A Favorite Meal

Katie didn't eat sandwiches for a lot of years, but now she has discovered the joy of a good sandwich. 

I only eat one type of sandwich - ham, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, and no sauces. Yum!

More and More

Our tomato plant is looking so promising!

I went from seeing one tomato to seven in just one day!

Where's Katie?

 Anytime Katie isn't at home, I get a lot of looks from the cats as they wonder where Katie is.

An Afternoon Walk

The dogs have been lucky to go on an afternoon walk in addition to the morning walk.

When we take the dogs on their afternoon walk, we take them a different way so they can explore new smells.

Repotting

Katie helped my sister repot her tomatoes. The tomatoes weren't so happy about the change!

The tomatoes were pretty droopy after we changed their pots!

A Dog Walker

When Katie is at Jennifer's, one of her jobs is to help walk the dogs.

I had some pretty days for my walking.

The dogs love to get out on a walk!

Staying with Jennifer

Katie was excited to stay at my sister's house for a bit. They always have fun together!

First things first...I helped get my bed ready for the night.

Our First Tomato

Our first tomato is starting to grow this season. Why is it always so exciting?

It always feels like a long time between seeing this and having a ripe tomato!

Growing Her Brain

Jennifer and Katie recently got a new video game. Actually it's an older game, but they bought it for the newer system. It's called Big Brain Academy, and Katie loves the mind games on it.

I'm just working on growing my brain for the summer!

Last Day of Elementary School

Katie was happy and sad to get to her last day of elementary school. She is always ready for summer by the time school ends, and she's ready for school about three days into summer. I can't believe she's off to middle school!

This was my first day of kindergarten. I did a lot of learning and growing to end up on...

...my last day of 5th grade!

A Slideshow and Friend Time

After the Clap Out, the 5th graders and their families met in the gym for a slide show. Afterward, they were able to spend time together.

After the slideshow, I went to one of the photo stations to get a picture with my friends!

The Clap Out

After the 5th grade picnic, the students returned to school and took part in a "Clap Out." All of the other students stand around the building, and the 5th graders walk by so we can clap for them and celebrate them.

This was my very favorite part of our day!

A Celebratory Picnic

The fifth graders got to have a celebratory picnic the day before school ended to enjoy time with teachers and students before they go off to middle school.

When my mom came, she found me with one of my best friends!

Some Helpers

The other day, Katie and I went to the garden store and she decided she wanted to get a praying mantis to help our garden, and she wanted to get one for my sister's garden too. Why not?

I thought it was a great idea to get these to help our plants be healthy.

It wasn't until after we bought them that we noticed that this contains 100-200 eggs! That's a whole lot of insect helpers!

A Grocery Store

When we were in the city, Katie went to her favorite grocery store. She found something that shocked her.

I couldn't believe some of the mushrooms I found!

They look like they have hair!

A Favorite Cat Spot

Katie loves when her cats stay together. She always wants me to take a picture of them when she finds them together.

I think it's so funny that cats love boxes so much!

Goodbye, Butterflies

When we had the right weather for releasing butterflies, we took full advantage. Katie was excited to watch them fly away into nature.

I thought the butterflies would leave right away, but they stayed happily in the net.

We had to lift the oranges out to get these two butterflies out of the net.

Some of them got out and just explored the ground.

Some chose to explore the grass.

Eventually they all flew away like this one! Fly, butterflies, fly!

Busy Creating

Katie's grade level has an egg drop at the end of the year, and she has been working on creating something that will safely deliver a raw egg from the top of the building to the ground.

I gathered lots of supplies to try to create a parachute!

Ten Butterflies

Katie was happy when all ten of her chrysalises became butterflies. We looked up when to release them, and we had to give their wings time to dry and also wait for the right weather. She enjoyed them in her butterfly habitat until then.

I loved when the butterflies had their wings open, so I could see the pretty colors!

The First Butterflies

Katie was being very patient in waiting for her ten chrysalises to become butterflies, and she was so happy when she saw the first few butterflies.

One morning, we found three butterflies drying their wings.

The chrysalis that didn't stick to the lid contained one of the first butterflies to appear!

The Little Artist

Katie has become such a good artist. A little while back, she spent hours perfecting a picture for her literature study presentation at school, and all of her work paid off.

I was proud of my end product!

Out to the Movies

We all wanted to see the new Dr. Strange movie, so we waited for initial crowds to die down, and we headed to the theater.

One of my favorite things about going to the movie is having popcorn! Yum!

General Washington on Guard

Our house got invaded with some sugar ants, and for the few days we had them, General Washington stood guard.

General Washington never kills the ants. He just watches them march in their lines.

The Butterfly Habitat

Once all of the caterpillars had turned to chrysalises, we had to carefully move them to the butterfly habitat. One of the chrysalises hadn't attached itself to the lid, but we were supposed to put it in the habitat anyway because they still sometimes hatch.

It was nerve-wracking when we moved everything to the butterfly habitat. We didn't want to lose any chrysalises!

We put it in the bathroom, so we could keep the cats away from the habitat.

Another Walk

Just like when Katie walks with me, she also takes off in front of my sister when she walks with her!

I can't help that I'm just a faster walker than everyone else!

A Caterpillar Update

 In only 2 or 3 days after Katie received her caterpillars, they started building chrysalises.

Our caterpillar home started looking a little gross, but I sure liked watching as each chrysalis formed.

King Washington

Sometimes Katie crowns General Washington as King Washington and lets him have the couch.

General Washington was enjoying the blanket on the couch, so I just did my work on the floor.

A Spring Celebration

Every spring, our school has a celebration to celebrate all of the students' hard work. I couldn't wait to go to Katie's class to see what work she had on display. 

My favorite thing was this bluejay I drew. We drew our pictures on a page from a book that fell apart.

One Last Gotcha Day Wish

I wanted to let Katie choose one thing special to do for Gotcha Day, and her top wish was to have a day that she could stay in her pajamas all day long. That was easy enough to grant!

I enjoyed just doing nothing all day long, but by the very end of the day, I did kind of miss wearing daytime clothes!

More Living Creatures

Katie has always wanted to get a butterfly kit to observe caterpillars turning into butterflies. I got her one this year for her Gotcha Day. 

The first thing we had to do was to get the caterpillars out of the box they came in.

They were supposed to start moving a lot more in 24-48 hours. They had to sit in a corner, so the cats wouldn't notice them.