The N.A.P.

I informed Victoria this afternoon that she really needed a nap today. Of course she is still claiming to be "giving them up". Jared started giggling and asked her..."don't you want to participate in the National Army Program?" It only took me a second to figure out the acronym. Victoria had a stern look on her face trying to figure it out. Very quickly, she pointed her little finger at him and declared "I don't like that program!" Needless to say, she was put down for a nap and chose to sing rather than sleep.

Daphne's Favorite.

Just kidding. Caterpillars really freak Daphne out. We have raised Painted Lady butterflies quite a few times. This time Kaleb and Victoria are observing this transformation. This was just about an hour before they changed into their chrysallis. It has to be the most bizarre of God's amazing creations. If you have never seen this you should really get yourself a Butterfly house from Insectlore and watch closely. The day the caterpillars came in the mail they were itsy bitsy. They grow so fast. Within a weeks time they start hanging from the lid. The gross part is they lose their upper body. Yuck! We came back an hour later and three of them had changed into a chrysallis. The other two did their thing the next day.

Oranges!!!

We are up to our eyeballs with oranges! Jared spent almost 2 hours climbing the tree, wall and on the roof harvesting oranges from our tree. We didn't realize really how many there were. He filled the sink twice. We all took our turn at juicing 6 gallons of juice. We froze most of it.

Through the Eyes of a 4 year old.

I was the only one who didn't seem to know that Victoria was snapping photos. I was relieved that she had the strap around her neck like her Daddy has taught all the kids. Probably something my own Mother should have learned a long time ago. She has been known to drop cameras in the ocean, tide pools, and I think the Kern River too. Anyway, she showed me all her pictures. It was sweet looking at what she thought was interesting.




Her collection of Blue's Clue.











A partially completed milk jug igloo.

Our neighbor's way too tall palm trees.

Daphne's Flowers

Here are a few pictures of many that Daphne took in our friend's backyard. She has definately inherited the artistic gene. The most simplest flowers can be the most beautiful. Like Daphne.

Gardening with Steve

While the kids were doing their Raku firing...Victoria was hanging out with Steve on the other end of the yard. They planted zuccini plants together. They also harvested an artichoke which Chrissy cooked up. It was tasty. We love artichokes.

Art with Larry

Larry is the kid's art teacher for the past 6 years. He does some pretty neat stuff aside from drawing and painting. He is a jack-of-all-trades in the art world. These are pictures of their Raku firing. It is a type of firing of pottery. They started out with pots that they threw on the wheel themselves and tiles. The glaze is a copper base that turns metalic. It is a pretty cool process. This is the Raku kiln that Larry constructed himself. It is hooked up to a propane tank which heats the overturned trash barrel insulated to withstand and extremely high temp.This is what it looks like before the piece is fired. These are mushroom tops. We have quite a few in our potted plants on the porch.
Here one of the pots is extremely hot and ready to be smothered in a can with a lid and newspaper in it. If I remember right the smoldering is what makes the glaze turn all different colors. Every piece has a unique finish.
This is Daphne's.