Plants & Animals

The day after Easter we took in a baby bunny.  Our neighbor's dog caught it, but somehow it was not harmed at all (just extremely frightened).  She brought it to our door and asked if the kids would like to care for it.  Of course they would!  It was the cutest, sweetest thing!  We bought puppy formula at Petco and fed it with a syringe.  The first day it was too afraid to eat, and I was worried that it might not make it.  The next day it had calmed down and developed a big appetite.  It took the formula with no problems at all and was so energetic that I could barely hold it.  We fed it formula twice a day for almost a week and gave it hay, clover and lettuce.  Once it started eating those things we thought it was probably independent enough to return to the woods. 

We let it go in the woods beside our house.  It was really ready to be free, but we were sad about it and a little worried about how it would do on its own.

Good luck, Brownie!

*****

I went to the zoo with Crosby's 2nd grade class.  It was a fun day, and I loved hanging out with him and his friends.

The giraffes are very friendly!

The petting zoo was very popular too.

Crosby had a great 2nd grade year!  This was a sweet class, and he made some new friends.  

*****

We're attempting to make a butterfly garden with milkweed and nectar plants.  Unfortunately the deer seem to like the plants too, so I'm not sure how well it is going to work.  

We've had a few monarch caterpillars.  They ate and ate then disappeared.  We are hoping we'll see them again as butterflies soon.  

We had a bluebird build a nest in our birdhouse.  There were three beautiful eggs, but unfortunately they never hatched.  I'm not sure what went wrong.

We also have a phoebe flycatcher nest (I think).

We had one peony bloom.   I planted a hibiscus tree and several tomato plants.  I love this time of year!

Bogart asleep on the couch.  :)

Easter Weekend

I love Easter weekend!  Easter is my favorite holiday!

We were out of school on Good Friday, so the kids and I made a quick, one-night trip to my parents' house to see them, my grandparents and my sister and her kids.  The weather was perfect.  We had burgers and hot dogs and ate outside Friday night.  

Mom gave the kids chocolate rabbits for Easter.  

It was also warm enough for the first swim that weekend!  And Crosby spent the night with a friend/classmate (Thurs. night) for his friend's birthday.  They had a lot of fun coloring Easter eggs and going out for donuts the next morning.

Looking forward to a fun summer of swimming.

We made cut-out sugar cookies Saturday afternoon.

Easter baskets Sunday morning.

It was raining and we were running late so our photos were indoors and rushed.  Rhett-13, Alexee-10, Crosby-8.

Our only family photo from Easter 2017

Church parking lot, only Alexee's bow made it into the picture.

Lunch was ready when we got home.  We had pork tenderloin (a recipe my friend Heather sent to me to try), potato casserole, baked pineapple casserole, grape salad, rolls and banana pudding for dessert.  Rhett also made lemonade.  

I got these cute blue egg dessert plates at Target.

Kids' School Activities

Things have been busy lately with school activities:

On March 23rd, Crosby was one of two class representatives to the 2nd Grade spelling bee.  These kids were amazing--they exhausted the 2nd grade spelling list and had to advance to the 3rd-4th grade list in order to determine the winner!  Crosby did a great job.  He was eliminated with only 5 students remaining in the competition.

March 27th was the induction ceremony for the National Junior Honor Society.  Rhett will be serving as president for the 2017-18 school year!  We are very proud of him!

He was thankful to have his grandparents in town for the special occasion.  I know they were proud of him, too.

On April 4th, Alexee was in the 4th-6th grade Drama Club performance of Treasure Island.  She was one of the townspeople.  She learned a lot this year and really enjoyed drama club.  It was a great experience for her!  We've loved seeing her confidence grow.

The entire cast, along with Mr. & Mrs. B and Mrs. H, the wonderful drama club sponsors.

April 12 was Gifted Showcase.  Second graders did a state float parade. Crosby chose to research Arizona.  The float was required to feature several things about the state including state bird, tree, industry, flag, map and interesting facts.

Parade time!

Fourth grade students did the STREAM challenge.  They did several projects throughout the semester, and chose one to be on display that night.  Alexee chose the "float your boat" challenge.  

I think 7th grade had a similar format to 4th grade.  The kids worked in groups on various projects, then chose one thing to test individually and display at the showcase.  Rhett chose to do a paper airplane flight project.

Alexee's final boats (thank goodness Lane helped her with these!) and a few pictures from their year-end "Red Carpet" celebration at school.

And one more picture of Crosby with his Arizona project and a group photo from their year-end party.

This isn't a school activity, but on April 22nd, Alexee's club volleyball team played their last tournament for the season.  She loved playing this year!  (Crosby had fun hanging out with his buddy at the tournament too.)

No wonder the days and weeks fly by...it has been a busy school year.  I'm looking forward to summer break with the kids!