BRACAU 27 BLOG'S

Most Fridays we have a lazy, pajama day at home.  It is the perfect way to end a busy week.  Today, was no exception.  With Em feeling crummy and it being rather cold out, it seemed like the perfect thing to do.  We started our day off with a delicious breakfast of baked apples, recipe courtesy of Stephanie from Ordinary Life Magic, and after that we got down to the business of playing!

We had snack while watching TV. 















Grace played with her new doll house.
It came with three people.
That is grandma. 













And this one is Mommy. 




















Click on the words below to see the music video:
Ordinary Miracle by Sarah McLachlan from Charlotte's Web

All in all, not a bad way to pass the time!

The girls had their first real tea party today!  For sometime they have been having pretend tea parties, ones where no food or drink was present.  Now that Em is older it seemed like it was time to introduce them to the joys of holding a tea party complete with "tea".  Santa, in all his wisdom, brought them a tea set for Christmas.  One that is safe for food and liquids to be used in, and even better, it's BPA free!  What a cool guy to bring a "green" gift for the girls!  They donned their favorite outfits, and with a little explanation ("yes, there really is liquid in the tea pot and yes, you really can take turns pouring it") the tea party got underway.  The teapot was filled with water several times, animal crackers, Cinnamon Life and craisins were in bowls, although not much of the food was consumed, and lots of water ended up on the table!  The pictures below tell the wondrous whole story. 

There comes a time in the life of our little ones where it's time for them to part ways with one of the things that is most dear to them:  their binky.  Or in Emma's case, as she calls it, her "boppy".  Now, to most people a boppy is a nursing pillow, but here in our home a boppy is her pacifier and her beloved blanket. Her blanket used to be referred to as "poppy", however, somewhere along the way she merged the two into one all inclusive title.  Now we are always left scratching our heads and wondering which boppy it is that she wants.

Em is very, very, very attached to her boppy.  We had no idea how attached to a boppy a kid could be until we met Em.  We thought Grace was attached to her binky.  Not compared to Em.  She is going to be much, much harder to break of this boppy habit, as is clearly evident in the pictures below. 





























 

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my least favorite days of the week.  I absolutely loath preschool mornings.  This former teacher has not enjoyed having two days of our week start out crummy and feel rushed.  I cannot imagine how people do this everyday of the week, nor can I imagine feeling like this everyday of the week for the like next gazillion years, but that is a blog post for another time.  The only good thing about preschool days is that it gives Em and I some one on one time, which is why today seemed like it would be a good day to implement Mission: Boppy Jar. 

We found this approach to be very effective with Princess Grace and are hoping that it works just as well for The Divine Miss Em.  We saved a plastic mayonnaise jar for just this occasion.  Once it's all cleaned up (via the dishwasher) we sit down and talk about how they are big girls and big girls don't use boppies (binkies, whatever you call it) and how we are going to start only using a boppy at naptime and bedtime.  They then get to decorate their jar anyway their hearts desire.  We use stickers since it's the easiest and does not require drying time, but you could use markers or paint along with any other fun craft item that sparks your little ones interest.

I gave the jar and stickers to Emma and she got right down to the business, asking every now and again for help with a certain sticker.

Play-dough.  What would we do without it?  Growing up one of the best things was when my mother would make each of us a new batch of play-dough.  We even got to choose our own colors!  The homemade stuff is way better than the store bought stuff.  It's super easy to make (recipe at the end of this post) and way easier for little hands to manipulate.  That reminds me, I think I better add some cream of tarter to next weeks shopping list.  It would be fun to have more than the one color (red) we currently have!

Never was there such a well loved garlic press as there is in our house.  Play-dough in and of itself provides hours of entertainment, but throw the garlic press into the mix and I can get any other number of things accomplished while they play with play-dough! They are even fabulous about sharing.  Each taking one turn, asking for help if they can't quite squeeze the handles as a result of having stuffed too much play-dough in the hole, and then handing it to the other one.  What awesome sisters! 




In addition to the garlic press, we get out the bin of people/figurines/ponies.  They love to stick them in the play-dough.  And the wooden pizza cutter comes in handy too!  We have these wonderful stampers that we got at the teacher supply store that they love, but the garlic press. The garlic press is the holy grail of play-dough toys!

The picture below was too good to pass up posting. They had just noticed some birds outside on our deck and were surprised to see the huge bluejay that appeared today.  The look on Em's face is priceless!


Our Play-dough Recipe:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons cream of tartar
Food coloring of your choice

Mix all ingredients together in a pot and cook over medium heat while stirring constantly until it forms a ball.  I recommend using a wooden spoon. The dough ball will form faster than you think!

Turn the dough ball out onto the counter and knead it for a minute or two.  Be sure to let it cool before you give it to the children to play with.

Depending on how bright you want the color to be will depend on what type of coloring technique you use. For pastel colors, add liquid food coloring before cooking. For bright colors, use powdered tempera paint or frosting paste kneaded into dough after cooking. For scented play-dough, knead in a small package of Kool-Aid after cooking.

Store in a ziploc bag or air tight container and it will bring hours of fun for many months to come.  Don't forget to get out the garlic press.  Trust me on this one, it's totally worth it!