Ladybug City II

After the ladybugs ate all their eggs we decided we should find them some aphids. I thought the rose bush outside would be a good source, but it must have recently been sprayed with pesticides. After I picked Kaylis up from school we went to a plant nursery and I asked the lady if she had any plants with aphids on them. She shot daggers at me and made some snoody remark that I "could look" if I wanted but I probably wouldn't find any. And we didn't, so I called another nursery from my car and this guy had a good laugh at my expense (but at least he wasn't snoody) and told me that there's no way they'd keep a plant with aphids on it because it would affect the other plants. He did however recommend a different nursery and said they might have something there because the plants were kept outside and more susceptible. But I couldn't find the nursery - so we went to Lowe's instead and low and behold outside their plant department they had a flat of daisies and one of those plants was COVERED in aphids. You should have seen us dancing over that. As we take it to the checkout Kaylis is marveling over the aphids and the checkout lady looked confused. Then Kaylis told her what we were doing and she was happy for us. Ha.

So here we are with a big plant and no place to put it. We head to target and get a big plastic bin to put the plant in and keep the bugs from taking over my house. But this morning the thought dawned on me that the plant probably needed more sun and air then it could get in a plastic box, so Kaylis and I had a heart to heart about nature and letting things go - and we put the plant outside our door. Where we'll continue to observe the ladybugs that stay, pray for eggs that hatch, and one day watch all our babies fly off.

Ladybug City

Last week at the park we saw quite a few ladybugs on a certain tree. Yesterday Kaylis wanted to bring her bug house into school but all she had were dead bugs in it so I made her dump it first and she tried to find more bugs - even went back to the tree with John looking for ladybugs, but had no luck (I think they had all turned in for the night ;). So today after school we went to the park and searched the trees - and found 11 ladybugs to Kaylis' delight. We also found some odd looking yellow things on the trees which I surmised could be ladybug eggs. A quick search on google confirmed it when we got home and then low and behold, on top of her ladybug house we found that someone had laid eggs (the yellow blob on the first picture)!

So now we are becoming ladybug experts thanks to google. Did you know you can feed them raisins? They of course prefer aphids, but if none can be found you can soak a raisin in water for 5 minutes and then cut the raisin in half and drop it in their cage. They also like a paper towel in the bottom of their cage that is slightly damp for their water supply. But we added a few spritzs from the water bottle as well, just to be safe. We also sadly found out that they will eat their own eggs - but to make us feel better we have discovered that they will only eat their own eggs if they were not fertilized in the first place. So we're hoping the rest of our eggs have indeed been fertilized. 

We don't have much of a wait - eggs hatch within 2-5 days! Can't wait ;) The larvae then feed furiously on aphids for 2-3 weeks. So we'll have to find aphids soon for them - wish us luck!

Going Crazy & Other Random Thoughts

The kids are ready for spring break. Kaylis is DONE with school already (at least in her mind, BUSD still has her for 2.5 more months). She is excited about doing a report on Sacagawea though and most importantly I called my mom and got her to send me my old Indian play outfits that she sewed for me and my sister when we were little. Kaylis is pumped to be able to pick one and wear it to school when she gives her report. Is it just me or does every girl dream about being an Indian Princess? Nevertheless, if my mom thinks she's getting those outfits back she's got another thing coming ;) Ok I'll send them back when she wants them... besides I don't really have storage here anyway.

If Gavin kicks his soccer ball past me one more time I might scream. Which reminds me, today I was feeling ill (first signs of a dreary cold showed up yesterday) and hungry and Gavin kept pestering me with question after annoying question on our (grocery, nothing terribly fun) shopping trip. Finally I said to him, "Gavin, if you ask me one more question I'm going to scream and then throw up." Of course his reply was, "Why?"

Where does the time go?

Kaylis is 7 and Gavin is turning 4 in December, tell me - where does the time go?

I'm Crazy!