February 12

Horton Hears a Who!

play-dough play

Star Wars play

JumpStart Preschool for one
and Batman Creator game for the other

microscope investigations:scorpion's claw
scorpion's head
ant's head
a goldfish scale
plant lice
fruit fly
shrimp egg
silk worm larvae
pine wood
camelia leaf section
a butterfly leg
butterfly wing
locust wing
sponge gourdlily pollen
fern spores
leg of a honeybee
frog blood smear
housefly foot

We dissected our last two owl pellets. (note to self: order more owl pellets.)
Madeleine had what we think is a bird, and Trev had a couple of rodent skulls. :) Very cool.
Fascinating business, that.
We looked at the fur under the microscope, of course. And looked at pieces of skull. And tried to look at the teeth, but we weren't successful, because the light couldn't get through.
So we used the magnifying glass. Tiny teeth are pretty cool. Though yellowed claws are kind of creepy to this Mama. :)

Listening to and singin' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with Pegasus. More than once.
No, you cannot bring it (her cd player) into the kitchen.
...Because where it is suits me much better, that's why.

Maddie's theme for the day has been 'cracks'. She's been inspecting her fingers, her knees, walls, the floor, and anything else that catches her eye with cracks. And then shares her finds. Let's hope she doesn't get too close to her Mama and start poking around.

Crystals again.
I have had a few inquiries about our growing crystals... we have a kit, friends. It's called Crystal Growing and it's made by Young Hands Art and Crafts. I picked it up for a fabulous discount at Christmas time. I've searched for it, but cannot find it, though Smithsonian makes one that looks just like ours. (it has the same nine as ours.)
Trev has chosen to grow emerald green crystals. They're like the citrine ones we did that we spilled.
Madeleine has chosen the ruby red geode. How fun. :)The geode was made in an oval casing, with plaster as its base/formation. There was an additive - a bit of aluminum potassium sulfate. I'd be interested to know if you can use plaster on it's own for making a geode crystal. I looked it up, and it turns out that aluminum potassium sulfate is used to quicken the drying time of plaster. If that's all it's used for in this experiment, then it might work, as long as you give the plaster plenty of drying time - though it dries very quickly.
So maybe borax and water in a geode frame? Would that work? I'd love to find out....

Chicken Noodle soup for dinner.
The babes are making it. I'm pretty sure they'll be able to make it entirely on their own before too long.

Ben 10 videoes for one and tractor play (with Daddy's tractor circa 1970's) for the other- while the soup cooks.

and more Star Wars play -pe-oh, pe-oh- shoots General Grievous according to Madeleine...

It's 7:08... supper's ready.... and I need to find out what the babes' plans are for the rest of the evening.

'Night, then.