Daddy's little helpers

I'd love to say the kids help Troy bake because they love culinary arts....

 But I have a feeling it is mostly about the perks.

 George gets the beater.

 Virginia is waiting patiently for the spatula.

  I love these sweet little faces!

Little Ladies

Every year we learn about a life cycle of some kind of animal.

We have watched butterflies, and tadpoles.

 This year is Ladybugs!

 We just did the quick kit from insect lore and ordered the little buggies in pupa stage.

 We were surprised to see familiar buggers that we had no idea were baby ladybugs!

 I forgot to take pictures of the transformation, but it was pretty awesome.  

The kids were excited to release them into the rose garden, especially after we read that ladybugs love to feed on aphids. 

 I might have to get these things every year!

Do your job little Ladybugs!  

I want kids who love to learn with the bonus of pretty roses!

What we have been up to....

 A little home improvement....

 A little playing around....

 Maybe a lot of playing around...

 Lounging in the Spring air....

 Eating some serious cake....

 Even more playing around.... 

(Yes, that is George)

 Packing up for local outings galore....

 Eating at our favorite farmers market...

 Enjoying summer cuisine....

 Livia learning culinary techniques....

 Finished up school....

 Holiday festivities....

 Field trips with friends.....

 Lots of holiday festivity repeats, just for the fun of it.....

 More lounging in the yard....

 More of Livia's culinary experiments.....

 Pinewood Derby......

 More Easter loveliness....

 and more......

 and more.....

 and more....

 family portraits......

 and more family.....

 Birthday celebrations.....

 presents.....

  Explorations in D.C.....

 Astronaut Ice cream....

 More presents.....

 Special dinners out.....

The end

H2O

I'm not a big fan of science.

It is not my favorite thing to teach.

But this project was pretty fun,

funny,

easy, 

and yummy.

 We discussed molecules using books and internet sites to explain better than I could alone.

We made a model of H2O with green and red grapes held together with tooth picks.

It was especially fun to offer Troy a glass of "H2O" when he got home from work.

Thirsty?

Hardy Har Har

.. / .-. --- -.-. -.-

.. / .-.. --- ...- . / - .... . ... . / .... .- -. -.. ... / --- -. / .-.. . ... ... --- -. ... .-.-.-

 After learning about Samuel Morse,

we took turns writing words for each other to translate.

It wasn't until writing this post that I found this translator!

Ever see Thomas Jefferson's skivvies?

 My Grammy found this neat, colonial paper doll book.  

I love it and I hate it.

 I love it for the fun way to re-introduce some key historical figures 

(mostly Thomas Jefferson's family).

 I hate it because it is not perferated.  We have ot cut them out the old fashioned way.  

It is painstakingly slow and we are not finished yet.

 After a slip of the scissors, and an amputation of Dolly Madison's hand, the cutting job fell to me and the fashion director roll went to Livia. 

She just had to remind me that she was better at putting together outfits in real life too.

So I gave her an F for that day's history class.