Cloud Dough

It's been raining a lot recently. That means a lot of indoor playtime before bedtime. I finally broke down and made cloud dough. It's really messy, BUT Allison played with it for 3 hours. MK played with it a little bit. She preferred to push her Ernie around the house in the stroller.
To make cloud dough, mix 4 cups of flour with a half cup of oil (olive, baby, vegetable, etc.). We used our hands to mix it up. Mix it until it's like damp sand. Enjoy the mess! It sweeps up very easily but leaves the floor slightly slippery.

It's Been Awhile

I really didn't mean to take this long of a break, but one day, blogger wouldn't work. I then got busy. Since then,
I started selling my soap and other products.
I ran a half-marathon.
Brandon moved to Ft. Rucker, AL.
I found out I was pregnant.
Allison and Mary-Kate became the busiest little girls that I have ever known.
Currently,
The girls and I will be moving to Ft. Rucker in less than 5 weeks.
Found out we're having a little boy.
I have 200 bars of soap curing around the house for a craft show in 3 weeks.
Allison and Mary-Kate are even busier.
So, I may still not be on here a lot, but maybe I can manage one day a week and share some of my ideas and things we are doing to pass time until we join Brandon down in Alabama.

Getting Ready

  As I was working on lesson plans for Allison, I kept thinking that the 2 yr old curriculum was too easy for her (a good thing), but I really didn't want to have to start over on a new one or purchase one.  It didn't take long to after trying to incorporate the 3 yr old one into the 2 yr old to where I said, "Forget it!" and bought the new one.  I'm actually still waiting for it to come in the mail, but that's not stopping me from getting ready.  Everything is online and free, but I like having the printed version so I'm not constantly on the computer printing things off.  While waiting for it to come in the mail, I've been prepping by cutting out a LOT of felt.
  My hands are sore from all the cutting.  Yesterday, I cut out felt for busy bags to help keep Allison entertained during quiet times.  I made the button snake, build-a-cupcake, and clothesline busy bags from Money Saving Mom.  (She hasn't played with yet, so no pictures)  There is more I want to do, but it will have to wait until my hand is not sore.  Today, I made textile letters and number for school. 

 I bought the letters already cut out, so that helped.  I cut all the card stock though.  I had enough in the package to do the alphabet, Allison's full name, and the numbers 0-9 twice.  I put the 2nd set on smaller cards, so when we are doing double digit numbers, they can be closer together.

Cousin It helped. :)

I even make something for Mary-Kate.  Just a bottle with a hole cut out of it for her to drop clothespins down.  She likes it. :)
  Who knew duck tape came in such fun colors?

  I'm hoping to have the curriculum tomorrow, so I can really plan for start date of Aug. 27.  The only thing left on my school wish list is a Bible flannel graph.  I think it may be the only way Allison will listen about the Bible.  Right now when I get the Bible out, she runs away screaming....

Attempt #2

  Last year I tried to start "homeschooling" Allison to fill time as Mary-Kate napped in the morning.

Well, that lasted less than one week.  Here she is doing the one project we did, coloring the circle red on a vertical surface.  I think my attempt last year failed because, A. I was too tired to think clearly.  B.  She was too young.  C.  Who wants to sit and learn when you can be outside and play.

Here she is looking at butterfly last year.  The trouble is in the South, the weather is so nice almost all the time.  It's hard to stay indoors, so I ditched the whole book teaching thing and just played. 




  Well, a year later, and Allison no longer naps.  Mary-Kate now naps only once a day, but for 3-4 hours!  That is a long time to entertain a 3 year old.  I've been lazy and let Allison watch Netflixs the whole time on my phone.  Even though she doesn't nap, she still needs that down time, so I'm ok with her watching movies for 1-2 hrs.  But what about the other 2 hours?
  The answer is the curriculum I bought last year and never used.  It's the 2 year old curriculum, but I think Allison will be ok with it.  I'm still going to be very flexible with it.  If the weather is nice and the girls want to play outside for a couple of hours, we're going to do it.  Physical activity is more important at this age than academics anyway. 
  I'm going to give this a good try though.  I printed out an example schedule and lesson plans, so I need to start on those soon if I want to be ready to start the 4th week of August.  But, I'm not going to stress myself out over this.  There are no grades or deadlines but hopefully just a lot of fun and less Wonder Pets.

Soap!

 
  For a few years now, I've been wanting to make my own soap but been busy with the whole baby thing.  I finally found some time to make it, and to my surprise, it is quiet easy.  Yes, there is a chemical involved that will eat your skin (why I haven't done it with little ones around), and yes, there is math involved.  But, the end result is so exciting. 
  I've made 2 batches the past 2 nights.  One batch was soap bars, and the other was shampoo bars.  I plan on making a third batch next week, laundry soap to make detergent out of of.  (I would make it tonight, but we're having a party tomorrow.  I need to do some hosting work)  I'm making so much right now because it has to cure for a month before it can be used, and we move in three months.  I want to make sure I have plenty of everything and cured before we move.  I also want to use up all the lye (the nasty chemical) before we move.  I would have made a 4th batch of castile soap (100% olive oil), but that will have to wait.
 
  Here's the breakdown of cost for the soap (4 oz bars):
    Bath soap--$1.79 a bar
    Shampoo bar--$2.17 a bar
    Laundry soap--21 cents  a bar  (this will drop my detergent cost to about a penny a load)

  If you were to buy these online or in some frilly store (I used good stuff to make these):
    Bath soap--$4-7 a bar
   Shampoo bar--$4-10 a bar
   Laundry soap--97 cents to $1.50

 So, there you go.  I've been up super late the past few nights making soap, looking online for recipes, and doing calculations.  I've even worn my lab coat and safety goggles.  I guess soap will fill my lab need until I can go back to work. ;)

Happy 4th of July! (Late)

 
  We had a good 4th.  We stayed home all day and did fireworks in our backyard before it was even dark.  We were in bed way before the city's fireworks, so to Brandon and me, it was a very good day.

Busy Summer

  Payton has been here, and now that he going back in 6 days, I'm finally feeling adjusted to having 3 kids.  It's been great having him here.  I've been able to do some fun things with him that the girls are too young to really care about.  Allison enjoyed them but not as much as Payton.

    We made slime.

 Made Allison a "car" for her birthday.

 Peanut butter  playdough

 Bouncy balls (big mess and failure)

 Ivory soap clouds

That we turned into personalize soap.

  Oh, and fireworks in a jar that I didn't get a good picture of.  I keep forgetting to get the correct food coloring for them to work well.  I'm not sure if we'll do anymore experiments before he leaves, but they have definitely been the highlight of this summer.  Almost everyday he has asked to do one, but I've limited them 1-2 a week.