Caterpillars are getting so Big

Day 5: Our little critters are getting soooo big! Should be forming into chrysalides soon. :)

Our Caterpillars Have Arrived

Avery and Callum are very much fascinated by the bug world these days. They are always making little cages for their rollie pollie bugs and making sure they have plenty of leaves and flowers for them to eat. (im only assuming that's what they eat) Avery loves butterflies and had studied about the life cycle of the butterfly last year in school. I had remembered that my sister (thanks Auntie Jeanette) had sent the kids a butterfly kit about 3 years back and we had forgotten all about it, until I recently found it in our garage. I thought this would be a perfect time to send away for our live caterpillars. Well, we got the caterpillars yesterday and we didn't see them moving. We thought that their life was sadly cut short by the heat. (It was only near the 100's yesterday) Poor little things. We decided to keep them anyway and put them up on the fireplace just in case, which I'm glad we did. Sure enough, almost every single one started moving by the evening and we have atleast 8 little critters climbing around the cup today. Yay! So now we wait and watch them grow. After 7 to 10 days they will climb to the top of the cup and attach themselves to the paper where they will form into chrysalides. Then we get to transfer them into the butterfly cage and watch them turn into Painted Lady butterflies and Avery and Callum will eventually release them. How exciting! I thought it would be neat to keep an update of the transformations. Here are the little critters climbing around. We haven't named all of them, but we have atleast 3 names picked out so far, Snappy, Crystal, and Bella. :)

Callum's First day of Pre-K

Callum started his first day of Pre-k at his new school last Tuesday. The teachers are very hands on and nurturing and it is a smaller in-home class environment. I think he will transition very nicely. There seems to be lots of activities planned for the kids to keep him very busy during his day. It will be nice for me too, as the school is just a 4 min. drive up the street. I think Callum is happier and feels more secure knowing that I am only a few min. away. Just that alone gets us all off to a good start!

                              Callum at his 1st day of Preschool

Avery's First Day of School

Avery started 1st grade back at her school last week. She was assigned to Mrs. Sheehan and absolutely loves her (thank goodness). She only ended up getting about 5 of her friends in class this year, but she's excited to make some new friends. Phil and I had the opportunity to meet her teacher at Back to School Night and we're really happy with her. Another great year filled with lots of new and exciting things! Here's a picture of Avery and her best bud on the first day of school. They didn't get the same teacher this year but will still have lunch and recess together.

                                   My "First Grader"! :)

Canyon Lake

We were invited to come up and spend the day in Canyon Lake with some friends. They had recently bought a home on the lake and had us over for a day of fun activities for the kids. The kids went swimming in the lake and got to ride little motor boats just their size. I have to say we've really enjoyed all the time we've been able to spend on the lake this summer!

Trip to Mammoth Lakes

We recently took a family trip up to Mammoth Lakes and we all had a great time! The temperature was freezing the first day we arrived. Well, it was more like the lower 60's but it still felt very cold, not to mention rainy as well. Genius me forgot to bring jackets and pants, so we decided (had) to stay indoors the first day and sit around the fire to keep warm for the rest of the day. Luckily the temperatures warmed up each day we were there and by the last couple of days the weather was perfect and in the 90's.

We did lots of sight seeing and hiked the trails in the Inyo National Forest. I was surprised how well Avery and Callum did with the hiking. With the exception of a couple minor scrapes and  bug bites, they did awesome. I learned to never go hiking in the forest without lots and lots of bug spray. Otherwise you will pretty much be eaten alive, no questions asked.

We took the kids horseback riding, which they loved. They've ridden on ponies before, but this was their first time riding on a big horse. Avery rode on Haas and Callum rode on Barney. I think Avery's horse had  a cold because he kept sneezing on me the entire time...lol

We also decided to rent a pedal boat and go out on the lake, which was a lot of fun. All I can say is that Phil and I got some great upper and lower leg exercise. What a great work out! The lake was beautiful and very relaxing. We planned on being on the water for a couple hours, but it was cut short when my little guy decided he needed to use the bathroom after about 35 min on the water. Sounds about right...hee hee!

Philip had brought his poles with him and spent some time fishing. Avery and Callum were very good helpers and were very determined to help daddy catch a fish. Unfortunately they didn't have much luck but still had fun reeling in the fishing line.

We had such a peaceful and relaxing time up there. I cannot wait to take more trips to the mountains and next time I promise to not forget the jackets!!

Mammoth Lakes

Sleeping Beauty

Here are a couple photos we took of Avery and Sleeping Beauty on one of our recent trips to Disneyland. We happened to run into the princess right as we were leaving the park. :)

Avery lost her first Tooth

Avery officially lost her first tooth! It had been loose for awhile now and she was ecstatic when it finally came out. It was really loose one morning, so I pushed on it a few times and it popped out onto the floor. Such a cute, tiny little thing. She was so excited to put it under her pillow to see what the Tooth Fairy would bring her. The next morning she found a nice new dollar bill and put it in her piggy bank. :)

Kindergarten Awards Ceremony

School has been out for a couple weeks now and Avery and Callum seem to have more energy than normal! We are looking forward to this summer and have lots of things planned to keep them busy!

Callum just finished his first year of preschool and had a great year! He had a great teacher, made lots of new friends, and learned all of his letters in sign language! He is excited to be starting his new preschool in August, as am I. It is 3 min. from our house and the days and times will work great with Avery's schedule. It looks like it will be another great school. Plus, we won't have to scramble around the house in the mornings and be out of the house by 7:30 anymore....Yay! :)

Avery had a great year in kindergarten this year and made so many new friends. I can't believe how much she has grown in the past year! She just had her kindergarten awards ceremony at school about a week before. She received a Reading medal, Titan's Ten award (10 or more book reports), excellent attendance award, and Principal's award. We are soooo proud of her and took her to dinner at her favorite restaurant, Island's (also Callum's favorite), and for ice cream afterwards. I am hoping next year will be just as great when she starts first grade!

Temescal Valley Watermelon Festival

A Devotion to help others

So I recently came into contact with Heather Von St. James, a courageous mother, wife, and survivor of mesothelioma cancer. I had previously written about her story and was asked to share it on my blog. I admire her personally because of her constant strength, courage, and devotion to help others. Her mission is to get her story out and to give hope to as many people as she can. I'm very happy to share her story with you again and would love for you to take a few minutes to watch her video. Thank you to Heather for sharing her awesome story and thanks for watching! :)


www.mesothelioma.com/heather

Avery's Dolphin

Mrs. Rangel's class was assigned a sea creature project this week! Avery had chosen to do a report on dolphins, design a 3D model of it, and present it to the class. Here is the final work of art. She (we) molded the dolphin out of clay and painted it. We put lots of glitter for the water to make it sparkle. We would've liked to make it a bit bigger but figured she wouldn't be able to carry it because of the weight. She told me she wanted to keep it up in her window afterwards and how it reminds her of Seaworld!

Strawberry Season at the Farm

Avery and Callum had fun hand picking their own strawberries at the Temecula Strawberry Farm today. We always enjoyed visiting the farm when we lived in Murrieta, and thought it would be nice to come back and stock up on some big red juicy strawberries. Mmmmmm.....

The Fashionable Lizard

So I walked into Avery's room earlier this evening and this is what I saw laying in the corner of her floor. Callum's toy Lizard is now a Mrs. toy Lizard and a very fashionable one too. Seems she decided to dress him up in one of Barbie's pretty pink dresses. I think this is the first time I've ever seen a lizard wearing a dress!

Visit from the Easter Bunny

Callum's preschool had a visit from the Easter bunny yesterday. A fun Easter egg hunt, yummy food, candy, and smiles! Twas a great day at school!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

                         
                    Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! Love, Avery

How to Catch a Leprechaun

One of Avery's school projects this week was to build a trap to try and catch a leprechaun. She had decided to leave a shiny pot of gold for him in order to lure him in. So when the leprechaun walks up to the gold, the stick falls and down comes the top of the box, trapping the little green guy inside. Then we'll just have to figure out what to do with him when we catch him!