What will he think of next?

Oliver likes to make all sorts of interesting creations with the items from our recycling bin. He usually makes boats or rockets (and uses a ton of tape in the process!). Over the weekend, he wanted to build something, and he had a different -- and very specific! -- plan in mind.

He selected a plastic strawberry container, a small box, and 2 paper towel rolls. He asked me to cut the rolls in half, and while I did that, he started taping the small box to the plastic container. I asked him what he was making, and he said with a smile, "It's a surprise!" Pretty soon, I figured out what it was -- an Imperial Walker!



I ended up having to help him with duct tape to hold the boxes and cardboard tubes together, and pipe cleaners for the guns/lasers/whatever they are. But everything else is his own creation. I'm SO impressed!

He also made a Rebel and a Snowtrooper, to reenact the Battle of Hoth. He's something else! :-)

Resurrection Eggs

Resurrection Eggs are a fun way for kids to learn about Easter! We did it last year for the first time, and both kids had so much fun that I knew we had to make it an Easter tradition. Even though Buttercup was too young last year to know what was going on, she still had fun looking for eggs and opening them to see what was inside. This year, I used the example from the MOPS website since it's geared more toward kids Oliver's age and was easier for Buttercup to understand.

First, get six plastic Easter eggs and number them 1-6. Fill them in this order:
#1 -- a piece of bread
#2 -- three silver coins
#3 -- thorns
#4 -- a cross (I cut mine from felt)
#5 -- a rock
#6 -- leave empty



Hide the eggs, then after the kids find them, have them open the eggs in order and use the objects to tell them about the Resurrection story.






And here's a video of Oliver explaining the Resurrection story. :-)

Pictures from our weekend

The weather was gorgeous this weekend, so we were able to spend a lot of time outside. Hubby had to work on Saturday afternoon, so I took the kids to the lake for the first time this year. It was 88 degrees, but the water was on the chilly side, so I wasn't planning on the kids getting too wet. Still, the water was too tempting and the kids were completely soaked before I knew it. It's a good thing I keep extra clothes in the car! :-)







On Sunday, the four of us went to the Barton Creek Greenbelt to hike and explore. We're under a drought, so the creek bed was bone dry, but Oliver had fun climbing on the big rocks while Buttercup picked out rocks to take home.




And of course you can't hike without the proper fuel -- breakfast tacos from Rudy's, yum!


Such a fun, wonderful morning with my little family!

Bumping along

Poor third baby. I've only taken 3 belly pictures this time around, and we're getting close to the end! So here he is, or rather, here's my whopper of a belly at 34 weeks.



I'm at the point where only my large maternity shirts come close to covering my belly. Everything else looks ridiculously small. Actually, I only have one shirt that totally covers my belly. This is not it, obviously. :-)


Buttercup likes to pat my belly and say, "Baby brother get real big?" :-) Yep, and it's hard to believe that he and my belly are going to get even bigger. Grow, baby, grow!


P.S. Please ignore the water splotches on the bathroom mirror -- life is too short to Windex every day. ;-)

Making snow globes

The kids and I were at Barnes & Noble the other day, and Oliver saw this book:


Of course it would be perfect for him and Buttercup! So I bought it. Actually, I went home and ordered it for half the price on Amazon, but same thing. :-)

Most of the crafts are pretty involved and geared for adults to make for themselves or their homes, but there are a couple of cute crafts that kids can help with. The snow globe looked the easiest, so that's what we made first. The only thing is, it's a long process (painting, letting paint dry, gluing, letting glue dry, etc) so you may either want to most of it on your own and let the kids help at the very end, or make sure they have something to keep them occupied while they're waiting. :-)

You'll need:
a small glass or plastic jar (I used baby food jars)
distilled water
a strong, non-water solvent glue (I used super glue)
glitter
acrylic or spray paint (I used washable poster paint so the kids could help me)
glycerin or clear dish soap
a plastic bottle cap
a small toy to put inside the snow globe

First, paint the jar lid and set it aside. After the paint dries, use super glue to attach the bottle cap to the inside of the lid. After that dries, use glue to attach the toy to the bottle cap. (Buttercup chose a Squinky because she didn't want to use one of her "Wegos.") :-)


Once the glue is totally dry (about 15-20 minutes), add distilled water and either a few drops of glycerin or clear dish soap to the jar. Place the lid (with toy attached) on the jar to see if you need to add or remove water. The goal is for the water to cover the toy completely. If the water level looks right, add glitter to the jar.


Then spread glue inside the lid, and also on the rim of the jar.** Screw the lid on tightly, then set it aside to dry overnight.

**I used too much glue on this step and it dripped down while it was drying.


Finished product! In addition to using too much glue, I think I also added too much soap, because the water is pretty cloudy and bubbly after you shake it up. They're still cute though! :-)

The return of expandamush

I was thinking of something fun and interesting that the kids and I could do together, and remembered this science experiment from elementary school! One of the older kids in school named it "expandamush," which obviously made a lasting impression since I haven't forgotten it over the past 20 years. :-) I knew that cornstarch was involved, but couldn't remember the rest of the ingredients, so I looked it up online. Turns out it doesn't really have a name (and I still prefer calling it "expandamush" anyway).

The ingredients are: 1 cup cornstarch, and 1/2 cup water. Mix together and see what happens!

It's dry and crumbly when you squeeze it in your fist:


But it will "melt" and conform to the shape of your finger when you pick it up:


It drips like a liquid:


And looks liquid when it's spread out in a container, but it's dry to the touch:


It also crumbles when you try to pick it up:


Whatever you call it, it's fun for everyone!



P.S. Clean up is a breeze, too! :-)

Puzzle workbook

Oliver has always loved learning new things, especially school-type stuff. Lately we've been working together on his preschool workbook twice a week. Not surprisingly, he flies through the math concepts and logic pages, but has a little bit of difficulty with writing letters and reading. So, to make it more fun for him, I bought a maze workbook and a book of cutting-and-pasting jigsaw puzzles for his rewards for completing the letter pages. He looooves mazes -- the first day he did over 10 pages in the maze book, with only 1 mistake! :-)

Today for his reward, first he asked for money (LOL!), but then he chose the puzzle book. Oliver has really enjoyed this book, too, and I recommend it if your kids like doing puzzles!



First, he carefully cut out all of the pieces . . .



. . . then glued and fit them together.


Finished product! Of course, this proud mama thinks he did a fabulous job. What a smartie! :-)