Busy Brains

Today, I learned about a traveling children's museum called Busy Brains. They were a part of our MOPS end of the year carnival. It was so much fun!

The coolest display was called a Bernoulli Box. It was constructed of tubes with air blowing out of them. The kids got to take balls and put them on top of the tubes to see them shoot into the air or they could find the right place to let go of the ball and it would stay suspended in air. My daughter had fun seeing how many ball would stay suspended at one time. The baby loved watching the balls as the bobbed in the air.

Another favorite for the girl was a rock table with trucks. The concept is much like a sand table only with gravel. She LOVED it!

Another fun idea was a coffee table converted into a rubbing table. The table had raised rubbing plates attached to it and the kids took a paper and crayons and made rubbings. The tacks kept the plates in place which made the task a lot easier.

My favorite idea of all was sensory boxes. They had four boxes...touch, see, smell, and hear. Obviously, taste wasn't here because there is no sanitary way to do that one. Uggh! Both kids loved this station. The baby loved the sound box. It had all sorts of noisy things attached. We my have to consider making him one of these for his birthday!

There were lots of other really great interactive displays. What I liked most about the each of the displays was that they are ideas that could easily be replicated at home. I looked at each display and thought, hmmm, we could make something like that. Ours wouldn't look as professional but the concept could be fairly easily repeated at home. These ideas really got my brain turning, thinking of ways that some of these fun stations could be incorporated into our home.

*Sorry that the links don't work. Blogger is adding it's address to each of the links addresses. Each time I edit it to fix it, the problem reappears...frustrating!*

Taking the Easier Route

A while back, I started making the invitations for my son's first birthday party. I really liked how they were turning out. However, I ran into some trouble getting them completed and I also found myself procrastinating. I think I subconsciously felt that if I didn't get the invites done, his birthday wouldn't come and he would stay my baby forever. I am very full of emotions as his birthday approaches. Making the invitations has been a reminder of the fact that his first year is coming to a close. I realize that this is a reason to celebrate and I do want to celebrate this milestone. It's just bittersweet because I feel like this year went by so-o-o fast and still want him to be my cuddly little baby boy. I look at his sister and the reality hits me that in the blink of an eye, he'll be a big boy.


So, today, I realized that I had procrastinated long enough. I looked at my pile of semi-completed invitations and realized that I needed outside help. I downloaded one of his pictures to walgreens.com and the invitations were done and waiting for me at the store in less than 30 minutes! They are now in the envelopes and will go out in the mail tomorrow...Yeah!

I've never had photo invitations made other than the ones I have made at home. I was actually quite pleased with them and I am satisfied with the results. I may have learned something today that I will use for future projects as well.

Today I also learned that sometimes you just need to take the easier route. Sometimes that route isn't out of laziness an it doesn't mean defeat. Sometimes it is out of necessity and sometimes it is out of a need to rescue your sanity. My sanity has been saved and now I am looking forward to remembering his first year while we celebrate his 1st birthday and look forward to the future that lies ahead of him.

Blowing Bubbles

Today we had some friends over for some outdoor fun and ice cream! The kids, who are basically aged 1,2,3, and 4, had a lot of fun. Today was a beautiful Spring day, perfect for playing outside. One of the things that they did was to play with bubbles...great messy fun! The bubble solution sat all winter long in an outdoor storage container. Despite the efforts of their strong little lungs, they had a difficult time making bubbles with it. I even had a hard time getting bubbles to form. Despite this, the kids still had fun trying to make bubbles and playing with the bubble toys.

I, however, wondered if the bubble solution had lost its bubble-ability due to freezing during the winter months in outdoor storage. I tried to look online for information on whether or not it could be frozen and couldn't find an answer. But, I did find other interesting stuff to learn. Did you know that you can blow bubbles when the temperature drops below freezing and the bubbles will freeze hard enough for you to hold them? That would be so cool! It kinda makes me want winter back so I can give it a try. (Yikes, what am I saying?!? I can wait 'till next winter!) Then, my search also led me to Bubble Fun. It has a bubble poem, bubble recipe, bubble games. and a bubble craft. Very fun bubble activities that I can do with my kiddos while the weather is warm. Years ago, I did a summer school enrichment class titled, Bubble-ology. Some of the activities that I did with the students are listed on the Bubble Fun page but some of them are new. I think that I need to pull out my old lesson plans and combine them with the new bubble knowledge that I learned today to get started on some Bubble-ology around here.

More Mother's Day Ramblings

I realize that yesterday's Mother's Day post really only focused on my mother and mother-in-law. I must say that I had a special day myself...my first Mother's Day with two kiddos.

First, we went to church and my daughter made this box for me filled with chocolates. The card was made at home with Daddy's help...

Then, we went here for lunch...

And ate (and drank) this...

My hubby dropped me off at home and took the kiddos to the marina so that I could have some time to myself. I read a book and listened to Jamie Cullum (some of his songs aren't quite kid appropriate, so this was a luxury).

Then, the family came home and I got to open my presents. Apparently, my hubby has been reading this blog because he went to the bookstore looking for embroidery books since he had seen me working on the birthday bag for the baby. When he realized that they were all pretty fuddy duddy for me, he found the following books which reminded him of some of my recent repurposing projects.

Well, I love the books! Today, I made a skirt and a shirt, both from t-shirts. They were super easy and fun to make. The shirt was a little too risque for my liking, so I may have to modify it. However, the skirt turned out really well. My hubby didn't even realize I made it, he says that he thought it was store bought...bless him! I liked the skirt so much, I wore it to a meeting tonight and boy, was it comfy. I got to sit there in a stuffy, boring meeting with my legs wrapped in a comfy t-shirt. That is success in my book!

Saucy

Tonight we had both of our sets of parents over for Mother's Day. We set up a Sundae bar. I planned to make rhubarb/strawberry sauce from the rhubarb we grow here at home. I got out my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook to look up the recipe that I use. On the same page as the Rhubarb Sauce recipe I noticed recipes for carmel sauce and hot fudge. First of all, I wondered why someone would make them from scratch since they are so readily available at the store. I understand making something from scratch when it is a healthier option but who's worried about health when eating chocolate and caramel?!?!?

Then, I got the crazy idea that I should try to make them myself. I saw the sauce as a gift that I could give our mothers. We might not be able to give them the biggest gifts in the world, but we can give our time. Making the sauces from scratch was my way of showing these two women how much we appreciate them.

So, I had three sauces brewing on the stove at one time...and nothing burnt! All three sauces turned out well and were quite yummy. Now I understand why someone would go through the trouble of making these homemade. They are so much better than store bought! They were a hit! Only a few complaints...none about the sauces. These complaints, of course, bothered me. But, I guess I have to learn that you can't please everyone.

Early Mother's Day

Since the forecast is predicting rain for Mother's Day, today my hubby put up my new hammock for Mother's Day (a little early). We had bought it as end of the season clearance last summer and I have been itching to use it. I even suggested trying to find a way to put it up in the house for winter...that idea was vetoed.

Mother's Day gave us the perfect reason to break out the new hammock. Now, it's up, it's comfy and we all love it! I was even willing to share it with everyone else...

Then, my dear hubby took the kiddos inside and let me have a bit of time to myself on the hammock. It was lovely. So peaceful and relaxing. It's still a little cold, so I make a mocha to bring with me. A mocha, a good book and a hammock...perfect! Sorry about the ugly feet, but here's the view from the hammock...

Last time I was on a hammock was just after we got married. We were swinging on an old hammock at a camp in the upper peninsula of Michigan. My hubby and I were both on it and apparently, we weighed more than the capacity of that poor old hammock. It broke and we came crashing to the ground. I took the brunt of the fall and ended up with a black and blue and purple bum! I've been a little leery of hammocks since then but today my fears were put to rest. I learned that I still love riding in a hammock.

I also learned that the hubby likes it too. He wants to by another so we can both ride on one with a kiddo in each of our laps. He even mentioned figuring out a way to put one up in the house. Aha! My vetoed idea has been resurrected. Perhaps we will be hammocking year round yet!

Happy Mother's Day!

Seed Paper

Today I learned how to alter something that I already knew how to do. I've been making paper for years. It's a way to recycle old paper and make something new out of it. It's a bit messy and pretty time consuming but well worth it in the end. So, what alteration did I learn?

Well, my mother-in-law was looking for a gift to give her fellow bookclub ladies at their last meeting next week. She wanted to give a gift that was spring related but wanted to give more than just a seed packet. She came across an idea online that caught her attention...making paper with seeds impedded in it. The paper can then be planted and the seeds will bloom into flowers. Since she knew that I occasionally make paper, she asked if I was up for trying it with her. I thought it was a fantastic idea and we tried it today. They turned out pretty well, see...

And here's a closeup of one of the sheets of paper (we also added flower petals to give it some color)...