Bouncy Balls!

So our project today was making bouncy balls. The kids love bouncy balls. They are all over the house! I figured this would be perfect.
 It was fun, but it's a little more complicated than just putting vinegar in baking soda like we did a few weeks ago. It was a little hard because the kids couldn't measure things as easily. It's fun to see them work with what they can though. They love to make things and add food coloring to it! 

Happy kids! This is before they melted into blobs!

The problem came after they were finished. I'm not sure if our chemistry was off and I didn't mix things right, or what. They didn't solidify and just flattened out. We are going to try again. Ben has reminded me a hundred times already. Hopefully we can get a final product that doesn't look quite like this!

After an hour or so... no longer a ball shape!

Homemade Bouncy Balls

2 cups
Measuring spoons
A stir stick
2 tbsp hot water
1/2 tsp borax
1 tbsp glue
1 tbsp corn starch
Food coloring (optional)

Pour the water and borax into the first cup and stir the mixture until it is dissolved.

Pour the glue, cornstarch and food coloring into the second cup and mix. Then add the mixture from the first cup into the second cup.

Let the ingredients sit for 15 seconds then stir.

Once the mixture becomes difficult to stir, scoop it out of the cup, and roll into a ball. Enjoy!!!

a Pinteresting summer

Yeah, I'm good at blogging for a while and not keeping up with it. I'm going to give it another shot!

I've never claimed to be a good stay at home mom. I'm not entertaining and I have OCD, so I follow my kids around with a broom and mop! I'm working to change that this summer. Pinterest is helping me. I've decided to do one Pinterest craft each week with my kids and write about it. Hopefully writing about it will help me remember to do it.

I'm embracing mess and letting it go until my kids are done. The fact that I'm letting them make it is a huge step for me. They are having a ball though and it's fun to watch them. I realized today how much I harp on them by the amount of times they apologized when something spilled. I have to let go!

Our project today we will call volcano art. All you need is baking soda, vinegar, food coloring, and eye droppers. I found baking soda for 2/$1 at Marcs so I gave each kid an entire box. They dumped it in a pyrex pan. Then I put vinegar in separate cups and added food coloring. They filled their eye droppers with dyed vinegar and dropped it into the baking soda. They seriously played for half an hour just dropping vinegar! It was awesome.

I don't get into science behind things or why things happen. I just let them have fun and make designs. The best part of this is that I've started looking forward to our Pinterest projects. The kids don't know where I get ideas or that I scour Pinterest for them. They just like the fun. I've started looking forward to the time and spend a lot of time and effort finding the right project just for us!

Hadley's final project. She just put color wherever.

Ben's final design. He was careful to put color all the way around the edge.

Ben finished by dumping cups of vinegar on top.

a profound sentiment

Today while we were praying for dinner, Ben stabbed Jeremy in the temple with his fork. After a brief, stern discussion we continued praying. When I had finished praying (Jeremy wasn't really in the right attitude), Jeremy asked Ben why he was in trouble. Ben said, "Cause I poked you with my fork." Jeremy tried to explain that he could have gone blind, hurt his brain, etc.
Ben said, "Well, I was trying to hit your forehead." I may have smirked at this moment causing Ben to laugh. Jeremy administered some discipline and the laughing stopped. Ben looked at his dad and said, "You're not my friend anymore."
We started eating and things calmed down... It's amazing how some noodles and chicken can make life so much better.
After dinner Ben told Jeremy: "Dad, You're not my friend anymore because after I stabbed your head you weren't nice to me. I still love you, but your not my friend."
I'm pretty impressed with his ability to reason this out. I laughed because it was Jeremy in trouble and not me, but I can respect his logic!

I do it!

So Hadley has turned two. She is big stuff now! I can't do ANYTHING for her without her throwing a fit because she wants to do it herself. I'm all for independence and I love when Ben puts his clothes on and wipes his own butt; however, Hadley hasn't mastered the coordination of dressing herself yet and it would take us until Christmas to get her shoes on.
For two days in a row, I've had to fight to get her shoes on at the end of the day which has led to us leaving the babysitters in tears. She won't let me help her with the right foot/left foot thing and she can't reach around her knees to get her foot all of the way in the shoe. Yesterday she was content with just velcroing ... not so much anymore.
This evening she decided she was going to change her clothes and put her jams on by herself. She took her shoes and socks off. This is a feat that Ben still struggles with (is that a boy/girl thing???). I helped her with her pants and shirt. Then she took of her diaper.
She sat down on the floor and said, "I put jams on." Sweet, but she doesn't have a diaper on. So, I suggested we remedy the situation. Her reply, "I put jams on first." Mind you, Hadley wears feety pajamas.
She had a hold of one leg and was getting her foot in, but some how got backwards and sent her foot toward the arm hole. The fact that she made any progress at all mad her ecstatic! She looked at me and said, "I do it, Mom!" This progress was enough for me to convince her that I could show her how to finish getting dressed and we did end up with pajamas and a diaper on (in the proper order)!

You're nuts!

My dad stopped over today. Ben wanted to show him the water (our creek that is running because it rained). This resulted in a race to the back yard. We have a ton of walnut trees in the back that dropped tons of walnuts last night. Dad started throwing them into the water. Ben and Hadley threw nuts for a while, giggling and squealing at the splashes.
Ben looked at Dad and said, "I'll be right back, Poppa." He ran around the side of our shed and we didn't hear from him for a while. I was telling my dad a story about Ben getting hit with a falling walnut a few weeks ago when a nut fell at his feet. We kept falling when another nut fell.
I turned around just in time to see a walnut come sailing across the top of the shed. After that, a barrage of walnuts flew towards us. Jeremy yelled, "Hey, what's that?" His question was met with a huge laugh and a few more walnuts! Not only does he have a good arm, but that little boy is sneaky!!!

Bed time songs

I remember being a little girl and having my mom sing to me every night. We sang whatever songs she thought of - from Christmas Carols to show tunes. I've started the same thing with Hadley. She loves to snuggle down into my shoulder and drift off to sleep while I sing.
I started making up songs just so that we could keep singing. I sing her prayers to tunes of songs she likes. Every time I stop, she says "Do it again, Mom" in her little Hadley voice. It's the single most peaceful part of my day!
Tonight she started singing with me. I made up a "Jesus song" that we now sing. It's to the tune of "Good Night my Someone" from Music Man. (My originality is amazing! ;)) The words are
Thank you Jesus for today,
for time to play.
Thank you Lord for family.
Please give me good thoughts and good dreams.
I sang a line and then she'd repeat it. If you've ever heard her, she occasionally has a register that only dogs can hear. This is how she sang with me tonight - maybe that's how I sound to her!
It's in these moments that I realize how blessed I am to have my kids. They keep me grounded and in perspective. It's in these moments that I remember that I can only be effective as a parent if I'm rooted in Jesus and allowing him to guide me. I've learned to take the little things seriously because I don't want to miss this.

Rainbows and Happiness

A few days ago on the way home from Walmart we saw a rainbow. It was so huge and beautiful. By the time we got home it was a double rainbow outside our door. Ben thought it was amazing.
Today we went to Walmart again (because it's what we do). On the way, Ben asked if we would see a rainbow. I told him probably not because it wasn't raining. He told me, "No, Mom. We have to go to Walmart, buy lots of stuff, and come home at bedtime to see a rainbow. That's what my Dad said."

A bonus conversation:
Me: I'm going to take a shower and then we are going to pick up before Daddy comes home."
Ben: And then we can be happy?
Me: What?
Ben: And then we can be happy?
Me: When Daddy comes home?
Ben: Yeah!
Seriously, he sounded like he wasn't allowed to be happy today!