Batman Day

In honor of Batman's 75th anniversary, our local Barnes and Noble held a Batman party. They served free mini frapuccinos from their cafe, gave out free comic books, provided crafts for the kids, held a trivia and riddle contest hosted by the Riddler and did a costume parade and contest. The kids dressed as Batman and Robin and picked their noses as we headed to the bookstore.

They actually ended up winning the costume contest and received a new Batman book as their prize. This event kind of made me want to head down to San Diego this week for Comic-Con but I think I'll sit out the crowds and stick with our bookstore celebration.

Homemade play doh

As my kids sat watching strange YouTube videos of people creating things with play doh, I searched the internet for homemade play doh recipes. My kids play with that stuff almost daily. As a result, it dries out quickly and they are left with crumbly dough that is impossible to play with. I needed to buy more but decided to try to make my own. One of the most popular recipes I found included the use of cream of tartar, which I didn't have on hand but was said to make all the difference. I headed to the store for that one item which, according to the store clerk, is used for making meringue. Makes sense that it's also used for elasticity in play doh. I decided to go with the recipe I found at www.passionforsavings.com. I will provide it below. This was a quick, super easy craft to do with the kids and it wasn't even too hot to play with immediately after. I was also pleasantly surprised that the texture is very similar to the store bought version. The only problem I encountered was trying to mix food coloring to create colors Brygit was requesting. I think I may need to invest in cooler colors or we need to stick to primaries. What I love about this is that the possibilities are endless. I broke out the Christmas cookie cutters for them to play with and I had the idea of, come December, dropping some cinnamon in the mix to make it smell yummy and dying it red and green. Or making it orange and putting in pumpkin pie spice. Tell me that won't be awesome.

Pink and purple? Paul referred to them as flesh and poop. I must get better at food coloring.

But I nailed blue and green.

Ingredients: 

1 cup flour

.5 cup salt

2 tbs. cream of tartar

2 tbs. oil

1 cup water

Food coloring

1. Stir together the first 4 ingredients then slowly stir in water over medium heat. 

2. Stir continuously until all the liquid is gone. (No joke, this happens fast. It just starts becoming a ball of play doh sitting in the pan without even getting that hot).

3. Take it out and knead it a bit.

4. Separate it and add a few drops of food coloring as you knead each piece. 

Sad books and swimming

 

I haven't even thought about blogging this week. Saturday night I finally finished reading Donna Tart's "The Goldfinch" and I picked up "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green. That's what I've been doing. Reading, crying, talking to Paul about cancer and dying. It's been awesome. Let me tell you, I can't wait to move on to a more lighthearted book. I can use some humor in my life. Also, I loved The Fault in Our Stars. I was educated, I laughed out loud and I really enjoyed the sweet parts. Can't wait to see the movie with Paul so he can feel my pain! Meanwhile, we are kind of enjoying our summer. It's hot but super fun.

 

 

Our salvaged holiday

 

Our Fourth of July was... bumpy. But salvaged. Not the best Independence Day but there were some high points and we made some memories as a family. We started our day out a bit sleep deprived and grumpy (and not just the kids) from Liam getting out of bed several times the night before to ask if it was the Fourth of July yet. In hindsight I probably could've predicted that he wasn't feeling very well because (spoiler alert) the day ended with vomit.

Despite our bad attitudes and trying morning, we actually all really enjoyed participating in the Redlands Fourth of July parade with our MOMS Club. The theme was "The Good Old Days" so our group dressed as women from the past- humble housewives and Rosie the Riveters. The kids dressed in red, white and blue and decorated their bikes and wagons to look patriotic. The kids loved it. As soon as the parade started they turned on the charm and started waving to everyone and shouting, "Happy Fourth of July!" Liam kept talking about how much fun he was having and how he wanted to do it again next year. Obviously, my kids are hams and enjoy a little spotlight. 

 

 

The parade really turned the day around for us and everything was going great. Paul left for work which was a bummer but I was holding my own with the kids and we headed over to Paul's aunt's house where we usually spend our holiday with a barbecue and swimming. The kids were having a great time playing with their cousins but my motherly suspicion started creeping in when Liam refused to eat anything other than chips. Before I knew it he was sick and we were leaving.

 

 

I attempted to salvage our evening by searching our house for some old fireworks we bought a couple of years ago that I swear we found when we moved. No luck. So I tried searching for some patriotic TV. No luck. So I settled for keeping the kids up way past their bed time, watching The Croods, to catch the fireworks from our balcony. It was way too quiet around 9pm so I put the kids in the car in their pajamas and found a good place to park down the street where we could watch the firework show that the mega church around the corner was hosting. It did not disappoint and actually ended up being one of the best firework shows I've seen (Disneyland not included). I was surprised that Liam STILL gets nervous about fireworks and, though he enjoyed watching them (the "shooting star" ones were his favorite) he thought they were too loud. Brygit, on the other hand was naming all the colors she saw and smiling and saying "wow" over and over again, which was unexpected as this was her first time seeing fireworks like that. The kids fell asleep in the car on the roundabout way I had to take back to the house and they slept until 6am when I was awoken with more of Liam leaning over the toilet. I call it a success.

Happy Independence Day!

Tomorrow morning we are participating in our city's annual 4th of July parade with our MOMS Club then we will celebrate with family later in the day. To get in the spirit and to teach the kids about our flag and our country we did a little craft at home this week. I'd like to say both kids had a blast but Brygit actually spent most of the time crying under the table after I told her she couldn't have (more) cereal for lunch. Liam actually really liked the painting and gluing and I enjoyed finishing Brygit's.

 

 

 

 We rounded out our week with a potluck with friends and are now more than ready to celebrate the USA tomorrow! I hope you have a fun and safe fourth!

 

 

 

 

Berry picking and bulls

We went berry picking in Oak Glen as we enjoy doing every summer. It was also an item on our "summer list." Now let me just tell you that making this list with Liam has been such a hit. He thinks we are having the best summer ever and when anyone asks if we have plans he will gladly tell them all about our list. Yesterday some of our neigbor kids were out in their yard with a slip n slide. Liam's reaction was, "Somebody has some summer plans! I bet that was on their list." 

Our Oak Glen visit was probably my favorite outing yet. It was an escape from the heat, everyone was in a good mood and strawberries are probably my favorite thing about summer. 

We started out with lunch at the park where Liam fed Brygit his burrito then headed over to Riley's Farm to ravage their strawberry fields. Liam was pretty independent and filled his basket with decent berries pretty quickly. Brygit mostly went for the "baby ones" so she needed a bit more help. 

Just as we were getting ready to leave, Liam spotted some bulls and begged us to take a closer look. We hiked over to them and ended up being glad we did. They were very friendly and wanted nothing more than help reaching some hay and shooing the flies from their face.

Still, they freaked Brygit out so she stood under an apple tree quite a distance away. I carried her a little closer but she just was not having it. 

Week 3

I started falling behind in my 30 day photo challenge through iheartfaces.com. I started to throw in the towel but then I just decided to skip the days I flaked on and power through. So here are my next few entries, missing a day or two. 

June 16: flowers

June 17: simple

June 18: jump

  

June 20: four

June 21: summertime

June 23: path