Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Butterflies and Chromotography



After observing our butterflies for a few days, it was time to release them.



Come out little butterflies.  
I'm never quick enough to get good pictures during the butterfly release.

Kate made some butterflies that will stick around a little longer.  Chromotography experiments are so easy to set up, and they certainly have a bit of a wow factor.  
















Monday, July 27, 2015

Around Here

We are over a month into summer vacation and there has yet to be a down day where everyone stays home and just relaxes! The kids sure are having a great time.

There have been LOTS of friends over:





The girls and I went to Cara Killoran's bridal shower.

Reagan and Kate were happy to see their cousin Audrey there.
 One of the games involved making wedding dresses out of toilet paper; the girls loved this.



We went to Mynt for frozen yogurt and pictures with a minion.



Kate enjoyed some playground time.
 Blocks are one of her favorite playthings, especially these Twig blocks.
 Her absolute favorite thing to do right now is to ride her Strider bike.

We traded in our silver Town & Country.  It was a little sad to see it go.  We bought it when I was pregnant with Reagan, and both of these girls came home from the hospital in that car.
It was time though, and we are very happy with our new to us 2014 Town & Country.
 This car is funny; sometimes it looks blue and sometimes it looks gray.  It all depends on the light.

Kate moved into a booster seat.  She's happy that she can unbuckle herself now, and I'm not sure if that is a good thing yet.


Reagan and Collin had a week of STEM camp run by Camp Invention.  They had a great time.  Here is just a fraction of what they did:


That pencil Reagan invented during the camp is a pencil that you speak into and it writes what you say.  

Collin had some cool inventions too, but he didn't want to be in pictures.


Caterpillars

We recently ordered a cup of caterpillars from Insect Lore.  This has been one of my favorite things to do with the kids over the years.

 Kate (with messy hair) made some caterpillar art with a paper towel tube dipped in paint.  She added some details with a paint brush.





 She got a kick out of this caterpillar snack.
 Right before a caterpillar forms a chrysalis, it makes a J shape.
Kate has remembered this little fact, and days later (we already had butterflies at this point) she strung beads onto a pipe cleaner and told me it was a caterpillar in the J shape about to form a chrysalis.  Ahhh, see, this is why I love doing this so much; it is a great learning opportunity.