Happy Memorial Day!

Today we got to go the annual Memorial Day Picnic at our church.  We had fun coloring, playing games, and touring a fire truck and an ambulance.  Then we got to attend a flag ceremony and devotional performed by our scout troop.  They also retired a number of flags - giving them a proper incineration and retirement while one of the young men played Taps on his trumpet.  Following the flag ceremonies we had a wonderful BBQ meal.  It was nice to see friends, enjoy some beautiful weather, and good food, but I think that my favorite part of today was watching Owen while we said the Pledge of Allegiance.  We've been practicing it the past week or so, and while he didn't know all of the words, he knew most of them, and he knew to stand respectfully with his hand over his heart.  I was so proud of my little boy, and I hope he will grow to understand how blessed he is to live in a country where he is free.

Malacosoma disstria

Owen loves watching the world around him and learning about it, so when I found three little caterpillars on our front porch last week we prepared a suitable home for them and now he has three pet caterpillars. Also, as part of my goal to keep Owen happy and busy this summer, we've decided to have daily "school time."  So combining his pet caterpillars and school time, we learned about his caterpillars last Monday.

First we took one of the caterpillars out of his home and observed him as he crawled around.  We also documented our observations by taking pictures.  Then we did some research on the internet to find out what type of caterpillars he was.  Then, being true scientists, we documented our observations.  Here's what we discovered.

1) Our caterpillars are Forest Tent Caterpillars, or Malacosoma disstria.  
2) They will grow into fuzzy brown moths (that we will photographs of after they've reached that stage of their life cycle).
3) The caterpillars are covered with furry hair-like setae.
4) Owen observed that they are grey with blue, black, brown, and yellow stripes with pink spots.
5) They have 16 legs.
6) They eat leaves and prefer leaves from the oak, sweet gum, and sugar maple trees.

Owen copied some notes into his "science notebook" and drew a picture of his caterpillar.  We will continue to observe the caterpillars and take more notes as they continue to develop.

Backyard Fishing

A week or so ago Owen earned his allowance and chose to buy a magnetic fishing set.  So last week, when we had a nice warm and cloudy day, we set up the wading pool in the back yard and let the kids go fishing.  Owen had a lot of fun catching his fish with his little fishing reel (the pole only lasted a day, but inventor mommy was able to keep the reel and line usable - much the joy of one little boy).  MayLynn decided that she preferred the direct approach and just went after the fish with her hands and her mouth.  They had fun playing outside and getting wet at the same time.  

Owen's Last Day of Preschool

Here is a picture of Owen with his preschool teacher - Mrs. Brown.  

Owen has flourished at preschool this past year.  Owen started preschool last September, and I was nervous and had a hard time letting my little boy grow up (here's my blog post for his first day of preschool).  But it has been a wonderful experience and he has grown up so very much.  He has learned how to count to 100 and read numbers to 1000, he's starting to read and write three letter words with short vowel sounds, and he's wonderful with patterns and other project based learning systems.  His preschool was Montessori style and he loved it, but we've decided that we're going to go ahead and try normal public school for him when he starts kindergarten this fall and hopefully he'll have a teacher that can keep him from getting too bored.  I am so proud of my Owen and I know that we'll have fun learning together this summer.

Copy Cat

MayLynn LOVES her big brother and wants to do everything that he is doing.  Today we were playing outside and Owen chose to ride his bike.  So of course MayLynn wanted to ride something too.  So we found Owen's old ride-on dump truck and she learned that it's fun to ride and she can be just like her brother.

 This even included crashing the bike/truck together and checking the controls before racing.

Next came the cutest part of the morning.  I have a small watering can that is Owen's "gas can" for his outside vehicles.  First, Owen had to put more gas into his "motorcycle:"

Then he had to put gas into MayLynn's truck:

MayLynn watched in fascination, and then she wanted a turn.  First she had to get the gas can from where Owen had put it and walk it over to her truck:

Then, just like her big brother, she had to put gas into the truck:

At this point, unfortunately Owen didn't appreciate the imitation too much and I had to settle the battle of the gas can.  All parties survived the battle unscathed, although the ending result was a nap for a sleep girl and some quiet-down time for a little boy, but we did have fun and I look forward to seeing what other antics these two are going to come up with this summer.

Owen's Song

Owen worked hard this week practicing the songs that the primary sang today in church.  I recorded him singing one of them.  Here's a link to that song: Owen's Grandmother Song.  I hope you enjoy it!

Outside Play

We have been having wonderful weather the past couple of weeks.  Yes, we've had a lot of rain, but that rain has helped keep the temperatures lower and the grass nice and green.  Because of our good weather, we've been playing outside a lot.

In fact, MayLynn's favorite place to be is outside.  If she had her way, she'd do everything except sleep outside.  She's been practicing her walking skills a lot and she now no longer has to hold on to something to walk.  Owen has figured out how to use the pedals to ride his bike and he also really likes playing baseball and soccer with Mommy.

One day this past week is was warm enough for me to put water in our little wading pool and let the kids play in it.  They both had a blast.  MayLynn especially likes to play in the water and didn't even seem to care when Owen "accidentally" squirted her with the squirt gun.  I'm so glad that my kids seem to have fun playing together, especially when it gives me a chance to sit back and watch them - or take pictures while they are playing.