More work on the butterfly garden.....

The butterfly garden we're installing at Naismith (Tiegan and Ryland's school) is really coming along - and it's so fun to see how many different lessons we can incorporate into the process:-)

Here we're mapping out the wings of the garden with ropes, partially to get an idea of what it will look like and partially to be able to measure it out.

The kids are currently learning all about perimeters and area, so this is a great way to learn how to measure something that's not a square or rectangle.  They took the rope, after making the shape of the butterfly wing, and once it was measured converted it into a rectangle to figure out the perimeter.....fun math:-)

Jamie spent hours cutting up small branches of wood around the property - have I ever mentioned that he's my hero???!!  And the reason that I can take on all these crazy projects:-)

We then brought them to the school and started installing them around the garden - and were lucky enough to have Andrew, who was a HUGE help, and persevered even after an hour and a half!!!!

So. much. work.  Jamie pounded in a tonne of logs, I'm sure his elbow was ringing after this.  We did one wing, and the following week we (okay, primarily Jamie!) did the second wing.

Starting to take shape - the logs are all at least 6 inches in the ground, and I then laid a bunch of newspaper over the grass and wheelbarrowed MANY loads of dirt into it.  There will be a centre path between the wings, which I'm hoping the kids will eventually create tiles for, and we've been researching which plants we want to place inside.

My friend Telsing also came one afternoon to work on soil science with the kids - *I* learned so much during this session, I know so little about geography and soil:-)  Fascinating.

They went over the history of the area that is told through soil, and heard a potential story of how this soil came to be.  Starting with slabs of rock, weathered by ice and rain, cracking apart and freezing and thawing and birds flying above dropping seeds which eventually grow plants and attract animals, etc etc etc.  So much history in the creation of soil, and very fun to imagine the story:-)

The kids dug core samples and looked at the different layers - and also observed how the roots held the soil together.

They also took a sample of the soil and mixed it with water, then left it to settle into layers.  They learned that it takes more energy to move larger chunks, so those are usually dropped first, and they could see that here, with the largest and heaviest parts of the soil at the bottom, moving up to the water - with super light plant material at the very top.  

Next up, compiling all the plant lists, and figuring out how to map out the garden......which will hopefully get planted next week!!!!!!

21/52

Kea traveled up to North Bay with her dance troupe, and was super excited to be going.  Here she is, organizing her stuff into various piles, and packing everything up for 4 days of fun:-)  I think half of her luggage was clothes and books and toiletries - and the other half was chips, candy and other snacks for the road trip.  Ahhhhh, to be 13 again, and traveling with a bunch of other teens......

Tiegan = trampolining.  Every day:-)

Ry has become a regular little student this past year - working hard on learning to read french via Skype with Anja, practicing his weekly spelling words for Friday spelling tests, and writing out practice math equations.  I'm rather blown away by how willing he is to sit down to work on worksheets, and to watch him reading Magic Tree House chapter books now - so much happens in one year......

20/52

Kea and I are often the first up in the morning, stumbling around in an attempt to wake up, pack a lunch, get all the school books into the backpack and make it out the door in time to catch her bus to school.  On this morning, as she was packing up her bag, I loved how the early morning light was making its way in through the side doors and paused to take a photo or two:-)

Another day, another jump on the trampoline for this girl!

Our boy, happy to be running around outside in the woods.........

A Saturday in the city......

It was a weekend of solo parenting for me, while Jamie was down in Florida visiting his dad (enjoying 5 days of fishing, golfing and drinking beers!) and the kids and I enjoyed a few adventures together.  Kea had to go to a dance rehearsal on the Saturday, and Ryland was invited to a birthday party at the movies (luckily very close to the dance location!) so we packed up the car and drove in for some impromptu urban adventures.  We were, of course, running late for the start time of the movie - and it didn't help that we forgot the gift and had to turn around 5 minutes into the drive, oy!  BUT we made it JUST in time to get Tiegan and Ry to the movies - and then realized we had an hour to kill before dance started so headed down to Mud Lake to wander around.

The Canadian geese were super friendly, and there was lots of evidence of beavers!

The mud was definitely evident everywhere, and made exploring our favourite haunts a bit challenging - but it was worth it to see all the turtles sunning themselves on the logs:-)

It was great to have some time with my eldest - she's been so busy with various field trips and lessons and classes, we often feel like ships passing each other here and there.  So I'm trying to be more mindful of seeking out opportunities for us to hang out together.

She's starting to get close to my size in clothes and shoes, and I notice that little pieces of my wardrobe are slowly shifting their way into her part of the closet!  But with this cardigan, I think it suits her better than it would me anyways:-)

So nice to see signs of spring everywhere, after such a long, hard winter!!!

After I drove Kea to dance, I met up with the birthday party and we enjoyed a meal and cake together.  Felix was SUPER excited to have everyone singing happy birthday to him!

Ryland and the girls created this awesome card for him - and it was a big hit all around.......and Jamie and I are thrilled to start paring down some of the toys the kids have in their overwhelming room!

Felix is such a goofball, and Ry absolutely adores him.  Too bad we don't live much closer, as Ry begs to have play dates with him daily........

I'd asked them to line up against the wall for a photo.  They all faced the wall, and I tried to not look while Felix licked the wall.  Ugh:-)

Beautiful boys!  Happy Birthday Felix!!!!!

After the party, we had another hour to kill before Kea was done dance, so we found a little playground and the kids had SUCH a blast playing together.  Which was so great to see, as these two often bicker and are so competitive with each other, it often breaks my heart.  So it's so healing to see them in situations where they can really enjoy each other!!!!!  And very nice for me to be able to sit in the car and work on a knitting project while listening to the CBC - slipping out every once in a while to snap photos, but just ignoring my happy kids.

(I just cannot get over how BIG this guys feet are growing......hard to keep up with all of his growth spurts, and he eats us out of house and home ALREADY!!!!!)

All in all, a fabulous Saturday adventure......

It's butterfly time at the school once again

Ever since the first spring the kids started going to school, I've been bringing in Painted Lady caterpillars for the kids to watch them metamorphosis.  It's so fun to do with them, and each year I learn more and more:-)

This class was super excited to get their tiny little critters - which grew amazingly large within just one week!  I also brought models of the four stages of the Painted Lady Butterfly's life - if I have one mission with this project, it's that all the kids will know that butterflies form into a chrysalis, NOT a cocoon!!!!!!

I love how even the high energy kids who normally don't excel at school REALLY get into this project and learn so much.  And to watch how gentle and patient they are with the butterflies when they release them.....so neat to see:-)

The middle kid in the bright orange shirt is Tiegan's beau - I'm informed by various teachers and the principal that Tiegan has great taste in boys, he's a sweetheart and a 'winner'.  They love to play baseball together, compete on the Wii, and he brings her gifts of stuffed toys and his favourite baseball cap.  They've been 'going out' for about a month now, longterm for this age:-)  The thing that cracks me up is he is UBER helpful and respectful when I come into the class to work on projects - shows his smarts, that he knows he'd better impress the parents!!!!

I'm also starting a new project with the kids - we've been planning out a butterfly garden together, which I'm super excited about!!!!!  Here we are mapping out where it's going to go, and what is needed for a garden and more specifically what we need to consider when planning a garden geared towards butterflies (sunny location, little traffic from kids BUT highly visible, plants for local butterflies and also for the caterpillars, rocks for resting spots and water, etc)  I'll share some more photos of the progress and process.....it's been a learning curve for us all!