A spin on Treasure Rocks

Biggs and I have made treasure rocks before and they were colorful and fun but I wanted to make some that looked a little more realistic and natural. Daddy made fun of me and said they look like dinosaur poop but I don't care! :-) We had fun discovering what was inside each one. Regular treasure rocks are baking soda and water but these were made out of coffee grounds, flour, baking soda, and water. The baking soda is in there so that when you spray it with vinegar it bubbles and foams and makes a cool sound. I made them the day before because they need to dry overnight to harden. We took them outside and Biggs started excavating! Fun! We found frogs and lizards in our rocks/dinosaur poop! Lol!!!

Wow! Biggs and his many goofy faces!

Letters "I" and "J" & Pumpkin Lacing

I for inchworm and J for jelly beans! Biggs favorite part was sneaking in some jelly beans!

This next project was "sew" fun! Lol! I had too...

Just take a foam shape and use the hole puncher put some tape around the end of yarn for the "needle" and you can sew or lace anything you want! Biggs spent a good 45 mins sewing his two pumpkins! Fun fun!

My sweet boy

I just wanted to take a second and brag about my sweet lil guy. He says funny/cute stuff everyday but it's the really sweet things that always stay with me.  The other day we were grocery shopping and we stopped at the deli counter to get Daddy some roast beef. The woman working the deli sliced the meat and I lifted up Biggs so he could watch he thought that was really cool. When she was finished she came over to weigh it and Biggs said "wow, you did a really good job"! When he sees me getting ready to go anywhere he will tell me "you look beautiful mommy" or this morning when I was brushing my teeth he said "good job mommy, you're a big girl" haha! It's amazing how someone so small can have such a capacity to love and be positive and encouraging. He constantly tells us that he is proud of us when we accomplish something, and it's awesome having my own little cheerleader. His new thing is he asks me "are you thinking what I'm thinking?" and I say "I don't know, what are you thinking?" and he says "that I love you so much"!  At dinner even if he won't eat what I made, lol, he will always thank me for making it. I just love my little guy so much and can't wait for our new addition to multiply the love. Anyway wanted to get these things down so I never forget and share them with our friends and family.

Foam Sticker Stamps

We found these bags of Halloween foam stickers at the dollar store, they have them in most craft stores and craft sections. I was excited because it came with a lot of decent shapes for such a steal.  Biggs loves stickers so these were perfect. I was looking at them and watching him put tons of stickers on a paper and I thought there should be a way to stretch these out. If you know anything about stickers and kids then you know that it isn't a very long project and once they stick them everywhere they are gone, finito, a one time use! So.... I thought hmmmm what if I try to make them into stamps....

These are self adhesive (stickers) so I took between 3-5 of the same shape and stuck them on top of each other on a piece of cardboard.

There you have it! Awesome inexpensive stamps good to use every year.  You can use with an ink pad or with paint. We used them with a little bit of paint. When we were done I washed them off with a wet wipe.

Boo!

Using those muscles!

I'm so glad they turned out because this is another project that can be made for every season and theme. 

Apple Bread

Biggs had originally said that he wanted apple pie but I didn't feel like something that sweet so we made apple bread, plus he could be a lot more involved in the process of making quick bread than cooking the pie filling on the stove. He was so excited to make apple bread and told me "mom, I'm really a good helper".

He was fascinated with the apple skin.

I have the most awesome apple peeler ever, so naturally Biggs had to try it!

 

This was him after asking me every two minutes if it was cool enough to eat, lol. So lil smarty pants is showing me that it's not hot anymore.

Delicious!

Here is a link to the recipe I used, however I did change a couple things. Instead of two cups of white sugar I did one cup white and one cup brown, I also had let Biggs crack the eggs and lost some so I did four eggs. You can also add 1 tsp of vanilla just to enhance the flavors.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/apple-bread-2/

Tub Time Paint

This evening I made some bathtub paint. It was super quick and easy. I used Biggs shampoo it's clear and for kids so it doesn't sting if it gets in his eyes, food coloring, and corn starch. I didn't measure anything, I poured each cup about half full with shampoo then two drops of food color in each cup and a spoonful of cornstarch in each and mixed it up! The colors came out beautiful and I will NEVER buy tub paint again! I used neon food coloring and reg food color and I almost climbed in just to paint with Biggs, lol! Also we didn't use all of them so if they dry a little, tomorrow night we can just add a little water and mix it up! Now that I love this paint I think I will make a big batch and store in some plastic containers! Because it is made with soap the food coloring doesn't stain at all and makes the water a pretty shade of whatever color you dropped in. Again, it's made with soap so when we cleaned it off before he got out of the tub it made the tub sparkling clean, so I'm going to toss him in the other bathroom to clean, I mean paint! :-)

Colors are so vibrant!

Biggs wanted his shell to match his head.

I don't know if this is some intense concentration, a guilty face, or killer clown! LOL! Spooky!

Is he mocking me? Is this what mommy looks like when I put on my makeup? Haha!

 Sorry for lack of really good pictures I kept putting the camera down to paint with Biggs and also didn't want to get any nudie pics haha.

Ingredients:

Clear soap/shampoo preferably kid friendly

Liquid watercolors/food coloring

Corn Starch

Apple Picking

Today we went to an apple farm and picked some fresh delicious apples! We drove to Oak Glenn and went to Rileys Farm. Biggs had so much fun. The original farm we wanted to pick at didn't have their apples quite ready so that only means we get to go again and have more fun!!! I asked Biggs what we should make with our apples and he said apple pie! I can't argue with that so sometime this week we will have some yummy homemade apple pie.  We did drive to our fav farm and pick up a gallon of apple cider and it's amazing as usual.

I thought we were having a moment but his face says different! Lol!

Biggs and daddy, so sweet!