the butterfly project

Anna had a butterfly birthday this year! We had a cupcake birthday cake in the shape of a butterfly, butterfly flip flops, butterfly dress-up costume, and butterflies to decorate during the party. (Butterflies rank right up there with ANYTHING Princess in our house!)
Part of Anna's birthday present was the butterfly habitat! We started with an innocent cup with six tiny caterpillars!



Those guys ate and ate and ate! They got huge! Daniel loved to watch them eat - Anna, too, but from a distance!



They finally got full enough and moved into the chrysalis phase. This was obviously not fun for the kids! We did get time to talk about all the changes that God was doing on the inside.

About a week later, we had our first butterfly! They are "painted lady" butterflies. Kids LOVED to watch him fly around and stretch his wings. We also fed them slices of watermelon. Eventually, 4 of the 6 butterflies emerged from their chrysalides. We fed and watched them for over a week. Then, we released them! We thought they might fly right out, but were disappointed when they just sat there!! After an hour or so, one butterfly ventured to the top of the habitat. He finally took off and we followed him to the next lot over. He eventually flew away and the kids waved good-bye!

It was a great experience and we'll probably try it again!!

If you're interested, here's where I ordered the all-inclusive kit from: www.Nature-Gifts.com.

Another flight

Daniel & Papa Ray had another airplane flight on April 12th. He had a great time - his favorite part was getting to fly through the clouds! They also saw birds flying in the air.
Anna is not so fond of the loud noise when the airplane taxis away!

Cooking class

Quantity

1 person $15.00 2 people $30.00

From the mouths of babes

They always say to write this stuff down...

At dinner last week, we served the kids the typical meat, vegetable, and salad with Ranch dressing. Kids were eating well until Anna had more lettuce than dressing. "Can I please have more Ranch dress-up?" she asked sweetly. So cute!

Birthday Recap

I cannot believe how quickly the last 2 weeks have flown by! My sister has beat me to the punch and put some great pics up on her blog. The odds are much better for you to look there than back here. At the present moment, I can't even find my camera! My little shutterbug (Daniel) loves to record movies and take pictures around the house. There's generally at least one that puts me in tears laughing; I love to see life through the lens of a 4 1/2 yr old!

Anna scored big time on birthday presents. There is no doubt that a 3 year old inhabits our house. We have a doll house FULL of cute furniture, princess pop up tens, and dress up costumes galore! And dresses and SHOES, of course!

Anna had a family-only butterfly birthday party, complete with a cupcake-bday cake in the shape of a butterfly! Dave & I got her a butterfly habitat that has been very fun to watch! Since the second week in March, we watched our 6 tiny caterpillars get HUGE, turn into chrysalides, and 3 have turned into butterflies! I MUST take more pics and post soon! Daniel named the first one "polkadots" - very creative for the boy who named his stuffed lamb "lamb" and his stuffed brown bear "brown bear". I had to chuckle when the next butterfly was christened "polkadots Anna" and the next to-be-butterfly was named "polkadots Daniel". Too funny!

On the subject of creative names, Anna received a webkinz for her birthday! It is a cute pink poodle - just right for my little princess. I think the name she created - all by herself - was brilliant! Are you ready? Ruffipanella! (I think there's a taste of Papa Ray-isms in that name. ). They love to logon to the webkinz site and take care of the precious pooch. Daniel is a computer pro - Anna loves to watch and give directions. So fun!

Paw Paw and I also celebrated our birthdays. We blessed him with GPS software for his new GPS to be used this summer on the 4 wheeling in Colorado. My family blessed me with lots of great gifties - including a cute jacket, necklace/earrings, Ft. Worth zoo passes, and an outdoor wooden swing and "seed money" for plants. Thanks again!! We had lots of great meals together and enjoyed spending time with everyone.

Next up in birthday land - Aunt Amy, cousin Ellie, and then Daniel!