Our Week in Review: Including Butterflies & Sharks

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Welcome to Our Week in Review! This review is actually two weeks combined. We’ve been so busy the last two weeks (gardening, preserving food, farm animals, homeschool, reviews, ect.) that I am only now getting this post up. It’s funny how farm life has that feast or famine feel to it. You’re either sitting around twittling your thumbs…which I never do, because there is always something that NEEDS to be done…or everything must be done right now before sun down! It can be so exhausting, but also so rewarding.

Gardening

The garden has been producing like crazy! I have picked and snapped 5 bushels of green beans that uncle Joe has canned. Every day the children and I are picking squash, cucumbers, okra, and loofah. Then there was the 8 bushels of peaches we had to peel and cut in order to preserve the same day! Plus I just looked outside and I believe the tomatoes are about to start rolling in. Our son loves his job as the “expert” bug picker and our daughter was particularly proud of her harvest of potatoes. Our garden is definitely keeping us well fed and busy!

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We had our first pediatrician appointment in our new state. I was in a room for 2 1/2 hours with the three most fidgety people in the world! In this picture our son is literally jumping up and down NON STOP! Somehow we all survived and we LOVE our new pediatrician. The following evening I had to make a trip to Urgent Care due to an infection. After a few days of antibiotics and taking it easy…ish…I feel much better! Next week our son has his first allergist appointment. Wish us Luck!

Gabriel came up with a new game for he and I to play….Chess with a Twist! After every move we make in chess, we each have to read a passage out of his book of choice….all while drinking coffee. It’s actually quite fun and we both thoroughly enjoyed it! His book of choice was “The Sign of the Beaver.”

Our new goats are still lovely! You can read my post on the 4 Reasons We Got Goats here. We got them harnesses so that we could easily walk them from the barn to their pasture every day. I say easily, but they don’t particularly care for them. They will, however, follow the sound of the dinner bell anywhere we want them to go! Anne still isn’t too sure about the farm cat, Dew…

Raising Butterflies

We have been watching our Painted Lady caterpillars grow for several weeks now. Last week they formed their chrysalises. We were super excited to transfer them to their habitat where we waited patiently for them to complete their metamorphosis. This morning we are thrilled to announce we have 5 healthy butterflies fluttering around. We will observe them for a couple of days before releasing them into our garden.

All About Sharks

Our son asked me to sign him up for this free online course on sharks through Cornell University. We loaded up on shark books and are using the OSEARCH.ORG site to track a Great White shark named Lydia! Lydia is 14ft. long and weighs 2,000 pounds. She was tagged off the coast of Florida and she is one of the 6 most famous sharks in the world. Her fame comes from being the first Great White to have been tracked across the Atlantic and back. The kids wanted to measure her length against uncle Joe’s truck. She’s just shy of the length of his pick up truck! She’s a BIG girl! Then the kids laid down and had me compare their measurements with Lydia’s.

In the shark course we have been learning about the different depths/zones of the ocean:

Epipelagic
Mesopelagic
Bathypelagic
Abyssapelagic

And, with that the different types of sharks that live in those zones and how they interact with the marine food webs

Pelagic
Benthic
Epibenthic
Reef-associated

We are excited to continue our course and follow Lydia as she travels the world’s oceans.

Creativity and Art

Our son bought a Melissa & Doug Stained Glass Dragon kit with his allowance and just raved about it. I have to admit, it is pretty cool. I was surprised that he stayed still long enough to complete it! It is beautiful and now proudly hangs in our kitchen window.

We got to review the I DO 3D Vertical Pen this week. It was a HUGE hit! You can read my review here at Inspiring Creativity With A 3D Drawing Pen. Our son had the best time creating bugs, rings, and even a windmill!

Finally, what is summer without the fun that only a water hose can bring? We’ve even enjoyed several water balloon fights. My favorite summer-time picture is of our daughter after she stripped down to her naked bum, in our stock pot in the front yard! Oh, what must the neighbors think!