April...gone in a flash!

This month has been jammed full of exciting happenings in our house!

April 2nd we started teaching our first classes at STARBASE.  Our days are jammed with science experiments and learning.  Each day, I am completely exhausted and happy happy happy!

Our ribbon cutting was April 19th and we had some very prestigious guests including Montana's First Lady Nancy Schweitzer and Brigadier General Quinn.  Both KRTV and KFBB covered the day!

Over the last several months the girls have been preparing a science experiment for the STEM Expo.  That same weekend the girls set up their displays and joined hundreds of other kids in sharing their science discoveries. 

Last Monday they auditioned for the Missoula Children's Theaters performance of the Tortoise and the Hare.  They both got parts and spent every night last week rehearsing after school until 8!  It was a tough week but it was all worth the time and effort.  The neighbor's son had the lead role and all of those involved did an amazing job.

Now it's raining and the girls want to go out for a bike ride!  I guess I need to roll....

Butterfly Journey

For Kyndra's birthday, Ronda found a Live Butterfly Treehouse. Our entire family had fun with this project. I have been trying to document it and I have to tell you...taking pictures of butterflies in a butterfly treehouse is not so easy. But, blurry pictures are better than no pictures.

When you get the package, you get a postcard that you send in and specify when they should arrive in your home. Because our June and July were so busy, we set the arrival date for August 8. Right on time, the box of live Painted Lady caterpillars were delivered to our doorstep.

Inside the box was a larval culture cup containing 5 caterpillars with some nutrient.

We watched the caterpillars eat and grow for about 3 days.

They started to get fat and hang from the top of the cup. Once there, they hardened into chrysalids. It was so fast, almost happening overnight.

The chrysalids were then transferred to the treehouse. One fell off while in the cup, it was just set on a napkin on the bottom. It took about a week before the first butterfly hatched, the others soon followed. We fed them sugar water and oranges. I don't think I ever saw them eat but I trust that they were. One of the butterflies had a danaged wing. It may have been one of the ones that flew out in the kitchen, or t could have been hatched like that.

We watched and played with the butterflies all week. Kyndra named them...Crazy, Love, Una, Lily, and Pretty. As the ween went on they got stronger and flew around the treehouse more.

Today was the day. It was perfect outside, not too hot, windy, cold, or rainy. We brought them out and opened the tent by the butterfly bush. They flew away so fast that I didn't get any pictures! Can you believe it? Once they got out, they were just gone, over the fence, gone.

Except for Crazy. She was the lame one. She couldn't fly too high and the kids played with her out in the grass for the next hour.

When Crazy was "resting" on a rock I feared the worst. Joe moved her up high to a flower and we'll hope she survives. Maybe she will hang out and thrive on the Butterfly bush. Who knows.

I loved this gift! I want to do it again!
Thank you Ronda!

Betcha Can! Science Experiment 2

We tried another experiment from National Geographic Kids called Betcha Can! In this experiment, or trick, you try to fit your head into a 3x5 index card. The girls knew right away they couldn't put their heads through the card (duh Mom!) but they were willing to try the magic trick.

Kyndra can't put her head through the paper.	Neither can AJ.
First fold the paper in half "hot dog" or "burrito" style.	Then I drew 13 partial alternating lines. Start the first line on the folded side, go about 3/4 way across.
The girls cut on the lines, being careful not to cut all of the way across.	Almost done.
Open the paper carefully, cut along the fold but be sure not to cut the two ends! Very important.	Viola! A crown for a princess! or King, of course.

Science Saturday

I have been wanting to do some science experiments with the girls to get them thinking, questioning, and all that good stuff. Today was our first of what I hope will be many experiments. I found this Bouncing Raisins at National Geographic Kids.

We started with putting a raisin in a glass with water. I had the girls observe what happened in just water. Then had them smell the vinegar and touch the baking soda. They they hypothesized what would happen:
Kyndra: "It will get bigger."
Avery: "It will get flat."

We took turns pouring the vinegar in the water. Then Joe put the first tablespoon of baking soda in. It overflowed all over the counter! So, we got out a bigger jar and started all over. Kyndra was nervous about pouring in anything again so Avery went first. This time I was ready and got some of the reaction on the camera. Next came the raisins. Nothing happened! We watched and watched. We talked about what we now thought would happen:
Kyndra: "I think it will turn into a fish."
Avery: "I think it will swirl around."

We added more vinegar and started getting more action. The raisins started bouncing! The bubbles attach themselves to the raisins and make it float to the top. They they pop, and sink to the bottom again. Kyndra wondered if they would bounce on the counter so I had her fish one out and see. It's hard not just to answer, to let them question and discover on their own. But how fun! How important! How wonderful!