She hatched!

Our lovely monarch butterfly hatched from her chrysalis today, much sooner than we expected. Usually their chrysalis gets clear and shows the black and orange colors underneath. Our butterfly went straight from green to hatched this morning! We were all very surprised! We know she is a girl because she is missing the dark spots on her lower wings that males have. She spent the day in my classroom drying out her wings. I brought her home today and let Gracie help me release her. Gracie then spent the next hour crying hysterically because she wanted her back! When the cashier at the store asked what she was crying about, I explained about her butterfly hatching from it's cocoon. Gracie got mad and said, "Mom, it was her CHRYSALIS!" You should have seen the look on the cashier's face!

She's back!!!

I am happy to report that Gracie returned to the soccer fields last night without a single tear! She had a ball! We psyched our selves up with a pregame meal at Gold Star (she liked the noodles and brown stuff now). She giggled and laughed all over the field. Unfortunately, the other team never showed up. The great thing about 4 year olds is that they didn't care! They had a great time no matter what. The scrimmaged each other for a while and then it was an early night home. Hopefully we have the same luck with the next game, and, a team to play!

Never gets old

As those of you who know me, usually fall is the most hectic time of year for our family. I have to say that the past 3 years here at CNE have brought our family a new tradition: the raising of Monarch butterflies. We have the great experience of watching these beautiful creatures go from egg to adult butterfly. This caterpillar we hatched from an egg a couple weeks ago. When it hatched it was probably about a millimeter long and as thin as a string. You could barely see it with the naked eye. The picture to the left was taken yesterday, when he was looking for a place to make his chrysalis. This morning when I cam into class, he was in the process of making his chrysalis. The caterpillar had just shed his skin on the picture on the right. Beneath it is what he looked like about an hour later. Check back in about 10-14 days to see when he emerges!

I have a new blog for you to see!!!

I was going to show off Abby's Shutter Bug pics on my blog, but then she decided to start her own blog. Shutter Bugs, for those who don't know, is an after school digital photography club I do with my 4th graders (Abby is one of my 4th graders this year). This year, they will be allowed to blog their photos, like Abby. She took her 1st photos tonight and had a great time! She wants to do more tomorrow! I have created a monster. To check out her photos, click here. Book mark her and check her this year!

A Girl and Her Chicken

Playing with the Big Boys...

Alex played his 2nd game in a fall basketball league today. It is a recreational league that gives them a little bit of warm up before their real league starts. Alex has been playing really well. He actually made a basket last week and almost made 5 more. Today they had to play a team of 7th graders. The size difference was amazing!!! These boys made Alex look like a midget! His poor team mate bounced off the floor a few times. Alex hurt his finger. But I was very proud of our boys, they NEVER backed down. They played very hard! I am looking forward to a great season from these boys. Stay tuned...

It's official...

Yep, 3 kids in soccer officially makes me a soccer mom. This weekend we had 4 soccer games, a basketball game, and a wedding shower. All 3 kids had games yesterday. Abby and Alex both won their games. Abby got to play 3 quarters and actually moved from the spot her coach put her in! Gracie had her 2nd game yesterday and I would love to show you highlights from the game, but she spent the entire game sobbing in the middle of the field. It was a little chilly yesterday morning and I didn't layer her. She was very upset about being cold and never quite recovered. The cutest part was her little friend who stopped in the middle of the field several times to check on her (during the game, of course). So the pictures you are seeing are from her first game on Tuesday when they played the little girls who were 2 years older and ran right past them. Gracie spent most of the game standing in the middle of the field spinning. But doesn't she look cute in her uniform???

"Can you take some pictures of Gracie?"

Marlo, Gracie's speech pathologist for the last 2 years, asked me last week if I could send her some cute pictures of grace. She would like to use them for an article she wrote for the Children's Hospital Speech newsletter. She wanted her in a Halloween costume. Well, I had NO problem getting Gracie to pose, as you can see. I will post the link to the article as soon as it is done!

I want my TV back!!!

This week I have been in a constant battle with my children over the TV. Now that we have the Wii, the kids are constantly wanting to play! Alex has had some time to let his arm heal after his weekend extravaganza. Abby has had time to work on her skills and now is beating us all! Tomorrow, the kids are going to have to play REAL games outside. They are back to their soccer schedules. Alex also starts his pre-basketball season on Sunday as well. We'll see how much their Wii practice has improved their real-life game!

New Thompson Family Fitness Plan

The Thompson Family started a new workout plan. No, it is not Jazzercise or yoga, but a video game system. I got some of my hard earned SOSI money from this summer and we decided to pay off all of our bills so we can work out a good budget for the school year. I felt a little guilty because I had more fun plans for the money, so we decided to buy the Wii. We thought it would be a gift the entire family would enjoy. Well, we were right. We were up until 11:30 last night and just stopped playing a little while ago (Alex played for 10 hours straight). We love it because all 5 of us can play, everyone has an equal chance. Abby kicked our but bowling, I didn't do too bad playing tennis, and Gracie had fun rowing the boats. This was a great investment for "quality family time."