Summer School Delay

We were originally going to start summer school on the 20th and then I changed it to the 27th because of our vacation. But now, we have family coming in from Georgia and Ohio so we will push it back until Wednesday, the 29th. 

All of our butterflies are gone. All eight that we placed into the habitat hatched and all flew away. My kids almost learned a very hard lesson when the last one was turned loose and a bird swooped in and came within inches of snapping it right up as soon as James let it go. I was thinking, "Oh great, the cycle of life from start to the very end!" We will definitely order more caterpillars to do this again.

I am in need of one more school chair...one of ours was damaged and I am hoping to replace it. One of the local charted schools is closing for good and I heard they are selling everything. I will try to contact them this week.

4 More Ladies

Four more Painted Ladies hatched, but only 2 would fly away. The other 2 are still in the habitat. I think their wings needed a little more time to dry. The look of wonder on the kid's faces and in their eyes was priceless!! One crawled  up James' arm and would not fly away.

We are still camping, but came in to take care of the butterflies and get the mail.

1 Painted Lady Gone

One of our caterpillar cocoons hatched and was ready to leave today. It was so neat! Jordan was like, "we made a butterfly!" LOL! There are 7 more cocoons hanging.

Our respite kid left today! Whew!!! She really acted out today as she knew she was leaving. So sad because she really could have had a better time if she would have just let go of the rude and negative behaviors. I it was good for my kids to see again the importance of being kind to those around you.

We went to the Pow Wow today! It was beautiful! I cried during the opening ceremony as I do every year. It was so hot that we could not stay for too long. I had bananas and water for the kids and 2 of them still got sun sick. Jordan took a great video of one of the dances. As soon as I figure out how to crop the video, I will try to post it.

Vacation in Change

We were suppose to do a road trip along one of the Great Lakes and camp as we made stops along the way. In May I was asked to do a respite that turned out longer than anyone anticipated and so we had to change our trip to stay at a local campground so that we could transport the young lady to school. She has never gone camping so it has been a big adventure for her. We also got a great site right on the lake! I saw a huge fish jump right out this morning. The kids all got new fishing rods, so we are looking forward to some fishing this weekend. The 3 little kids have to wear life vest while running around because we are just that close to the water.

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Of our 10 caterpillars, 8 made chrysalis that we were able to transfer to the butterfly habitat. Two don't look so good, so I predict that only six will make it...if that many.

She's Certified!

7th   oh I guess that's 8th grade now! took a babysitting course this Saturday that gave her first aid skills as well as allowed her to earn certification in infant and child CPR!  I am so proud of her and was so excited as I waited for her to come out from class. It was a 6 hour training. She also learned information on age-appropriate discipline, redirection and important tips for keeping children safe and entertained. She said she was one of the few girls that already had experience in diaper changing and that when some of the girls opened the diaper on their anatomically correct dolls that they "kinda freaked out" when some of the dolls turned out to be baby boys! LOL! 

While she was in class, the little kids and I went to a real working drive-in restaurant where you pull up to the speakers with the menus on them, order and the waitress brings your food to the car. No roller skates though! The sandwiches that we ordered were so big, that I ended up cutting 1 of them into 4's for the kids. Good thing I only ordered 3 sandwiches which I was going to split between the 6 of us. We ended up bringing home enough to have another meal. We also went to a really neat park that was wheelchair accessible so it had some really neat toys, ramps and platform swings that was anew experience for my kids.

I am still doing respite care. So many thoughts on that....

Had fun swimming this evening, even though the pool was really full. It was kinda funny because there were 3 young couples with really young children that met up at the Y and they were being so silly and goofy...they were worse than the kids. They kept getting in trouble by the lifeguards for horsing around, running and throwing balls at each other.

While we are officially on beginning summer break, we still have to get up and out daily as our respite kid is still in school, but we hope to leave for a now shortened vacation at the end of the week.

Kindergarten Graduation: PS Style

We went to my foster child's Kindergarten graduation yesterday and it was typically cute with the little cap and gowns, the really funny little songs and the wild clapping for awards such as "knows all my colors", "can count to 100" and "most helpful milk passer outer" (or something to that affect! LOL!) My kiddos were really proud because their foster sister had gotten awards for skills that were a direct result of their help. Every morning and every afternoon, Jackson would stand at the number chart with her and count to 100, count by 10's and blast off counting with her (10, 9, 8, etc...). Every afternoon and evening, James would read to her, sometimes clocking 160 minutes per month on her chart. Every week, Jordan would do her homework with her, making copies of the homework so she could master the skill and then Jordan would find other activities that matched the skill she was learning.

Tomorrow is the last day of public school, but we don't get to sleep in yet as I am doing respite for a child that is attending a charter school, so we still have to get up in the mornings to get her to school. She is a very interesting young lady. We had green eggs and ham for dinner yesterday in her honor because she was reading the book, but did not believe that there could really be green eggs and ham. The color turned out perfectly and I read the story to them as they ate breakfast for dinner (a favorite around here).

On another note: our caterpillars arrived yesterday and have already started growing, some doubled in size in just the 24 hours that we have had them.