WHIRLWIND!!!!

Wow, have things been crazy in the last six weeks! As usual, things were a little hairy the two weeks before Christmas, but you expect that! I did not expect things to be so crazy when we came back. We were back at school for two days, then out for snow for three days, back for two days, and out for MLK yesterday. We're having a hard time finding a rhythm. I'm hoping we can get back in the swing of things this week! We need a defined schedule!!!

Our class is big on using Ustream to inform our parents and absent students what we're doing in the classroom. What you may not know is how much we actually watch Ustream, as well. We view an eagle's nest, several owls' nests, a hawk's nest, a hummingbird's nest, and many others on a regular basis.

The hummingbird's nest that we view has a female, Phoebe, and her two eggs. Today was supposed to be hatching day, and we were so excited. Because the nest is in California, they are two hours behind us. We watched as soon as we got to school, but nothing had happened. We chatted with some very knowledgable folks who wanted us to ask questions. Samantha asked how hummingbirds were different from other birds. We learned that hummingbirds cannot walk at all, they must fly. They also don't move their wings up and down, but in a figure 8 motion. They can fly forwards, backwards, up and down, etc. Crystal asked how much Phoebe weighed. She weighs about 2.5 grams . . . that's like holding two paper clips in your hand. WOW!!! Ellen asked how big Phoebe is, and we were told she is barely 3 inches long! J'Doir asked if the babies would be able to see when they hatched, and we were surprised to see that the answer was NO!!!! Their eyeballs are the size they will be when they are adults, but their skull grows around them!!!