Polyphemus Moth

About a month ago my friend Seth caught this green caterpillar for me. It was bright green and really fat. I brought it home and looked it up in my insect guide. I thought it was a polyphemus caterpillar, but I wasn't quite sure. Well about threee days later it spun this really neat cocoon that looked liked spun thread. It was in that stage for about two weeks. I thought it had died actually because I had never had a caterpillar like this before. One day I thought I heard something moving inside the cocoon, so I took it outside to see if it would emerge. I went and checked on it later that evening and the cocoon was empty and there was this huge moth sitting next to it. I called everybody to come and see. We looked it up in the book again, and I was right, it was a polyphemus caterpillar. Now it was a polyphemus moth. It looked so different from the caterpillar. My mom took some great pictures of the moth!

Eastern Black Swallowtail

I love catching bugs! I have had good success finding caterpillars. I love to watch them make their cocoon, and then emerge as butterflies. I have already one this summer. I caught a caterpillar and wasn't sure what kind it was. I thought it was a swallowtail. I was hoping that it was because, I have never had a swallowtail in captivity. I set up a habitat for it in an old butter bowl and just watched it. Sure enough it made a cocoon a few days later. It was in the cocoon for about 12 days. It emerged one morning while it was down pouring rain. We sat on the front porch and watched it emerge. Pretty soon I had the most beautiful Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly. Eventually he flew away right in the middle of a big downpour. He seemed to do fine. He sure was beautiful!

Last day of school!

This is a picture of me and some of my friends on the last day of school. We only had to go to school until 12:00p.m. and our school took the 3rd-6th grades to the bowling alley the entire time. We had so much fun!

Piano Recital

We had our piano recital a few weeks ago. I love playing the piano. I especially love to make up my own songs. My mom thinks that is wonderful. My piano teacher however, thinks I need to spend more time practicing the songs she has assigned.

Summer Job

My dad is teaching me to run the riding mower. He said if I mowed the grass for him this summer he would pay me. I have been saving my money to buy an I-Pod. I almost have enough already because I saved some money that I got for my birthday. I still need a little more so I guess I have some work to do!

My 10th Birthday

On Saturday I turned 10! I had a great day! I went fishing with my dad. We did not catch anything but we had fun. My grandpa always says " The fun is going fishing it's just a bonus if you catch fish". On Saturday afternoon my best friend Seth came over. He even spent the night. We love to take walks around the neighborhood. There is an alley by our house with some dogs we like to tease. My grandparents came over for dinner. My mom fixed tacos -my favorite! We had a bug birthday cake, it was cool. After dinner Seth and I played some more, and then we watched Mission Impossible. I had never seen it. I loved it! You can click on the link to my photo albums to see all the pictures from my birthday!

New school pictures

This is my new school picture. My mom did not order very many so she said to put it on my blog so everyone could see it.

My class at school ( Mrs. Gibson's fourth grade) has been studying Missouri history. We had to make a Missouri notebook and read a book by a Missouri author. To complete our study we took a field trip to our state capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri. We had to be at school at 6:30 a.m. and we did not get back to school until 8:00 p.m. We had so much fun on our trip. My mom went with me and took a lot of pictures. My favorite part was the museum with the guns and cannons from the civil war, and climbing to the top of the capitol roof! You can see all the pictures from my trip if you click on "my pictures" .

Strep Throat

I am home from school today. I have strep. I was home yesterday so Belle brought me a lot of homework to do! Plus my nose looks red like rudolph.

District Science Fair

Jesse placed first in the Science Fair at his school a few weeks ago. Last week was the district Science Fair. He came in Second Place out of about 15 projects. I was so proud of him. I got to go and spend the day with him. It is all very official. the room the fair is in is off limits unless it is your given time to interview with the judges. He handled the pressure very well. The girl who came in first is in his class at school. Everyone was so proud of them both.

Horseback Riding