Saturday, December 17, 2005

Ho Ho Ho

Keeping busy leading into the holidays. Decided to skip the Zoo event last Saturday. Needed a day with nothing schedule, especially since Pete had to be in Provo all week :-(

Lots of stuff to take care of at home this week. Baked several dozen cookies and another apple pie (the rest of the apples will become apple sauce on Monday).

We also made animal keychains from a bead kit. Zack especially liked doing this, which was a big change from the past when he would complain about hand fatigue. It was a great activity for fine motor, design and following directions. Had to go over the directions several times with Katie before she would actually pay attention but she tuned in after she had to re-string the same strand twice over.




We also, after several days delay, made homemade clay ornaments. I mean that the clay was homemade too. Have had the recipe (corn starch and baking soda) for a very long time but never carved out a day to use it. It looks really cool when it heats up. It fizzes and bubbles then gets thick. Then it dries and looks a lot like cookie dough. I decided to dry them by placing on a cookie sheet and putting them in the oven on low. Didn't know it would be such a challenge to get them back off the cookie sheet!

We painted them up today:



Nice, huh?

There was also snow to play in, rain to slog in and a trip to a nature center for a presentation on how animals prepare for winter. The weather cooperated so it was a great day for it. Also, they didn't need all of the adults to hover and I was able to chat with some of the other parents. This is through a new HS group we've been doing things with. It's much smaller than the park group we had been attending and it's been good for all of us to see the same folks each week. There's more of a community feeling.

Have also joined a new food coop with a lot of these families. They offer bulk orders of the same stuff carried in Whole Foods, but at discounted prices. Email me if you want to know more.

Doubt I'll update this again before the holidays, so enjoy the season.

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