Four Anchors

Before our second child was born, we heard cliche and completely well-intentioned things like, "Two is more than twice the work of one!" (True.) and "Now you've got to switch from double teaming to a man-to-man defense. (Also true.)  Then we had a third and people said, "Uh oh...now you've got to switch to a zone defense."  After three, there's nowhere to go with this metaphor.  You just become more and more outnumbered!  Well, I've got something new that helps explain the way I've felt about the joys and inconveniences of parenting.  If you are planning to have more than 3 kids, I have a new analogy to give to you.

You are on a boat, and each of your children is an anchor.  First, you have one baby.  You throw an anchor overboard and feel the weight bounce and bob from your arm.  The anchor throws off your bearings, but you are still essentially the “you” you always were.  With one anchor, it’s still relatively easy to shop, to go out, to find a babysitter.

Then Child 2 is born.  Tie another anchor to a leg.  Again, you feel the weight and you readjust.  That pulling weight is heavier now, but it’s still manageable!  Babysitters may be a little more scarce.  It is definitely more difficult to go out to dinner with them or to run errands.  You manage though, and still you are still “you.”

Child 3 comes next.  Tie an anchor to your other leg.  Now, when this anchor goes overboard, the weight might knock your legs out from under you, but you will stand up!  You will be okay!  Babysitters are a precious commodity now.  You know you ask a lot when you leave someone to fend for themselves with three little ones.  Dinner out is difficult.  Keep reinforcing good behavior with positive reinforcement.  You have to expect to have 80% of your attention on keeping all of them entertained, happy, and comfortable. (Think plate spinning!) 

Finally child 4 is born.  You are tied by both hands and both feet to anchors dragging in the water.  Finally the boat comes to a crashing, creaking halt.  The boat is anchored to one spot.  So, you have a choice.  You continue on struggling against the weight of 4 anchors and sometimes treacherous ocean waters of life, or you change.  Don’t despair though, friends!  There’s a happy ending to this story!  The boat of single life has served its purpose, and it was a great little boat, but it’s time to disembark.  Maybe you were so busy trying to untangle, and pull, and maintain these anchors that you didn’t notice yourself slamming into the beach!

Get off the boat, and get your toes in the sand!  You have arrived at the place that you’ve been sailing to all along!  This is what you were meant to do.  Let go of your ideas of self the way that you’ve always seen “you.”  Your “self” is not gone, but is permanently interwoven with these 4 anchors.  The weather may get stormy on the island, but these little anchors are going to keep you grounded.  Once you get off that old boat, these anchors are not dragging you back, they are permanent fixtures that you can care for, adorn, and love.  

Now living on a boat is much different than living on an island.  Get your land legs.  You’re not going to get the alone time you used to get.  This is a time of your life when you have to embrace being part of and co-leader of a group.  You’re going to have to turn down some socializing and outings that might have been possible before.  Be assertive- if you know it’s something that you or the kids can’t handle without going crazy, you have to turn it down.  You’re going to have to figure out how to relax and enjoy yourself in quiet moments instead of whole afternoons.  Most of all, try, try, try to appreciate your little anchors and all the adorable things they say and do. 

The chains of the anchors will get longer and longer, and they will need you less and less.  Embrace this time, and embrace your new sense of self as a part of a whole!

Homemade Gak

If you are a child of the 90s like I am, then you remember Gak as the best creation ever!  Good news!  Gak came back!  I went and bought it only to be let down, though.  It seems like they might have changed the recipe?  It was hard and rubbery instead of stretchy and gooey.  Well the kids had a day off school so we decided to make our own!!  I found the recipe here.

Here's what you'll need:

1. Pour 1/2 cup water into a bowl.  Then add one bottle Elmer's Glue, and stir together.

2. Add food coloring to the water/glue mixture.  Stir.

3. Heat one cup of water in the microwave for 1 minute.  Then add 1 tbsp Borax, and stir until dissolved.  Continue adding Borax about 1/2 tsp. at a time until the Borax no longer dissolves.

4. Add Borax mixture to Elmer's Glue mixture and watch the magic happen!!  The mixture will clump almost immediately.  Stir it quickly, but carefully.  You'll end up with a stretchy, lumpy blob in the center.  This is what you're aiming for!

5. Pour off all the extra liquid down the sink.

Interested in the science behind our gak?  "TheB-OH groups on the borax molecules react with the acetate groups on the glue molecules (relatively long polymer chains) to eliminate acetic acid and form new bonds between the borax and two glue molecules.  The linking of two glue molecules via one borax molecule is called polymer cross-linking and it makes a bigger polymer molecule, which is now less liquid-like and more solid."

Science Experiments

Elephant Toothpaste

This experiment just looked too good to pass up, when I saw it on Pinterest in March of 2012.  My oldest daughter, Reese, then 7, loves to get her hands dirty and this seemed to have her name written all over it!  She wants something wet, squishy, soapy, muddy, somehow messy in a way that will be time consuming to clean up!  I love Reese's sense of adventure, and the analytical way she goes about checking out projects like this.

SO, we got to work!  The Pinspiration for this project can be found here.

Nolan, 3, stirred 1 tsp. of yeast into 2 tbsp. warm water.

Reese was not a fan of the smell of warm yeast fermenting.  Baked bread anyone?  (She didn't get that connection.)

I added 1/2 cup of Hydrogen Peroxide 3% to the empty plastic bottle.  The instructions in the link very specifically say to use Hydrogen Peroxide 6%, or your results won't be the same as theirs!!  Well, I knew that, but when I thought about doing this project with my kids I was in Super Target, and not wanting to make a separate trip just for higher concentration H2O2, I decided to roll the dice!  I guess that's my variable in this experiment??  Anyway, Ava, 5, added a squirt of dish soap. Baby Luke, 10 months, in the corner there took this experiment like a champ!  He just watched with a kind of timid amusement, while the older kids shrieked, oohed, and aahed!

Reese added a drop of blue food coloring...and then a few more....

I added yeast/water combination to the H202/soap combination, and....

The activated yeast denatures the H202, so 

2 H2O2 --> 2 H2O + 02.

The biproducts are water and oxygen!  Can't get much safer than that!

 Here, we're starting again.  This time with orange food coloring!  All the big kids went crazy for this experiment, and still ask to do it again!  I definitely recommend you try this with your kiddos!  Maybe best of all, clean up is super easy!  Rinse the cookie sheet, wash the bowl with yeast, and toss the rest!  You're done!

I should say, as you can see the elephant "toothpaste" turns out more like elephant soup with the Hydrogen Peroxide 3%.  That didn't bother my kids one bit, so you can decide: extra trip and thicker foam, or convenience and a little more water.  When we do this again, I think I'll opt for the higher concentration, but again both work just fine!

Valentine's Day 2013

This Valentine's Day has been a different animal than last year.  Last year I had one first grader to contend with.  This year I have a preschooler, a kindergartner, and a second grader that all need to bring valentines to school.  8 year old Reese decided she wanted to do something with Reese's peanut butter cups.  She has always gotten a kick out of sharing her name with the candy!  When she was 2, she was always upset to see anybody else eating "her" candy.  Anyway, I came up with these very simple cards.

You're the Peanut Butter to My Chocolate!

First, I printed and cut out the cards on heavy card stock.  (Free printable at the bottom of this post.)  Then, Reese used a hot glue gun and glued on the mini Reese's peanut butter cups.  I highly recommend using a hot glue gun!!  It has made my crafting life so much easier!  They're also crazy inexpensive!  The glue gun I have from Hobby Lobby was $2.99 and worth every penny.  Tape would fall off right away, most other types of glue take forever to dry and are sticky and messy.  To me, it's a no brainer!

If your child, like most children, is not named Reese, don't fret!  I think this project looks just as cute with their name handwritten next to "Love," at the bottom.  Then you can glue a mini version of whatever chocolate/peanut butter candy you want!  PB M&Ms, Russell Stover hearts, Reese's Pieces, Butterfingers, the possibilities are endless!  Happy Crafting!

Free Printable!

Right click the image, save to your computer and print!

Valentine's Day 2012

Welcome to my blog!  I am so excited you are here.  For my maiden journey into blogging I decided to post about Valentine's Day coming up, by sharing with you what I did last year.  It was shortly after I discovered Pinterest, and I went a little nuts!

The first Valentine-sy things I wanted to share were these girls hairstyles I found - where else? - but Pinterest!

A Heart French Braid

I thought it turned out super cute, and unlike a lot of other girls hairstyles, it didn't fall out as the day went on.  The trick to this is to arrange your hands (and body!) in the direction you want the braid to go.

So I parted her hair down the middle, and put the right half in a pony tail to keep it out of the way.  Then I started a french braid on the back of her part on the left.  I was face to face with her.  The when I was about half way to her face, I started gradually turning my hands.  Once I had formed a curve, I just did a simple braid gently pulling toward the center.  Repeat on the other side and join them together with a rubber band.  Voila!  Heart braid! :-)

My Pinspiration was here at the Fashionable Bambino.
I didn't really follow their instructions, and mine looks a little different.  Take a look at both, and decide which one you want to try!  My little miss certainly got a lot of compliments, and loved her Valentine's Day 'do!

Heart Shaped Pigtails

I found this one at Cute Girls Hairstyles.  I've gotta admit this style is probably my favorite, and so easy!  Really, try it and see.  Only one small tweak on this hairstyle.  They use a topsy tail tool ( remember those commercials from the '90s??  I so wanted one...)  However, also like in the 90's, I just use a smooth pen without the cap to make a hole in the hair where I want to flip the pigtail through.  It works pretty slick for me!  If you are an adventurous little crafty crafter though, their website even has directions on how to make your own topsy tail tool here.

Instead of doing box cards from the candy aisle with the latest cartoon characters on them (which I have done, and surely will do many times again!)  I decided to go outside the box a little with these!  This is another Pinterest inspired idea from one of my favorite bloggers, Design Mom, Gabrielle Blair.  She has six kids, and writes an awesome blog featured in lots of magazines from Time to Martha Stewart Living!  Love her.

3-D Valentines

I made this with Photoshop Elements 8.  First take a photo of your child with his/her hand out holding an imaginary sucker.  After you've opened, edited, and cropped the picture however you'd like, you're ready to make your valentine!  The bottom two boxes below are colors you can use in your photo.  Click the second box, choose a white color, and click ok.  Now select the Rectangular Marquee Tool below, and draw a rectangle on your photo like the one you see below.

Now click Backspace on your keyboard.  Tada!  White rectangle!



Now you are going to do the same thing along the left edge.  First make sure the second color box is changed to red.  Then click the Rectangular Marquee Tool again and draw another rectangle along the left edge of your photo.  You can make it the same width as the white rectangle for symmetry, or you can make it a little wider for a more artsy look.  Click the Backspace key again, and... tada!



Halfway done!  Now for the text.  Click the capital "T" button on the left side of the screen, and click anywhere on your photo.  Along the top of the screen you will be able to change the font, size, and color.  I chose High Tower Text, 20, and white.  Now click the green check mark button at the top of your screen.  Next click the Move Tool in the upper right corner of your screen.  It looks like a cursor and a compass on a map.  Now, see that little tail looking thing coming off the middle bottom of your text box?  Click and hold that, and you will be able to rotate the box.  Play with the orientation and size until it looks good to you!



Ok, now just repeat the steps above for the bottom rectangle.  Don't forget to change the text color to red!  Voila!  Send to your local photo finisher like Walgreen's or print!



Last but not least, hole punch a spot above and below your child's hand in the photo.  Now have your child address the cards and thread the suckers through the holes!  You made a 3-D Valentine!!



For breakfast I decided to make scrambled eggs, which are always a crowd favorite.  However, to make it more fun, I decided to add some food coloring!  Festive right?  Well looking at pink scrambled eggs turned out pretty nauseating to me, and I expected refusals all around.  My five year old, Ava, LOVED. IT.

Every time there is some even moderately special occasion now, this girl wants to have food coloring scrambled eggs.  Or else, she wants to add food coloring to whatever else we are having.  Blue mashed potatoes?  Why NOT have the blue?  she thinks.  So this is kind of an historic picture in our family.  The first food coloring special event!  Happy First Food Coloring Valentine's Day!! and many more to come... I know it's on the menu this February 14!

Baby Luke (9 months) opted for some dye free scrambled eggs and banana slices. :-)

P.S. I am not boozing it up with the kids!  Hubby often leaves for work before the rest of us get up, so he left flowers, wine, and movie tickets on the table for Valentine's Day.