HC Graduated from Kindergarten Today!!!

My sweet girl graduated today! :) She was so excited.
Some of her school work from K-5.
HC was thrilled for the event to begin.
She was reciting her poems but her nerves got the better of her and "Mommy, I'm scared!" came out of her mouth instead, with tears in tow. But thankfully JB jumped up to help her recite her poem
and she managed to finish 1 of the 2 poems. What a big moment! So proud of her!!
I was able to hand HC her graduation certificate since Mommy = teacher. That was a fun thing to share with HC.
Look out world - here comes a HAPPY 1st grader!!!!
Ready to move the tassel from right to left. It's official now!
A proud Daddy and brother. We love you HC!
WE DID IT!!!
So happy!
Two official grads!
CHEESE! Friends are SO fun!
Looking forward to what 1st grade has in store for us - Mommy/Teacher and Daughter/Student.

This year was so fun and I know next year will be full of many more adventures for us. Congrats HC!! We are all SOOOOOO PROUD OF YOU!!

Spring is in the Air

The last week of February we had a special delivery. Our caterpillars arrived. Little did I know that these little creatures were going to be so fun. See them at the tippy top of the container? They are teeny here. And icky here. We had a total of 5 caterpillars and it was gross seeing all 5 of them in there. I'm not a caterpillar fan. Double ick! We noticed them at this size about 8 days after they arrived.
Then 3 or 4 days later we saw them do this.
Then within a day we saw the chrysalis appear. It is a bizarre thing to watch. How in the WORLD does this become a butterfly? I don't get it.
After they were in the chrysalis we were to wait for them to turn a darker color and then move them to our butterfly net. 4 of our 5 attached at the top of the container but 1 didn't make the climb. We put it in the net too, just in case it was still good.
On March 17th we saw that one butterfly made it's way out of the chrysalis. I wanted to watch this happen but we never managed to catch them exiting the chrysalis. See the lighter chrysalis - that's the empty one. Within 2 days they all emerged. The one that didn't hang with the others did become a butterfly but it had a torn wing. It was sad to see it flop around, it eventually died.
Here are the kids observing this latest development.Pretty neat huh?On Thursday we decided to set them all free. If you really look you will see one butterfly in center right and the damaged butterfly on the left of that butterfly.
The kids had a blast with this science project. See the butterfly on the rim?And the butterfly took a leap and landed on the ground. Before we knew it they all took off on their adventure to the big outdoors. Perfect timing too with all the pollen in much abundance.Here is one before it escaped our habitat.I wish we had the pretty yellow butterfly but this was fun even if it isn't the prettiest butterfly I've ever seen. :)
Change is happening all around us these days. It really feels like spring!

A Tour of Our Local Grocery Store

I heart Publix! There's just something about this store - it is always so clean and the staff is very friendly! Not to mention the bargains, so when I heard our home school group was going on a tour of the place - I was happy to sign us up! Here we are as we waited for the fun to begin. Lots of fun stacking cans!
Then it was time to begin the tour. Our tour guide was Boston Charles! He was a great guide. He made the time fly by!
We split our group into 2 groups. Here's our group beginning the tour.
Charles was calling for one of our students over the intercom. I was so glad we got the fun guide!
And the moment finally came - the opportunity for us to see what lies behind the double doors! Woohoo! (Even though I worked in a grocery store while I was in high school, I still thought it was fun to see the back of the store.)
Here he was showing us how they stack the goods on crates and lift them on the shelf.
He demonstrated this cool gadget! He even beeped the horn for us.
We peeked in several coolers and freezers. He was thorough.
The kids all signed in/out for work. I'm afraid he didn't expect them to be so hands on! :) They enjoyed the chance to press the buttons. Hopefully they didn't sign anyone in or out.
Then one of the butchers brought out a live lobster for us to see. The kids loved it!
Here's one of the Publix crew stocking the bakery and we found out that the dolly is called a float.
They were given hair nets when we passed by the bakery.
JB was not interested in the hair net. But the cookie was a welcome gift.
We toured the upstairs loft - where the offices are and then....
black out! I missed getting a shot of the view but.... it was neat to be up there when the power shut off. The emergency generators had a few lights on before we knew it. What a fun time. After the tour ended we picked up a few groceries and we were on our way home. We found out a tornado had hit down the road when the power shut down on us. We safely arrived home and took a nap while waiting for our electricity to turn on. It was an adventurous time in the end! I love field trip days!

Post Office Tour

Today we had another fun day - a tour of the Post Office. Kristy read a book to us first - about the various methods of mail delivery over the years. Pretty large crowd huh?

Posing with their mail in hand.
More posing. They brought letters to mail on this special day.
Here we are in the back of the post office. Getting the inside scoop of how mail is sorted.
They were able to see inside this mail carrier.
And then they posed by a mail man on his way to deliver his pile of mail. They had a great time.
Then it was time to mail their letter.
One last pose with their coloring books in hand.
What a fun time.
After a group lunch we met friends at the park. The high was in the 60's!! Beautiful weather!