Valentines Sensory Tub

I was getting tired of looking at the feed corn based sensory tub (even though the kids loved playing with the corn) so I started gathering things for a new tub a few days ago. I decided to jump ahead to Valentine's Day already since we seem to be surrounded by a massive amount of Valentine's merchandise every time we set foot inside any store. 

The base is plain white rice. Also in the tub are pink heart picks (cut shorter or removed from the sticks with the sticks included in the tub), a small wooden bowl, wooden hearts, wooden scoop, red porcupine balls, various Valentine's Day erasers, red heart glitter, red rose scented soap roses, and a red plastic gem.

A note about the soap roses: I initially thought that these were paper that was scented like roses to be used as potpourri. A little while after I put the tub together, I read the box and saw that these were glycerin dipped paper soaps. You are supposed to remove a petal and use like you you would soap. I will strongly suggest not doing this! I tried it with one of the roses that I didn't put in the tub and the petal turned to a thick, sticky goo that wouldn't rinse off my hands. I rubbed and rubbed and rinsed and rinsed and still the pink goo wouldn't come off. After several minutes of scrubbing, I used a washcloth to scrub it off my hands and even then, it was difficult to get off.

I haven't been doing a stellar job at keeping up my 2 blogs! Homeschooling has been on the light side still - mostly because I am still recovering and gaining back my normal strength and energy from the lengthy illness I dealt with for all of November and December. I never imagined that I would still be dealing with recovery this long. But it is what it is and we are working around it and doing "good enough." I have a lot of housework to catch up on and I need to do a little re-training with the kids since they were used to things being quite lax while I was ill. There has been much resistance already. The cold and dreary weather aren't the greatest motivators either. These chilly days have me wanting to snuggle under some blankets with my kiddos and some hot tea or cocoa and watch some fun movies on netflix. I'll get there. I'm sure that by the end of spring, something will be accomplished. :)

Muffin Tin Monday

Short & Tall, Big & Small was today's theme.

Starting at the top left and going clockwise: Big Cheese Hearts, Small Ham Hearts, Big Bread Stars, Small Bread Stars, Small Tangerine Sections, Big Orange Sections, Big Green Pepper Flowers, Small Green Pepper Flowers, Tall Giraffe Pick with Ham (Micah's bottom tin), Short Monkey & Bear Picks with Ham (Laural's top tin) and Kind of Tall (compared to the picks anyhow) Snapea Crisps.

Micah loves Snapea Crisps! I wish he ate real veggies like he does these things.

Laural carefully decides which morsel to devour next!

On a side not, I was thrilled to see that Walmart is now carrying the Snapea Crisps and for only $1.50! Only one other store near us has had these and they were around $3 a bag (and the bags aren't that big). We definitely had to toss a couple bags in the cart. The kids (and Steve) will have these gone in no time!

Muffin Tin Monday

No theme today, just some tasty food in a tin.The kids don't care if there's a theme or not. They just like lunch in a muffin tin!

Top Row: Chocolate Pudding, Fresh Strawberries, Animal Crackers

Bottom Row: Green Peppers, Chicken Nuggets, Vanilla Yogurt with Blue Sprinkles

I don't usually buy pudding cups but I got a good deal and it is so good to dip fresh strawberries into chocolate pudding. Yum! The animal crackers taste pretty yummy in the pudding too.

School Stuff

We are easing back into school around here. Partly because it just still feels like it should be winter vacation and partly because I am still working up the energy to get everything done and caught up since I've been ill. This week, we've been doing a variety of new things along with the regular stuff.

 Laural has been using a Mini Luk book and controller that she got as a Christmas present.

And we played a Leap Frog spelling bee game. She did great with the spelling. She's really starting to sound things out and be able to figure out how to spell and read lots of words.

Micah has been practicing his drawing skills with his new Crayola Color Me A Song.

And both of them had some fun with their new Do-a-Dot markers. I was really surprised at how well Micah did with filling in the dots with the markers. The only problem was that once he was done with all the dots, he liked to drag the markers across the paper to make nice wide streaks. He also enjoyed holding the daubers down on the paper making a bit of a puddle of ink on the page. At least it's washable ink!

Hair Cut Day

I wish I understood why it is so very hard for me to give my son a hair cut. Maybe because it's a surefire sign that he is no longer my baby and is turning into a little boy right before my eyes. Maybe it's just because I love those sweet red curls. Whatever it is, I decided that it was time to cut it. The reason? While in Walmart yesterday, three (3!) people mistook him for a little girl. Sigh. He doesn't like me messing with his hair - whether it be brushing, washing or cutting - so Daddy had to help keep him distracted while I cut his curls down to a more boy looking length. 

 The Before Shot - He and Laural playing with the nesting blocks this morning.

The After Shot: Saying cheese for mommy after the hair cut was over.

Such a big change. I managed to keep back the tears as I cut my big boy's hair, but a little part of me felt so sad to see all his lovely locks in the garbage can. Oh well. I suppose he can't be my baby forever.

Muffin Tin Monday

It has been over 2 months since we last did a MTM in our house. The big reason for that is that I am still recovering from several illnesses and medical issues I have had back to back to back. I am finally starting to feel better and today, even after going out for a few groceries, I felt like I had enough energy to whip up a quick and easy muffin tin meal. I partly stuck to the theme for the week which was basically foods on a stick (picks, kebabs, etc).

Top: Strawberries and red grapes on picks, Cheese and Sausages on picks, V-Fusion juice

Bottom: Veggie chips, PB&J pocket sandwiches and Vanilla yogurt with blue sprinkles

I took the pics with my cell phone because I didn't quite have the energy to run upstairs for the camera, so the photo quality is a bit questionable. At least I remembered to take a couple pics.  Hopefully, I will be getting more and more back to normal so we can resume our regular daily activities. I miss being able to do it all!