They're back!

Yup, the robins are back! They cleaned up their nest, and then they used it again!

We've got 4 more beautiful blue eggs! I will post again once something new comes up with them!

Another Update

So, I forgot to update this, but I scared the birds out of the nest when I dropped a shovel under the nest last week. 3 flew out, the fourth remained for a little while, but then it flew away too. But, SHOOF!!! It was a close one; I almost got pooped on!!!

So that's the bird update for now. Our robins are acting weird, though, so we might have baby birds again.

Baby Update!

Just wanted to post this pic real quick so you guys could see how our babies are doing. (Sorry about the blurriness.)

Yup, they're still pretty ugly, but not as much as before. Well, that's all for now. I'll post again in a few days.

Baby birds!!!

Yesterday, I took a peek in the nest, and we finally have 4 tiny baby birds!!!! When I looked 2 days ago, there were still 4 robins-egg blue eggs in there (see first pic). Yesterday when I looked, three had hatched, but the fourth was still an egg (see second pic). I looked this morning, (see third pic) and now we have all 4 babies!!! My guess is that I looked yesterday right after the first 3 hatched, and the fourth hatched right after.

Well, that's all. I just wanted to share this because it's so exciting!! I will post again when something new happens.

The robins are back!

So, you remember last year when I posted about the robins on the porch, and the baby fell out of the nest? So the robins came back again this year, and they're on the porch again, except on the other side this time...

So Lindsey climbed up yesterday to see if there was anything in it yet, since we've seen the daddy bird working for a couple of weeks. Sure enough, there are 4 robins-egg blue eggs in it!!

We think that they were laid last week, and the incubation step takes 12-14 days. So, if we're right, we'll have baby birds next week! I'll post again when something new happens!!!

Chick Pastels!!

Earlier this week (Monday), me and Mama did this art project from a blog that she reads and follows, and so we did these 'Three Little Chicks' pastels. It was really fun, and I want to do more of them!!

This is both of the pictures. Mama's is on the left, and mine is on the right.

And then this is a photo of just mine up close.

We have also done a chickadee in pastels, and that was really fun, too! You should try finding some pastels and putting them to use! Like I said earlier, we got ours from a blog, but you can do anything from a slice of pie, to a tornado, to a big harvest moon with a city at night (all of which I think they've done). So be creative, and see what you can find around the house or in the garden!!

Robin Update

So, here's what has happened (and not happened) since I last posted:

• We have had no other babies fall out of their nest.
• All three babies seem healthy.
• The baby that fell out yesterday is completely fine (we think).

But the sad thing is this -- when the babies hatched, there were four. But now, there's only three. Why? Because (this is all we think, OK?) the fourth one hatched the day after the others, and so didn't get enough food. And for a baby bird, every day counts. So basically, its the runt. 

Yesterday we only saw three heads come up at food. We wondered if the fourth was dead, but we didn't know for sure. But last night, we saw the mommy robin pulling it out of the nest. 

So what do I think happened?? This:

I think that, as the one baby fell out yesterday morning, it was pushing away when it that its little baby sister/brother was dead, and it went too far and fell.

What do you think happened?

Oh My Gosh, Oh My Gosh, Oh My Gosh!!

Oh, my gosh! Do you know what happened today? Well, first of all, we have these three baby robins in a nest on our back porch. They've been a bit squirmy because they don't have quite enough room in their nest. Well, this morning, Mama and I went to let Lacy out, and there was a baby robin on the ground!! So Mama picked it up (she thought it was dead at first, but then it opened its mouth, and we knew it wasn't), and then she gave it to me, and then I sat down on one of our adorondack chairs and held it, while Mama tried to find a worm to feed it (unseccessfully). Then she went inside, and researched if you can put a baby bird back in its nest. You can, and we did.

Here is a picture of me holding it (its cute because its resting its head on my thumb like its in its nest):

Yes, I know, I'm in my pajamas in this picture, but what do I care? I got to hold a baby bird! What's cooler than that?

As a side note, if you couldn't tell, the old wives-tale about parent-birds smelling your scent and ditching their kids is NOT true. (Birds don't smell very well!)

Releasing Our Butterflies

Yesterday we released the butterflies! It was really fun, but it was hard too, because they all stayed right where they were. We actually had to pick them up out of their habitat and let them fly away:

But even when they all got out, they still hung around in the backyard for a while (even though I don't have a picture of it, a butterfly kept landing on my foot. Gosh, that tickles!!!):

Lacy chased and tried to eat them for a minute, but then we sent her to time-out (aka the corner of the yard away from the butterflies):

One of the butterflies had a damaged wing, so we left it one a lantana - a flower that butterflies like to be around and eat from. We hope to be seeing some of their descendants soon (in other words, a bunch of tiny little black caterpillars), and we expect to see butterflies flitting around all summer long.

Also, if you ever see a little inch-long black caterpillar, or a chrysalis, or little tiny blue-green eggs, please don't hurt them - they're Painted Ladies, and they won't hurt you - why hurt them?

We Have Butterflies!

Yup, we have butterflies! Yesterday the last one of the 5 hatched, but you know what was cool? I saw it come out of its chrysalid!! I thought that it was pretty cool! It hardly looked like a butterfly when it came out, its wings were so crumpled.

For those who would like to see pictures, here you are:

These were the caterpillars:

There were the chrysalids:

This is what the butterflies looked like when they came out (although the wings were a little more crumpled when they first hatched):

And this is me holding one of the butterflies:

Well, those are the pictures. I hope you liked them!

Update

Well, yesterday the last caterpillar turned into a chrysalid! I'm pretty excited. By next week they should start hatching, and I'll post and show you some pictures of them. I'm really glad that you can do this. Its amazing to watch them grow!

Well, I'll keep you updated. I'll let you know when they hatch!

Spring has sprung!

Everything is in bloom in our garden! Its so pretty:

Roses:

Sundrops:

Lady's Mantle:

Pincushion Flowers:

Peonies:

and Lavender:

Spring HAS sprung, and everything is beautiful!

Bee Facts

Here's some facts about bees:

• Honey bees are the only insects that make a food eaten by humans.
• Only worker bees sting.
• Bees fly at about 15 mph.
• Bees can't see red.
• Queen bees lay 3000 eggs a day.
•  A single bee can produce 1 tablespoon of honey in its lifetime.
•  Honey is 80% sugars and 20% water. 
• Drones have no stinger at all.
  
  
  

Giraffe Facts

Here's some facts I learned about giraffes:

• Giraffes are born with horns.
• Each giraffe looks different.
• A new born giraffe is about 6 feet in length.
• Giraffes sleep 5 to 30 min. in 24 hours.
• Giraffes have really good eyesight.
• Every step a giraffe takes is 15 feet long.
• The tongue of a giraffe is 27 in.
• A lion can die if kicked by a giraffe.
• Giraffes are social animals, that live in open herds.
• A giraffe's heart is 24 pounds in weight, and 2 feet in length.
• The darker the spots, the older the giraffe.

I thought this stuff was pretty cool, don't you think?

Did You Know?

As I read a book assigned to me about the country we were studying last week (The United States of America), here's something I came across:

The U.S.A. invented Silly Putty, Play-Doh, Barbie dolls, Viewmasters, Mr. Potato Heads, G.I. Joes, Monopoly, Slinkies, Frisbees, Hula Hoops, and even roller skates.

I thought that was pretty cool that Americans came up with all that stuff! Don't you think that's pretty cool? You can tell that I thought so!

How to Make Felt Ornaments

How to make felt ornaments:

• Trace outline on two pieces of felt (pen works best)
• Cut out design
• Sew together 3/4 of the way
• Stuff with fiberfill
• Sew the rest of the way
• Decorate it (see tips below)
• Add thread at the top for hanging

The ones that I have made are:

• Gingerbread Man
• Heart
• Snowman
• Tree

Tips for decorating: Glitter glue for Gingerbread Man; sequins work well for the Heart and the Tree; red piece of felt for scarf, and orange triangle for Snowman.

Places I Want to Go

I am making a list of places I want to go as we study different countries. This is what I have so far:

1. Stonehenge
2. Biltmore (at different times of the year)
3. Big Ben
4. Buckingham Palace (and see the guards change
5. An African Safari (and see the Big 5)
6. Volcanos (from a safe distance) in Hawaii
7. Old Faithful
8. Mount Rushmore
9. The Statue of Liberty
10. London Bridge
11. The Alps
12. Spain (in general)
13. The Eiffel Tower
14. The Louvre
15. The Berlin Wall (Germany)
16. The Neuschwanstein Castle (Germany)

So those are the places I want to go!☺

We've got...BUTTERFLIES!!!!!!!

YAY!!! We have butterflies! I'm so happy! Anyway, our butterflies hatched! (You say: 'Ya, that "wasn't" obvious at all!') I'm going to pick up from the post titled 'Painted Lady Butterflies'. So they turned into chrysalids (the caterpillers) May 9th. And then, exactly 1 week later (May 16th) they hatched! Anyway, every morning we feed them with sugar-water that we sprinkle on the flowers that we have in a jar with water in it. So today when I was feeding them, I got a drop of sugar-water on my finger, and gently touched the end of one of the drinking butterflies' "straw" with the drop. And you know what? It put one foot on the finger, and it drank. Then I began to pull away, and it held on to my finger!!!!!!!!!! I was amazed how light it was!So that's what the butterflies have been doing!

Painted Lady Butterflies

On Friday we got our caterpillers!!!!! (That sounds weird, I know, but if you keep reading you'll find out!) They are in a little cup that has airholes in the lid. (Yes, they have food in the cup.) They will be in the caterpiller stage for about a week. Then they will crawl to the top of the cup and hang upside down. Then, 1 to 2 days after, they will curl up and harden into shiny chrysalids. Inside each chrysalid, the old body parts of the caterpiller will change to form the new parts that will make up the adult butterfly. The pupal stage will take a week to 10 days. When all the caterpillers have formed chrysalids, then we have to take the paper backing off and pin it in the inside of the habitat. (The habitat is a cylinder shaped thing with a cloth floor and mesh walls and roof.) Then when the butterflies hatch, they will hatch inside their habitat! So I'd say that we are going to have lots of fun with butterflies!

(Oh, and by the way, pretty soon I will blog about our Praying Mantis egg sac!)

Tellus Museum

Two weeks ago we went to the Tellus Museum. They had dinosaur fossils, a rock & mineral gallery, and so much more. Some of the dinosaur fossils were a t-rex, an apatosaurus, a mammoth, and a jawbone of a shark that ate whales & also was bigger than a school bus (that's big).

We also got to do a fossil dig. That was fun too.

So that's a bit about the Tellus Museum!!!