Cuz its what good mommies DO

Parenting is all about doing things you don't want or wouldn't ordinarily do - but lately I feel like I've been doing more bizarre things than usual.

We have an ant farm. I voluntarily paid money for bugs to bring into my house. And it has been kind of cool to watch, once you get over the "Ewww factor."

My house smells like burned milk. Why? Because we burned milk - on the stove - on purpose. John bought a very cool new album from They Might be Giants called "Here Comes Science" with kids songs all on science subjects. Very fun, but now we've been doing experiments.

Question: What kind of gas does milk turn into? Answer: a smelly one. We've also been melting Popsicles and crayons.

We hatched (morphed?) butterflies. More bugs in my house. And for the record, having pretty wings does not make them any less creepy in my book. Mostly this one was bad because I went to check on them one night before bed without my glasses on. My eyesight is really bad, so I had to get right up close to what the day before was a harmless cocoon. I was an inch away from a giant eyed thing that was staring right at me and I jumped about foot. And then I got to teach the children how to gently hold the butterfly until they flew away, because they didn't just fly away on their own.