TEAM BUTTERFLIES

Okay, I may be a team mom ............. but our team is soooooooooo cute! They play and work hard at every game! And they have the most fun looking for "BUGS" in the grass. At one point today 2 players had grasshoppers and 2 others had lady bugs. When it was their turn to go in and play they would pass the bug to another player to "babysit". So cute! And of course my hubby Mr. Tom the coach! He is doing great with these girls! Oh, and I have discoverd a new site scrapblog.com to create these super duper fun page layouts.

Nur.ture

Nur.ture

1.take care of young thing

2.encourage somebody or something to flourish

Finally ..... Shae got her haircut!

Shae has been wanting this haircut for a couple of months now. I kept telling her "not yet, not yet". I really didn't want the up keep on it. But, she told me that it was her "dream" haircut that she always wanted. tee,hee,hee! So, I gave in and that was probably the best thing I did for her. She just beemed in that salon chair! She couldn't stop smiling and looking at her self in that mirror! It came out just adorable and looks great on her too!

Good Night Mommy

My tired little chicken ready for bed tonight had a few sad thoughts in her head.

Shae: Mommy, I don't want you to die.

Mom: Don't worry I won't die for a long time and I will always be with you.
Shae: Mommy, will you forget our hand shake with our noses? (crying)

Mom: No, I will always remember our noses rubbing together before we kiss goodnight. I love our little snuggle, snuggle!

Shae: Will they burn you with your clothes on when you die?

Mom: I don't know.......... maybe not.

Shae: What about your hair? Can I have some?

Mom: Yes, you can cut some off if you want when I go. (now in tears)

Shae: I love you more than anything and I want to die with you.

Mom: Me too baby! You never know. We may go together but if we don't I will be waiting for you somewhere ... somehow in my thoughts.

Shae: Can I have something of yours?

Mom: Yes.

Shae: But if I die first I won't have a chance to take anything of yours.

Mom: Sure you will! (the both of us still in tears) My love and my snuggle.

Shae: Goodnight mom. I love you. And can I have one more snuggle?

Mom: Sure!

Oh, as the girls grow older it saddens me to hear these questions and have these conversations. But as a mother I know only I can make her feel "okay" so that she can go to sleep better at night. I am so very thankful for the time we have together.
Soon, they will be moving on with their own lives with me less involved and I can look back and cherish every second that we had and life is "too short".
Good night.

PHOTO SESSION

What fun the girls and I had today! We decided to check out a few places around town and do a spontaneous photo shoot. We had no tripod, no big flash and no extra photographer. The pics you see with me in it was all on timer and totally blind hoping the girls were smiling. Of course they did great! We even found some leaves beginning to turn at the courthouse down town. Shae and Kayla ran around picking up the yellow leaves. Well, here are a few of the photos from today.

Already in transformation!

WOW!! Day 4 after having captured our most interesting Cecropia Moth Caterpillar ...... one has started to spin his web like cocoon. It is just amazing how attached we have gotten to these critters. After having to fetch fresh leaves from the bush we found them on daily and cleaning out their HUGE poops. They just ate and pooped and ate and pooped. Then the one decided he was done eating and ready to do his thing.

In this picture you can see the one caterpillar at the top not yet ready. But the white blob is the other caterpillar encased inside his web like cocoon. We actually got to see him making it. It was amazing! His head would go back and forth above himself making strings of web which appeared to be with his mouth. We watched on and off all day long.

This morning it is in full cocoon. The color has changed and the shell has hardened.

This moth is North America's largest moth. It will become the Saturnid Moth with large colorful wings.

I actually found these next pictures on the web and a guy actually slit open the cocoon to peek at it during its stage of transformation.

Here it is when we started just 4 days ago.

This is the stage it is in now. How crazy is that!

In a day or so it will look like this inside its cozy home.

Then this amazing change and so on. We will keep it outside in a safe place in its habitat so it can adapt to the weather changes. It will stay in its cocoon all winter and will emerge next Spring. Pray for out little friend and hope the conditions are just right for it to become the Saturnid Moth. We will keep you posted of any new events with our new critter friend.

Enormous Caterpillar!

What in the heck! So, I walked by this bush and saw what looked like a huge bright green blob on the stem. And looking clooser I realize that IT (yes it) was alive and moving. It is a ENORMOUS caterpillar. So, quick .... "get a cup"! We captured 2 of these "prehistoric" looking caterpillars. We have them here in captivitiy for scientific use in our studies. We go back to that bush every other day to retrieve its special leaves that is eats. Its poop is HUGE! We will observe it daily until it goes into its "pupa" stage and then hatches into something HUGE with wings?

In doing some research online .............. it looks like it will become a large Silk Moth. We will keep you up to date on its transformations.

P.S. They are safe in a large Butterfly habitat.

Girls Soccer Rocks!!

Today was Shae's first soccer game. She was sooooooooooo excited and yet nervous. But when she got there she couldn't stop kicking the ball and she was on a mission. Our team did awesome! And Shae scored 3 goals! "Go Butterflies!" (the team name)

Our family came up from Mesa and the group picture with their uncles is so funny. As our new little nephew came up with them and he was crying and Kayla was helping him smile by pulling his cheeks to the side. Funny moment to catch!

Shae going for the goal!

Warm up time!

A Look Back in Time .....

Okay, so this was an amazing show!! I took the girls down to Phoenix yesterday to see "Walking with the Dinosaurs ~ the live experience" and it was absolutely worth the 2 hour drive each way. These creatures were life size for their era. We did a unit study of the dinosaurs for an entire week before the show and I am so glad we did that. Right from the start a "Paleontologist" came out and was the main speaker and the girls knew that he studied dinosaurs.



He had a giant dino fossil in his hand and talked about the solid rock layers and the girls had made fossils 2 days before from chicken bones that I had saved and shells. The night before we read a book about the Anklysaurs and sure enough he was there "live" and HUGE! And oh my goodness ......... the Brachiosaurus was over 2 stories tall.
The Dinosaur Lapbook

We created a dino lapbook and a dinorama habitat complete with a volcano, trees from pine clippings from out backyard and sand witha bone being dug up just like the Paleontologists did. We even made paper T-Rex dinos to make the habitat complete. What a way to learn! The girls are so into learning as it is fun and interesting! All in all it was a great experience for the week and the top off was the show "Walking with the Dinosaurs". We couldn't have gotten much better seats with center stage, lower level and 10th row. Just AWESOME! The Dinorama Habitat

See the short clips of video that I took they are just cool!

Yummy Blackberries!

I heard about a remote wild blackberry patch in the Prescott forest. So, when I had mentioned it to my kiddos they wanted to go find and pick the blackberries. Yesterday, we did just that. After the girls finished their school work ... with a friend of mine we headed out to find the secret patch. We must of drove past the patch 3 times before knowing what we were looking for as the berries were hanging underneath the canopy of leaves. It was like "I spy" in the wild forest that looked like a jungle to me. ha,ha,ha!

The location is about 20 minutes from down town and on a dirt road for about 5-8 miles. The vines were thick and beautiful with a creek running along side the blackberry patch.

Shae was fearless of the thorns and was on a mission. She picked and picked and ate them as fast as she picked them. We had a great time with our friends and what an experience.

To top things off ...on our way home we stopped at a local ice-cream place and got vanilla ice-cream so Shae could mix in her freshly picked blackberries.

Silly Hamster!

I had a piece of a toilet paper roll in the cage for Cotton (Shae's hamster) to chew on. I had it split down the middle so it wouldn't be too tight just incase he did decide to go thru it. And thank goodness I did! I peeked at him in the cage and about died. He was just sitting there eating with the toilet paper roll around him like this. So of course I ran to get the camera. And yes I took it off.

Zoo Field Trip

Today our homeschool grp met at the Prescott Zoo. Only 6 families came but we had a fun time with the kids and seeing the animals. I think their favorite was the Peacocks. They are definately not afraid of people and the kids love to chase them around the zoo grounds. We brought a picnic lunch and the kids play in their play area at the end.

Shae and Avery

Kayla looking a little flushed from the heat today.

The group looking at the coyotes.

Goldwater Lake Outing

Oh we had a blast last week at our Goldwater Lake outing with some friends! Shae was most intrigued by the water and picking up dead crabs and such. She also paid no attention to the "No Swimming" sign. Before I could say "get out" she was in up to her thighs and giggling about it.

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The girls spied a swing that over looked the lake. They hung out on that for a bit and talked about the pretty water and pine trees.

We were basically the only ones there as we went during the week while everyone is at school or work.