12/18/17- Holiday Science Experiment: Make Your Own Snow

When you live in a warm weather place like Phoenix, you rarely receive snowfall (it has happened though). So if you don't get snow, then why not make some?  That's exactly what Jack, Bobby, our friend Colton, and some neighborhood kids did this weekend. It will make for a fun winter break and holiday science experiment.  And it's super easy to do!

YOU WILL NEED:

3 cups of baking soda
1/2 cup of hair conditioner (suggest white in color so that it looks like snow)
glitter (optional)
large plastic container or large pan
"snow" tools: beads, toothpicks, cookie cutters or Play-Doh tools, ribbon and googling eyes for snow people


INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pour baking soda into container.
2. Pour conditioner into container.
3. Stir together with a spoon (or your hands).  Snow should be like sand.
4. Let the play begin!

I will give you a word of caution: your child(ren) may want to make snowballs and then throw said snowball at you.  The good news is that this snow cleans up easily.  So I suggest wearing play clothes (or if you live in Phoenix, bathing suites to hose down the "snow" covered kids, haha) and doing the snow outside (just like real snow, haha).

Jack, Colton, and the neighborhood kids enjoyed the snow-- long after we ran out of baking soda and conditioner, they kept asking for more snowballs.  It makes me so happy when Jack and friends enjoy one of my science experiments. Parenting, and engineering, win! 😀

And for those who have children older than 3, you can explain how mixing the baking soda and conditioner together creates an exothermic reaction, which is the same type of reaction in the formation of real snow (exothermic is a chemical reaction that releases energy in the form of heat or light). And if you want an endothermic reaction, like the reaction that melting snow is, then pour some vinegar on top of your fake snow.  Below is a video to help your children learn more about exothermic and endothermic reactions.  Happy Snow-lidays! ⛄

11/21/17- Counting My Blessings

Last year a friend started a #GratitudeProject around the holidays, and she brought back the project for this year. The idea of the project is that a "purposeful study of gratitude, thankfulness, and mindfulness has many benefits, not the least of which is, it makes you a happier person!" So for 14 days, my friends leads a group of us in practicing gratitude, thankfulness, and mindfulness.  

Each day has a new exercise, and today's exercise was to count your blessings.  Here's the description of the exercise: 

Count your blessings.  Pick a time today and consider sustaining this every week where you sit down and write about your blessings-- reflection on what went right or what you are grateful for.  Sometimes it helps to pick a number-- such as three to five things-- that you will identify each week.  How many will you identify today? As you write, be specific and think about the sensations you felt when something good happened to you.

I thought since I have a weekly blog post to do, Thanksgiving is around the corner, and I want to participate in today's #GratitudeProject, why not make my blog post about counting my blessings? I am not sure that I'll think of every blessing I have, but here are the blessings that are always in my mind and heart:

1) My son (love you Jack Jack!)
2) My husband (💓)
3) My friends (😊)
4) My extended family (shout out to my nephews Brady, Austin, Connor, and Parker and godson Colton!)
5) My pets
6) My education
7) My house (a roof over my head)
8) My eyesight (I may have RA, but so far, I haven't had to wear glasses)
9) Being born in the US
10) Science and the wonderment of scientific discovery
11) All the different options available for food and the ability to afford all the different options (can't eat gluten, no problem here in the States!)
12) Washing machines and dish washers (so thankful to not have to walk down to the river and do it all by hand)
13) Books
14) Shoes (not sure my delicate feet could handle walking around barefoot on the hot Phoenix sidewalks)
15) Writing
16) Funny GIFs and Memes (sometimes the Internet is shark, but sometimes it makes me laugh and brings cheer)
17) Starbucks and husband always "refilling" the Starbucks card
18) My car/having reliable transportation
19) A job that helps saves lives in some small part
20) Netflix

What are your blessings? Can you count at least a handful of blessings? Please feel free to share in the comments, and I hope most of your blessings will be gathered around you at your Thanksgiving fest. Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble, gobble, gobble!

5/29/17- Happy Memorial Day

In the States, it's Memorial Day.  A day to remember those who have fallen-- I know it's day for fallen soldiers, but I also think of the children and other civilians that have been lost to war.  Being able to spend this day with my child, and him being free of the burdens of war, unlike some other children around the world, is humbling.  It's something I take for granted too often.

And on that very serious note, here's a Memorial Day/Flag Day/July 4th/Labor Day craft project that I did with Jack (probably not where you thought this post was going; I didn't think it was going that way either).  It's really easy to do, and Jack liked it.  All you need is access to a printer and Microsoft Word (or related product), paper, scissors and paint (washable is preferable with young kids 😁).

In Word, go to the Insert tab, then Shape.  Guess what shape I just inserted?  A star!  Yep, I made a printout star that Jack could paint.  I printed this star 8 times.  Then I let Jack go to town painting them. Alright, Bobby and I also painted a couple of stars (the flag one is Bobby's; it's so impressive 😃) because painting is fun, and it's hard to resist fun. Let the star dry.  Then cut the stars out and hang up wherever to decorate.

Painting!  

We used Crayolas Washable Finger Paints 

that we found at the grocery store. 

Sure, the painting part only took 10 minutes, but Jack was super excited to paint (because painting is fun and messy, things toddlers love!).  And it's 5-10 minutes of prep time. It's the perfect craft for a short attention span toddler and a not so Pinerest parent.  Although I give props to the Pinerest parents who make shooting glitter and real sound effects stars. These stars will be up until Labor Day;  it's festive decorations to cover all the summer holidays (hence the Memorial Day/Flag Day/July 4th/Labor Day thing above, haha)! Happy Memorial Day!

Easy and Festive!

5/14/17- Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!  This year marks my third Mother's Day, and it was a good day.  Jack sleeps until 7:30, 8:00, and Bobby usually takes care of Jack in the morning because of my RA, so getting to sleep until 8:30 wasn't anything new, but is still really nice (apologies for the long run-on sentence). Then Jack brought me my Mother's Day cards (one from him, one from Bobby) and while I got to read the one from Bobby right away, Jack wanted to put the card back into the envelop.  Then pull the card back out.  Then put the card back into the envelop.  That went on for 15 minutes, until Jack determined he had mastered the skill of envelop stuffing. :)

Knowing that we might be chasing Jack at a restaurant, and that I'd prefer a relaxing day, which includes how I eat my meals, Bobby and I talked before hand about just getting take out for the Mother's Day Brunch and eating at home.  Bobby went and picked up food from one of our favorite breakfast places, Wildflower.  We got to eat slowly at our table while Jack played with his toys and watched "Toy Story 3."  Seriously, quoting another mom, "Mother's Day Brunch is for mom's with adult children"-- eating take out at home was awesome and I recommend it for any mom with children under 18 (it's okay moms to just ask for that; it's supposed to be our day after all)!  :)

Jack and I called my mom/granny to wish her a happy day (she's in Colorado right now, living the snow bird dream) and Bobby, Jack and I visited his mom/Nana yesterday, so I've got to spend the day doing want I enjoy most on a Sunday: chilling at home. OH YEAH.  Happy Mother's Day to me! Hope all the other moms out there have enjoyed their day as well!

Chilling

3/2/17- Spring Break STEM Activity

Spring break is right around the corner for many kids!  Not Jack, as he is in daycare/preschool (which doesn't close for spring break), and he basically just took a week off for a cold. So to preschool for him, and to work for Bobby and me. We'll take him on vacation in late summer/early fall, so don't feel too bad that he doesn't get spring break.

Since spring break is right around the corner, I thought now would be a good time to share another STEM activity.  The activity won't entertain your kids for a whole week (or maybe it could if they end up really liking it), but it is pretty fun.  The professional engineering society that I belong to did the activity at Chase Field's STEM Night, and then we recently did it at E-Day at the AZ Science Center. Not sure if the engineers or kids had more fun.

Without further ado, Galaxy Slime! The slime is so popular right now, check out the MSN video "Slime Fad is Back." I like to think our engineering society started the trend, but most likely we did not.

Supplies Needed:
Bowl
Spoon
1 cup Elmer's Glue (white or clear work)
1 cup Liquid Starch (we used the Walmart brand, Stay-Flo)
Food Coloring (optional)
Glitter (optional)
Plastic Bag (optional)

Instructions:
1) Put the glue into the bowl first.
2) Stir in food coloring and glitter, if desired.
3) Slowly stir in the liquid starch in increments.  You probably won't use the full cup of liquid starch.
4) Stir until you don't see the "white" liquid starch.  Then switch to kneading the slime with your hands, checking how stretchy the slime is.  If you want it stretchy vs.gak, again you probably won't use the full cup of liquid starch.
5) After your child is done playing with their slime, they can save it in a plastic bag (or Tupperware).

Jack's galaxy slime has lasted for a week after he made it at E-Day.  He liked mixing the colors and glitter in the glue, but he lost interest in the final product.  I do think this activity is fun to do with toddlers (who are past the put everything in their mouth stage), just remember toddlers are going to need more help with the food coloring than a 10 year old is (Jack squeezed like 100 drops in because I thought he could do it himself, haha).

It is great for ages 2-99. Thought I'd take the Lego approach there; after 99, you just won't find this activity or Legos fun. Oh, and it's called Galaxy Slime, because if you add color and glitter, it looks like a Galaxy!  Also, the glue and starch combine to make a polymer! Happy (STEM) Spring Break!

12/17/16- Holiday Activities with My Two Year Old

The holidays are upon us, and I am much looking forward to a week off between Christmas and New Year's.  Poor Jack got sick this week (3rd cold/virus this fall/winter) and then he slipped off of a stool.  I caught him, as I was standing right next to him, but not before he bit into his lip.  We took him to urgent care, and luckily, he only needed a butterfly band aid.  But phew, what a week for our little guy.

Leading up to this week, we been having some fun, doing various holiday activities.  He's a little too young for some holiday activities and traditions.  For example, that sharking hammerhead "Elf on a Shelf."  Bobby and I never remember to move the darn Elf, Jack wanted to touch it the first day, and Jack has completely lost all interest in it.   I didn't want the Elf in the first place because I knew we'd never move it, but it made Bobby excited.  I can't crush Bobby's holiday spirit; I'll never get the presents wrapped without him. ;-)

Here are the holiday activities that we are doing with our two year old in no particular order:

1) Phoenix Zoo Lights-  Jack enjoyed seeing all the  lights.  The line for Santa was short at the event, and Jack hammed it up for the photo.

2) Holiday Baking- Jack has always been interested in cooking and baking, so we let him mix the cake and cookie batters. He also gets to cut the cookies into shapes and put sprinkles on said cookies.  He also enjoys this.

3) "Elf on a Shelf"- Jack doesn't care right now (and Chaps thinks it's a chew toy).  Maybe next year.

4) Disney Tsum Tsum Advent Calendar- Jack likes opening the door and seeing which Disney toy he gets, but then all interest is gone. It's also on the kitchen counter, as he wants to open all the doors at once. This activity is the one that caused him to slip out of the stool.  Perhaps we need to put it on the ground for the door opening. :-/

5) Painting and Coloring Paper Holiday Placemats-  Jack and our 4 year old godson/"nephew" Colton have been enjoying coloring and painting these paper holiday placemats that I bought at the Target after Christmas sale last year.

6) Decorating the Tree- Of course he got the paper, plastic and cloth ornaments to put on the tree, and those are the types at his level.  I'd say he enjoys taking the ornaments off of the tree more than he likes putting them on.

7) Reading Holiday Themed Books- His favorite is "I've Seen Santa" by David Bedford.  We read it at least twice a day, and he is now exclaiming "Santa!" every time we see a Santa.

8) Seeing the Lights in Our Hood- We walk the dogs around the block almost every evening, and Jack likes to point out the various Christmas Lights and blow ups.  "Baby elephant!" "Snowman!"  "Mickey, Minnie!" "Yoda!"

9) Shoe String Decorations- Another Target find (we may shop at Target it a lot, and they aren't paying me to say that, although I'd totally take a gift card Target for endorsing you, cough, cough). Jack gets the string through one hole, says "I did it!" and then takes another string and wears it as a necklace. I'll save the kit for next year.

10) McCormrick Railroad Park- this activity was great to do with him last year (at age one), so we're doing it again this year.  Lights, Santa, hot coco and riding trains, does it get any better as a kid (maybe your birthday party tops that)?

Of course we'll go to Christmas Eve church service (to be honest, the only time I enjoy church), and I'm sure take turns chasing him like we did last year.  Then we'll have to two big "roast beast" feasts with our family in Tucson and our family in Phoenix.  And get together with friends through out the week to celebrate our friendship and another year.

Leave a comment on the activities and traditions you do with your family for the holidays!  I'll be taking a little blog break for the next couple of weeks, so until the new year, Happy Holidays and May Your Cup Be Overflowing in the New Year!  xoxo!

3/31/16- Happy Easter Birthday!

This week was busy, crazy, and fun!  Easter happened, which in our house means lots of chocolate, yum!  Hubby had to go to NM for Ty's funeral. :-( And hubby finally got the pins out of his broken hand (from his bike accident in January).

My birthday also happened!  This is my last year in the 25-34 year survey demographic range.  I better eat lots of cake while I'm still in that range.

I took my birthday off, got a massage and pedicure, watched some TV and read a non-picture book, and then had a nice dinner with family and friends.  Taking the day off though meant there was lots to catch up on at work this week.

I did submit one article to a kids' magazine this week, and hopefully it will make our friends' daughters kid magazine famous (the girls were pictured doing the science experiment I wrote about).

So this week's blog is short.  I'll try to make it up next week by writing some long, lengthy (possibly boring if too long) blog.

In the meantime, enjoy the geeky Easter card I got:

The inside reads, "Warning: Egg hunts may bring out the dark side in some people." Haha!