Easter Week

Usually, I let my daughter choose which Bible story she wants to hear, but last night I wanted our Bible reading to be more focused.  I want her to understand the reason we celebrate Easter.

Last night (Sunday), I read to her Jesus Enters Jerusalem from Tomie dePaola's Book of Bible Stories. This is one of several Bible story-books we own.  Two things I like about this book are dePaola's illustrations, and the text is from the New International Version of the Bible (as opposed to a retelling for children - though I like those too).  Jesus Enters Jerusalem is taken from Mark 10:32-34, 11:1-10.

These are the stories I plan to read her this week:

Monday - Read With Me Bible (New International Reader's Version) - Mary Pours Perfume (John 12)

Tuesday - Read With Me Bible (New International Reader's Version) - Jesus Washes the Disciples' Feet (John 13)

Wednesday - The Jesus Storybook Bible - God to the Rescue! (The story of Passover from Exodus 3-13).  "God's people would always remember this great rescue and call it 'Passover.' But an even Greater Rescue was coming."

Thursday - The Lord's Supper

Friday - Jesus Prays at Gethsemane

Saturday - Jesus Dies On the Cross

Sunday - The Resurrection

Build Your Own Birdhouse

Today, Mommy is on Spring Break, so we whipped out the Build Your Own Birdhouse kit.  My not-yet-three-year-old painted three of the seven large pieces before losing interest and wanting to paint the sidewalk.

She's done other kits like this before (a train, a race car, a fire truck, and a biplane), so I know tomorrow she'll want to work on it.

But for now, it's bath time.

Caterpillars Day 4

This morning, I watched them for ten minutes and didn't see any movement.  I was seriously worried they were dead, but when I looked at the cup a little while later, one of them definitely moved.  So, at least one of our caterpillars is still alive.  Hopefully, the other four are just being very still while they digest their brown caterpillar food.  We'll see...

Update: It is now almost 4 p.m. and I'm back to thinking they are all dead.  I traced each caterpillar with a dry-erase marker; this way I can know for sure whether or not any of them move.

Pressing Flowers

11. to mount in a scrap book a dozen common wildflowers, with leaves (one every week); to name these, describe them in their own words, and say where they found them.

-A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six

Pick a flower.
(We don't have any wildflowers
growing on our brick-paved patio - yet.
So we picked a pansy.)

Put your flower on blotting paper.

Put on the top. 

Screw on the wing nuts.  Wait one week.

After screwing on the wing nuts, my daughter immediately wanted to unscrew them to see the pressed flowers.  When I explained to her that we had to wait for seven days, she burst into tears.

This is definitely a lesson in the habit of patience.

Planting Flowers

Today, we planted California wildflower seeds.  We're starting them in paper egg cartons.  (Make sure to poke toothpick-sized holes in the bottom of each compartment.)  Once the seeds sprout, the compartments can be cut apart and planted.

My daughter's tiny hand holding teeny-tiny seeds

The seed packet we used

When I wasn't looking, my daughter "helped" by watering.

Caterpillars Day 3

Do they look bigger?

Fun caterpillar facts:
-Some caterpillars eat up to 27,000 times their body weight!
-A caterpillar increases its mass by up to 1,000 times (or more).
-A caterpillar's first meal is its protein-rich eggshell.
-As caterpillar outgrows its skin, it molts.  Each stage between molts is called an instar.
-A caterpillar goes through 5 or 6 instars before pupating (becoming a chrysalis).
-While a caterpillar only has 3 pairs of true legs, it has five pairs of stumpy "prolegs" on its abdomen.  The prolegs are not jointed (like true legs) and have hooks to help the caterpillar hold onto plants and climb vertically.  (Adults - butterflies - do not have prolegs.)

Here are our caterpillars on Day 1 and Day 2.

Field Trip - Butterfly Pavilion

A Buckeye Butterfly

Today we visited the Natural History Museum's Butterfly Pavilion.  Not only did we leave later than we should have, but there was LOTS of traffic near the University of Southern California because this weekend is the Festival of Books.

When we got there, I realized that we weren't just half an hour late, we were 24 1/2 hours late.  I had made the reservation for yesterday.

Thankfully, the museum employees are very understanding and let us in anyway.

The museum provides laminated butterfly identification charts.

A Julia Butterfly

A Julia and two Zebra Longwings

A Red Admiral