Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Oobleck

I have been wanting to make Oobleck for quite awhile, but I was always waiting until we could read the book, "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" by Dr. Seuss. I decided to go ahead and make some on Sunday because the kids were getting stir crazy. They have been doing so good the last few weeks considering most of their stuff is still in boxes and they don't really have a routine yet. Our future "classroom" still looks like this:



Quite frankly, it is driving me nuts! I am a very organized person by nature and I can't stand the fact that our lives really don't have any organization yet. Callie and Josh are now sharing a room, so Jamey's cousin gave us a bunk bed. We have to paint it white, so it is in the garage until we have time to refinish it. Until then, we don't have anywhere to put their toys, so everything remains packed up except for the boxes the kids have managed to unpack all over the floor. I am very glad that we have a designated space for a classroom though, and I have high hopes for the future of this room.

We do have a sandbox, which I'm not super crazy about (I hate how sand gets everywhere, in every crevice, and I don't want it in my house), but it has given the kids something to do:


Josh's latest fashion statement, even at Wal-Mart!



So today I pulled out the old cornstarch and water to make up this fun mixture to get the kids off my back! :) I am glad I did, because it kept them busy for almost 2 hours! For those that don't know what Oobleck is, it is made by mixing one part water with 2 parts cornstarch. The mixture is almost solid like if you just hit it or bounce your fingers on it, but then if you just place your finger on top, it will slowly sink in. You can pick it up and mold it, but as soon as you stop, it'll seep through your fingers. It is really quite cool. Here are a few pics of the kids playing with it:



Mixing it together

It started to get too hard to mix with the spoon, so in went the hands.



Watching it seep through her fingers


An hour or so later, this is what the porch looked like.

Josh wanted the "masher" and he picked a tomato from the garden and squished it up in his bowl.


Even though we are only renting our house, which is a new experience for us, we are blessed to have awesome landlords who don't mind if we paint and are also cool with our dogs. We have an awesome, though small, backyard with a great garden that we inherited. Here is Kona's happy place:



The weather has been so great here, and we often leave our back door open. I love the fact that the kids can go in and out in their bare feet and not track dirt in (unless they've been in the sandbox). In our old house, there was so much dust and mud that they often never played in the backyard. So overall, we are loving Colorado!

Callie's 5th Birthday Party

We were expecting to be moved by the time Callie's birthday rolled around. Since we were still in Bakersfield, I decided we would have a birthday party for her. We decided to throw a big party since it was kind of our last "hoorah" before moving. We invited all her little friends from Sabbath School, and her Auntie Anna even came up (which was a huge help for me!). She had a Strawberry Shortcake themed party, which was a lot of fun to do. It was a long day of getting everything together and we ended up having to start about 30 min late, but it all turned out great and Callie had a blast. It was so much fun!

The dessert buffet
The birthday girl with her awesome Strawberry Shortcake shirt that her Grandma made her.
Daddy took her to get her nails done. Green and white striped and pink with white polka dots. So cute!

The adult tables.
Kiddie table set-up.


Callie's awesome cake. I decided to pay to have one made because I didn't really have the time, and I'm so glad I did!
I also bought these. It would have cost me almost as much just to buy the cookie cutter!
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The one healthy thing we had!


 
Playing Red Light Green Light
Josh taking a swing at the pinata.

Callie's turn
Time for presents

Josh's stash of chocolate.

Besties, with a mouth full of gum!






All the wonderful people who came out to celebrate with us.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Fun With Homemade Paint

In my previous post I had a pic of a raccoon playing with some cornstarch paint I had made. I had a bunch left over, so when I came home, the kids took it outside to paint the sidewalks with. They had so much fun. It isn't super bright, but that didn't matter. My neighbor Kate came over with her kiddos also. They painted until there was no more paint left. They especially liked to paint their feet and then hop in the wading pool to clean off!


Callie painted a hopscotch