Butterflies!

A few months ago, we bought a Butterfly Garden Kit that lets you watch caterpillars change to butterflies. We ordered the caterpillars and five of them came in a little sealed plastic cup with a bunch of food at the bottom. We watched them for a week or two as they grew and grew. The kids loved watching them move around the cup. By the time they were getting ready to make their chrysalis, they were huge!

One morning we came down, and all but one had started the chrysalis process of hanging like a J. It was fun to see them change from caterpillar to the chrysalis. We waited a few days once they were all in their chrysalides and then moved them to the butterfly garden.


It took another week or so before they finally emerged from the chrysalides as butterflies! Unfortunately, despite my trying, we missed the emergence of all of them!


It was fun to see the butterflies flutter around in the garden and watch them drink the orange juice from the orange slices. It has to be at least 55 degrees outside in order to release them so we had to keep them inside for awhile but we finally got a few warmer days and we were able to take them out and release them. Addie and her friends had fun trying to hold them and touch them before they fluttered away.





It was a fun experience for the kids and definitely worth the money for the kit. I'd recommend this if you get the chance!

Donuts for Sale

Clay is such a good dad. One Saturday in March, it was unusually warm and the kids were out taking advantage! A couple of the girls down the street had made a Kool-Aid stand and were selling it for 50 cents a cup! All of the girls joined in, recruiting people to come buy the small cup of it. Apparently the days of 10 cents a cup are LONG gone!

Addie really wanted to sell something after seeing her friends doing it and Clay got a great idea to make up some donuts for her to sell. Of course, Addie was on board for that! While he made the donuts (yes, they were homemade donuts), Addie and her friends got her table set up outside, a cup for the money and her easel with a donuts for sale sign all ready.

By the time the donuts were almost ready, the crowd of kids had faded but Addie was walking around outside yelling, homemade donuts for sale in 15 minutes! Occasionally I'd hear her yell, donuts for free and I had to give her a quick money lesson that if she said the donuts were free, they would not be paying for them so she quickly stopped saying that!

Finally, Clay brought out a dozen or so donuts and Addie and her friend started the selling process. She mostly sold to neighbors on the street but they were also able to get a few people passing by to stop and purchase one or two!

When the last donut was gone, she brought her money inside. At $.75 each, she definitely did pretty well for herself! She gave her friend some of the money for helping her (a bit begrudgingly--but she did it) and then got to keep the rest for her piggy bank to save for a trip to Disneyland! The next day she was already asking me what else she could sell to make some money!

Clay was such a good dad to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon, in the kitchen making donuts so his little girl could have a "donut stand" and earn some money!!!

March

Here is some of our March fun! Got a few nice weather days in...so glad Spring is coming!

The Children's Museum is always a fun way to spend an afternoon- especially with friends!









More donuts...



Addie went to sleepover with Grandma so Will and I got a morning to ourselves! We went to the aquarium. He enjoyed being able to go at his own pace. He loved to watch the sting rays but wasn't too thrilled when one popped up to say hi!



Outside fun on a few days where it was semi-warm! The kids love having so many friends around to play with! It's fun to see them all out there too! Can't wait for it to stay warm!



Haircuts for both kids! Will did much better this time...until the buzzer came out to do around his ears and his neck! He's such a wimp!

Flowers starting to bloom! We also "started" some veggie plants for our vegetable garden!



Kite flying...after multiple attempts on several different days, we finally got it up high enough to stay in the air for more than a few seconds!


A fun afternoon with Gaga! She brought some flowers for the garden (and planted them) and bubble guns for the kids!

February

Here are some of the things we did during February!

This is a common sight in the mornings (while I get showered and ready)...looks more like an advertisement for Apple!

The Aquarium!

McDonalds!

A trip to the dentist! Addie did great. Will did pretty good considering it was his first time. They both had great reports- no cavities and perfect bites!



We visited Tracy Aviary. It was neat but too cold. Next time we'll go when it's warmer outside!


Valentine's Day was fun. Addie and I both got roses from the boys (Addie was so excited to get her own)! She had a party at school, we made sugar cookies and then Grandma and Grandpa came to babysit while Clay and I went with friends to the Sarah McLachlan concert at Kingsbury Hall. It was a great way to spend the evening- fantastic music and great company!



Took advantage of a nice weather day to head up to the zoo! Will loved it!




Of course, we got more snow! We had a decent amount one Saturday morning so the kids got to play in the snow with their friends and their dads. They built a fun sledding ramp in our front yard and I helped them build a little snowman.




Will and Jesse had fun eating the snow!