Costumes & Dress-Up through the Year

It just cracks me up that Hunter and Michaela get so excited about Halloween. It's really no different than any other day of the year at our house! Well, I guess there IS the candy thing. . .

4th of July

Michaela scowling at me because she doesn't want to take off her costume to take a shower.

Michaela and her friend, Hartlee, at the squadron Halloween party last Friday, Oct. 23rd.

Hunter and his friend, Conner. Hunter's costume was the combination of 2 costumes we bought at Dirt Cheap for $2 each. Michaela's costume was also $2. With kids this serious about wearing costumes all the time, I gotta look for the deals!

Michaela this morning, after removing the couch cushions, insisted that her bear and baby doll also needed princess costumes while she sang to them.

Field Trip! Part III

Since we had a parking pass for the day, we decided to check out "Treasures from the Vault: Collections of the Mississippi State University Museums and Galleries" recommended by Amy and located at the Cullis Wade Depot. (After a change of clothing, of course!) Hunter took this picture in the clock museum downstairs.

Hunter was fascinated by the butterflies. He was surprised to find out they were real. "Why would someone catch a butterfly and kill it? Butterflies should be free!" Outta the mouths of babes!

Pottery.

Tools.

We headed down to the bookstore to find a dinosaur book as a souvenir of our trip. Hunter was eyeing the maroon and white paraphenilia, but I warned him if he brought home any Bulldog souvenirs, Daddy might hang him - LOL! So, we headed back to the clock museum and got these pics of Bully. (I'm totally guessing on the name. Am I close State fans?)

Looks real, huh?

So, you were all waiting patiently and here it is . . .

Hunter's find - Can you tell what it is? If you guessed fossilized clam, you would be correct!

Field Trip! Part II

After we toured the museum, Amy took us to an outcrop to look for fossils. We invited our friends, the Collins family, to join us on this field trip. (l-r Amy Moe-Hoffman, Katelyn Collins, Hunter)

Follow the leader! =-)

We have had several weeks of rain here in the South. Much wetter than normal for this time of year! Amy gave us directions to follow her and be careful where we stepped because many areas were very slick. The kids and I were glad we wore our rubber boots! As you'll see in the rest of the pictures, we got very dirty, but it was a lot of fun!

The good part for us, all that rain had exposed a lot of fossils! Here, Amy helping Michaela find fossils.

Amy helped the kids identify their finds. (l-r Michaela, Amy, and Katelyn)

Hunter got a big find right away! We took it home and washed it up. It'll have to remain a surprise for now. ;-) I'll post those pictures later!

Eric Collins holding daughter, Miranda. She wanted so badly to get down w/ the rest of the kids. I should have had someone take a picture of me. At one point, Michaela got stuck in some mud that covered the top of her boots. She was very upset so I picked her up, which meant I became a big muddy mess! LOL! Poor Miranda would have been a mess, too.

'Say Cheese!' (top to bottom: Katelyn, Isaac Collins, Hunter and Michaela) I never can seem to get pictures of Isaac facing the camera!

"Ooooo, what did you find?"

As you can see, Hunter had a good time! You can also see what an unassuming location it was for the outcrop. Who would have thought that on the other side of the fence from where we were parked was an area rich with fossils just waiting to be discovered!

Field Trip! Part I

Hunter took these photos on our field trip last week, Oct. 14th, to the Mississippi State University Geosciences Department. Amy Moe-Hoffman was our guide through the Dunn-Seiler Museum.
http://www.msstate.edu/dept/GeoSciences/museum.htm

Above, if you can believe it, are gizzard stones found with a fossil. Also, to the left, a dragonfly fossil.

During the time of the dinosaurs, the area of MS where Starkville is now was under water. Many of the fossils in this area, therefore, are of oceanic life.

Better shot of the dragonfly.

See that skull at the bottom? Crocodile!

Hunter was quite impressed with this replica of a Triceratops skull. So much so, that it was difficult to get him to focus during most of the tour - LOL!

Hunter is still in disbelief that his favorite, Pteranodon, was technically not a dinosaur. We learned that part of the definition of a dinosaur was an animal that lived on land and had all the same type teeth. (herbivore or carnivore). Pteranodon means 'winged and toothless'!