Football

Reese began his first year of tackle football this year.  He is enjoying the sport very much and never complains about the extreme heat they have been practicing in since mid-August.

The league he is in is called the Junior Development League and their philosophy is instructional and fun.  He is paired up with similar-sized boys to reduce injury and they play different positions throughout the season.

Here's a shot of my boys at Reese's first game.  His team won!

The second game played was just days before Reese turned 13.  His Mimi and Pa came to watch the game and cheer him on.

A New Creation

In all, we had about 9 monarchs reach full maturity.  Two didn't make it due to wing malformation.

This whole process is simply fascinating to me.

Here is a shot of a chrysalis.  Don't you just love the gold accents.  When you see it in person, it truly looks like pure gold and the green is like jade.

Here are some of my favorite shots of these beautiful creatures (butterflies and children).  

Also, see Sophie's blog for more details.  She has a video of the "birth" of the butterfly.

Before the wings are fully ready, the butterflies are very docile and will stay perched.  

The were trying to release the butterflies but they didn't really want to see them go.

 

 

 

Reese got in on the action too but didn't really want a picture of him with the butterfly.  :-)

Chrysalis!

When the monarch caterpillar has completed 5 instars (molting due to growth), it will usually wander away from the milkweed and find a spot to transform into chrysalis.  This picture is nice because it shows one of our little guys after about the 3rd instar.  The larger one below probably after the 4th or 5th.  It is hard to keep up with them.  All of this growth happens within about 10 days.  They go from about 1mm to about 2 inches!

When we had caterpillars before, we would have to search the whole screened porch to locate the chrysalis because it usually happened when we were not there.  Many  times it was under a piece of furniture.  This time we were blessed as the caterpillar stayed on the milkweed.


Before the caterpillar transforms, it will attach its rear to an object using silk like threads.  Once that is secure, it will hang down in a "J" formation.

 He is still rather tightly curled in this photo, but soon he will hang into a clear "J" form, the antenna will go limp and he will gradually transform into a chrysalis.  After that the last molt occurs revealing a "jewel of nature in jade and gold".  (I borrowed that phrase from Anna Comstock's book).  :-)

The black clump you see is the shed skin.  This process is hard to catch live unless you are dedicated solely to watching the guys.  Here is a link if you'd like to watch the process.  It is fascinating to me.

Caterpillars Day 3

It is so much fun to come out each morning and see how big these guys have grown.

This guy was only .5 cm, now he is about 1.5cm!
As the caterpillars grow, they must molt their skin.  Each stage is called an instar and there are 5 instars  before changing to chrysalis.  Here is a great link with more information.

Sophie wants to do her own nature blog, so I'll save some of the info for her to report on. This will be part of her science this year.

Milkweed, Caterpillars, Butterflies, Oh My!

We are at it again. A couple of years ago we raised monarch butterflies on our screened porch. The children had such a great time (and so did I) that when we found a few caterpillars on our milkweed, we decided to do it again.

If you've never done this, I highly recommend it. It is an EXCELLENT educational tool and we are also learning so much about our Heavenly Father as we observe these fascinating creatures.

All you need is milkweed really. We obtained some from a neighbor and it is very hardy, has pretty flowers and really attracts the monarchs. We simply take a cutting and put it in a vase with water. The vase should have a skinny neck to prevent accidental drowning should a little guy take a tumble. As they munch away, we add new cuttings. The milkweed roots quickly in water so if we continue for a while, we'll often have a ready supply.

Here are pictures of day one.
First, you see our largest one. He was about 1 inch when we found him.



The other three were newly hatched and measured only about .5 cm!! They are voracious eaters and double in size about every other day.

Here is a fun link to a video of a monarch caterpillar hatching from the egg. I don't have the ability to get a good video of it because they are so small.

Stay tuned.

Triathlon

On May 3rd, Sophie and Reese completed their first triathlon. It was so exciting to watch the determination on their faces as they raced through the four parts of the event: swimming, biking, running and transitions. Because Reese turns 13 this year, he had to compete in the Senior Division. The swim was 400 meters, the bike route was 6 miles and the run, 1 mile. Sophie, in the junior division, completed half those distances in each category. If you aren't familiar with a triathlon, the transition is the time between swimming and biking and then again between the biking and running. It is crucial that the time spent in transition be as short as possible as that contributes to your final time. For example, when they came out of the pool they had to run to the transition area, dry off, get some shoes on, a bike helmet etc. and run their bikes to the starting line of the bike portion. There was a timing chip attached to their ankle which recorded times as they started and finished each portion of the race. The chip worked in conjunction with mats that they crossed over at each entry and exit point and at the final finish line.

Both children had many friends also competing and my favorite part of the whole day was watching them all support and encourage one another. Reese's friend, Zach, finished before Reese but decided to go back and run alongside Reese in the final stretch to encourage him to put forth that extra effort. Sophie and her friends also gathered at the finish line to cheer Reese on. (The younger children had finished their races earlier in the day as they were grouped by age.)

Reese is excited to find another kid's triathlon to start training for soon.
Sophie said she would like to do the running and biking but not the swimming. Guess we better work on that.

A House Divided

Mark 3:25 states, "A house divided against itself cannot stand".

Our house has been divided against itself lately. The bickering between the three children is non-stop. In an effort to teach them a lesson, provide positive enforcement and allow them to see how often they mistreat their siblings, I decided to try an idea I read about in the book: Creative Correction, by Lisa Whelchel. (Remember the show The Facts of Life from the 80's?, She played the rich girl, Blair)

The idea was to give each child the same number of lego blocks with which to build a simple structure. As the day progressed, I would award or remove blocks from their structure for either building each other up or tearing each other down. The one with the most legos at the end of the day, wins.

Reese won the first day and was awarded a special dinner with mommy at one of his favorite restaurants. He likes to go to European Street Cafe and get beer cheese soup. Sophie won one day and had a few hours out with Daddy. He totally spoiled her. Drew also won one night and he got a new DS game that I had picked up at a garage sale.

They all three have memorized the verse and I plan to keep up the contests until we get some joy and love in this house! Now that we have them hooked we'll have to make the rewards a little more inexpensive, but it is amazing how this simple exercise changed the tone in the house.

I'd love to hear what you do at your house when the bickering gets out of hand.

My Scout

Several times a year the Boy Scouts host a Court of Honor ceremony to award achievements that the boys have completed. This was the first time we had attended a ceremony and Reese was to receive multiple awards. First, he received his Tenderfoot Badge. Next it was his First Class badge. These are the first two ranks on his way to Eagle Scout. The ranks are Tenderfoot, First Class, Second Class, Star, Life and Eagle.

I was in for a surprise when they called the mothers of the scouts onto the stage. Reese had to use the microphone to thank me for something I do that helps him with scouts. He said he was thankful for sewing on all his badges. Then he "pinned" me with the mother's pins for the two ranks he received. Finally, my favorite part, he had to give me a big kiss!

I'm proud of my Boy Scout!

Giotto Bondone

Today at Classical Conversations, we learned about the artist Giotto Bondone. He made paint from egg yolks and water mixed with crushed minerals, berries and even bugs! He was also one of the first artists skilled in making thing look life-like due to his skill in 3-dimensional art. He began life as a shepherd boy tending sheep for his father but after a meeting with the artist Ciambue, his father was convinced to let him study art.

Here are some shots of Drew's class, which I tutor, using the egg paint we made. We crushed colored chalk as our "minerals" and mixed it with an egg yolk wash.

Back To School

After a long break, we are back to work at the DFCA (Davis Family Christian Academy). And what better way to get back to school than a field trip?
Today we did some thrifty economics and math by taking a trip to Dunkin' Doughnuts. The children sought out coupons and decided what was the best deal. We figured out how much we'd save using the coupon versus paying regular price. We talked about advertisements and why companies would use coupons to get you into the store.

We also talked about nutrition and good choices. Doughnuts are not healthy so they made the wise choice not to eat them all. Mommy had a non-fat latte and chose NOT to partake in the doughnuts. :-)