Crafting with the kids!

To my shame, I do not craft at all with Paton. There's the play-dough time and the painting w/ Crayola's no-mess paint, but I don't pull out the craft stuff for just one child. I know I probably should. But I don't....

Today, I watched two of Paton's friends while their mommy finished unpacking their belongings into their new house. I've watched them before but never intentionally prepared a craft project for the the three kiddos. Today I changed all that.

First, table prep. I used easel paper that I kept stored in a closet. It had been a while since I even looked at these old drawings so it was neat to pull them out.

After gathering my supplies, time to craft! The kiddos made paper plate lady bugs and egg carton caterpillars.

I had them paint with their fingers since I didn't want to mess with brushes. Besides, the kids loved getting their hands dirty.

The last craft was a non-messy, quiet kind of craft. I gave them buttons to string on to pipe cleaners. They were supposed to be button snakes or button bracelets, but they just loved stringing the buttons on period. Never mind making it into a snake!

And then, of course, I need to add that tonight was the South Carolina Gamecocks season-opening football game. USC vs. Vandy. Go Gamecocks! I love Charlotte's face!

Homemade Baby Food

When Paton moved into eating solid-ish foods, I had no problem with buying the jarred baby food. This time around with Charlotte, I still don't have a problem with jarred baby food but my mom bought me a Baby Bullet months ago...so now I have options.

The instructional booklet had a paragraph that made me laugh. This paragraph's heading is "The Darker Side of Jar Food"--as if there's some government agenda to control our children mentally through their baby food.  Obviously this book is trying to encourage me to prepare my own baby food, but I thought this was a little extreme. Here goes-"Plus, did you know there is a certain level of acceptable "non-food" ingredients that can turn up in your jarred baby food? Guess what kinds of things these "non-foods" include? Bug parts, rodent hairs, rodent droppings and more. DISGUSTING! These non-food ingredients are an acceptable standard in the food processing industry, but it's quite a bit different when you think about them being fed to YOUR tiny baby." I can see it now--an FDA employee inspecting a jar of peas. What? What's that? A bit of rat feces? It's only a little bit, so it shouldn't matter. It's perfectly acceptable. Like I said, a little extreme but it did make me laugh.

I was a little apprehensive that this "make it yourself" baby food idea would really save me time and money. Money, yes, but my time is also money. So does it really save me both time and money? Is the prep time worth the financial savings? YES! Short example--one bunch of bananas cost me 1.27 this week, and this particular bunch had 6 bananas in it. I used 1 1/2 bananas to make six jars of baby food. 1.5 bananas times .21 comes out to .31 for six jars. That's 5 cents per jar of baby food. Most stores would charge me around .48 or so per jar! That's 24 jars of baby food for $1.27 from one bunch of bananas instead of $11.52 for store food.

I was surprised to discover that the Baby Bullet's small blender really wasn't a mess to work with. Veggie/fruit prep time really isn't that bad. Fruit cost worried me. But the fruit it has suggested hasn't been expensive at all. Provided in the kit is perfect serving-sized containers as well as a freezer tray and spatula.

So, all that to say to young mothers considering whether or not to make their own baby food. It's not the hassle you make think. It will save you money. You're still a great mom if you choose to buy the jarred food. Don't let anyone tell you that you're less of a mother if you go the way of the jar! Below is a healthy toddler who grew up on jarred, store-bought baby food.

Good Grief, Charlotte!

Feeding Charlotte has become quite the adventure. The first half of feeding time is a frenzy. I can't possibly shovel in the rice cereal/formula combination mixed w/ yams fast enough. And dare I take a break for second in order to keep my 3 year old from jumping to his death off of the porch when Charlotte lets out a yell that could wake the dead. Eventually we reach the middle of the feeding when she's not so voracious. At this point she gets really excited to make noises, talk to me, or blow raspberries from a mouth full of cereal and veggies. Many a shirt I go through after a day of feeding her. I pulled out my camera yesterday to film the spitting stage of her eating (not sure I could manage it during the frenzy stage).

Many times I find myself saying, "Good grief, Charlotte. Eat! Talk later!"

Happy Birthday To You!

It's funny. I was just reading my sister-in-law's blog about her daughter being excited about birthdays. Paton has also been rather fixated with them. In fact, as I'm writing this, Paton is serenading me with....oh....probably the sixth "Happy Birthday To You" this morning. Accompanied with the song is a surprise for me. These surprises range anywhere from toys to leftover lollipops to...well, you'll see.

Oh, and he prefers to be the one singing. If I jump in, he shushes me and continues on.

An Update

Below is my first apricot pie...sounds a little gross but actually Greg and I were quite pleased with the result. It's even better paired with vanilla ice cream.

One evening in July it looked like the mountains were on fire. With all of the forest fires out west recently, I was so thankful that this was not fire but rather the sunset.

Paton was invited to his friend's 4 year birthday party but was rather nonplussed at getting wet. He has his own ideas about the best ways to get wet and how much is appropriate...hence the expression on his face.

Now this is the way one gets wet! Paton loved swimming in the reservoir with his friends. Even after a close drowning situation, Paton loved "swimming" on his own and was quite upset about leaving later that afternoon. I can tell already that Charlotte is going to love the water. After rolling off the towel and getting a mouthful, noseful, and eyeful of sand, she had no problem with Mommy thoroughly flushing her face with water.

Paton and Arianna like being buried in the sand.

I walked into the sun room one day to discover below's pose on the back of the couch. My son the gymnast.

He re-discovered his froggy backpack in the closet and wouldn't be separated from it.

Before church pose...Bear included (Bear is actually a groundhog, but there's no use telling Paton that.)

Oh...and those who have read this far and remember my whole accountability post from before...this is for you....for dinner last night I had Coke, popcorn, and chocolate ice cream. No, I'm not in the 6th grade.