Lava Lamp Fun!!!

We made a lava lamp today. I used one of our big plastic test tubes and mixed one part water some food coloring and 3 parts oil. Then broke up generic Alka Seltzer tablets and let her drop them in. We watched this for a few minutes adding one piece when the first one fizzled out. Then she wanted to put multiple pieces in at once. Will this make more bubbles or less bubbles? She said less. So we tried. Well, it made more!

***No more updating everything from my IPhone.  I was informed it autocorrected to say antacid tablets instead of Alka Seltzer (made it one word by accident and IPhone didn't understand it.  Antacid won't do anything.  Sorry about that).***

Another frog pond!

I couldn't help myself.  Last night, while Daphne was spending the night with her Mimi, I got a little creative!

The grass is decorative plastic grass I bought awhile back.  I used Daphne's cookie sheet and 5 made a base of hot glue then stuck the grass in the glue.  Make the base a little bit bigger than what you actually need for the grass to keep it upright.  The lily and lily pads were made out of the foam sheets.  The eggs were little blue circles of foam and hot glue poured over it.  The tadpole and tadpole with legs were made out of the foam sheets and hot glue as well.  The frog is a little plastic toy she picked out at chuck e cheese the other day...lol.  The water is colored with the fizz tablets to color bath water.  She had a blast!!!

A Trip to the Pond

Today we made a trip to the pond. We counted 5 frogs on an old log. Then we played hide and seek with them in the green water. Those little frogs are hard to find and catch.

Play school Mommy!

Trying to put something together quickly for Daphne to play school I came up with this binder.  It covers numbers 1-10 (with different fruits for her to count).  I put them in page protectors so she could use them over and over.  I have her count or count with her and talk about the different fruit and the number.  She can trace the number with her finger or a dry erase marker...or put stickers on it like she did today.  You can do this with letters too which I'm working on.  I can't wait to show you the letters.  Give me a week and I should have the letters up as it will take some time to get the pictures copied and pasted and everything put together.  (Plus, I ran out of page protectors...lol.)

Building with craft sticks

We all have those moments with toddlers when we are out to eat and dinner is taking longer to make than your child has patience for.  The crayons have long been tossed because they are tired of coloring.  What can you do?  Well, I made a simple, open ended game, with craft sticks.  Velcro dots on each side and end.  (If you use the traditional velcro use sticky at one end, soft on the other...reverse on the other side so the end with the stick dot has soft on the back side and the end with the soft dot has sticky on the back side.  HOWEVER, I strongly recommend the newer velcro that is sticky for both sides...I just couldn't find it at our local Walmart or Home Depot and Micheal's is too far off to get the other kind.)  They can build all they want, un-velcro, and start over.  Daphne LOVES playing with these.  They fit neatly in a quart sized zip lock bag and aren't very noisy...unless you count the squeals of excitement when she makes a sail boat and tells you all about it...then asks you to provide the wind...lol.  (or whatever else she creates and is proud of) 

Puzzle time!

Vh

Tomato soup better than Cambell's!

Today we are making tomato soup!  I found a simple recipe online and decided to use it and tweak it.  I've made tomato soup once before (Gordon Ramsey recipe) and swore I would never do it again with how hard it was and how long it took.  (think roasting tomatoes, onions, garlic, etc then cooking it, then about 20 other steps to it)  It was really good, but the effort wasn't worth it.  But the other day I ran across something so much more simpler and decided to use the basics of it and make my own.  It's half way done and all I can think is how yummy it smells and how delicious it tastes.  Daphne wanted to help so after I cut up everything I let her help pour and stir.  She was so proud of herself!

2 1/2 pounds of tomatoes

1 small onion

1 1/2 Tbsp butter (optional)

4-5 garlic cloves

sea salt

pepper

basil

parsley

Chop up the onions, garlic and tomatoes in small pieces.  Heat medium sauce pan on high and put butter in.  Once melted add onions, garlic and tomatoes.  They will start to release liquids and make it kinda soupy.  See picture above.  Add the seasonings to taste.  Let it boil for a few minutes (stirring continuously).  Then reduce to a simmer.  Keep stirring until the heat has decreased enough to not burn.  After 1 1/2-2 hours of simmering, stick it in the blender.  If you don't want the texture from the tomato skins, seeds, and such, then just strain the soup through a fine mesh strainer.  Problem solved!  Make some home made bread during this time if you want (or use french bread from the store) and it is yummy!  I haven't even finished the simmering part and I'm sticking some home made pretzel bread cubes into it and eating it.  Thinking next time I need to make a double or triple batch to can.

DIY rubbing plates1

Sometimes there are things you want to do with your children but it requires money you don't have.  Daphne is still a little too heavy handed to make a rubbing of flowers, leaves or other things of the such.  So I looked online to purchase some.  Granted they aren't overly expensive but we don't really have the extra money right now and well...by the time you pay S&H, they do get a bit more expensive.  So I set out to make my own.  I took some of my every so popular foam sheets and my trusty hot glue gun.  The best part is that I used scraps of the foam sheets to make different designs so as to not waste anything.  It took a few tries to get things right.  There needs to be a steady stream of hot glue.  (I don't have the steadiest of hands...lol)  The first picture is a rubbing of some of my creations.  The other two pictures are of the plates I made.