Homeschool experiment– being bats

How do bats help pollinate the saguaro cactuses of the deserts?

Like this!

We traced the edge of the cup onto a coffee filter

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And cut it out [to be petals]IMG_9085

We made a circle of corn syrup and cut straws shorter than
the cups [to make the pollen stick and to mimic the proboscises of the bats]

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And then dipped them in colored sugar [the pollen]

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And poured a small amount of Coca-cola in the bottom of the cups [to mimic nectar]

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And used our straws [proboscises] to drink out the pop [nectar]

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The kids [bats] really had to smush their faces into the
rims of the cups [cactuses] to enjoy the pop [nectar]

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This resulted in sugary [polleny] faces

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and if they moved on to their neighbor’s cup [cactus] they would
have left behind remnants of sugar [pollen]
and helped to make new flowers!

did not think of this myself – all the credit goes
to Carrie Austin at Heart of Dakota Publishing.

DO TRY THIS AT HOME!

AND- if you think this sounds familiar…

homeschool experiment 2011…

Endless Shrimp…

It started with an email from Red Lobster reminding me that it was Endless Shrimp season.

Then I remembered we had Darden gift cards.

And two daughters who LOVE shrimp.

And it was a plan…

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Don’t worry – I didn’t actually ruin my appetite for shrimp with eating broccoli.

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And I promise Marie didn’t eat her Brussel Sprouts.

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This went on for hours…

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Stick a fork in me; I’m done.

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Please, Mom; no more shrimp.

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backyard fun–Tab and Hal

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The girls needed some help assembling the tent.  Nigel stepped in.  The girls played for some time and then Marie and Nigel joined them.  They did some hiding and seeking in the woods.  I love the view from my window.

Lollypop Farm 2016

It might be right next door, but we always seem to forget about Lollypop Farm being a nice place to stop.  The girls and I took a quick visit in.  The pigs were a lot of fun.

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Baseball night

I realized a while ago that we’d never taken the kids to a baseball game.  In fact, the last time I went to a baseball game I was 40 weeks pregnant with Stewart.  j

Johanna and Katriel slept over with Nan while John and I took Stewart, Nigel, Marie, and Tabitha to the game.  We watched the Red Wings take on the Mud Hens.  The Mud Hens won by a lot.  But we all had a great time.

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And we bought them all sodas the size of their heads!

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Last day of baseball–pizza party

Dad was out of town, so it meant Mama went to the game and enjoyed the pizza with the whole crew.  I was even able to see some of the games (although little Miss Three Year Old didn’t exactly settle in for inning after inning).
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What is a mom to do when her 3 year old decides she no longer wants to wear the ears she brought with her?
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Hanny had her own soda.  Yes, she did.
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Hanny got to blow the horn to warn the teams that the end of the game was near.