UnPinning My Pins - Number 1

So last week I committed to doing some of my Pinterest Pins for various reasons, the lack of motivation being the top one. And it's a good thing, too!! Today we are reminded again that it is Winter. We are enjoying another snowstorm which could leave us with another 25 cm of snow. Oh well. Might as well enjoy its whiteness while it is here. Besides, when the sun comes out it just looks so glorious out there.

I chose a simple activity for my first one, one that got me sitting with my girl. We did some Easy Salt Painting. (http://www.pinterest.com/pin/251709066647746685/)

All ready to go: construction paper, glue, table salt, little containers with water and food colouring, paintbrushes and one very eager child.

Keziah needed help with the first step, which was to make a design with glue. We picked a flower.

Once done with the glue, it was time to shake some salt on it:

And then time to dab our design with our coloured water, using a paintbrush.

 And that is when we encountered our first problem. Are you surprised? I mean, there's got a be a problem as it is Pinterest after all, where it is more common for the end result to look nothin' like what you pinned. Where are the brightly coloured designs like it shows on the website that I got this idea from??

Well, thankfully the problem was easily fixed. And I should admit that the problem wasn't Pinterest, but my reading. I kind of missed that part where it said to add food colouring to a few drops of water, not a boatload. Oops. So we corrected it, started over with a new design and tada!! Much better results:

 

It was a simple neat little thing to do; when you dab the food colouring to the salt, the colour spreads, so that was cool. All in all, she had fun and that's what counts!!

There is more than just the feeling of something accomplished being a plus to this commitment of unpinning. Now that I am actually doing what I pin, I can say that  perusing through Pinterest is no longer an idle activity, which means I can do more of it ;)

Next week, in honour of Valentine's Day, I hope to do this:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/39476934207581320/

Birthday Fun!

Back on April 14th, my nephews turned 3!! I can NOT believe they are three already!! To celebrate with them, my sister had a little gathering at an indoor playground. It was lots of fun!

Here's Kez all ready for the birthday party. I don't think her cousins would have been impressed with her outfit. Thankfully she was very willing to change into clothes that will allow her to run, climb and slide :o)

And run, climb, slide they did!!

Here are the two birthday monkeys:

I hardly had to keep an eye on Kez. If I needed to know where she was, I just had to look for Conall. These two are inseparable!

Knowing she was in "good hands" with her cousin, this allowed me to keep an eye on this roaming and exploring boy:

(the "good job" sign. He was proud of himself for climbing up the slide on his own.)

Opening presents!!

My sister is clearly a pro at organization. I guess when you are blessed with 3 boys in 17 months, you learn to be organized very quickly or else you'll loose your sanity. For snacks, she made each child one of these trays filled with all kinds of goodies. The little cups/containers were even glued into the tray. No fuss, no spills!!

Keziah enjoyed hers, munching on her treats during a few breaks. But because she was having so much fun, not too many of those snacks were eaten. Good thing the tray came with a lid, so it was easy to take home:

Lincoln's tray of food? Yeah, no need for the lid:



We have seen God's blessings in the lives of these two boys and we pray that He will continue to keep these two precious lambs of His safe for years to come. We love you, Calin and Declan!!!!

C-c-c-c-cold!!!

It sure has been cold lately! But thankfully with the cold weather, the sun is shining! I love the sun shining on the white snow. It lifts my spirits and gets rid of the winter blahs. But the sun doesn't shine every day, which means I need to look for some other ways for myself and the kids to enjoy this season of Winter. Here are a few ideas, ideas that are doable if you are so inclined :o)

Window-wash with Snow is an idea! And not only do your windows get cleaned......it provides entertainment for others!

"Hey!! Where are you going??"

This fun activity I did every year (that there was snow) with my students. They LOVED it and so I figured Keziah would too. And she did!! This activity needs squirt bottles, water, dish soap and paint. This time I used food colouring, which I don't really recommend. Keziah has a dark snow suit, so I didn't mind. But normally I prefer paint. Either way, she had a great time painting the snow! (I usually stay away from using yellow.....Even the red gives off an odd look as it may look like blood.)



We've had a few days where the wind was just too cold to go outside. So instead of making a snowman outside, we made one inside,  using construction paper, glue and mini marshmellows.

There you have it, some fun and simple winter activities to do to get you through the next 28 days of winter :o)

Colourful!

One of the things I struggle with as a mom is to spend time doing things with my kids. I am always with my kids, but that doesn't mean I am doing something with them. I am usually quite content to be busy throughout the day, cleaning this up, putting that away, wiping this down, reading my book, folding laundry, making lunch/supper, bake, you name it. And for the most part, I usually have a 3 foot high partner doing these domesticated things with me. And I love that.

I do "drink" my fair share of hot chocolate with one marshmellow and eat the mud cake that was baked for me but not while dropping my doekie (cloth, for you non-dutchies) that was wiping down a cupboard.

But it struck me a while back as to how often I am asked by this 3 foot high partner to help her: to read a book, or to paint, or to colour, or do a puzzle. And it really made me aware of how often I said "Not right, now, hon." or "Keziah, can't you see my hands are busy?" (which, by the way, came right back at me one time when I asked her to help clean up the toys :o).

I think I know why I struggle with spending even 10 minutes a day doing an activity that she chooses. The easy answer is: I am lazy. I don't always feel like it. And to blame house cleaning is not an excuse. It's not like my house is sparkly clean either. I think the deeper answer is this: when we adopted Keziah, I parented her like she would be my only child. Not in the spoiled way that you would think (at least, I hope I didn't spoil her rotten), but in the "you are going to be independent and not look to me for entertaining you" kind of way. I counted on her being an only child, not knowing if it would be in God's plans to bless us with another little one. And although it was in God's plans to bless us with another, I still parent her the same way!! I wanted her to learn to play by herself, to be content to be on her own and not to cling to me as her only playmate.  I feared entertaining her all day long and then when I needed to get something done, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. I wonder if that is one (of possibly many) reasons why moms send their kids to juniour kindergarten....because by the time our child is 4 we are tired of entertaining them since we've done it from day one and now the child doesn't know what to do and so we say they are bored. Hmmm. I'll leave that can of worms alone. For now. :o)

For the most part, I think that it was good to do this, to encourage this independency. However, I think I have taken it too far. Although I don't believe in dropping everything the moment your child wants to do something, being at his/her beck and call all day long, I am recognizing that the way I've been doing it needs changing as well. And with the "longer" days of cooler weather ahead of us (meaning, inside the house more), I am praying that I may be able to make some changes in my parenting. I know I will fail miserably at this but that isn't a reason to not even try. And so, by taking it one day at a time, I am tackling this challenge, leaning on God for patience and enthusiasm. And she gets the benefit! And I am finding out, so am I!! It's a win-win situation!!

And so this week, we made colourful rice. It's really nothing extravagent or "new under the sun" as you will find oodles of links on Pinterest as to how to make this. (make THAT your challenge: make it just to say you finally used one of the 100s of ideas pinned to your boards on Pinterest :o) But maybe you've made Colourful Rice already. Actually, so have I, but many years ago for my students. But if you haven't, try it! Your child will love it! And so will you because after spending time with them making it, you'll have time on your own to dust that shelf or clean that toilet because your child will be spending a lot of time playing with it :o)

First off, ingredients: rice, food colouring, and rubbing alcohol (or vinegar)

Oh, and don't forget to add in your excited helper! Afterall, that is the goal: to spend time with her :o)

Mix 1 tsp of rubbing alcohol, 1 cup of rice and drops of food colouring into bowl and stir (I used 2 tsp of rubbing alcohol for 2 cups of rice):

Once well stirred, lay out on parchment paper and let it dry for 2 hours or so:

Tada!!!! I almost didn't let her play with it because I liked the design the colours made in the bucket. But then I remembered it was for her :o)

Throw in some measuring cups, measuring spoons, rice krispie moulds, little containers, whatever you can find and watch how much fun they'll have with such a simple thing of pouring rice from one container into the next:

And by all means, don't just let the 3 year old have fun! Put some in a little container with a sealed lid for the 9 month old to shake around!

You may find rice on the floor, but let me tell you, sweeping up dry rice is SOOO much easier than with cooked rice. So really, it doesn't take long to clean up. I have found over the last days of play, that for easiest clean up, either play with it outside, or on a mat if inside. That way you can just lift up the mat and pour back into the bucket.

And to keep things in perspective, for fear of you thinking "Good for you, Michelle!! What a great mom you are!" let me share with you what we had for supper that night:

That's right. Hot dogs. I was hoping the roasted broccoli would redeem the fact that we had hot dogs. I don't think it quite made it. Oh well. We enjoyed it all!! :o)