Tsumami Kanzashi Flowers

Last night I made a bunch of Kanzashi flowers out of paper towel so the kids could paint them for a craft project. I had planned to do them tomorrow (Monday), but they wanted to work on them today so we had a Sunday craft project. (Now I'll have to think of something new for tomorrow!) We painted our flowers with watered down food coloring. I was thinking they were all going to end up brown, but the kids kept them all pretty colorful.

Here they are drying

Here's a close up

And a closer up! I was thinking they need to be ironed. Wonder...can you iron paper towel?? Would hate for them to all poof up in a puff of smoke!

Butterfly Feeder

Bailey LOVES butterflies and we planted some plants that should attract butterflies to our garden, but so far only moths. Today we decided to try putting butterfly feeders in our yard to see if that would attract some of the beauties to our yard. We used some paper bowls and construction paper to make our feeder and stirred a batch of butterfly nectar to use as feed. (We mixed 1 T sugar, 2 T beer and maybe 1/4 c apple juice - you can also use fermented fruit or rum in place of the beer) We placed them on our bushes in the back yard and now we wait...

All you need to make your own butterfly feeder!

Gregory cutting out petals for his flower

Bailey doing the same

Butterfly nectar - Mix some sugar, beer and apple juice and abracadabra, you have nectar!

Gregory mixing

Here's Bailey's butterfly flower feeder

Saturate some cotton balls with "nectar"

Place cotton balls in the center and place feeder on a bush

and wait for all those colorful butterflies to come visit!

Goop

After lunch today the kids and I made a batch of goop! To make goop you mix equal parts of cornstarch and water. It is so fun to run your hands through the stuff and wonder, "Hmmm, is it a solid or a liquid?" I used to make it for Bailey when she was a baby - probably so I could play with it! Well, the kids played with it, sprinkled it on the patio, made hand prints and had a grand time. As Gregory is washing his hands he tells me "Cornstarch is FUN!"

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Yesterday I was looking through a BBQ book and saw a picture of a pulled pork sandwich. It looked so yummy! I asked Clark if he knew how to make it and he said we could give it a try today. The recipe said it'd take 4-6 hours so we started around 12:30 thinking it'd be ready around 5:00p. Clark set it up for indirect heat (around 250 degrees) and we basted it every hour. It was looking and smelling delicious! Okay, 5:30 rolls around and we're at 183 degrees and we need to get to 195! AND we still need to let it rest for 15-20 minutes! We eat at 5:30 and I'm thinking we aren't going to eat until 7pm at the rate we were going so Clark turns up the heat to 400! At 5:25 we still aren't at 195, but we pull it off cuz the kids (and me) are STARVING. By the time it rests and we pull it we're looking at close to 6:30pm! Yikes. Well, live and learn. Next time we will have to start at 10am and let it slow cook like the directions said to do. The meat was still good. The kids loved it. Clark too. I thought it was okay. Sure takes a lot of patience to make a pulled pork!

OH! Look familiar? Our train table got finished today! Daddy worked on it while the pork was in the BBQ. The kids are so happy. Daddy set up the tracks and everything. We didn't glue them down, but the kids are having fun playing with the trains.

Baste every hour

Doesn't it look yummy?

Oh no! Is it ever going to reach 195?

Turn up the heat to 400 and it'll get done in a jiffy! (We hope!)

Daddy pulling the pork

Pulled pork sandwich with cole slaw. (It's much better to eat without making into a sandwich.)

Finish your meal with the chocolate covered ice cream! (We found some great "Dove" bars that are allergy free!)

Yumola!

Kid's Day at the Farmers Market

It was Kid's Day at our local Farmer's Market today and I had read they were going to have tractor rides and a small petting zoo! So this morning I told the kids about it and we decided to go check it out. (sans Daddy - he stayed home to work on our cabinets) They had lots of hens, sheep, goats and kittens, but we were only able to pet the goats. BUT! They gave us a great little tractor ride! After riding the tractor we picked up some fruits and kettle corn and headed home to tell Daddy about our adventure.

That's a real chicken on her head!

Tractor ride!

Hens eating fresh corn and tomatoes!

Day in the Water

Oliver and Emma are spending the week at Grandpa and Grandma's house so today we went to go and visit them so the kids could all play together. When we arrived we asked them if they wanted to go and feed the lorikeet birds at the zoo, but what they wanted to do was SWIM! So they all jumped into their suits and swam til lunch. Had lunch - what to do after lunch? Go SWIM! After swimming they had a snack, worked on a craft project making kaleidoscopes, we picked some veggies from Grandpa's garden, watched a little tv and while dinner was cooking they played. Had dinner - what to do after dinner? GO SWIM AGAIN! Pretty much spent the entire day in the pool. They all got a few shades darker and had a great day.

Bailey standing on the bottom of the shallow end

Emma swimming with two kick boards

Oliver waving and treading water

Gregory getting a ride on the boogie board

Bailey's turn

Grandma teaching the kids how to make kaleidoscopes

Filling them with gems

Hibachan helping Bailey

Swim #2

Pretending they are dogs

Our Play Dough Morning

Last night I found a recipe for Oatmeal Play Dough and thought it'd be fun for the kids to give it a try so after breakfast we made a batch. Great new texture to play with and it's stiffer than regular play dough so great for strengthening the finger muscles! And we added cinnamon and vanilla so it smelled wonderful too! Best part - the kids played with it ALL MORNING! They would've played longer, but I told them they had to stop and eat lunch.

They made pies and cookies first

Practiced cutting with a knife

Made goofy faces

Another goofy face and thumbprint cookies

Roasting marshmallows and kushiyaki (the bowl was the fire pit)

Kushiyaki with meat and cucumbers (??) They also made submarines with periscopes, a vacuum and Halloween costumes for a straw. GREAT morning activity!

Tip: Do outside - Oatmeal dough falls apart and kinda dries quickly so it's a little messy. It's a one time use dough, but I love the texture and would make it again.