Mourning Cloak

This may not look like anything spectacular, but it is.  While digging through a pile of rubble, i came across 3 of these.  I assumed they were dead, they looked ragged and moldy.  But a leg moved, so we put them into the bug house.  The kids did some research and found out the name is Mourning Cloak.
They are butterflies that hibernate.  I had no idea there was such a thing.  They are considered winter butterflies because you might see them flying very early in the year.  And one of these flew up and out of our yard that cold day.
The top of the wings act as solar panels.  The bottom camouflage them perfectly.  They are really quite pretty, dark velvety red with blue spots and gold rim.

Parts Of A Volcano

Classical Conversations week 17 Science, Some parts of a volcano are...Magma, Vents, Lava, Crater, Gases.
So we made the baking soda/vinegar model.  The boys did it over and over.

Airt Musaum

This is the "Airt Musaum" in the bathroom.  Justin and I were given voting cards to choose 1st, 2nd, 3rd place for each child.  Then we had to explain why we voted for each picture.

Fossil Cookies

We have been studying rocks lately.
These are very delicious cookies.  We put footprints, shells, toy bugs, and real fossil imprints in them before baking.  They have a lot of butter, so they are really good.

http://www.marthastewart.com/345396/fossil-cookies?czone=food/cookie-of-the-day

Missouri Singing 2013

Full House

Me, Not Taken By Me

Red Door

Red Book

St John's United Church Of Christ 1870

Justin had a load of composted manure in the truck on Friday.  After checking the weather and finding out there was a 1% chance of rain, he put a tarp on it to be safe.
It rained most of the weekend.
Despite the rainy weekend, it was a wonderful time for singing.  Many states/provinces were represented and i enjoyed meeting some new friends.

Age Calculator

As a child, i would ask my Mom and Dad their age.  Sometimes, they would hesitate and i would feel surprised if they didn't know right away.  Now i know.
A few weeks ago, Justin gave his age in a group setting.  It was incorrectly older. And since we are usually the same age, i was astounded that i had aged so fast. The last while has been super hard, so i assumed i had blocked it from memory.  But i needed to dig deeper.   My math skills aren't great, so this calculator is helpful.
http://www.mathcats.com/explore/age/calculator.html
I am the age i thought i was.

Shape Note Singing

The Missouri convention is this weekend.  Here is an article explaining more about it.  If you look at the picture, i am wearing green in the back row.
http://www.emissourian.com/features_people/feature_stories/article_b070b56e-c5ff-5c91-b62e-7865a3157aa7.html

Jasper's Presentation

Last week, Jasper did his class presentation on St. Bernard dogs.  It was supposed to be expository, exposing facts about a topic and all the kids were to repeat it and make it better for this week.  They could memorize it or add props/actions.  But instead, he added a strong opinion on this very personal topic.