Play Time

I got a book full of great toddler activities for rainy days. Jackson and I have loved working on these activities together and he LOVES helping create, mix, and cook...then make a mess and play.

This week, we made our own finger paints. He loved being allowed to stick his hands in this fun, gooey stuff without getting in trouble! His favorite was the green.

Here is the recipe we used for those who want to give it a try. Your kids will have fun with it. It's super easy to make, but it only last a day. I tried to store it and it turned into gel instead of paint.

3 teaspoons of sugar

1/2 cup cornstarch

2 cups cold water

food coloring

1)add water to first two ingredients and cook over low heat

2) stir constantly until mixture is blended together and thickens a little

3) remove from heat and add coloring as desired (the more coloring you add the brighter the paint, but it also leaves a residue on their hands, as I found out)

April Showers...Snow Showers, that is!

When I think of Spring, I think if the saying. "April showers, bring May flowers". I know that Spring has beautiful days that make the waiting through months of winter worthwhile. A few days around Easter, we had a couple of those beautiful spring days, which was just enough to make our trees blossom. But then it was back to winter. We got hit hard with heavy damp spring snow. The snow stuck to all of those pretty blossoms and weighed down the weak branches until they almost touched the ground. We knew they'd break under that kind of stress. Brian and I shook of the snow off as much as we could during the day, and he even ran around at 2am in the morning to shake more snow off of the branches of our trees...and off the trees of our elderly neighbors... and the neighbors who were out of town (isn't he a nice guy?).

Anyway, it wasn't enough! Last Saturday we spent all day chopping the snapped branches. It was so sad. Our trees will look a little funny for a season or two, but at least the trees survived... for the most part.

Popcorn Popping!

"I could take an armful and make a treat. A popcorn ball that would smell so sweet..."

Who doesn't love this old primary song? Jackson asks us to sing it again and again! He loves the actions we do with our hands and loves that there is a song about popcorn, one of his favorite treats.

The last couple of days have been beautiful promises of Spring. Although it may last for only a few days (tomorrow's forecast calls for snow!), we've tried to enjoy it the best we can. Our trees are bursting out in pink and white blossoms, and really do look like popcorn, or "pakern" as Jackson would say. He will even point at them and say "pretty". I love this time of year and the life that begins to creep out of a long winter of hibernation.

We spent all day outside enjoying the sun. We had a picnic at the park with Dad, played with bubbles and sidewalk chalk, went for a walk and even played in a little water. For FHE we sang the popcorn popping song and made popcorn balls for desert.

As much as I love Spring, it wouldn't be near as special without these two guys!

April Fools!

If you're like Brian, you probably celebrate the big holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter with pizazz while giving hardly any thought to the little holidays like... April Fool's Day. Which makes it all the more advantageous for someone like me, who revels in even the smallest reason to celebrate, to get away with pulling a prank.

I read about this idea of coloring milk and thought it would be a great prank to pull where Jackson could participate and have fun with it too. We had just enough milk at the bottom of our gallon (which happens to come in an opaque container-perfect!) that I didn't feel like I'd be wasting perfectly good milk.

I can't believe how childish I felt as we gathered around the breakfast table this morning and waited to see Brian's reaction! I causally waited, poured cereal into mine and Jackson's bowl, and allowed Brian to be the first to the milk. He poured just enough to notice something was "wrong" and looked at me. I busted up laughing and gave Jackson a high-five! We got him!

I have to say that blue milk in cereal is in no way appetizing! In fact, Jackson was the only one who couldn't get enough of the blue milk. He drank it so fast from of his bowl that it barely made his cereal damp. But whatever, it was fun! April Fool's, honey!