Another air breathing froglet!

Today officially marks the start of our second air breathing froglet! He was starting to look more and more frog like a few days ago and he dropped his front legs soon after that. This morning Alexis spotted him with his head out of the water and we knew he was air breathing. After I chased him around the fish tank to get him out of the water so I could clean the water (OMGs do those tadpoles dirty it up quick), he decided he had had enough of the water life and came up to land this afternoon. I think his tail is a bit longer than when our first froglet emerged from the water, but I have a feeling it will absorb just as fast. He will be considered a froglet until his tail completely disappears. Come to think of it, I spooked the other one out to land too while cleaning the tank. Now we just have to wait for the last frog to make some serious progress on the development part, his hind legs are still just barely poking out.

Metamorphosis- our adventure with tadpoles and frogs

To begin our journey we must travel back in time, 3 months to be semi-precise. Nicole was hosting our 4-H meeting and the topic of discussion was tadpoles. She had retrieved quite a few tadpoles from her pond to share with all of the members of the group. The kids were all thrilled with the idea of raising tadpoles even if not all the moms were. Nicole was not really sure what type of frog these tadpoles would turn into, but she had narrowed it down quite a bit and thought their transformation should take about 90-100 days. The kids all loved learning about tadpoles and just watching them swim around in their container.



Brandon, Nathan, and William observing the tadpoles




We chose out five tadpoles to bring home. I figured that our chance of raising all five were very slim, so I was hoping to get at least four out of the bunch. I had never planned on having tadpoles or any aquatic animals for that matter, so we had nothing for our new friends to live in. We went out and bought a nice new 10 gallon tank for them and some fun ground cover.

Here they are in their new home.


Here is what our tadpoles looked like on March 20th.


As nature would have it over the first few weeks, two of the tadpoles died. I was surprised how well the kids took the loss of each of the tadpoles. We unceremoniously sent them out to sea via the toilet. Our tadpoles never seemed to like the lettuce that I was feeding them, so I did some research online and found they will also eat some algae tablets, so off I went to get them. So far the other three tadpoles seem to be growing fine on them.

One thing I don't think any of us were prepared from was exactly how long 90-100 days is(and that was just an educated guess). We watched our tadpoles every day and hoped for some sort of change. It took over a month before we started to see change on any of them.

On May 7th we woke up and found one of them had sprouted some hind legs.


Finally we were getting somewhere, or were we? We watched and watched and neither of the other tadpoles started sprouting legs, and our one with them was only very slowly developing those hind legs. It was another month before they really looked like legs.

Here he is on June 3rd.


Suddenly he started looking more and more like a frog, and then just four days later he had his front arms poking out.


Since then the changes have been coming on quickly for this little fellow. In less than a week he went from little front leg sprouts, to coming out of the water and breathing air.

Here are a couple of shots from June 13th. His tail had already shortened significantly.



In the last 3 days his tail has nearly disappeared altogether. In his most recent photos, taken today, he looks like a frog.



Now we have one land loving frog that we have yet to figure out what I am supposed to be feeding now, one tadpole that has pretty well developed hind legs, so I expect him to change soon, and one that has just barely sprouted his hind legs. I can only assume that the tadpoles we originally picked were not from the same group of eggs. I am however shocked at how big a difference there seems to be. I am very curious as to how he will develop once the other two are frogs. Maybe he will speed up once he is the only one looking for food. Maybe he won't dirty the water up so quickly, I can only hope. The kids still like to check on them daily, so I guess it is a good thing. Next we have to decide if we are going to keep them as frogs, or return them to the pond in which they came. Depending on how long it takes for them to start croaking, might make a difference in their fate.

I was tagged!

Apparently someone wanted me to blog today...lol

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:00 am to the sounds of the trash truck entering the neighborhood and the sick feeling the the can wasn't on the curb so I scrambled to get clothes on to get it out there, to see DH had done it on his way out.

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds

3. What was the last film you saw at the movies? 27 Dresses

4. What is your favorite TV show? I can't narrow it down to 1, but Survivor and Amazing Race are up there at the top

5. What do you eat for breakfast? Low carb yogurt and breakfast bar

6. What is your middle name? It starts with K and that's all you get

7. What food do you dislike? I'm not picky

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I don't get to listen to CDs anymore.

9. What kind of car do you drive? Dodge Grand Caravan Sport SE

10. Favorite sandwich? unfortunately sandwiches and low carb don't go together

11. Favorite item of clothing? jeans and t-shirts

12. Person dead or alive that you would like to have a conversation with? Oprah Winfrey

13. If you could go anywhere in the world for a vacation, where would you go? right now I am going to say Ireland.

14. What color is your bathroom? Red

18. Favorite Sport to watch? football

19. Farthest place you are sending this ? space, well cyber space at least

20. Who do you expect to follow through on the tag? JennyJ

21. Person you expect to complete it first?JennyJ

22. Favorite saying? fun

24. Are you a morning person or a night person? i'm an afternoon kinda gal, not to early not to late

25. What is your shoe size? 8

26. Favorite food for Dinner? Anything i didn't cook

27. What did you want to be when you were little? A lawyer and psychologist

28. What are you doing today? having a lazy day

29. What is your favorite candy? anything CHOCOLATE and sugar free

30. What is your favorite flower? I'm a rose fan

31. What day are you looking forward to most on your calendar? gee all "my" days are gone so I guess May 13th since it is the end of the birthday rush

32. What are you listening to right now? Sagwa

33. What was the last thing you ate ? greens and chicken/spinach sausages

34. Do you wish on stars? Nope

35. Do you believe in Angels? Nope

36. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? purple

37. What is your pet peeve? At the moment, parents in public places who don't pay attention to their little kids

38. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My DH

39. Do you like the person who tagged you? Yes (I guess I can forgive her)

4 0. Favorite soft drink? Diet Rite

41. Favorite restaurant? most Japanese Steakhouses

42. Siblings? one older brother, one younger sister

43. Favorite day of the year? Feb 4th

44. Favorite day of the Week? Saturday

45. Spring or Fall: Spring

46. Hugs or kisses? hugs

47. Chocolate or vanilla? chocolate

48. Do you want your friends to tag you back? uh no

49. What is under your bed? probably dust

50. Who is the friend you’ve had longest? Allison

51. What did you do last night? watch tv, scrap

52. Favorite smell? stinky diaper

53. What are you afraid of? heights

54. How many keys on your key ring? Which ring...lol

55. How many years at your current job? almost 8yrs, 4yrs as a full timer (SAHM)

56. Favorite city to visit? can't say i have a favorite

57. How many towns have you lived in? 7

58. Do you make friends easily? not really.

I'm tagging JennyJ, Dielle, Vicki, and Marieta

Pixie Dust

I can't believe it is already Thursday again. You would be surprised how fast a week goes by when you are having fun. I will start with some official business. Who was my Pixie Pick of the Day?...(drum roll please).... Leggs79! I have a soft spot for pages about flowers, so her page jumped out and said "pick me!" Congrats! I hope you enjoy the little gift.

Credits and Lovin'

On to other scrappin' news. Did you notice that ADSR season #3 had started? This is my first season racing. The scrapping ladies of Twinstuff have joined forces with each other to have a great racing season amongst friends. My fellow leader of the ladies and I have joined forces and are running as The Mod Squad.

Credits
Here we are together. This was actually done for the second challenge of the season. We had to figure out how to mesh our 2 scrapping styles into one. Lisa let me take the lead on this one, and paid the price with my indecisiveness...lol. I finally got something worked out and she got the go ahead to start. I think we did very well together. If you want to watch the rest of the ladies of Twinstuff race, come visit our group blog Here

Our first challenge was to use a template, show our favorite color, and repeat a favorite element 3 times. I can't say I have a favorite color, but my daugther seems to think it is purple so I went with it. I had just found a new designer I couldn't wait to try out and this LO was the perfect oppurtunity. Jen Ulasiewicz Designs just opened it's doors, and I have already bought 3 things. That never happens. I just love how realistic her elements are. Remember at the beginning how I said I have a softness in my heart for flower pages.. here's one of mine. My entry for ADSR challenge #1

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That flower bouquet was created with the realistic elements I was talking about. Beautiful work huh? I can't wait to see what else she comes out with.

Even with all the race scrapping I have had to do this week I have managed to squeeze in another page. Monday was DSO's scrap-n-chat, so I got a cool template to play with and a bonus for using it within 24hrs. Here is my poor scrap neglected child William.

Credits

To everyone that has downloaded my little kit since friday...Thank you! You don't know how good it makes someone feel to know the preview looked good enough to give it a try. I am new to the whole designing bit, and I am glad to know some people like what they saw. If you use it to create something, link me up, it will make me well up with pride. Until next time, happy scrappin'

Finally another freebie!

One of these days, I hope these freebies come a little more regularly, but for now here is something new. This is my first attempt at something more than a mini kit, so please give me some constructive critism.

Alpha
Part1
Part2

I hope everyone has a great weekend. My next scrapping task is to update a ticker I have had for over a year . Although still very functional, I just want an update. Hopefully I will get to it today. For those that are participating in the ADSR I wish you good luck and hope to see you at the chat tonight!

Pixie Pick and a Lunar Eclipse

As promised here I am with my Pixie Pick of the Day. My little gift for the week has a bright personality to say the least, so when I saw this page in the DSO gallery I just new she could appreciate it. The page is "Groovy Love" by kimscrapping. Make sure you stop by and leave her some love here.


So how about that Lunar Eclipse? It was totally cool here. We couldn't have had a better view. One of the benefits of not living in a city is a great sky on a clear night. DD was amazed at the moon as it changed. At least we are CST so the time wasn't to bad. She stayed up a little past her bedtime to watch it go from full moon to total eclipse. Unfortunately I didn't think to bring the camera out until it had gone to a total eclipse. Here are a few pictures I snapped of the moon last night. Some were at 24x digital zoom so they are very grainy.





Check back tomorrow for a possible freebie. I just have to figure out what to give you.

I have been a bad blogger

My blog is still a baby really, and I have already started to neglect it. I really haven't had much in the way of excitement since Valentine's Day. On Sunday we had some really nasty weather come through. A tornado hit in the area. We weren't directly effected, but my SFIL sustained a lot of damage to his car. I don't know if they are going to be able to fix it or if they will scrap the car. Either way I am sure he will be selling it as soon as the get it fixed, he isn't the type to keep damaged goods. Other than that, it was a boring weekend. I would love for it to have been completely boring as 200 houses (I think that was the number)were damaged or destroyed in the tornado.

I have been in scrapping mode the last couple of days, which is good and bad. I need to be saving my creativity for the ADSR starting this weekend. I guess I can consider it warm up practice. I am going to have to keep my camera on my hip for the next few weeks to make sure I have new inspiration for all those pages. Between race pages I am still going to have to find time to do some designing. Hopefully I won't get burned out to early. Anyways here are a few of my recent pages.


credits


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and one more


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That's it for now. Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with my Pixie Pick of the Day.