We're going on a bone hunt…

We're gonna find a big one! 

Oh no! A soggy wet creek bed! 

Cant go over it! Cant go under it! 

We've got to go THROUGH it! 

Daddy to the rescue! 

I am a good mom

Do you ever have those days that you think, "Wow! I really had my poop in a group today!"?

Well...they come few and far between for me and my herd. Most days I feel like I failed miserably and am so very glad that their forgiving little hearts will give me another try in the morning. Today though...today was different.

It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. It wouldn't sound spectacular from the outside looking in. My littles were entertained and happy most of the day. I comforted a very teething toddler with more grace than usual. I did homework with my second grader with patience, a smile on my face, and silliness to help remember spelling words. I made a good, homemade dinner, baked muffins and brownies. Had two extra children in my house for a few hours with no major catastrophes. Ate dinner and had good (albeit toddler-interrupted) conversation with a dear friend and sent her home with more calories than she probably wanted, but it was good for both of our momma hearts. At least it was good for mine!

The trash didn't get taken out, the laundry didn't get done, and there are dirty dishes in the sink.

But when I tucked each of my four babies into bed tonight, all they cared about was that momma gave them extra kisses, and sang an extra song, and searched for the very specific missing nigh'night blanket.

And tonight when the grouchy toddler wakes me up at 1 am, I'll bring her to bed with me and snuggle her little baby softness up and remember....I AM a good mom.

Our Favorite Play Dough!

We've all been there.

Cold and wet outside. Bored cabin-fevered kids. Stuff TO DO. 

Important things like, oh……I dunno..….drink a cup of coffee that is still hot from the first time it was reheated. Ponder the deep questions in life, like how much Rumchata to "splash" in the aforementioned coffee. 

Whatever the reason, it's imperative that we have a well-stocked "Keep 'Em Busy" arsenal. 

This is definitely in the Top 3 Favorites! I've tried a few different DIY play dough recipes, and this one is by far the best. It's soft, stores well in a ziploc bag, and it's easy and inexpensive to make! 

This also doubles, or triples really well!

The original recipe was from Domestic Superhero! 

1 C flour

1 C water

2t cream of tarter

1/3 C salt

1T vegetable oil

food coloring

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan. Cook and stir over low/medium heat until it gets thick and starts turning into a ball. When the dough doesn't look wet anymore, remove it from the pan and let cool on a plate or the counter or wherever. Don't forget to take the pan off the heat. Don't ask me how I know, but it's bad…. When it's cool enough to handle, knead it a few times to knead out any clumps. 

Then PLAY!

(Please ignore the crazy hair on the kid that had just got up from her nap!)

Making "cookies"!

Holy Guacamole!

There are certain things you sacrifice when you live in rural Montana. Fresh produce is high on that list.  Avocado's top that list.

If you're lucky enough to find good quality avo's that didn't suffer too badly during their trip from sunshine and 75º to frozen tundra, they're not going to be cheap.

So when you find them in good shape AND only .88¢ a piece, you buy those suckers!!

Which is precisely what I did, because I LOVE guacamole. Love it. I could eat it every day. For obvious reasons, I dont.  So this was a treat!

Simple, Fresh, Guac

1 perfectly ripe avocado
1/2 of an equally ripe roma tomato, finely diced
1T finely diced onion (if you're smarter than me and remember to buy onions)
Dash of salt, onion powder, garlic powder
Skosh of lemon juice (Is "skosh" a legit measurement in the culinary world? I dont know…)
1T mayonnaise
**Optional…pepper, red pepper flakes (if you're not a spicy food weenie like me), cumin, or anything else that sounds like it might be good! Just start with little amounts, because you can always add more.

Look at these beautifully ripe beauties! A winter miracle!

Aw, I <3 you too avocado!

 The cast of characters. Minus the onions, because I'm a flake.

Mayo….it makes everything better. Yes, I realize that's probably more than 1T. I like my mayo, what can I say? 

Smush it all up with a fork, adjust seasonings and spices to taste, devour with tortilla chips. Or a spoon. Whatever. 

Our DIY Kinetic Sand experiment

Every time I go into our local ACE Hardware store, I end up playing with the sample Kinetic Sand they have on display. I wanted to get some for my kids until I saw the $15 price tag for a tiny container. Sorry….I'm WAY to cheap for that!

So I gave a DIY recipe a chance. It turned into an experiment for the What Not To Do file. I used this recipe from gimmefreebies.com and it didn't go well. I think part of it had to do with measuring the sand, but it just didn't work. I added WAY more cornstarch and WAY more dish soap to get it sort of right but it never stuck together like the "real" stuff does.

This was in the process of adding, adding, adding more starch and soap…still too sticky.

Finally got it to stick together and be moldable!

The punks still had fun with it but it only survived one use and I'm still finding sand in my kitchen….

Yep…..she ate it…..

I decided to keep digging to find a good recipe for this, and came across this article that explains what the main ingredients in the "real" thing are. I found this excerpt interesting….

"We did a little digging into Delta of Sweden's product-specific medical fact sheet (the document you bring to the doctor after you notice all of the sand has disappeared and Junior's belly looks full). While the proportions are not revealed, there are only two ingredients listed: "silicon dioxid" [sic] and "polydimethyl siloxane."

Silicon dioxide, which is what we assume they meant, is basically sand and presumably the 98% part. Polydimethyl siloxane or PDMS, on the other hand, is a rubbery, viscoelastic material that's a key ingredient in Silly Putty.

So is it safe? It better be: PDMS, a silicone agent found in caulk, can also be used as an antifoaming agent—something that both McDonald's and Wendy's list in their ingredients for Chicken McNuggets and french fries!"

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Either Silly Putty (and Kinetic Sand) is completely safe for the punks to eat, which they inevitably will at some point in their play, or we REALLY need to stop eating at the Golden Arches!

I think we'll stick with our home made play dough!

Crochet Flower Pattern FREE!

I have a project in mind for my daughters room, but I couldn't find a crochet flower pattern that I liked for it. So I made one up.

This could also be used as an embellishment on just about anything you want, or glued to a hair clip!

It could also be made smaller by decreasing the number of hdc's in the first round, just make sure to keep it an uneven number…for some reason, flowers look weird with an even number of petals! Or maybe it's just my OCD. You do whatever you want with your flowers!

Here's the pattern! Keep in mind, I'm not a professional pattern writer. In fact…this is the first pattern I've ever written! I'll do my best, but feel free to comment with any questions!

Also….if you want instructions with pictures, keep scrolling down!

Crochet Flower

Ch 4, ss in first chain to create loop (or use a magic ring if you want to pull the center closed tight)

9 hdc in center, finish off, change color

Ch3, 2dc, ch3, ss in first hdc

*Ss, ch3, 2dc, ch3, ss in next hdc

*repeat around until you have 9 petals

ss in base of first ch3, finish off.  Leave tails to sew onto project, or cut short to glue onto canvas.

I used a couple different hook sizes. This shows the difference in size between an I hook (pink flower) and a G hook (purple flower)! The pink one is just a bit bigger! Experiment with different hook sizes if you want bigger or smaller flowers! 

Instructions with pictures! 

Ch 4, ss in first chain ( fourth from your hook, where the blue star is!) to create loop

This is what your loop will look like after you slip stitch into the first chain.

Half double crochet in the center of the loop. This is the start of a hdc.

Pull through all three loops

Keep going with the hdc's in the center hole until you have 9, then slip stitch in the bottom of the first hdc you made (where the blue star is!)

Chain stitch and cut the loop and pull it tight to finish off. 

                                            

Pull up a loop of the petal color in the same stitch you finished off in. 

Chain 3

Two double crochets in the same stitch, then chain three

Slip stitch back down in the same stitch

Slip stitch in the next stitch over, and chain three

Then the same two double crochets, chain three, slip stitch all in the same stitch, then move to the next.

So you will *ss, ch 3, 2dc, ch3, ss* around for a total of nine petals.

Then slip stitch in the bottom of the very first chain three (where the blue star is!)

 Finish off the same way you did the first round.  Leave tails to sew onto project, or cut short to glue onto canvas.

The petals always look rumply to me, so I push them around and flatten them til they look right! 

Perfect Pennant Giveaway!

Jessica is one of my very best friends, and she makes adorable pennants for holiday decor or birthday's, or whatever you can imagine! She is giving away a Valentines mini banner on Facebook when her page reaches 100 likes!

Check out The Perfect Pennant, "like" her page, and enter the giveaway!