Butterfly update

These aren't our caterpillars (b/c I STILL can't find my camera memory stick--the Iphone pictures did not come out very well) but this is what our caterpillars did before they went into the pupa stage. Did not know this but when caterpillars decide to change they do it FAST! In a matter of hours (less?) our little guys went from hanging upside down like this to this:




We should begin to see some butterflies hatching over the weekend. We are on butterfly alert :)

Rare Central Texas Snow Day

This week's surprising snowstorm was such a fun event. It's been an unusually cold winter here in central Texas and we have heard several snow predictions. So far they've all been a bust. So when the weather was calling for snow the next day I didn't pay much attention.





Tuesday morning brought the screams of four (myself included) happy girls who didn't even wait for breakfast before venturing out into the winter wonderland. We had but a dusting and I figured what we were seeing was all the snow we would be getting.



But no! We received shower after shower of big fat snow flakes! The day went like this: we'd suit up and run outside and play until our warm-weather-loving selves were soaked and freezing and then troop back in and throw all of our wet winter gear into the dryer. Another snow shower would blow in and the race to get outside and experience the falling snow would begin.



I must add that the snow was a fun opportunity for the the girls to learn more about God. That He is a kind, loving, creative, powerful God. They learned new things about the beauty of His creation (snow). We also talked about how nice it was that God gave us all of this snow to enjoy! And that if God wants it to snow in central Texas then well, He has the power to do that! Pretty neat!









The final snowfall total was 2.25 inches for our yard. Oh--one precious picture that I failed to capture: Penny sitting in front of our glass backdoor, absolutely mesmirized by the falling snow. :)

Winter Butterflies

Reese: "Little smooky caterpillars grow bigger every day"
Hailey: "Yay! They are bigger and there moving!"
--excerpts from the girls' butterfly journals

Observing caterpillars has been one of the coolest things we have done this year. At the moment we have five Painted Lady caterpillars crawling around in a little jar. Since we received them in the mail (bugs in the mail--who'd a thought??) they have nearly tripled in size. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are visibly larger with each day that passes.

The two oldest girls each have a little notebook where they are keeping track of their daily observations of these little baby butterflies. This is one "assignment" that I do not have to remind them about! Any day now the little creatures should begin to tuck themselves into their chrysalises. Super exciting time around the Garrett household :)

So frustrating--I am without a camera right now. The memory card for our camera is M.I.A. I really don't want to drop $30 on a new one but if another week goes by and it doesn't turn up I'm going to have to. Caterpillars and butterflies be darned--we have a little human who is going thru plenty of changes herself. I don't want to miss too many photo opportunities. We already struggle with the "fourth child syndrome" where there is far less video of Penny than of the other three. Don't want to follow suite with the photos!

What else we have been up to...

Wow. Clearly I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to this blog here. Let's try this again...

We have had the best school year yet! We have found the right curricula for our family. Everything is "working". This is a fantastic feeling. As a mom and a homeschooler I am overcome with thanksgiving to our Lord for the happy home we are enjoying.

I had purposed to update this blog with our school experiences--a sort of record. School has been great and we have done many fun and interesting things but that stuff has not made it to our blog. I'm out of practice with writing and just plain BUSY wifing/mothering/teaching. I read what I have written, don't like it, and decide not to post it. I'm going to try not to be so picky from now on.

We are nearing the end of our first unit of Tapestry of Grace. We are planning an end of unit celebration. My plan is to do our school update around that time. And then when we begin unit two I'm going to update regularly (I will!).