also follow me here:
Mommy's weightloss
Friday, March 2, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
planning a party
So Critter's birthday is coming up in a couple weeks, she will be the big 7!!! I am currently in the planning stages of her party. So for we have 3 fun science activities to do:
Bouncing Polymer Ball Materials
Here's a list of materials you need to gather to make bouncing polymer balls:
borax (found in the laundry section of the store)
cornstarch (found in the baking section of the store)
white glue (e.g., Elmer's glue - makes an opaque ball) or blue or clear school glue (makes a translucent ball)
warm water
food coloring (optional)
measuring spoons
spoon or craft stick to stir the mixture
2 small plastic cups or other containers for mixing
marking pen
watch with a second hand
metric ruler
zip-lock plastic baggie
Let's make bouncing polymers balls...
Procedure
Label one cup 'Borax Solution' and the other cup 'Ball Mixture'.
Pour 2 tablespoons warm water and 1/2 teaspoon borax powder into the cup labeled 'Borax Solution'. Stir the mixture to dissolve the borax. Add food coloring, if desired.
Pour 1 tablespoon of glue into the cup labeled 'Ball Mixture'. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the borax solution you just made and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Do not stir. Allow the ingredients to interact on their own for 10-15 seconds and then stir them together to fully mix. Once the mixture becomes impossible to stir, take it out of the cup and start molding the ball with your hands.
The ball will start out sticky and messy, but will solidify as you knead it.
Once the ball is less sticky, go ahead and bounce it!
You can store your plastic ball in a sealed ziploc bag when you are finished playing with it.
Don't eat the materials used to make the ball or the ball itself. Wash your work area, utensils, and hands when you have completed this activity.
Homemade Slime aka GAK
1 teaspoon borax powder
1 1/2 C water, divided
4 oz (1/2 C) Elmer’s glue, clear or white
food coloring
Add borax powder to 1 cup of water and stir to dissolve. Set aside. Pour glue into a medium mixing bowl and add 1/2 C water. Add a few drops of food coloring until desired color is reached and then stir to mix glue solution until smooth. Pour the borax mixture into the glue mixture and watch the solids start to form. Stir for a few moments and then use your hands to gather the mass. The mixture will be very soft and wet. Keep kneading until it firms up and feels dry. Discard excess liquid in bowl. The more you knead and play with the slime the firmer it will become. Store in a ziplock bag or air tight container and the slime will keep indefinitely.
Playdough
This is by far the easiest playdough recipe I have ever tried. OK, well, it’s true that this is only the second playdough recipe I’ve ever tried, but still — after I used this one, I knew I had a winner. The pluses of making your own playdough? You will recognize all of the ingredients, which you probably already have in your home. You can make more whenever you run out. And most importantly, you don’t have to drag your kid to the store buy more. It’s a win-win for everyone! Oh, and this recipe takes about 5 minutes to make – that’s about an hour less than it would take for me to go buy some at the store! Even the kids can help with the mixing and kneading. Store it in an airtight container and it stays moist through many, many uses.
Recipe
1 cup flour
1 cup boiling water
2 tbsp. cream of tartar
1/2 cup salt
1 tbsp. oil
Mix and knead together.
Bouncing Polymer Ball Materials
Here's a list of materials you need to gather to make bouncing polymer balls:
borax (found in the laundry section of the store)
cornstarch (found in the baking section of the store)
white glue (e.g., Elmer's glue - makes an opaque ball) or blue or clear school glue (makes a translucent ball)
warm water
food coloring (optional)
measuring spoons
spoon or craft stick to stir the mixture
2 small plastic cups or other containers for mixing
marking pen
watch with a second hand
metric ruler
zip-lock plastic baggie
Let's make bouncing polymers balls...
Procedure
Label one cup 'Borax Solution' and the other cup 'Ball Mixture'.
Pour 2 tablespoons warm water and 1/2 teaspoon borax powder into the cup labeled 'Borax Solution'. Stir the mixture to dissolve the borax. Add food coloring, if desired.
Pour 1 tablespoon of glue into the cup labeled 'Ball Mixture'. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the borax solution you just made and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Do not stir. Allow the ingredients to interact on their own for 10-15 seconds and then stir them together to fully mix. Once the mixture becomes impossible to stir, take it out of the cup and start molding the ball with your hands.
The ball will start out sticky and messy, but will solidify as you knead it.
Once the ball is less sticky, go ahead and bounce it!
You can store your plastic ball in a sealed ziploc bag when you are finished playing with it.
Don't eat the materials used to make the ball or the ball itself. Wash your work area, utensils, and hands when you have completed this activity.
Homemade Slime aka GAK
1 teaspoon borax powder
1 1/2 C water, divided
4 oz (1/2 C) Elmer’s glue, clear or white
food coloring
Add borax powder to 1 cup of water and stir to dissolve. Set aside. Pour glue into a medium mixing bowl and add 1/2 C water. Add a few drops of food coloring until desired color is reached and then stir to mix glue solution until smooth. Pour the borax mixture into the glue mixture and watch the solids start to form. Stir for a few moments and then use your hands to gather the mass. The mixture will be very soft and wet. Keep kneading until it firms up and feels dry. Discard excess liquid in bowl. The more you knead and play with the slime the firmer it will become. Store in a ziplock bag or air tight container and the slime will keep indefinitely.
Playdough
This is by far the easiest playdough recipe I have ever tried. OK, well, it’s true that this is only the second playdough recipe I’ve ever tried, but still — after I used this one, I knew I had a winner. The pluses of making your own playdough? You will recognize all of the ingredients, which you probably already have in your home. You can make more whenever you run out. And most importantly, you don’t have to drag your kid to the store buy more. It’s a win-win for everyone! Oh, and this recipe takes about 5 minutes to make – that’s about an hour less than it would take for me to go buy some at the store! Even the kids can help with the mixing and kneading. Store it in an airtight container and it stays moist through many, many uses.
Recipe
1 cup flour
1 cup boiling water
2 tbsp. cream of tartar
1/2 cup salt
1 tbsp. oil
Mix and knead together.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Love the unwanted advice
So baby boy Jellyfish is 17 weeks old today, and with it comes all the fun questions. (Some of which I have been guilty of asking in the past, and will most likely ask in the future.) My all time favorites are as follows:
Is he sleeping through the night yet?
My answer: no he is not, (my head answers, no he is not and will not sleep through the night until he is at least 12 months old. Babies need less sleep stretches than adults do)
Well if he is not sleeping through the night, are you going to start adding rice to his bottle?
My answer: no it is really hard to put rice in a boob (to this response Dad-o replied, "well if you eat more rice will that do the trick." face palm, I love the man but some times I wonder about him.)
He is what, 4 months old now? You really should start solids with him.
My response: um, no he is not ready for them yet.
follow up from person: Well I started my kids on solids at this age, he will be fine.
I tend to just ignore that comment with a smile, all the while saying in my head, well he isn't your kid now is he?!
Is he breastfed or bottle fed?
My answer: he is a boob man.
Follow up: oh, are you going to switch to formula (Monkey calls this fake milk) when he gets teeth?
My answer: um, no why would I do that?
Really do I have new mom, please random strangers ask me questions written on me somewhere? If so please tell me so that I can remove it.
I am a firm believer that solids should not start until after 6 months. I am not selfish in wanting to be the only one to feed my son, Dad-o gives him at least 2 bottles of expressed milk a day while I am at work. I just have 2 children with food allergies and both were started on solids at around 3-4 months old. Critter is lactose intolerant and Monkey is allergic to eggs, she thankfully out grew the peanut allergy. Alligator did not start solids until 6 months and has no allergies at all.
Jellyfish is getting to the fun age where he is interacting with those around him, love this stage for the most part. He does get distracted easily when nursing.
Is he sleeping through the night yet?
My answer: no he is not, (my head answers, no he is not and will not sleep through the night until he is at least 12 months old. Babies need less sleep stretches than adults do)
Well if he is not sleeping through the night, are you going to start adding rice to his bottle?
My answer: no it is really hard to put rice in a boob (to this response Dad-o replied, "well if you eat more rice will that do the trick." face palm, I love the man but some times I wonder about him.)
He is what, 4 months old now? You really should start solids with him.
My response: um, no he is not ready for them yet.
follow up from person: Well I started my kids on solids at this age, he will be fine.
I tend to just ignore that comment with a smile, all the while saying in my head, well he isn't your kid now is he?!
Is he breastfed or bottle fed?
My answer: he is a boob man.
Follow up: oh, are you going to switch to formula (Monkey calls this fake milk) when he gets teeth?
My answer: um, no why would I do that?
Really do I have new mom, please random strangers ask me questions written on me somewhere? If so please tell me so that I can remove it.
I am a firm believer that solids should not start until after 6 months. I am not selfish in wanting to be the only one to feed my son, Dad-o gives him at least 2 bottles of expressed milk a day while I am at work. I just have 2 children with food allergies and both were started on solids at around 3-4 months old. Critter is lactose intolerant and Monkey is allergic to eggs, she thankfully out grew the peanut allergy. Alligator did not start solids until 6 months and has no allergies at all.
Jellyfish is getting to the fun age where he is interacting with those around him, love this stage for the most part. He does get distracted easily when nursing.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
I just want to...
I just want to pitch a huge fit, my kids can why can't I?!
Ever have one of those weeks? You know the kind, the weeks were it seems like the world is against you. I have had one of those weeks. I just wanted to crawl back into bed and not get out for a month. I love my kids, I really do, they have just been horrid this week. All the girls want to do this week is fight, all Jellyfish wants to do this week is cry. Me, I want to throw myself on the floor and have a good old fashioned tantrum. Yet I don't, one of these days they may just push me over the edge and I will get down on the ground and flail my my arms and legs and see how they react.
Today was the worst, only because I had a headache and they seem to always find new ways to be naughty when I have a headache. Like Monkey and Alligator sharing a cup of water, while it is nice to see them sharing, it is not nice to see the mess of water they left behind. You see Alligator will do anything Monkey does, so if Monkey blows bubbles in the water, so will Alligator, and when two children are blowing bubbles in the same cup there is no telling where the water will end up. In this case all over themselves, Monkey's bed, the window and the bedroom floor. Thank God for Critter, who went and got a towel to start drying up the floor.
Though this week did have a good spot, Dad-o has decided to take Critter to the Father Daughter dance at school on the 12th of this month. This is huge for Dad-o as he never wants to do things like this with our daughters. But after watching the movie Courageous he decided that maybe he should do more stuff that the girls want to do. I love that he is starting to see that they are girls and may want to do girly stuff. Alligator, Jellyfish and I went out and bought a dress for Critter along with shoes and hair baubles. Right now they are hiding at Grandma S's house until the big date. Critter has no idea that she gets to go.
Alligator was sick again yesterday and Jellyfish has a cold. So far Monkey and Critter have escaped the stomach bug, but I think Monkey may be catching Jellyfish's cold.
Also shameless plug for my friends, see those links on the right side of the page, click them. If you want to cloth diaper my friend Chana is the girl to see, her blog is titled Adventures in Fluff and she has lots of great ideas posted there. Getting married soon or have a birthday coming up? Then Michelle is the gal to see for a cake, check her out at Michelle Lindell Arts. Need invitations, a scrapbook made up, holiday cards done, see my main gal Krissy at The Blank Page. Want photos done and you are in Georgia, check out my cousin at CK Photography.
Ever have one of those weeks? You know the kind, the weeks were it seems like the world is against you. I have had one of those weeks. I just wanted to crawl back into bed and not get out for a month. I love my kids, I really do, they have just been horrid this week. All the girls want to do this week is fight, all Jellyfish wants to do this week is cry. Me, I want to throw myself on the floor and have a good old fashioned tantrum. Yet I don't, one of these days they may just push me over the edge and I will get down on the ground and flail my my arms and legs and see how they react.
Today was the worst, only because I had a headache and they seem to always find new ways to be naughty when I have a headache. Like Monkey and Alligator sharing a cup of water, while it is nice to see them sharing, it is not nice to see the mess of water they left behind. You see Alligator will do anything Monkey does, so if Monkey blows bubbles in the water, so will Alligator, and when two children are blowing bubbles in the same cup there is no telling where the water will end up. In this case all over themselves, Monkey's bed, the window and the bedroom floor. Thank God for Critter, who went and got a towel to start drying up the floor.
Though this week did have a good spot, Dad-o has decided to take Critter to the Father Daughter dance at school on the 12th of this month. This is huge for Dad-o as he never wants to do things like this with our daughters. But after watching the movie Courageous he decided that maybe he should do more stuff that the girls want to do. I love that he is starting to see that they are girls and may want to do girly stuff. Alligator, Jellyfish and I went out and bought a dress for Critter along with shoes and hair baubles. Right now they are hiding at Grandma S's house until the big date. Critter has no idea that she gets to go.
Alligator was sick again yesterday and Jellyfish has a cold. So far Monkey and Critter have escaped the stomach bug, but I think Monkey may be catching Jellyfish's cold.
Also shameless plug for my friends, see those links on the right side of the page, click them. If you want to cloth diaper my friend Chana is the girl to see, her blog is titled Adventures in Fluff and she has lots of great ideas posted there. Getting married soon or have a birthday coming up? Then Michelle is the gal to see for a cake, check her out at Michelle Lindell Arts. Need invitations, a scrapbook made up, holiday cards done, see my main gal Krissy at The Blank Page. Want photos done and you are in Georgia, check out my cousin at CK Photography.
Monday, January 30, 2012
The sick bug strikes again and again and again.......
So on Wednesday morning Miss Monkey woke up sick, oh joy of joys the stomach bug has entered our house. She refused to eat anything but toast all day, that is after we let her eat around lunch time, 6 hours after she last threw up. Even at dinner, we where having one of her favorite meals pepperoni pizza, she said she wanted toast since sick girls get toast.
Fast forward to Friday afternoon, the sick bug hits Mom-o (as Monkey oh so affectionately calls me.) Only it hit me with back pain and a headache as well. After I got home from work I went to bed and let Dad-o take care of the animals. Jellyfish decided that tonight was a good night to stay up until 2 am, Dad-o left for work at 8 pm. Once I finally got Jellyfish to sleep Alligator woke up covered in sick.
2 am Saturday morning started with stripping the bed of Alligator and stripping her. Off to the bathroom for a quick hose down and soap off. Once redressed and ready for bed again, Alligator laid on the floor next to my bed. Bring on 3 am when she starts the process all over again, thankfully I had the foresight to tie up her hair. But being 3 am when she did this I had her move to the other end of the pallet she was sleeping on. I took down the blankets and pillow once we were all up in the morning.
Saturday morning I get a call from Grandma asking if she could have the kids so that Dad-o and Mom-o could get a break, of course I say yes, but that she was only going to get 3 of them since Alligator was sick. That was OK, we were at least getting a break during nap time. So off goes Critter, Monkey and Jellyfish to Grandma's house where they played for 4 hours while Alligator, Dad-o and Mom-o slept. Yes that is right we took a nap, and it was AMAZING!
Now to today, Jellyfish rolled from his back to his belly and Alligator went poo in the potty!
Fast forward to Friday afternoon, the sick bug hits Mom-o (as Monkey oh so affectionately calls me.) Only it hit me with back pain and a headache as well. After I got home from work I went to bed and let Dad-o take care of the animals. Jellyfish decided that tonight was a good night to stay up until 2 am, Dad-o left for work at 8 pm. Once I finally got Jellyfish to sleep Alligator woke up covered in sick.
2 am Saturday morning started with stripping the bed of Alligator and stripping her. Off to the bathroom for a quick hose down and soap off. Once redressed and ready for bed again, Alligator laid on the floor next to my bed. Bring on 3 am when she starts the process all over again, thankfully I had the foresight to tie up her hair. But being 3 am when she did this I had her move to the other end of the pallet she was sleeping on. I took down the blankets and pillow once we were all up in the morning.
Saturday morning I get a call from Grandma asking if she could have the kids so that Dad-o and Mom-o could get a break, of course I say yes, but that she was only going to get 3 of them since Alligator was sick. That was OK, we were at least getting a break during nap time. So off goes Critter, Monkey and Jellyfish to Grandma's house where they played for 4 hours while Alligator, Dad-o and Mom-o slept. Yes that is right we took a nap, and it was AMAZING!
Now to today, Jellyfish rolled from his back to his belly and Alligator went poo in the potty!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Parenting is an Adventure
You would think that after 6.5 years of being a mom I would have this down, I don't. I still have absolutely no idea what I am doing. I will be the first to admit I am far from being the perfect mom, just ask my kids. Let me tell you about them.
First we have Critter, a loveable yet slightly emotional 6.5 year old girl. She is smart as a whip, and I will admit at times is quite a bit smarter than I am. She started talking at 6 months of age and was telling people to go away at 9 months old. She has given me no end of frustration and confusion over the years, but I love her to pieces.
Next is Monkey, a rather divaish 4.5 year old. She is a very demanding and at times rude young lady. She knows what she wants and she is going to stomp her feet until she gets it. She has to be in a dress and heels at all times, even while playing in the dirt.
Then came Alligator, the clown of the lot. She is a very imaginative 2.5 year old who loves her sisters dearly. She is always there to make you smile, I think that is her mission in life, I see her as a comedic actress one day. That is not to say she is without frustration, have you tried potty training a clown?!
Finally we come to Jellyfish, he was a surprise. Not sure what he is going to be like yet, seeing as he is only 3 months old. I do love that he only has eyes for his mommy.
I love these characters that call themselves my children. Without them I would have nothing to write about and would be utterly bored all day long. They keep me on my toes that is for sure.
First we have Critter, a loveable yet slightly emotional 6.5 year old girl. She is smart as a whip, and I will admit at times is quite a bit smarter than I am. She started talking at 6 months of age and was telling people to go away at 9 months old. She has given me no end of frustration and confusion over the years, but I love her to pieces.
Next is Monkey, a rather divaish 4.5 year old. She is a very demanding and at times rude young lady. She knows what she wants and she is going to stomp her feet until she gets it. She has to be in a dress and heels at all times, even while playing in the dirt.
Then came Alligator, the clown of the lot. She is a very imaginative 2.5 year old who loves her sisters dearly. She is always there to make you smile, I think that is her mission in life, I see her as a comedic actress one day. That is not to say she is without frustration, have you tried potty training a clown?!
Finally we come to Jellyfish, he was a surprise. Not sure what he is going to be like yet, seeing as he is only 3 months old. I do love that he only has eyes for his mommy.
I love these characters that call themselves my children. Without them I would have nothing to write about and would be utterly bored all day long. They keep me on my toes that is for sure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)