Bug Week

We just finished up Bug Week.  My kids are running around these days pretending to be spittle bugs--really, spittle bugs...  :)

A little side note. :)  Sometimes I wonder what people think when they see us parading around the neighborhood with antennas on our heads, or what M's teachers think when she tells them what we're doing at home.  Thinking they might think I'm a little crazy.  :)  But, these theme weeks seriously have been injecting some much needed fun and cool memories into our ordinary days.  Especially on days when I'm struggling to use a "good mommy" voice, or when I would have normally run out of ideas of stuff to keep us from being bored.  We've been doing them for a few months now and J and I were talking about it last night and saying how it has been really fun and a good thing for our family.  M is still talking about how she got to make the PB&J sandwiches on "Golden Rule" day and T frequently asks for more treasure hunts. :)  Anyway, onto bug week... :)

We started the week by collecting ants for our ant farms (from the $1.00 section at Target).  Okay, so collecting ants is much harder than I thought.  The big ones were WAY too fast and the little ones were hard to find.  But, thankfully we found a living mound of ants (maybe they were migrating?).  So we collected about 7 for each ant farm and then brought them inside to watch them tunnel. 

Hmmm...so while the little ants were abundant, they were also the perfect size for fitting through the teeny, tiny air-holes.  I tried to make the holes smaller with some tape, but M's still all escaped.  We welcome you, tiny ants, to one of the largest ant farms ever--our home. ;)  And poor T's ants lived for a few days and then they "joined their family."  J is in charge of collecting our next army of ants. 

We made "ants on log" for snack with pretzel sticks, chocolate peanut butter and chocolate yogurt covered raisins--yum!

M and T dressed up like bugs to help with some "busy bug" chores--complete with an extra set of legs. :)

They made their own bug-shaped snacks another day.

After looking for bugs under rocks we made our very own "Rock Bugs."

And we ended the week with a "bug hunt."  When I worked at a preschool I had made a bunch of HUGE laminated bugs to go along with Eric Carle's The Very Quiet Cricket.  M and T had fun finding them all over.  Admittedly, though, it might be a little creepy to find a cricket this size on your toy trains. :)

We're in the midst of "Prince and Princess" Week.  More to come. :)