Changed By Love

Well, today’s plans went a totally different way than I had — planned.

Last night, I was studying more about metamorphosis, and what the Bible says about it. I thought I would talk to the kids about it today.

Then Emma asked if we could make lily pads to put in the tadpole tank. I didn’t know what she meant at first, but then I thought about the colored foam sheets that we bought at Hobby Lobby. I told her she could make a few, and I set Fiona to the task of helping her make them while I read some chapters of “The Giver” to the big kids.

That kept all of the littles occupied for quite a while. They made about 19 of them. I let them put 3 of them in the tadpole tank. I didn’t want the tadpoles to drown in lily pads.

I still felt pretty energetic after reading to the big kids, and I was thinking about lily pads, so my mind turned to the Nelson Water Gardens, a neat place that I had read about that is nearby. It has little backyard ponds set up with lily pads and fish and fountains and lots of flowers and accessories for gardens.

So I told the younger kids we were going to go see some ponds with lily pads and fish and little ponds, and we were off!

The blue pot behind the kids is a disappearing fountain, which Nelson’s Water Gardens is known for. You can choose your own pot or rock or other structure, and they can turn it into a disappearing fountain. They are very beautiful. The water runs over the outside of the structure then gathers at the bottom and the water is sent back up to the top inside of the pot or whatever and just keeps flowing. And you hear the sound of running water. Very nice!
They make fountains from decorative pots, statues, waterfalls, stones, etc. They even made one out of a garbage can to prove a point!

Their favorite activity of the day: feeding the fish.

Look at those huge lily pads! Those things are real. They are growing out of a submerged pot in the middle of the pond.

There’s a dragonfly on the corner of the metal bench. I couldn’t see what I was taking pictures of because of the bright sun. We were sweating so bad, we felt like we were melting. It was 100 degrees! We had so much fun!!!

Kelsey and the frog she’s standing behind are both wearing their hats backward. If you click on the picture and then click on the magnifying glass, you can see the frog’s hat.

My little girls loved this! We all sang it together. I asked them if they wanted me to put it on my blog, and they said yes. Their wish is my command.

Garrett enjoyed looking at and playing with the tadpoles. Four of them have back legs now. The other three have leg nubs.

I learned a lot from this video.

The spirals on their tummies are their intestines. Why didn’t I think of that?

They like fish food, so I guess I’ll get them some of that.

His tadpoles look like ours, so I guess that ours will become Red Frogs, too.

Okay, I couldn’t resist putting this song on my blog when I’m talking about Tadpoles turning into Frogs.

I have lots of posts about Caterpillars turning into Butterflies from the last two years, and now we have tadpoles, so I simply must post the song “Bullfrogs and Butterflies”.

I love that song. I learned it when I was doing puppets at church a long, long time ago, and I still love the song.

It’s such a perfect fit for what I’m trying to teach my children about Metamorphosis…

Well, here it is:

I took a few pictures today, but there’s nothing really new to report. At least three of the tadpoles have back legs growing, but a couple of them don’t even have leg nubs yet.

I’m figuring out how to set up another aquarium that has land and water together. We will have to get a tall structure or some big rocks and have an area of shallow water in the same place. I don’t want any of them to drown as they change to breathing with lungs!