Whirlitzer In The Sky, and Roller Skating Chipmunks

Oaks Park Skating Rink: Yes, it's still as awesome as you remember it was wehn you were little, and No, they haven't changed ANYTHING. Even the smell.

CHIPPER IS STILL GOING STRONG!

Ian was SO excited about touching this chipmunk that he couldn't stay on his feet (and not because of the skates)! I almost had him sit down and breathe into a paper bag to calm down- not kidding. Haha!

MIDTERMS

Approx. 20 Oranges later we get this:

Because sometimes $7.00 worth of Oranges is what it takes to get 5 minutes of homework time!

KOMBUCHA; a.k.a. What's that gross blob doing on your counter?

In some parts of old China and Japan, it was often the custom for families to give a new bride a Kombucha as a wedding gift. This was nurtured throughout her marriage and then passed on to her own daughter.

Thanks to my lovely friend Liz, I was finally able to start up a batch of my own home made Kombucha last night. For those of you who don't have a clue as to what that is, I offer you the following explanation:

Kombucha is a living drink made by fermenting tea and sugar with the kombucha culture. It is thought to have originated in the Far East, probably China, and has been consumed there for at least two thousand years and was known as "The Tea of Immortality". Many of the benefits reported include improvements in energy levels, metabolic disorders, allergies, cancer, digestive problems, candidiasis, hypertension, HIV, chronic fatigue and arthritis. It ‘s also used externally for skin problems and as a hair wash among other things.

Some people find it utterly disgusting, and some like myself will spend the $3.50 per bottle because we have somehow overcome the weird fermented moldy taste and have grown to love it!





Follow this link to find the recipe that I used:

http://www.write101.com/kombucharecipes.htm

I also added some fresh ginger and a little bit of juice that I had in the fridge.....I'll let you know how it turns out!

CAN WE MAKE CHOCOLATE PIZZA?

"Can I have three girlfriends over to spend the night? Oh, and we would like to make a chocolate pizza and a kitty litter ( think tootsie roll cake) pie thankyouverymuch."

Ummm, maybe to the first question and are you crazy!? to the second. It's not that I am completely against girls having fun at a slumber party, but start with a household of 5 people two of whom are in the 4 and under crowd, now add in another 3 pubescent girls, now top it off with a virtual boatload of sugar = not gonna happen!

So this is what we did instead:

PINK LEMONADE LIP BALM

PROCESS

Mix:
1 C. solid shortening
1/2 c. pink lemonade powder
We added some shredded cocoa butter

Melt in microwave or on stove

Mix it up really well again

Pour into whatever little containers you have lying around and let set for an hour or so

Done.

KITCHEN TRICKERY

To tell the truth I really do not enjoy spending a lot of time in the kitchen unless it has something to do with re-arranging, re-decorating, or participating in some other task that has very little to do with the primary function of the kitchen, which is cooking. This is something that I have been trying to overcome seeing as how I have many little mouths to feed and like to see them eat healthy, home-made goodness. This means that inevitably, I have to spend some time in the kitchen, pretending to be interested in cutting, mixing, spicing, etc. etc


The problem here is that I really don't care too much about food myself. If it were up to me, (and if my arteries and fat cells would agree) I could quite happily live on macaroni and cheese with little hot dogs cut up into it. But fortunately for my body, I have kiddos who I don't want to eat that junk, and so I am trying to make the kitchen a more inviting place for a crafty (but not cook-y) mommy like myself. I figure if I can trick myself into thinking that I am doing some type of fun tactile project with the food, that I might actually begin to enjoy it - even if Jason regularly laughs at the fact that I never seem to make food that looks "normal" and every snack seem s to be in the shape of some animal or a smiley face. :) And if I can get the kids to focus for more than a minute or so to help out with the cooking / food art project then that's even better. Let's just blame my dad for all of those "cheese stick log cabins", "birds in a nest", and "ants on a log".

"WORLD'S COOLEST TREEHOUSE!"

The neighbor asked Jas today if he was building himself a new home because I had kicked him out of the house. Haha -I guess it is a little large for the neighborhood!

For those of you who haven't had the chance to come over and take a look for yourself, here's an insiders peek at the ever on-going tree house project. Almost everything that we used to build this was acquired for free or next to nothing, hence the fact that we ran out of the great cedar shake siding half way through the project!

FINISHED PRODUCT! (Well, except for 3rd story the crows nest...)

ENJOYING THE SUN PRE-ROOF & SIDING

In the beginning the tree-house was just going to be a little platform with a slide and ladder, but once we got going it was hard to stop which is not surprising if you know either of us!

RECYCLED OUTERSPACE PUZZLE

I have been trying to come up with ways to produce a little less waste, spend a little less money, and still fulfill my desire for the kids to have super cool playthings and to be able to craft often with them. I have also had my fill of making little caterpillars out of empty egg cartons and colored paper and no matter how cute they may turn out, I have to be honest and say that they usually just end up back in the recycle bin within a few days. That being said, I am trying to find crafts that are a little more meaningful and usable, and since the boys are really into puzzles lately, I thought I would give this a try.

I found the idea for this cute puzzle on the Magical Childhood Blog:

http://www.magicalchildhood.com/crafts/puzzring.htm

The boys got a little help from the big girls on with their illustrations and even made a few more on their own...

Messy Watercolor Adventure

Yesterday the kids made their own watercolors using a few simple ingredients that you probably have around the kitchen. I will say that we will definitely do this again, I would also warn you that it can be pretty messy especially if you leave 4 year olds in charge of the food coloring bottles.

INGREDIENTS:

3T Baking Soda
3T Cornstarch
3T White Vinegar
1.5t Light Corn Syrup
Food Coloring

Essentially you just mix all of these things together slowly and you end up with this weird concoction that feels like a solid if you hit it hard, and a liquid if you touch it slowly.

Although you can use the paints immediately, I would recommend leaving them out to dry for a day or so and they seem to work a little better.

WHITTLED GNOMES

I got this super cute idea for little wooden gnomes from Resurrection Fern:

(http://www.resurrectionfern.typepad.com/resurrection_fern/2008/09/how-to-whittle-gnomes-from-fallen-branches-a-tutorial.html)

Her little whittled gnomes of course look much cuter than ours turned out, but the kids LOVED the entire process.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN:

1. Take a walk with your munchkins or send them out in the yard to go on a "stick hunt". Help them to find the perfect sticks for their little gnomes.

2. Find some sort of sawing tool, ( preferably sharper or more effective than the little old hand saw that I chose ) and cut your precious sticks into little gnome sized pieces

3. Whittle away one end to make a gnome shaped hat ad beard

4. Paint, and draw on a face. We painted our gnome hats with the home-made watercolors we made yesterday - yay!


For Some reason, we all found this project to be ALOT (even the grown-ups) of fun and so tomorrow we will be heading out on yet another stick hunting adventure to find the perfect materials to make our little gnomes housing and furniture. Remind me again why it is that I spend money on toys when the things they love the most are sticks and rocks?

Cream + Marbles +Glass Jars + Shaking Wildly = Super good times!

So today, I set out with the idea that we would make butter the old fashioned way: Cream, Mason Jars with lids, Marbles, and kids with waaaay too much energy for their own good. The kids seemed really excited about this, and although I knew that I would probably end up being the only one actually shaking these jars of cream for 20 minutes until the butter magically separated from the cream I decided to give it a shot anyway.


Ian made it a good three minutes but decided that shaking was much too difficult and said that he would "jump it into butter" instead.

Jaxon lasted about 45 seconds shaking his jar - haha!

Let's face it, after shaking with my tendinitis ridden wrists for about 30 minutes, I was really glad that I own an industrial mixer.