Hot (Herbal) Tea Month

In January we celebrates Hot (Herbal) Tea Month. Today we threw ourselves a "tea" party! You know we don't drink teas: black, grey, green, sweet, unsweetened  We just don't drink tea so several times during our Herbal Tea party I got to teach my children about the Word of Wisdom revelation of No Tea, No Coffee, and FOLLOWING THE PROPHET. We also got to learn about seeping tea bags vs. leaves in our drink, and why we still call it "tea". We also talked about 11's in England and "once's"  in Chilie.

It was all last minute, "Oh yea!! We're having a tea party today!" Good thing I had some  "tea". We made Cranberry Apple Herbal Tea and Red Raspberry Herbal Tea (yes, I had some left over from when I was patiently "waiting" for Lelee to make his arrival).

We made Cucumber Cracker Sammy's, Hot Tea, and Iced Tea.. we added way TOO MUCH SUGAR, and it was PERFECT! :)

The funniest thing at our tea party was when Daddy  said "Oh Regional, you're such a tease!" in a fancy England ascent   My 2 year old pointed to his cups and said "MY TEAS Daddy!" So much fun! Thanks Boys for helping Mommy today! YUM!

I can't wait for our next "Tea Party". I've got boys so once a year is just enough for us!

Pinnin' Projects: ABC Magnets & Prayer Pail!!

Both of these I spied off of pintrest.. My ABC Pin doesn't have a link with it, but this is the link to the pail idea!

Our ABC Magnet Match!

Yes, this is so easy, and so fun and someone who is obsessed with these little crystal stones on magnets.. this was right up my ally. I've sent out our family pic on them, and will soon have business cards on them.. yes, obsessed! And I love them!

So, I just mod-podged cute (maybe too girly) paper to the back of my stone and hot glued a magnet disk. I made two sets! An Upper Case and a Lower Case set. That way they can match, they can spell word with 2 of the same letters, and there is plenty for two boys to play with at the same time, in two pie pans! They can use them on the fridge, or in our case right now we have metal doors (AMAZING!). 

I like the pans because its just compact play!

ABC Letters in a Pan!

Matching Letter! Yes, That's mod-podge on my fingers..geez.

Our Prayer Pail !

Oh, I've been meaning to do something with this pail. We made this at MOPS like forever ago, and it just kept finding different uses or no use at all.. so when I saw this idea and knew how BIG of a family we have.. it was a must do! So easy, just tied on all this cute ribbon (which i don't own) onto a metal pail! EASY!!

Then, I mod podged different style paper on the Popsicle sticks. The Aunts and Uncles have the same style just in purple or blue, the girl cousins and boy cousins also same but in pink or blue, and then our family, and direct grandparents are in a different pattern. Friends and neighbors can be something else, but 50 something for now is great!

They are adorable, and my kids LOVE to pick some out and quickly pray for them. Then I try hard to mention their names throughout my personal daily prayers! <3 it!

Pray Pail!

I love that they have articles in front of them like Cousin, Brother, Aunt.. to help them realize how they are related to us. And I don't know about you, but cousins are friends, and friends are cousins.. just trying to straighten that all out!

FUN FUN!

Kissin' Our Homemade Rainbow Play Dough!

We made some homemade play dough today! It was super easy, and really fun!We used this recipe from Musings From A SAHM. 

In a non-stick pot

Medium Heat

MIX 

1 C. Flour

< 1/3 C. Salt 

2 t. Cream of Tartar

ADD

1 c. Water

1 T. Vegetable Oil

STIR

COLOR

STIR

until done.

 At first I used a regular metal pot and it got way too hot before I even started. When I added my dry and wets, it hardened SO FAST I didn't have time to mix in the color while it was still in the wet stage! That is SO important! The blue was our first batch, and you can clearly see the white chunks. not cool!

Reminder #1- It's easier to use a NON-Stick pot!

Reminder #2- Watch the temp, it will heat up fast while you go so make sure its a low- med temp so you can keep it on track!

Reminder #3- Once you've mixed the dry with the wet, add the color!! It comes out richer that way!

My green batch turned out the best! When I poured it out on the table where my wax paper was it was still kind of gooey. I was afraid it was under-done. It turned out to be the softest and easiest to play with!

Reminder #4- Don't over cook!

The only ick I have about this, and maybe it is all homemade play dough, is while playing my hand get covered in uncomfortable SALT! For sure next time we make this we are going to down size the salt. I know it is necessarily but I think there was so much. Maybe soaking the salt in the water before adding it to heat will help but for us it didn't work out quiet right there!

Reminder #5- Control your Salt! reduce Salt.

Finally, storage. We use these shoe boxes to store tons of your textural play, so it worked for us.. but I love the baby food jars for on the go play! If it does dry out- water should help, maybe that will help my salt problem too!!

reminder #6- Keep in tight storage, if it dries out, add water or play with wet hands!

Good Gogglely

Take them to the Pool, Teach them how to swim!

One to One!

Q is not allowed to play long in his rice box because he starts to throw it, so while J worked in his rice Q and I worked on One-to-One correspondence. I love to give him one extra ball that won't fit! I didn't take Q nearly as long of trading out balls as J before he figured there were just too many balls and he just needed to toss one off the table! :) Q, you are such a smart cutie!!!! xoxox

I love how he put all the same balls next to each other!

P.S. I love that lil' pot belly!!

Kisses to Our Rainbow Rice

NO. 1 is BEGGING me to do projects and to teach him something but I've been at a loss, or too busy, and the truth is I ran out of most of my crafty ideas and supplies. I was browsing one of my favorite activity blogs, No Time for Flash Cards, where she does way too many fun things for me to even keep up with. I ran across 101 Ways to Embrace Summer, and it has given me a little nudge towards summer playtime!!

I was totally excited about Rainbow Rice, a sensory activity. I've been totally slacking on giving #1 a sensory activity, thinking he would get bored. NO WAY!!! He played with his rice for almost an hour quietly and intently! I have NEVER seen him so engaged and focused! He would have played longer but I pulled him away.

This activity is going to be so fun this summer, I made sure to make 2 a bucket too!! It is so fun, so easy, and so darn beautiful, you really can't help playing with it yourself! :)

Rainbow Rice Basics: Rice, Food Coloring ( the gel worked fine as long at your smashed it in the vinegar before adding the rice), Vinegar, a container for mixing ( we used ziplocs)

We did 6 colors: For each you need 2T Vinegar- some food coloring and 1 1/2 C. Rice for each new color.. Shake it up!!! Then we put it on a cookie sheet and into the 175 degree oven for 20 mins. It was so fast, and the boys loved shaking!!

Homemade Race Track.

I just spent 30 minutes roaming around my favorite sites (and some new favorite), and I honestly can't remember or find where I got this cute idea from.Basically, all I did was cut up my diaper box into some lines, long and short, then I made a semi circle and painted them black! Added some cut up paper and added with double stick tape! Then I cut the semi circles in half to make curves in the road!

Stinking adorable and SUPER easy!!

Snow Play!

Must Make Snow Angel!!

What's All That White Stuff??

It snowed finally, if I can call it snow. They called school off in a 30 mile radius for half an inch of snow. It is so freezing outside the "snow" is crispy and icy. It's just a sad story. I miss soft Utah snow & the warm igloo feeling. It was still fun introducing Jo-Jo to the white cold stuff!