Leafy the Caterpillar

It is illegal to mail those fun butterfly kits to Hawaii, so I thought that we wouldn't be able to watch a caterpillar turn into a butterfly. But then Dad found a beautiful caterpillar, just a few weeks after we studied butterflies. Haridas named him Leafy, since we saw him eat through leaves so fast. After 2 days, Leafy climbed on the stick, hung upside down for a while, and then began to make a chrysalis. We didn't know until now that the caterpillar's head actually falls off! We look forward to seeing what kind of butterfly Leafy will become. I could not find any information to identify what kind Leafy is, so it will be a fun surprise!

Navin's 2nd Birthday

We have a wonderful day for Navin's 2nd birthday. He was very, very happy and thankful for all of the nice, new toys. Thank you everyone who sent cards and gifts. Here's some pictures!

Lookin' Cool For BIrthday #2

Here's some recent pics as we approach Navin's 2nd birthday! He dressed himself up like this and was ready to brush his teeth!

Homemade Crystals

When we were learning about rocks and jewels, we started making sugar crystals (rock candy) by letting some cooked sugar water sit in a jar with a string hanging in it. After 3 weeks, we had some beautiful crystals! We fed it to the ants outside afterwards. The camera doesn't quite capture all the beauty of our homemade crystal.

Haridas Live Acoustic

Here's Haridas playing his new guitar. He loves it and is getting better with everyday practice (at strumming).

Dragonfruit

This fruit is so great. It grows on a plant that looks like a cactus and tastes like a kiwi strawberry watermelon! We just had to take some pictures of it while it's in season here.

B Is For Butterfly

Here's Haridas as a beautiful, big, blue butterfly!

J is for Jewels

After learning about rocks and the letter R, we moved onto jewels and the letter J. We made our own jewels with dots of glue dried on tin foil, which we colored and peeled off, then glued onto a crown of tin foil. Here's some pics of the beautiful crown! You can't really tell in the pictures, but the jewels are clear and colored like crystals and gems.

Volcano Fun

We had fun while learning about the letter R and rocks for lesson 20 in My Father's World Kindergarten. Since most of the rocks around here are igneous (volcanic) rocks, and we live near an active volcano, Haridas is naturally fascinated with volcanoes. So, we made a model volcano out of clay, painted it, and made it erupt with baking soda and vinegar mixed with red paint. Haridas is with his good friend Karika watching it erupt.

Cute Navin

Here's more pictures of Navin modeling a hat and shorties that I made.

Haridas Without Training Wheels!

Watch Haridas's first time riding a bike without training wheels. It's amazing how fast he just took off by himself.

P Is For Penguin

We spent 2 weeks learning about the letter P and penguins. We were surprised to learn that male Emperor penguins can be 4 feet tall and weigh 100 lbs! So, we drew a life size one and measured how tall the boys would be in comparison. Their heights are the red lines. Haridas helped color and draw our penguin friend.



We also made penguins out of play-doh. We learned a lot from these austere animals that are so tolerant and go through so much for their loved ones.

Haridas Loves Reading!

Something recently shifted in Haridas and now he's really into reading and wants to learn more all the time! It's so exciting for all of us! Here's a video of him reading 15 words, many ending with ck, all by himself. We're on Lesson 17 with My Father's World From A to Z, and we have 90 days left!

Little Firemen

Haridas and Navin are really excited about their Fireman dress-up outfits that are also raincoats and rain boots! They are very inspired by their Grampa Dan who was a fireman.

Navin Playing Mridanga

Here's some pics and a short video of Navin playing the new mridanga. He's very serous about it!

New Drums!

Here's some pictures and a video of Haridas playing his new kid sized mridanga and bongo drums for the first time. Our home is even more musical now! We give thanks and praise for the blessings in our lives! :)

E Is For Elephant

Haridas made this elephant mask as we are studying the letter E. He made it all by himself by drawing and cutting out the ears and trunk and gluing them onto a paper plate. Then he covered it with black and white finger paint to make a grey color. I cut out the eyes and tied on the rubber band and that was all I did. He then put on his grey elephant shirt and was all set to go as an elephant!

Hat Modeling

Haridas joined me in taking pictures of hats that I've made to sell. We had fun with these! Check out these hats for sale here:
www.alohacreations.etsy.com