Osprey Nest Update

Recently I wrote about an osprey nest near our house being documented by a camera.  There has been some sad news for the osprey family of Maurice River.  July 11, 2011 the osprey-cam caught a great horned owl taking two of the three chicks.  Although a natural part of life and educational it still made me a little sad.  You can see the video of the owl attack HERE or the live feed of the osprey nest HERE.  Ms. Q and I watched the owl video together and it provided an opportunity to talk.  She thought it was a little sad and she felt bad for the parents but she understood that even owls have to eat (even if they eat cute little babies).

http://terrapincove.org

Weekly Wrap-up: Life Skills and Lazy Blogging

I love summer but we are busy, busy, busy.  This week our school calendar had a lot of "life skills" field trips.  This is my way of counting a school day when we have real life to take of.

Monday was the Fourth of July so our calendar read "Field Trip owns the day" and "Goal: learn about the traditions of celebrating the American Revolution."  We read a few historical fiction and non-fiction books about the American Revolution.  Then we celebrated in true American fashion with a BBQ and fireworks.  (No pictures, I forgot the camera, oops.)

Tuesday the calendar stated "Field Trip owns the day" and "Goal: learn about careers in the medical field."  Little M had a doctor's appointment with his pulmonologist at Children's Hospital.

Wednesday our calendar had another "Field Trip owns the day" with "Goals: learn about careers in animal veterinarian science and learn about common canine ailments such as hookworm and heartworm."  The dog had a vet appointment.  We found out last week he was positive for hookworm and needed some follow-up care this week.  Very interesting reading by the way.

Thursday we finally got some "school work" done!  But not until after we all attended our homeschool playgroup.  We just started a really neat program for the playgroup we are calling Playground Passport Adventure.  Each week the playgroup is meeting at a different park in the area.  The kids all received passport booklets last week and each week they attend the playgroup the will get a different sticker commemorating their visit to that park.

Passport cover

Inside - two parks visited so far

Friday we had some more actual school work to complete even though Ms. Q had been trying to convince me to let her take off the whole week but she really does need to get through some more work before she's off for the summer.  She's not the only one who's not interested in getting things done lately.  I have been a very lazy blogger.  It's not that I don't have any ideas to write about.  At least three times a day a thought goes through my mind that I think would make a great blog post.  I've just got to get out of these lazy days of summer!!

Weekly Wrap-up: Fun Times and Potty Training

We had a pretty relaxing week this week.  I think we were all recovering from another Birthday Weekend!  We really like birthdays around here.  This post is mostly going to be pictures because, well I like pictures alot too.  And who really wants to read about all the fun we had when they can see it in pictures?

Oh, and before I forget to brag, Little M decided this week he would like to use the potty.  He has a love hate relationship with his potty.  He loves to talk about it, sit on it, even carry it around the house.  But until this week he really hated to "go" in it.  He's asked a number of times to start using the potty but all previous attempts have ended in tears (sometimes his, sometimes mine).  This time it looks like it might stick!  We didn't have official school this week at all.  I really wanted this potty thing to work this time so he had my full attention any, and every, time he needed to go on the potty.  Fingers crossed!!

And now on with the fun:

We spent the weekend at the campground (we have a seasonal site in Cape May Courthouse NJ).  Saturday night was Wildwood Boardwalk Extraordinaire!

Rides

Rides

Momma's yearly dose of funnel cake

And more rides

Ms Q and Fred

Little M fell asleep amid all the noise and lights

Baby C did too

Sunday we went to Sunset Beach where you can hunt around the in sand for Cape May diamonds.  The water current brings alot of pebbles to this beach and polishes them up something sweet.

Next week we are back to the grindstone.  We are switching to our summer schedule with free time in the morning and school after lunch.  Ms. Q is really excited to start a unit on space for science and, as silly as it sounds, I can't wait for our field trip to the post office next week with our homeschool group.  Little M will not have any Tot School because after lunch is his nap time.  He will start Preschool in September.  I guess that's it for now.

 

Favorite Recipe: Cake Bites

Last week I posted a picture from Ms. Q's birthday.  She did not have a cake but a strawberry shortcake trifle and chocolate covered cake bites instead.

I promised a recipe for those cake bites and here it is. 

Chocolate Covered Cake Bites

Ingredients

cake

frosting

candy coating or chocolate chips

First of all what is a cake bite?  This a really simple and delicious idea. I tried to frost a cake before I should have and it it started to crack and fall apart.  The kids started scooping up the mess with spoons and rolling it into balls to eat.  And viola - cake bites!  

Basically you bake a cake and when it is slightly cooled you crumble it up in a big bowl.  Then you add 2 cups of frosting and mix it all up. The warm cake will melt the frosting and make it easier to shape. Next use a small spoon to scoop out the mixture and roll it into balls.  Place in the refrigerator overnight (or at least 8 hours).

When balls are set, melt coating and dip balls.  Place on waxed paper and then into the refrigerator to harden.

You can use any combinaton of cake, frosting, and coating.  Use your imagination and your taste buds.

The cake bites I made for Ms. Q's birthday were strawberry shortcake cake bites.  Here are the ingredients I used for these.

Strawberry Shortcake Bites

cake - yellow cake

frosting - mixture of 8oz. cream cheese, 5.9oz vanilla pudding mix, 2c. milk

2c. sliced strawberries tossed with granulated sugar

coating - 2 bags of chocolate chips

Follow the directions above and enjoy!

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Osprey Nest

In April of this year the residents of Maurice River, NJ got new neighbors.  A pair of Ospreys have made their nest and a few weeks ago their babies hatched!

Ospreys are birds of prey who migrate to wetland areas in the northeastern United States in the spring. They dine on fish and are fun to watch as they dive feet first into shallow water then take their catch to  a nearby perch to eat.  They build their nests on tall (usually dead) trees and special nesting platforms built especially for them.  Their numbers were declining due to pesticide contamination of waterways however thanks to new pesticide regulations and habitat protection they are making a comeback!

Maurice River is one of our neighboring towns and we can see Osprey flying overhead and fishing while on nature walks or even just driving to the shore.  The kids and I have really enjoyed watching this nest camera placed in a nest in Maurice River, NJ.  We figure we have another 3 weeks or so before the babies are ready to leave the nest.

Link: Osprey Camera

Weekly Wrap-up: More Birthday Celebrations and More Springtime Colds

No school this week!  Our birthday celebrating continued with Ms. Q's birthday this week.  We were finally able to make it to the campground last weekend.  We haven't been there in weeks since we didn't have our van.  We finally have a rental van and things are starting to get back to normal.  Most of us just went for the day but Ms. Q stayed at the campground with her grandparents through the weekend and came home on Tuesday.  Just in time to celebrate her 9th birthday on Wednesday!

If you're wondering about those chocolate balls look for a post early next week with a great recipe for chocolate covered cake bites.

On Thursday we all went to Barnes and Noble for Ms. Q's  free cookie/cupcake and birthday book.

Little M, Baby C, and I took the week easy.  They recovered from their colds but unfortunatley gave it to me.  They have watched alot of movies on TV this week.  Netflix is a sick mom's best friend. 

We have some really fun plans to celebrate Ms. Q's birthday this weekend.  I can't wait to share it in next week's wrap-up.