May I Take Yo Order? Playdough Style

My kids could play with playdough for hours, and they do if I let them. They got a playdough hamburger/fast food station for Christmas. So, we have made a lot of hamburgers. Kids have such amazing imaginations, though, and we've made many other things too with this set. The great thing about it is that they are gaining many new skills from this activity. Probably more than I know. But they're learning counting, color mixing, many different fine motor skills, sorting, and more. I just love playdough. And the whole color mixing thing was hard for me. "Don't mix the playdough, you'll ruin it." "Why do I even buy these colors if you're just going to smash them together and make them all brown????"

BUT I got over it, because I've realized that when I restrict the kids on how they play with certain things (I mean restrict in a way that it hinders their imagination because I'm a bit particular about how things should be, like how I don't think playdough should be mixed) they just don't play with those things. And then, they sit around gathering dust, wasting money in the process because nobody's playing with them. So, playdough is cheap, and really, the kids basically get playdough thrown at them at every holiday event via gifts from kids at school. And when we run out, we can just make some more, and I can then write about it on here, telling everyone my own personal playdough recipe and how much fun it is to make playdough.

Here's a still shot of the kids at play. We really get into it and add new "tools" every time:



I also enjoy this activity because I have fun myself making perfect little hamburgers out of the untainted (yet) perfectly colored playdough.

Making Cake (and Kindness) Out of Lemons

I recently had a great idea that I still haven't followed through on. It's a service project that really is a general idea. I wanted to take my kids and give something to our neighbors just to show them some kindness or bring a smile to their day. What prompted this idea was a contest I won. On another blog, I won five of those Hickory Farms gift boxes that have smoked sausage and cheese and crackers in them. I thought it was great, but felt a bit selfish keeping all five to myself. Then, the idea hit me to give away the extras to our neighbors. They're all good country folks who I knew would appreciate the gesture. And what a great way to teach the kids a lesson in kindness. So......... that was a few weeks ago, I know I'm a slacker. Yeah, yeah, paved with good intentions, I know. But that's not the point.

This is a great activity that any one of us can do. Show kindness to our neighbors and teach the kids some morals at the same time. Since most of you probably don't have boxes of smoked sausage and cheese laying around, I've added a great cake recipe that can be substituted. Of course, anything could be substituted. It's all about paying it forward. Coincidentally, kindness was the lesson for my Bible class this week, and that is actually where this recipe came from:

Lemonade Cake

Combine 1 BOX OF LEMON CAKE MIX, 1 SMALL BOX OF JELLO BRAND LEMON FLAVOR INSTANT PUDDING AND PIE FILLING, 4 EGGS, 1 CUP WATER, and 1/4 CUP OIL in large bowl. Blend well, then beat a med. speed for 4 minutes. Pour into greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes. (don't underbake) Cool for 5 min. Prick cake with a pick completely through to the bottom all over the cake. Spoon lemony glaze (see below) over cake until completely absorbed. Cool 15 min. Remove from pan and sprinkle with confectioners sugar if desired.

Lemony glaze

Mix 2 SCOOPS COUNTRY TIME LEMONADE FLAVOR DRINK MIX, 1/2 CUP WATER, and 2 TB MELTED BUTTER. Add 2 CUPS CONFECTIONER'S SUGAR and blend well.

Now, that's the original recipe, but for this project, I would use small loaf pans and fill them 3/4 full with the cake batter, using as many as will hold the batter. And you probably won't have to cook them for as long, so keep an eye on them and test them at increments to see if they're done. Or you could actually use empty vegetable cans (the short squatty kind) and fill them the same as you would the loaf pans. These two methods would make many cakes for many people.

Rhythm: Slightly Revised

We had another recent "free" day, in which we were able to slightly revise our rhythm. And we did some really fun activities that kind of just came to mind as we were playing. I will share those in another post.

Wake
Cereal breakfast while watching "Mulan"
Chores/Clean-up
Snack and Bible story
Dance off
Lunch
Play
Nap
Dinner
Play
Bed

So, we're making progress. I feel like we utilized our time a lot better this time than our last structured free day. I say structured free day, because I'm all about taking a break and having a lazy day every once in a while.

As I add ideas of fun activities or projects to do, I'll probably write about some stuff that we haven't tried or done, so if you have any comments or suggestions of how to make something better or more fun, please leave them. And if you have any ideas of really fun things to do during the monotonous days of a stay-at-home-mom, please comment with those too. I mean, it can't be that hard, considering I've only written one post about this so far.

Painting with Poem, "The Moon"

I came across this great idea for an art project on a blog called "The Wonder Years." (I'm too lazy/short on time to link it, so google it) The idea is to get your child to paint a picture reflective of a specific poem. The poem I used was about the moon. To start off this project, I set up a sheet of paper for each child on the table (it was too cold to do it outside), and set out three brushes for each. Then I told them that the colors red, yellow, and blue were going to get together and play today. I used an empty egg carton to put their paint in, and told them to use one brush for red, one for yellow, and one for blue. Then I described the poem to them. I'm not exactly sure, but I think this type of painting goes along with the Waldorf method of painting.

I told them to paint what I described. I said things like, "What do you think the sky looks like behind the moon?", "The moon is big and round.", "The moon shines moonbeams down on the ground.", and "There is a tiny star beside the moon." I gave them time between each question or comment to paint it out. When they were finished I put away all the paint and brushes. Then I told them to look at their painting while I read the poem.

Here were the finished works of art:



The poem we used for this project was "The Moon" by Eliza Follen:

Oh, look at the moon she’s shining up there,

Oh, mother, she looks like a lamp in the air!

Last week she was smaller and shaped like a bow,

But now she’s grown bigger and round as an ‘O.’

Pretty moon, pretty moon, blow your shine on the door

And make all bright on my nursery floor,

You shine on my playthings and show me their place.

And I love to look up at your pretty, bright face,

And there is a star close by you and maybe

That small twinkling star is your baby!

They really had a lot of fun doing this. Now, it didn't go picture perfect, exactly how I'd planned, but that's how everything is with kids. The result of this exercise was a sweet painting that each child was very proud of. Afterwards, they wanted to paint more so I gave them more paper and said to paint away.

Our Day, Our Rhythm

One of my biggest challenges as a parent is stimulating my children in the right ways. Every day is a new adventure, and if you're like me, requires planning in order to get the most out of your time. As a rule, I choose not to sit on the computer or work on something that requires a lot of focus while my kids are awake. I want to be able to use the time I have with them to teach them and enrich them. Childhood should be magical, and I want to try my hardest to make it that way for my kids.

So, every day that we're not in school, I try to think of fun activities that we all can do together without overwhelming the kids. Too many days have gone by where the T.V. has been on the majority of the day. I get so mad at myself when that happens. In the past, I've tried to make out a schedule for our day, filling up the potential of that day. These rarely last, or even get followed on the day they were made for. I recently ran across another blog, though, whose author talked about making a rhythm for your day, rather than a schedule. I thought that made sense. Things seem to flow more when you talk about there being a rhythm.

And that's what's led me to start writing on this blog again, with a new goal in mind. I'm hoping mainly to help myself with my daily problem of what to do, but also find out new ideas from you and maybe help some other mothers figure out how to enrich their kids lives by using the time with them more effectively.

Now, I want you to know that I'm starting from scratch here. I'm the worlds worst at wasting time. I'm notorious for getting caught up in a daydream only to realize that I've been sitting on my bed for half an hour just staring at the wall and thinking. I've also been known to "check my facebook real quick" then end up an hour and a half later looking at pictures of someone I don't know. Senseless, I know.

But, we all have to start somewhere, right? So, here goes our recent "free" day. (By free day, I mean a day that we don't have school and have no specific agenda.) And I'm not putting times on here because it's a "rhythm" not a schedule, and I don't want anyone to see how late we woke up:

Woke up and had breakfast, scrambled eggs, while watching the tele.
More T.V., while I searched the internet for a fun project to do. (Hopefully this step will never again be in our rhythm because I realize this is something I need to plan ahead of time + I don't want to be on the computer while the kids are up as stated previously)
Painting project.
Bath (much needed after painting project)
Lunch
Movie
Nap
Dinner
Playtime with family
Bedtime

So, this is our typical rhythm as of now, but I'm hoping to make it much better, fine tune it, add more diversity to it, etc. Hopefully, I will get our painting project up soon.

Montgomery 005: Garden Picnic

I got the idea from a blogging buddy to go visit a garden store like Southern Homes and Garden and enjoy the flowers and plants with the kids then have a picnic out on the grounds. So, one day my mom and I ventured out to do this and really had a great time. The kids love picnics. Sidenote: Kids love to eat outside. I don't know why. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not a big "eat outside" person. I love being outdoors, but I feel that food should be eaten in a cool, clean, and non-windy environment. Emphasis on the non-windy part.

But that's besides the point, because this day that we went out just happened to be a particularly lovely day. Actually it was perfect until we were leaving, when it started sprinkling and we could tell a storm was coming. Perfect timing, though. Anyways, this is a good idea for summer fun. It's a way to get out of the house and out in the open where kids can roam free. They also enjoyed the flowers in the store, which actually served as a mini botanical lesson. For them and me because they kept asking me what each flower was and I had to look at the tag on most to find out.

This activity is obviously free and would be even more fun with more kids (and their moms of course).

Life: Beautiful

On a trip a while back, my parents found this Christian magazine called Life: Beautiful. They bought a copy and liked it so much that they bought a subscription to the magazine. And I have to agree with them, this magazine is so awesome. It's kinda like "Real Simple" with a Christian perspective on everything. The down side is that they only publish four magazines a year, so it's like a quarterly thing. Besides that though, I only have good things to say about it. I'm not normally super into magazines. I read the parenting ones every once in a while to get some fresh ideas, same with ones like Southern Living or Martha Stewart.

If you like magazines like Real Simple and Martha Stewart though, you'd probably enjoy this one. It has a good layout too. I guess that's the graphic designer part of me, sometimes I read magazines just because of their layout. For example, I probably read Wondertime for 85% layout/design/it's pleasing to the eyes and 15% content. I love their use of space and how they don't feel the need to cram something into every little space on a page.



Anyways, back to Life: Beautiful. The last issue had 53 ideas of things to do with your kids to spend quality time with them, educate them, socialize them, teach them about God, and a lot of other teaching things. I'm constantly running across lists like this in parenting magazines, like "30 ways to have fun with your baby this summer" and such. Most of those lists have a few good ideas and then a bunch of lame ideas that are things you already do, have to buy a lot of extra stuff to do, or are just space fillers so they can in fact have exactly 30, or however many, things. This list, on the other hand, was very unique and specific in ideas. It was sort of a like a things to do before you turn 12 list. I actually went through with a pen and circled everything that was age appropriate for Jack and Riley. And I plan on doing them. And I will blog about them. I will share the list when I can find the magazine, seeing as it's night time and I don't want to go searching around the house for it right now.