Jog-A-Thon!

Last month was the Peabody Jog-A-Thon. We had been practicing in PE for months and my goal was to run 20 laps in 40 minutes. I took Papa's advice and didn't run too fast, I stopped for water breaks and to take a picture every time I passed Mommy. I ended up beating my goal and ran 21 laps. I raised $360 and won a ticket to Disneyland. My class raised the most money out of all 5 kindergarten classes and won an ice cream party!

With my tally sheet

Carah and me approaching the finish line - whew!

Colette, her little sister Ava and me before the race

Mrs. Perkins' Class aka The Blue Lightening Bolts

Disneyland - Part 2

On the King Arthur Carousel with Mommy

We squished into a teacup with Eric, Tristan, St. John and Rohan. We spun it around as fast as we could!

In Toon Town with Auntie Shaunmarie

I loved driving the Autopia car. Mommy rode with me because I couldn't reach the gas pedal but I got to steer all by myself!

Disneyland!

Mommy and Daddy took me to Disneyland for the very first time last weekend. It was amazing! I loved it! We met up with Auntie Shaunmarie and the Crazy Boys and we had a great time. I rode the Matterhorn, Indiania Jones, the Jungle Cruise, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, Rocket to Space....so many rides, I can't decide which one is my favorite.

Going into "It's a Small World"

In the Enchanted Tiki Room (they have Dole Whips - yum!)

Worn out from so much fun

Life's a Beach

Last Monday was the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday and I was off school. We went to the beach with Laird, Claire and Zane. It was beautiful weather, over 80 degrees and we had such a good time building sand castles, chasing each other around and just enjoying the gorgeous January day.

Christmas Eve

We had a really wonderful Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve, we went to Stella's house for dinner. We had a great time tracking Santa's progress on the NORAD website. We kept the grown-ups informed when he was in "Ho-hio" (Ohio) and "Indy-Hannah" (Indiana). We stayed up past our bedtimes but as soon as I got home, I jumped in bed and covered up my head.

Daddy and me pretending to be Rudolph!

Happy Halloween!

Ahoy me hearties! Catherine the Pirate Queen had a fantastic Halloween. We are still amazed at the elaborate decorations on the houses in our neighborhood. We had such a fun, busy weekend. On Friday, Peabody had their annual costume parade where all the students march around the quad while songs like "Monster Mash" and "Thriller" are played over the loudspeaker. Later in the afternoon was the class party and Mommy helped out. We made Halloween-themed arts and crafts, decorated pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies and Mrs. Perkins read us a Halloween story.

Then on Saturday night our neighbors had a party. My friend Laird is 4 and he and I play together a lot. The party was at his house. His mom, Gwyn, is a huge Halloween fan and no wonder, her birthday is the October 30th! Even Mommy and Daddy dressed up for this party. Daddy was a Southern California vampire and Mommy was a witch. I love her hat!

Laird and me

On Sunday, Mommy and I got to go sailing with Daddy for the first time. It was a beautiful day, lots of wind and we sailed a great race. We think we won! After the race we had to come and relax a bit before heading out trick-or-treating with my friend Colette and her sister, Ava.

Colette, Ava and me

My Very Own Very Hungry Caterpillar

We have been fascinated by Monarch butterflies since moving to Southern California (see first entry January 2010). After reading books about Monarchs we learned that they only lay their eggs on the milkweed plant and that is the only thing their caterpillars will eat. Auntie Shaunmarie and the Crazy Boys gave us a gift certificate to a nursery and we used it to buy the biggest milkweed plant they had. The very afternoon we brought it home a beautiful Monarch butterfly visited and laid her eggs, lots and lots of tiny green eggs.



Suddenly, our milkweed was literally crawling with yellow, white and black caterpillars. Our highest count was 24! They start out very small and eat and eat and eat until they become very fat. Just like one of our favorite books "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. The poor milkweed plant looks terrible now but that is its fate.

In this picture you can see three different stages of the caterpillar: the tiny green dot on the upper left of the leaf is an egg, the small green caterpillar and the big fat one.

We named a particularly big one Pudgy and one day we noticed he seemed to be slowing down. Then one morning we couldn't find him. That evening we noticed he had crawled up the side of the house. He began to curl and by the next morning he had spun his chrysalis.

The chrysalis was green but after more research we learned that the chrysalis shell is clear and that the green we saw was actually the pupa inside. As the transformation inside occurred we began to see the faint outline of the butterfly's wings inside.

This morning we knew it was time, we could clearly see the orange, yellow and black wings of his wings. Catherine had to go to school and I had errands to run and by the time I got home, the Monarch was out! His wings were not fully opened and I watched and waited as they slowly opened and closed, getting bigger and bigger. After 30 minutes I went inside and when I came back out the Monarch had flown away.

After breaking free, the wings are not fully open.

The last I saw of Pudgy before he flew away

I spied a beautiful Monarch on the milkweed later this afternoon and I think maybe it was Pudgy - although we'll have to come up with a better name now, more suited to a beautiful Monarch butterfly.

PS - We put another large caterpillar into a small, mesh covered "Critter Cabin" the other day and he has now spun his chrysalis hanging from the top. We named this one George and we'll see if we can capture his breaking free of the chrysalis. Stay tuned.....