Watercolors

I showed Baylor the fun of watercoloring, finally.  One would think an art major would be immersing her offspring in art from day one but I can barely manage getting everything done in the evenings and on the weekends and really have to make time to sit down with him long enough to craft.  We painted some cheap wooden frames again and some wooden shapes to put on the frames and he was ready for more painting.  So we went down in the craft room and dug up some of the craft supplies I have been storing for him. 

He really enjoyed finding the colors he wanted and was really good with not knocking down the water cup and not flinging paint everywhere.  I want to get a better paper to paint on that does not ripple but that is the artist in me and not the mom who should be fine with the cheap stuff because we cannot keep everything he marks on.  Which I have not, although it is really hard to get rid of anything. 

Nothing Says Loven; Like Loven from the Oven

So you can find the recipe plenty of places online but I found this one on Pinterest and finally made it at Christmas. It rocked! Crusty crust, chewy interior!  I have since given the recipe to several people and compelled them to try it.  So far, no one has.  Their loss!  It was a soup weekend here and that calls for bread.  This time made with Greek olives and roasted garlic. 

Shut the over door and get in my mouth.

  Lori heard me crunching and between the two of us only the center cube on the left was remaining by the time we were full.  She LOVES crust so she was cutting off all the edges and wanted to slice off the top and bottom of the remaining piece leaving me with the chewy middle, which if I was still hungry was a deal I would have entered in to! 

Baylor did not nap today and fell asleep in the car on the way back from visiting Meme so he did not share in the warm bread goodness. I had forgotten to take my camera and missed some really sweet moments of the two of them together again like peas and carrots.  Meme shared her supper of chicken, rice, salad, mixed veggies, pineapple, and white milk with him. Is it crazy that three year old loves dark lettuces and begs for more rice and green beans?    Crazy good!

Bath Fizzies

Friday night was started on our first batch of bath fizzies.  Baylor spied me at the table and tore himself away from the Octonauts to help me stir.  As a big boy, I often hear I can do it myself as he shoos away my helping hand  

He watched me fill up the first silicone ice cube tray and had to do the other one by himself.  And sang a bit while he was doing so.  Funny how cameras catch these faces the eye would pass over so quickly! But they make me smile! 

So here is our first go at it.  Pale blue and lavender scents fish and starfish.  Those Ocotonauts have us all thinking about the sea a lot around here.

After drying overnight they were a bit overgrown in the molds but dried and hard.  He took several to the bath right away and loved them.  They are small so the fizz away pretty quickly but then he likes to scrunch them up in his hands to hurry it along. 

We had a few spoonfuls left over and I used some heart molds.  I know all these Ikea ice molds would come in handy some day!

The second batch was a red with vanilla scent and some orange that were lavender and vanilla.  There is fine line between damp enough to hold together and damp enough to start fizzing.  These looked fine at first and we set them to dry overnight.

By morning it looked like I had made pink muffins and Lori admitted to eyeing them up as a tasty treat but realized they were not food in time. 

The orange came out OK but the pink are very much like meringue; firm looking but like dried foam, yielding to pressure.  The still fizz so Baylor is none too concerned about that. 

We have enough citric acid to make several more batches but I want to get other scents before we do.  Maybe a trip to finally check out a Hobby Lobby is in our future next weekend! 

Muddy Baylor

After a bit of running around we came home to play in the dirt/mud that used to by my flower beds and grass.

  Maybe a few tiny tomato seeds will survive until spring.  I think I will need to find a new home for them.  He was in the middle of saying monkey cheese and not complaining like it looks like. 

Over a quarter inch of mud on the bottom of his shoes.  But he had a great time. 

Fun with Borax

I am really glad I found Pinterest as it has motivated me to get busy and 'craft' with my son.  Some times he helps me and some times I work on things while he is off doing something else.  Working with boiling water made this a work on my own craft but he will still take credit for making these.  The ratio is 3 Tbs borax to 1 cup boiling water.  I made snowflakes with white pipe cleaners and blue water.  The hearts are red pipe cleaners and clear water.  Here is the process I used. 

After about an hour sitting on the counter the crystals were already forming.

By morning I had these beautiful items.

For our next craft, I think we are going to tackle bath fizzies! 

Meme Update

The plan on Sunday was for Lori to get off work at noon and take Baylor to finally see Meme.  He has not been able to see here and she has been down here for two weeks now.  Since she is in rehab he was able to visit.  Baylor and I worked on two crafts for Meme to make her feel better.  Baylor is an excellent nurse and is really concerned about Meme feeling better.  First it was her knees and now her chest.  I picked up a wood frame for a dollar and some heart foam stickers.  This was his second experience painting with real paint. He is a pro with the bathroom paint and did really well with covering it.  He really liked driving the brush around and around and around so the paint became a bit dry and streaky but it is all good. 

I did not take a photo of it finished but I wrote Meme and Baylor along the bottom and he put the stickers on it.  We also made a little boy angel. I traced his feet for the gown and his hands for the wings. 

We picked Meme up in the rehab room and Baylor helped her finish her lap around the room.  The nurse was a bit concerned, not knowing him of course, that he would trip her up or something but he was a perfect walk make for her.  Back at her room he was all about giving her the crafts. 

She loved them of course. We found a photo of them at Christmas and put it in the frame.  It is sitting on this shelf in the wall unit and when they went in today, everyone knew who Baylor was.  Meme tells everyone about him!

Meme is like me and likes a lot of photos.  Lori is like her dad and they do not like photos.  Can you tell?

Baylor was overdue for a nap and was getting a bit crazy running into the hall and back into the room. 

I know it did Meme good to see Baylor.  Dave goes in to see her also so she is well visited by most of her grandsons.  Jason lives pretty far away, does not know the area and is not likely to drive down here by himself.   Yesterday she was finally able to wash her hair and feels a lot better.  She has lost 9 lbs which is really good and if she keeps it up it will help her get off some of her meds.   She is doing really well and we could not be more pleased with her progress.

Uncle Jamie and Aunt Laura's Christmas Visit

Last week was a short week for me at work because I was off on Monday for my birthday and again on Friday to see Jamie and Laura who came down to Mom's to finally celebrate Christmas.  As soon as I get out of bed in the morning, Eddy jumps in my place to take up the heat.  Seeing my headboard reminds me how much I hate it but that is another story.  We wrapped up the gifts and headed out. 

We drove to Mom's and when we did not see them when we went in, Baylor took my hand and asked me who else we were there to see.  He can be very cloy in asking questions or trying to get his way.  He will ask me a question so I have to answer the way he wants me to.  I said we where to see Jamie and Laura so he lead me downstairs where they were still getting ready for the day.  Baylor got right to the point and asked them if they wanted to see their Christmas gifts.  See the tricky little mind he has?  Mom kept up most of the decorations so it would still look like Christmas. 

O'Malley loved her bully stick from Eddy but what dog does not like a good bully.  It is just us people who are grossed out by them.  Nothing like bully breath on your dog. 

Baylor of course wanted to open his gifts and everyone elses. 

After gifts, we went to the Green Dragon.  It was very cold which meant not many people and vendor were there but it was really nice just the same.  Baylor has certain things he does at Grandma's and Buddy's and bubbles is one of them.  Even in 27 degrees, bubbles are fun.  Too bad none of the froze and shattered.  Apparently, it was not cold enough. 

We stayed for dinner and headed out.  We did have a good but short visit.  Saturday they headed to

Philly.  Laura has never been to the city and according to

Mom they had a lot of fun exploring in the short time they were there.  Sunday they had to be back at Mom's before the football game.  They are Patriots fans and in our house the Ravens rule.  It would have been interesting if we had watched the game together.  They headed home today, back to Vermont.  I wish we could have spent more time together though.  Hopefully we will get to see them before next Christmas!  Mom can take down the decorations now.

First Snow 2012

We were up at 6 am and within minutes of seeing the snow, Baylor had a bowl in his hand and was ready for some snow to play with. He showed Daisy the snow and got a spoon to 'build' snowmen. 

And then he got out the bulldozer.

By 8:30 we were outside.

Snow brings out the youth in Eddy and she is a running fool in the snow.  It is the only time she is allowed to run outside the fence. 

He took care of the deck while I did the steps and the patio.

He used his digger in the snow. 

And eventually decided on a pooper scooper as his shovel of choice for making paths in the snow. 

And when I had the driveway done, he thanked me for helping him!