Nature...

For Easter the girls received a Butterfly Garden.  You send away for a container of caterpillars, watch them cocoon, then hang the cocoons in a netted container and wait for butterflies to emerge.  The information that arrives in the kit says you should end up with 3-5 butterflies.  We had 5 caterpillars....3 became butterflies.

I learned new things about butterflies during this process:
1.  Butterflies are cannibals - if one dies, the others will consume it!
2.  They only have an approximate 2 week life span once they emerge from cocoons (so we will release ours quickly. I am NOT ready to explain that process again!)

Here are a couple of pictures of our process:

 

Second nature study at our house is actually in nature!  FYI - if you come to our house avoid the front spiral bush at the corner of the walkway :).  We have had a bird that startles (and sometimes tries to dive bomb us) when we get near.  Today we were able to see (and show both girls) why.....there is, not only a nest, but 3 blue robin eggs in our bush.  We didn't touch them, and I won't move them (I would feel bad if something happened!).  So, I guess we are going to avoid the bush for a while.  I think it will be neat to let the girls keep an eye on the process (if all goes well of course).  :).

Here are some pictures of the nest -  if all goes well there will be more to come in a few weeks:

Mom's Night at ACC

Kaelin's Preschool hosted a Mom's night today.  We spent 1.5 hours with the kids in their normal classroom setting - they sang us songs, showed us around their room, painting, discovering and playing with cornstarch goop.  They made us little framed poems and the teacher gave us a photo keychain.  

The funniest part of the night occurred when the teacher had us play a guessing game.  Earlier in the week she had asked each student a series of questions and wrote down their exact answers.  She then read the answers to us without telling us who the mom was.  The answers were hysterical, especially when we found out who the mom was (some mom's favorite drink was beer, and another's favorite thing to do was 'drink' - though later we found out it was tea.)  Ms. Doyle says she always has one beer drinker and that she doesn't judge, but it was very funny!!!!

I thought it would be fun to share Kaelin's answers about me.  A few were totally random, but most were dead on.

What is your mom's favorite color?  -- Pink

What's your mom's favorite animal? -- A Panda Bear (??)

What's your mom's favorite song? -- the break, break, break, break your heart song (haha she loves it!)

What's your mom's favorite thing to watch on TV? -- big people's movies

What's your mom's favorite thing to drink? -- tea...I think Coke and sweet tea...no diet though (YEP!)

What's your mom's favorite thing to eat? -- salad with blue cheeese dressing (I do like them, though I prefer them with a filet :) )

How old is your mom? -- I think she's like 12 years old (better than the 30 I'll be in 2.5 weeks)

What is your mom's favorite thing to do? --to take care of me when I'm sick ( :( I hate when she's sick!)

What is your mom really good at? -- Really good at cooking and doing laundry

I love when my Mom_____? --snuggles and watches Spongebob with me

My favorite place to go with my mom is ____? -- the toy store

My mom loves _____? - Me

I knew it was me with the sweet tea and not diet remark.  Totally made me laugh!  I loved her.  We had a great night together!

Easter Sunday

We arrived home from our DC trip Saturday at 8pm.  The next day was Easter.  The girls were excited to see their baskets and later drive to Grove City to visit grandparents.

Tangled washcloth - we are obsessed with anything Tangled!

New Veggie Tales!!

Candy before breakfast for both girls :)

Big Papa and Grandma Magee with K. (Great Grandparents)

 

Could've been a great picture if Hailey wasn't sticking her tongue out!

I had to show these next two pictures.  Hailey is lining up her candy, Kaelin is lining up her stickers. I have NO idea where they get this from. ;)

Washington DC

This last week we went to visit some friends in DC.  We left home Tuesday afternoon and returned late Saturday evening.  We've made this trip as a family once before, in December of 2009.  It was Justin's first time to DC - but a bit cold to sight see.  This trip was Ray's first trip, so he and Justin were tourists together.  They fit quite a bit in during our short trip- Korean War, Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, Washington Monument, Natural History and American History Museum, Tour of the Capital Building, Arlington Cemetery, a stop at the Library of Congress and a picture in front of the White House. I am sure I missed something.

I did not take pictures at all this trip.  Ray was the camera man and I decided we didn't need to both lug around cameras :).  So - if you want to see historical pictures, ask him - cause I am only posting cute kid pictures :).

We stayed in Old Town Alexandria.  Our hotel was in a great location - right across from the metro and just down from King Street.  We could hop right on the free King St. Trolley to go down to many restaurants and little shops.  The girls loved to ride the trolley, "red bus".  Hailey loved when the windows were down and she could let her hair fly and wave to people on the sidewalk.

One day we climbed on and were waiting for others to board.  Hailey pointed out the window and said, "What's that?"  I didn't want to answer, but I told her it was a giant mouse.  There was definitely a rat running around the bus stop by the metro station.  ewww. Another thing the girls liked about King Street were the musicians.  Kaelin especially liked the violinist that played along with radio accompaniment.  Both girls LOVED the fact that there were dogs everywhere. In DC most people live in condos or town homes, so if they have dogs, they have to walk them.  The girls wanted to stop and pet each one :p.

Daddy and the girls at the Jefferson Memorial. It was a Warm day, and the girls thought it was neat how the floor/steps/benches were still cool to the touch.  There was also a high school band playing that Kaelin liked.

 There are probably 10 versions of this picture.  She refused to smile, so I tickled her.

Our friends' daughter, Claire, and the girls playing in the grass in front of the Washington Monument.  Claire is right in between our girls' ages at 3.5 years, but still the same height as Hailey :).  She is half Puerto Rican and is absolutely pint sized adorable!

Tickling Hailey again a few hours later.

This was at the Natural History Museum.  The girls are touching a replica Elephant femur.  You could also stand next too one.  It was taller than K.

The girls ALL loved the gems/crystals at the natural museum. Here they are touching some kind of Quartz I believe.

The day we came home (Saturday), we spent the morning at Mount Vernon.  Easily the girls favorite part.  We toured the mansion, then the museums.  The guys liked watching some of the movies in theaters where the effects were amazing (I guess the seats rumbled, snow fell on you and smoke blew on you --they were watching that movie on the Revolutionary War.)  The girls and I liked that they had a separate room just for young kids - it had colonial dress up, coloring, puzzles, a doll house replica of the mansion etc.  When we were done touring only part of the grounds we ate 'colonial style' food in the inn.  I had the Turkey pie.  It was YUMMY!

In a section of Mount Vernon, they had some sheep.  3 of the young sheep were loose and Justin briefly attempted to catch them.  The girls are cheering him on below. It was very cute.  

They had this cut out in the Children's Area and Kaelin insisted we take a picture.

All in all it was a fun trip. Would probably not go again during spring break though - VERY busy! And we would plan ahead more - we wanted to visit the Baltimore Aquarium, but we couldn't get in the same day.  A Lot of places in DC have you buy/request the tickets ahead of time.  Some tours even have you place requests 3 weeks to a month ahead of time!  We have learned, and will know better next time!

Easter Eggs

We dyed our Easter eggs a bit early this year (because of our DC trip) but the girls loved it!  Here are some pictures:

Each egg was a work of art for Kaelin.  

Hailey, on the other hand was content to dye and move on!

 

My mom sent our egg dye kit this year.  She also included these q-tips that held paint for more precise color.  Neat idea, but a mess!  It got everywhere.  I am pretty sure more got on Hailey's shirt and hands then her eggs :).

We only did 18 eggs this year, and the girls would have done a ton more. They also liked the shrink wrap (I used the blow dryer so they could help).

Preschool Songs

Kaelin's preschool class sang at the church last Sunday morning.  I cried during the singing - she has grown up so much in the last year.  She will be 5 in August...before our new baby is due in October.  She is amazed when we talk about that :)

Yes, Jesus Loves Me

They class sang 4 songs total and did great, but the files are too large for me to upload here.

In other news....Kaelin is now registered for Kindergarten in the fall! Such a big girl.  She is SOOO excited to ride the bus.

In other news, we are heading to Washington DC this week to visit our close friends - the Chevere family, and to be tourists :).  It will be Uncle Ray's first trip to the nation's capital.

Easter Pictures

On Friday, Jecca came over to take Easter Pictures!  It is a good thing our photographer is a family friend because she needed some patience with our girls that day!  Dominic on the other hand did great!