is on the house.  Guess what...we didn't get free fro-yo.  Paid fo fro-yo is better than no fro-yo...you know.

Aaaaaannnnd of course we were in the middle of the Whiskey Bay portion of the bridge when jr. decides to tell us he has to "go".  Sorry lil' dude, you gotta wait.  Wait he did.  This is what we found at our pit stop...

guess what his name is...

raise your hand if you said Tony...you would be correct

guess where we found him...

raise your hand if you said the Tiger Stop Conoco...you would be correct

raise your hand if you think an animal this magnificent shouldn't 

be in a cage at the Conoco...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

did i scare ya?

sorry

had to end on an up note

pickin' and grinnin'

Every Friday, after co-op (homeschool speak for classes you do in cooperation with other homeschoolers) Jack has guitar with Mr. Ralph and a few other kiddos.  For some reason I always call Mr. Ralph "Mr. Frank"...I can't stop, I know he's Ralph, but Frank comes out.  

The kiddos love to hear and watch Mr. Ralph jam.  He loves to do it for them too!  He can really cut loose and go to town on a guitar.  While he's jamming, the kiddos go into dream world and you can see that they've transformed from mere kiddos into rockers themselves and they "air jam" right along with Mr. Ralph.  The facial expressions they make are killer.

guitar class Oct 1 from Wendy Hogan on Vimeo.

The moms take turns staying late for the lesson.  This was my chance to stay and get some pictures.  I got to be that fly on the wall that we all wish we could be, once they forgot I was in the room.

This group of kiddos is pretty cool in my book.  They've been so friendly to us newcomers and I think the boys are making fast friends.  See how normal we homeschoolers can be? Shocking.

The class was rockin' and rollin' right along until...

got pick?