A kid can dream….can’t they?????
Don’t forget about the giveaway going on over at the Etsy Cloth Diaper Team blog….enter to win a custom made woolie……custom made by me!!!
Category: River
Recycled Chunky Crayons…
So, I saw this great project for recycled chunky crayons from the makesandtakes website. I decided we just had to do it. It looked like a lot of fun. So, first I had to go out and buy some candy molds..since I didn’t have any. We found some fun ones.
Next, we had to start breaking up the crayons. I thought we had a million broken crayons without the paper…but I was surpised how quickly we ran out of them. So, I had to start taking the paper off all the crayons…and that was not fun! It got tough..some of the paper was almost glued on the crayons!
I had to break out a knife and start cutting the paper off!
But River had a great time breaking up the crayons into tiny pieces. She got very good at it…and in no time at all…we had the molds filled! I didn’t want to do all 24 hearts..I thought that was a bit too many….
Once we had the molds filled…we followed the directions and put them in the oven at 225 degrees for about 10 minutes. They came out perfect……we didn’t swirl them anymore…they seemed great just the way they were…some of the crayons were metallic..so those had a neat look to them.
We waited for them to cool..which was the hard part! Once they were cool….we poked them out of the molds……
And finally River got to color with them! It was a lot of fun. Now, my ten year old wants to do it!
Bean Bags…..
So, I’m trying to get ready for next week…I want to stock my Etsy store with lots of things! I have done some bean bags in the past, but I’ve never put them in my Etsy shop. So, I thought now would be the perfect time! They are ten really cute numbered bean bags. The numbers are one one side and then a color coordinated picture is on the other side.
Don’t forget to check out the EtsyclothDiaper site for all the information!
I had a little bit of material left over…so River decided she wanted a bean bag…though she already has a complete set…but none that she has drawn herself.
She loved the fact that she got to use “special” markers…meaning permanent. She took a long time to draw her picture!
Then she got to “help” me sew the bean bag. She did a great job…..
Next the bean bag had to be turned outside right and then filled with beans! Then the bean bag had to be sewed shut! And then it was ready for fun!
Who knew dry milk has an expiration date…..
So yesterday I decided to be a wonderful mother and bake a wonderful and delicious homemade cake. I found a great recipe…..Praline Turtle Cake…I know my kids don’t like pralines..so I figure I would just omit the pralines….
The recipe called for sweetened condensed milk…well, I didn’t have any..but I think no problem..I have a recipe for a “substitute” for sweetened condensed milk…which calls for instant dry milk. So, I get out my instant dry milk and whip it up…..I had to melt the “sweetened condensed milk”, butter and brown sugar in a pot……no problem..though I do notice a strange smell….
Then I proceed to make the actual batter..which smells and looks delicious. River is eager to help me out. I do notice that many many dishes are getting dirty..but I know it will be worth it when my children see this wonderful cake that I made for them…
The next thing is to pour the batter into the cake pans, on top of the melted carmelized goo….interesting…….so, that is what I do and pop it into the oven….umm..still a strange little smell…..
Well, in a few minutes I start to notice a smell…. and I mean a horrid smell…..a smell liked burned milk that has gone bad….a long time ago…..so I walk into the kitchen and it is filling with smoke…..(believe me, I tried to get photos, but they just didn’t turn out!)…well, the cake is bubbling over…all over the oven..and is smoking and smoking and carmelizing and smelling..but I must finish this cake..so I have to keep the oven on until the cake is done! I just keep thinking how happy my children will be when they see this delicious cake……
Well, the timer goes off and the cake is done….. it’s not pretty! And the smell is horrid….At this point, I’m getting worried that something went horribly wrong…..of course by now, I have had to open every window in the house and I’m trying to fan all the smoke detectors! The recipe says to wait ten minutes and then get the cakes out of the pans..(Yes, I am still holding out for hope!) So, I wait the ten minutes and then take the dumb things out of their pans…and if the smell wasn’t bad already…it now hits me in the face like a piece of wet bologna (and I’m a vegetarian)!
Okay.. so the cake ended up in the sink..along with all the dirty dishes….I then turned to the box of nonfat instant dry milk…..I mean, I didn’t know it could go bad…….the expiration date….1993!!!!
Split Pea and Barley Soup….
So yesterday I decided to make split pea and barley soup. I haven’t made this soup in about twelve years. I used to love making many types of soup when I was a vegan. They were inexpensive, easy and hardly ever contained any dairy, so I didn’t have to worry about dairy substitutes. I knew the kids would be a bit hesitant about this soup, so, I decided to get River involved. I figured if she helped cook it and got all excited about it..she would love eating it! So, we went to the store and got all the ingredients and got started!
I decided to make it in the crock pot, so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it on the stove all day. River loved helping…she helped cut and dice and get everything ready! She loved putting all the ingredients into the big pot. She said everything looked and smelled delicious!
This particular soup is incredibly hardy and so easy to make. The best part is that the barley and split peas don’t have to be soaked the night before….you just throw it all into a pot and wait about two hours!
So, did everybody love it! I wish I could say yes…..but the answer is no! River took one look at it and said, “Yuck!” Same with Tuesday. The only one who ate the whole bowl was Quinn…and that was only after I promised to take him to the bookstore that evening if he ate the whole bowl! Oh well, I enjoyed it!
Christmas Countdown….Day 21…Wonder
Three years ago today….
My youngest was born…River Hazel McDonald. It doesn’t seem that long ago. I can remember that day quite vividly. Luckily it was a Sunday. Early in the morning, my water broke and I knew things were happening…so I woke up Christopher and said we should wake up the kids and call my mom. Then we called my mother-in-law, who lives in Maryland. Once my mother arrived, we chatted and she told us to get going to the hospital. But I wanted to stay and talk some more. I figured the less time at the hospital, the better. Then I decided I needed to make a fresh cup of coffee, so that when my mother-in-law arrived there would be fresh coffee. About a half hour later, my mother said we had to go right then or we’d give her a heart attack…so off we went. Well, thank goodness we did leave then because on our way to the hospital..things started to speed up and I almost thought we wouldn’t make it! Without going into all the details….twenty minutes later…..little River was born!
Teeny Tiny Things…..
Toilet training is going pretty well. I have to use a lot of bribery. Candy, books, stickers..anything it takes…okay, well, not anything. River got her first real prize..she picked a little green monkey out of the treasure chest. She carried that little monkey around all day. Then she decided that the little monkey was her new little baby. And then she decided the little green monkey baby needed a friend. So she was carrying around two “babies”. Suddenly her babies were cold and they just had to have little scarves. Well, that was easy enough. But they were still cold….now they needed hats. Alright, that took a bit more work…But then her babies were still cold and they needed sweater coats. Well, that took a bit more time and energy…but now her babies are nice and warm…except their hats keep falling off!
I just hope she doesn’t think I’m doing this for the other 11 monkeys that are in the treasure chest!
Toilet Training for dummies…..
Okay..so today is the first “Official” day of toilet training..whatever that means! It has been about 7 years since I’ve toilet trained. Needless to say, I forget everything! About a month ago we went out and bought potty seats and training pants and River was very excited! She even peed on the potty once! But then, she decided she didn’t want to be a big kid and refused to even go near them. So, I put them away and decided to give it a break.
Then we decided it was time again. She is almost three! So, I had her help me “select” prizes from Oriental Trading and waited anxiously each day for them to arrive. When they finally arrived, we made a treasure chest and filled it with the prizes.
And today was the first day….well, she decided she was scared of the potty seat and didn’t want to go near it. After a bit of coaxing and bribery, she finally made it on the potty. (I had to promise to read her 10 books while she sat on the potty!) She got a sticker and prize just for sitting on the seat. She was so excited! But now she has to actually pee in the potty to get her next sticker. There has been no pee in the potty, but we are making progress. I set the timer and each hour we give it a try….(always with me reading her about 5-10 books..but hey, it’s worth it..who wouldn’t want to sit on the potty if someone promised to read you books?!)
River’s Room….
One of the blogs that I like to visit is Ashley Ann Under the Sycamore Tree. I love her wonderful photographs and her tips on getting a great photo. One of the things she suggested is going into your child’s room, with your camera, right as they wake up from their nap. So, today, I gave it a try. River immediately proceeded to tell me all about her dreams. It was the cutest thing. I thought she wouldn’t like me coming into her room with a camera, but she loved it and was so happy to sit there and tell me all about the books that she had read before nap time and all the nice dreams she had! I think I got some really cute shots! After she finished talking, she decided she wanted to play for awhile, so I thought I would take some more shots….
