Last summer my husband made this amazing Dr. Octopus pinata for our son's Spiderman birthday party.  He used balloons and homemade paper mache.  He used long thin balloons to make the tentacals and then covered them in paper mache.  He used round balloons for the head and body and did the same.  Once he had all of the parts, he connected them and painted and decorated the pinata to look like Dr. Octopus.    

This pinata was the hit of the party.  

Dr. Octopus was a very strong pinata.  It took a while to break him, but our little Spiderman fans prevailed and reaped the rewards of their hard work.  

A very happy birthday boy with his Dr. Octopus pinata.  

We had been having a little fruit fly problem this summer and then I saw this easy homemade fruit fly trap at My Blessed Life.  It worked wonderfully.  It was so easy too.  All you need is a piece of printer paper, a jar, apple cider vinegar, and dish soap.  

Simply put 2/3 cup apple cider vinegar in the jar, squirt in some dish soap, and then roll a piece of paper into a cone shape and set it in the jar.   

See all those fruit flies in the bottom of the jar.  They were swarming around our kitchen the day before.  

My son's preschool class had been learning about silkworms this Spring and he was allowed to take some home on the last day of school.  He was so excited.  

He has spent a lot of time observing his silkworms and predicting what will happen next.  He checks on them several times a day and reports any new developments.  It has been a neat experience for all of us to watch the silkworms change into moths and to learn about the life cycle of these unique creatures.  

My 5 year old has been very responsible in taking care of his "pets".  Twice a day he feeds his silkworms Mulberry leaves that he picks from a tree in our yard, and then after checking on them makes sure his silk worms are in a secure location.  They have to be kept out of reach of our two year old and 3 year old.  If you have a toddler you know why…  they really do get into everything.  

Two of our silk worms already transformed into moths and fell in love.  The next thing you know we have over 100 silk worm eggs.  They haven't hatched yet, but we are waiting to see if they do.  I'll let you know if our silk worm adventure continues into another generation.