Hermie - the caterpillar

While Joshua was at Texas Motor SpeedWay I told you that we got a new pet... A caterpillar!
Hannah and Caleb were looking out the window and saw a caterpillar on the screen. So I got it and asked Hannah if she would like to take care of it and watch it turn to a butterfly. She was thrilled with the idea. We put him in a plastic "cool whip" container at first. Hannah and I spent a long time on the internet looking up what kind of caterpillar we had and how to take care of it. He is an Eastern tent caterpillar. Hannah named him Hermie. I found that the Hermie needed leaves from the tree of his choice and only those leaves would do and that you could gather fresh leaves and store them in the fridge. Hannah took a basket outside and gathered food for her pet. We learned how to make in a proper home and together gathered sticks from his choice tree to make him a home in a large box. We also learned that this caterpillar was not going to be a butterfly... but a moth. Not so pretty but fun non the less. Here is a pictures off the enternet so that you can see it clearly.



Here are some pictures of our Hermie.



We had a fun scare when our caterpillar got out of the box. Caleb found him on our pantry curtain 2 days later! Glad we found him! Hannah was so excited, very loudly saying, "Caleb found my Hermie."
Then a couple days later I had a real hard time with him getting out. He got out like 5 times in one day, so I put him in the cool whip container again with one leaf and closed the lid (with plenty of air holes). I peeked in at the end of the day and Hermie had made his cocoon under the leaf.

Yesterday I checked on hermie and he was hanging upside down as a moth.


We took him outside and let him go. This is Hannah getting a good look at him.

We fed this life and helped him get to where he is now. Hannah had fun. It was a neat learning tool for teaching about life.

Well this is the type of pet I like. One that you keep for a couple of weeks and then let it go. I think that we'll make keeping a caterpillar a summer tradition. I hope to find eggs next time so that we can see the entire life cycle.

Can't See the Videos ? It's a Windows update issue.

No, it's not your fault. Microsoft has been in a court battle over some code in their programming that effects all ACTIVE-X enabled objects in their software. Both server-side and client-side.
Basically Flash (OUR VIDEOS ARE FLASH) and Java, and the like do not run automatically anymore. You have to CLICK the area where the Flash would be to "activate" the item.
But this is not working well....so Microsoft released a temporary FIX to REVERSE the April update. The next corrected patch is not due until JUNE 2006.
All of you who updated (or AUTO-update) the April Windows Security patches are affected! See related fix links below:
____________________________________________
FOR THE EASY, NON-GEEK, NON-TECHIE FIX:

FIRST, Get the DIRECT-X updates here:
DIRECT X UPDATES

SECOND, Run the "dxwebsetup.exe" file you just downloaded and follow the directions.

If that does not work, then update to
Internet Explorer Version 7 Beta 2.
Get IE Version 7 Beta 2 Now
We are setting up a VIDEO PODCAST so you can subscribe to the video files via iTunes. (or other Podcast software) Not only can you watch them in iTunes, but you can now put the videos on your iPod and show your friends!

Good Luck!
- Joshua Crispin

Play Ball

I got a new camera from my dad! It has video capture! So injoy our first movie with Hannah and Caleb playing T-ball for the first time.




I'm sure there will be more to come! I'll try to get Sarah and Abrianna soon.

Whale of a Tale

This weekend is the Texas Motor Speedway gig that Joshua does. So I will be home, by myself, with all 4 children... Count them... 1, 2, 3, 4! Well I went to the library to stock up on movies for our long weekend ahead. I wanted to get new stuff that the kids had not seen. Free Willy looked good! I like the movie (yes, I love "kid" movies!) and thought that they may keep interest in it. Well they did like it. We talked about whales and watched the whales again. They like it! It was a hit!

And if that wasn't enough...
Joshua asked us to come see him on Saturday night. When he got to the car he pulled out gifts for the kids... WHALES! Apparently Sea World has a race car now and there were stuffed whales that Joshua was able to get for the kids. How neat. You should have seen the kids faces. Caleb loved it! He held it by the tail and ran around like it was swimming and then Hannah and Sarah started to copy him. It was a very cool gift! (He got me the new Reeses.. My favorite candy!)
Joshua wanted to go to a park to play with the kids. So we went to a neighborhood park. Here are some of the pictures we took. Sarah and Hannah took their whales on the swing and Caleb climbed. He through his whale over the climbing thing and then went after it... Over and over... He's a climber!











Well I made it though the weekend and all are ok. We had fun playing and even got a new pet while Joshua was out (more on that in another post...).
Thanks to my mom and Jeanie for coming over in the evenings and keeping me company. Jean and I painted a dresser that I've been just itching to get done.