It's creature catching season again!

This lizard was not actually caught! They were looking for lizards in the woodpile and this rather large one climbed up on Martin and traveled all the way up to his sleeve! 

My 2 older boys have spent hours outside lately looking for lizards and toads to catch. Martin is extremely tender when it comes to these little creatures, and gets very upset when they aren't treated properly. 

There is never a shortage for wildlife around here ... there is always a lesson in nature to be learned each time they go out!

All of the frogs/toads have beached!

 The metamorphosis has been an amazing thing for all of us to observe. We started with 8 tadpoles ... then caught another one a couple weeks into the project. So, we had 9 total. Now we have 8 frogs or toads. (not really sure yet what they are) The last one that we caught died before it beached. Those are pretty good odds, though. One of the reasons we caught so many was because I really didn't think they would live. I thought that out of 8 tadpoles, that we would at least get one that made it to frog/toad. 

They seem very comfortable in the habitat we have provided ... but the longer we keep them the less they will be able to survive out in the wild. So, last night Rich, Martin, and Aaron took 6 of them to their new home out by a pond in the woods.  We kept two of them so that we can continue observing their growth. The big debate now is what to name them! 

Resurrection Sunday

The night before Resurrection Sunday ... the crown is full of thorns that represent our sins that Jesus bore.

Bright and early on Resurrection Sunday, the children woke up to the "crown" wrapped in soft royal purple cloth. The thorns were gone. We have really enjoyed our Journey of Lent and the 40 days of anticipation!

"Mommy, what happened to the toothpicks? Why are they gone?"

So, I asked them ... what did the thorns (toothpicks) in the crown represent? My 2 older ones were easily able to answer ... our sins. I asked them what did Jesus' death and resurrection mean about our sin? It meant that Jesus took all of our sins on Himself and paid the price for our sin!
The younger ones are still trying to grasp it, but the older two understood completely.

I hope that you had a wonderful weekend and while resurrection day is traditionally the day to celebrate the resurrection, my prayer for my family is that we will celebrate what Jesus did each and every day.

Please take the time to read, An Empty Tomb, written by my husband.

Maundy Thursday

Many days ago we began our journey of lent. There are 6 in our family. Obviously over the course of 40 days ... we have sinned more than the "thorns" in the "crown" represent. We have thoroughly enjoyed reading the scriptures each night at our dinner table that have been leading us to the cross and even more importantly the ressurection. I have observed my children thoughtfully placing thorns in the crown and recalling the ways that they have fallen short. While this is only a "season", my prayer is that they will take this activity with them throughout the year and continue to be thoughtful on how they sin ... and even more so that they will have repentant hearts.

My husband has written a thoughtful post on his blog, Befriending Wisdom.

Maundy Thursday

Our Family Science Project

You can see that in the picture above the tail of this frog has not yet been absorbed. It still has a way to go. We now have 4 frogs on the beach and 5 still in the water. 3 of the 5 in the water now have both arms and legs, so it is just a matter of time before they will be up on the beach as well.

We all got excited this morning when this little guy made his way to the top of this leaf.  So exciting to watch! You may have noticed that the tail on this one has been absorbed, so it's just about time to let it go. 

Taking Summer Vacation in the Spring and Fall.

I recently decided to change things up a bit with our school schedule. After all ... that is part of the beauty of homeschooling. I am changing to a year around schedule instead of a traditional 9 month school year with a long summer break.

Summer is pretty hot and miserable here in NC, and I feel more cooped up in the summer than any other time. The children will go outside for about 5 minutes, only to come inside, plop down on the couch and say it's just too hot to be outside.

So, why not do school on those hot and miserable days?

So, my plan ... although not completely mapped out, is to take long breaks in the Spring and Fall, when the weather is beautiful. We'll still have a break here and there in the summer time, but we are going to look forward to our longer breaks being during the months of the year that we want to spend the whole day outside.

Since I am very traditionally minded ... and have a hard time doing things out of the ordinary ... I have to claim this as our new ordinary. I do know that it will suit us (definitely me) better and thankfully we have the flexibility to make our year go the way that we want it to go. 

What kind of schedule do you keep for homeschooling? If you don't homeschool ... what kind of schedule do you have ... or even better what kind of schedule do you wish that you could have?

Spring at the Zoo!

Last week, on the most beautiful day of the entire week ... we took a trip to the zoo. 

The zoo never gets old ... it's exciting each time we go!

There are always statues of animals and rocks to climb on ...

... fun and informative videos to watch

helicopters to climb into ... 

... and giant cracked eggs to climb into for a photo shoot!
We love the zoo. If it were only a little closer we'd go more often!