Mangroves

The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing and the temperatures were in the 70s so the younger three kids and I headed out to enjoy the outdoors.  Our first stop was a local mangrove preserve.

 Aravis was excited to hunt for fiddler crabs

  They have one odd looking giant claw. We talked about how it almost looks unnatural since we expect most things in nature to have symmetry.

Then we were off, down the mangrove path.

 We took our time, stopping to watch and observe for long periods of time. We saw fish, crabs and birds and these two spent a lot of time trying to see whose spit could make the furthest ripples in the water.

 In the fork of these two pneumatophores (yes, I had to google that to remember the word)  is a mangrove tree crab. Who knew crabs climbed trees?

 

 I wondered out loud what these knobby things coming out of the water were and Dominick, who's so much smarter than me, answered, "It's them mom. It's how they grow"

 

Of course, he was right. Here are a bunch of shoots.

The mangrove habitat is very important to Florida's ecosystem, in part, because it serves as a nursery to many different species of wildlife. When we were done with the trail, we stopped at their small museum to learn more about everything we had seen. One of the coolest things we learned was this. About a year ago my husband found a twig with some leaves on it on the hood of our van. He noticed what looked like salt on the underside of the leaves. We all looked at it, remarked how cool it was and wondered how the salt got there. So, we brought it home, put it in a baggie and taped it to the wall with some of our other finds.  While in the museum, we read that because the mangroves are in such a salty environment, the way they deal with the salt is to secrete it out of their leaves. When we got home we checked our leaves and sure enough, they're black mangrove leaves!

After that, we headed to a nearby park for a snack.......

 and some playtime.

 Xury loves being big enough to enjoy the playground.

It was a perfect day!

If you want to learn more about Mangroves, here is a great site for kids.
http://www.globio.org/glossopedia/article.aspx?art_id=39

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House Tour

One of the blogs that I read recently had a tour of her new home. I liked it so much, I decided to do one of my own. So, for friends that are far away and anyone else that is interested, here it is.......

 The front door brings you into the living room/ dining room area and the main living space of the house. All the other rooms are off of this room.  The pictures resting on the couch, still have not found a permanent place on the walls so they're waiting there while I decide.  All of Xury's toys are in here so she has a safe place to play free from all the choking hazards that the other kids like to play with. I garbage picked the trunk in between my brother's wedding and reception, while in my bridesmaid's dress. Three babies learned to walk holding onto it, one is using it now and 15 years later, it's still one of my favorite things.

 Behind the couch is the dining room table. We inherited a huge table which I love. There's another leaf that I just recently took out to make a little floor space. It looks clean now but usually there is some project taking up the right half of the table. We leave one half clear so we have a place to eat but the other half usually gets cleaned up just in time for something else to take over.  The bench in the back is an old pew from our church. The shelves, also from our church, were going to be thrown away but I thought they were perfect for puzzles, coloring books and other various toys. The door on the back wall leads to our bedroom.

The baby sleeps in bed with me. We take up half of the bed since I don't like to sleep near the edge with her, so there's also an extra bed for anyone else who wants to join us at night. I know it's not the cultural norm but it works for us and we saved money on a crib.

To the left of the living room/ dining room is the kitchen. The kid's artwork is held up with painter's tape so it doesn't hurt the paper or the wall and it can easily be changed for something new.

Since there's virtually no counter space we use this table that the kids made as a workspace. The door in the back leads to the garage and outside.

Off of the kitchen is what was the master bedroom. Since it was very cramped as a bedroom (and who seriously wants their bedroom off the kitchen?) we recently switched rooms. Now its a place for the bigger kids to hang out. Although the baby likes to join them too.

A tv and the computer are in here, as well as the piano. There's also a table for Legos, Knex, art projects, puzzles, snacks and whatever else they decide to do.

To the right of the living room is our one little "hallway" that leads to the girls' bedrooms and the bathroom.

 This is Tanner's room. She recently painted the walls but we haven't found the right curtains and she's still working on things for the walls. Like most everything else in the house, it's a work in progress.

 This is Aravis's room. We got the castle bed at a garage sale. She has a play house underneath for her dolls that she rearranges and reorganizes regularly. She and Xury share a closet and Xury's changing table is in here too. Although, I have a feeling that when she's up and walking soon, this room and the contents thereof will be off limits.

 

And here's our bathroom, which boasts pink and blue tile, complete with the original pink toilet! Yeah, it probably needs a little work   The door at the end leads to Dominick's room so the bathroom often doubles as a hallway.

 This is Dominick's room. He has his drums and a couple of keyboards in here. He really wanted the couch and tv which we picked up for a few dollars at a garage sale but I said no to the mini fridge and coffee maker for financial and fire hazard reasons. It's still painted brown from when it was Tanner's room last year which makes it a little dark but also kind of cozy.

So, there it is. It's not perfect. Most of our furniture was handed down to us, or scavenged or rescued. There's an endless list of projects that need to be done. It never stays clean for long. Most days it seems we're bursting at the seams, but mostly it's a fun, busy, loud, crazy, happy house and that's all that really matters.

It's Caterpillar Time!

We've been enjoying the gorgeous weather and spending a lot of time outdoors lately.

Swimming, playing, coloring 

AND 

observing caterpillars

The milkweed is blooming. 

Momma butterflies have been laying eggs and we have quite a few caterpillars in the garden.

 Can you spot the baby caterpillar?

This is a recently hatched first instar.

After they hatch from the egg, they eat the egg and the part of the leaf that it was attached to, 

leaving little holes in the leaves.

After a little bit of leaf munching, this guy is a little fatter and probably close to molting.
They molt 4 times before pupating.

This is probably a second instar

 

 and a third.....

a fourth......

And here's a fifth instar and a first instar together.

We also brought one in to pupate a week ago so we have a chrysalis in our butterfly house that just started changing from green to a dark purple, meaning the butterfly is on its way. I'm a little concerned because the shape of the chrysalis is slightly different from what it should be so we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Happy Easter

 Egg Hunt #1

 Egg Hunt #2

 first egg hunt

Happy Easter!

House Work, Yard Work, and Alka Seltzer

This morning I stood at the dining room table folding laundry while the baby sat banging and strumming on a guitar a few feet away. The dog brushed passed my legs, then a cat and then the hamster came rolling along under the table. I had to laugh a little at this scene complete with its roaming hamster and guitar playing baby.

It's been awhile since I've written anything. I've been busy and life has been just normal lately. Fun, full and busy but nothing incredibly interesting or noteworthy has occurred. I've been reorganizing the kitchen and the office/ craft/ older kid's stuff to do room so the house has been in utter chaos. The kids, with practically no assistance moved the pool and got it up and running for the season. And we've been doing yard work before it gets too hot to want to do outside work anymore.

While I was cleaning out the kitchen cupboards I came across some Alka Seltzer  tablets that had expired so the kids spent a few hours playing and experimenting with them. 

Aravis filled this bottle with oil, water, food coloring, and a few colorful beads. Then added an alka seltzer and made a lava lamp.

Dominick made a cool video game on the computer that was almost too hard for him to play. Tanner filmed a movie with her brother, sister and some neighborhood friends. After 4 mice, and 4 mice funerals, Aravis decided to see if hamsters live longer. The hamster almost immediately escaped from it's cage and spent a day cuddled up under a doll bed. Luckily it was retrieved by my husband since I had visions of a hamster being chased by 2 cats a dog and 3 kids and meeting a very traumatic end for all involved. Tanner finished her bunny cage, which she built unassisted and with no instructions, and bought a bunny. The baby started cruising. And I finally switched to cloth diapers, after toying with the idea for 4 babies now. I wish I had known sooner how easy they were.

So now, the house is a little better organized, a little cleaner, the yard is a little neater, the pool is in a better location, the baby is a little bit bigger, her butt's a little greener, and the kids are a little wiser.