They are finally butterflies!!

Sadly not a great picture! These guys were just not cooperating well. They kept flapping those wings so everything is a huge blur. They are monarchs in case you didn't know. They were really friendly even letting the kids pick them up and everything but they just would not be still enough for a clear picture. As always the kids loved doing it and the next day they all flew to freedom. As soon as they were let go Fox and Skyler Bay both said, "mom when can we do it again"? They really love this!!

We are raising caterpillats!

For my daughters birthday a wonderful homeschool mom sent her a butterfly habitat and a few days ago our caterpillars arrived! As you can see they were allready pretty big when they got here.

Today they have already spun into their cocoons. So we had to transfer them to the habitat. We have done this several times before and my kids still love it! They are just amazed that they spin and come out something totally different.

They have been put in their little habitat and the kids will start counting down until they see butterflies!

More Irony from Mother Nature

So the mouse was gone!! It is celebration time of course. My evil cat did his job and I was free to return all the silverwear to the drawers. I was happy. I guess Mother Nature decided that I had to pay for the crime of offing one of her creatures. As if my guilt was not enough or somethng right? I don't like hurting anything but I can't stand the creatures in my house free ya know. About four something this morning a little of baby mice ran into my schoolroom squeaking for their mother as loud as possible. Little bitty things that didn't know not to run right to my cat. He got 4 and the boys rescued these....

So I am guessing since my cat took out their mother I now have these little guys to tend too. They are cute. My children are in love with them. That is irony for you. My "baby" killed their mom so now I have her babies. I buy traps so my cat finally gets the mouse. Oh well what can you do really?

Irony...

When your cat catches a caught mouse! The cats are not doing their job so to speak so you guy buy some traps because you see your awesome mouser is failing miserably at this mouse. You buy traps and Nope nothing. Can't catch anything with those either. Finally you get some glue traps. Yes they are not the best thing but neither is having mice roaming free in your house either. Can we say gross. As a child I had pet mice they lived in cages and I played with them. I have great memories of these pets. But not as these icky things using my silverwear drawers as a restroom GRRRRRRR! Well onto the glue traps. My parents also gave me some huges rat sized things as well. These suckers are like 3 glue traps in one. They are huge.

I guess my cat was a bit angry these things replacing him and all. See I have an evil cat, his name is Hush. He is not social, hates children and most everyone else as well. So he is not prejudice he hates us all equally. He is a wonderful mouser. The best so I figured this mouse must be the mouse king or something to get away this long. So on with the catching a caught mouse....

I was just rudely woke up to what I was positive was the noisiest intruder possible I heard chairs being tossed over, crashing noises LOUD! I was walking through a dark house armed with my cell and a can of pepper spray to find my evil cat Howling at the top of his lungs thrashing all over my school room. You would have thought a herd of wild animals was in there. It took me a second to figure out what was going on, Evil caught a mouse!! Note to Evil don't catch mice on glue traps Yeah evil cat, mouse, glue trap use your imagination.

He hissed and yowled like a crazed animal. It was on the bottom of all his paws stuck up the side of one leg. I finally got it off with said mouse attatched. The cat hissed and tried to smack me. He has walked around all day hissing at everyone and you hear the sticky sound with every step he takes. I love my animals and am glad to know that he can open drawers which is where the trap had been.

Damian planted some sunflowers

Damian got a really cute little sunflower greenhouse set up from one of his travelers so today we put it all together! He was very sweet letting the other kids help with putting the seeds in. When they were done it found a home on the top shelf in the nature area.

Nature up close and personal

Today we visited a family run zoo and rescue. It was small but sweet. The kids got to see interesting animals but te best part was the end. My son Fox got to hold a baby fox. It was amazing to see that. Damian and Skyler got to play with and pet a baby deer. Sky cried all the way home for that little deer.

The best part for me besides seeing the kids so happy was this beauty. She is almost a year old and full blooded timberwolf. She is also up for adoption. Look at her, isn't she beautiful and magnificent? I can truly see owning this girl if I could afford to feed her that is. We also wanted to bring home the baby fox sadly he was not up for adoption. All in all it was a great little trip to an out of the way place.

The Nature Book For Our Travelers

For the cover we used a flower my son is holding. This is a little book we have made for our traveler friends for geography. You can see that blog here. We used things from our yard and things we gathered to make a little nature book. The pages are made from baggies and include leaves, bark rubbings some sand etc. The kids liked gathering things for these and enjoyed putting them together. We have had alot of fun with our travelers and enjoying sharing the nature of our area with them.