Sunday, May 30, 2010

Zoo Adventure




We finally, after living here almost five years, made the trek over to Tyler, Texas to check out the Caldwell Zoo. We were pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be a nice little zoo, and we went early enough in the day that the heat wasn't unbearable.

The highlight of the day? Our arrival at the lion exhibit. "Aidan, look at the lion!" "Yeah, they eat little boys." Ha!






Saturday, May 22, 2010

Making Your Own Play Dough




On Thursday, I decided to live dangerously. I enlisted the kids' help in making our own play dough. It was actually much simpler than I thought it would be, and the only real mess that was made was when Neely scooped a spoonful of salt and flour from the pot and pitched it onto the floor. Nothing the Dirt Devil couldn't fix.

If you'd like to try it yourself, here's what you need:
2 c. flour
2 c. warm water
1 c. table salt
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tbsp. cream of tartar
food coloring

Step One: Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. (Note: If you decide to scrape the gunk that gets stuck on the spoon off with your finger, DO NOT lick it clean. This is a knee-jerk reaction of mine, and I spent the next few minutes spitting in the sink. Bleh!)

Step Two: Cook over medium-low heat until the mixture takes on the consistency of dough and huddles up in the center of the pan.

Step Three: Let cool. We started ours before lunch and let it cool while we were eating.

Step Four: Separate the dough into balls, as many or as few as you'd like, depending on how many colors you want. I think we did five. Make a little hole in the middle of your dough with your finger, and add four or five drops of food coloring. Knead until smooth and uniform in color. And Mamas, this will give you a good little arm workout. Please don't look too closely at the weird gray one. I tried to make purple.

Voila! Homemade play dough.

Oh, one more thing. I'm sorry these pictures are so bad. Both of my camera batteries were dead, so I had to take these with my phone.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

New Kicks


What do you do when your little girl refuses to wear bows in her hair? You find some for her toes. Thank you, Tricia! If you want some of your own, find Mackey Moo Bowtique on Facebook. Tricia makes all kinds of fun little girl things.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Picture Day






Today I'm sharing a few of my favorite photos from our whirlwind tour of Tennessee. We spent two days in Franklin, two in Clarksville, two in Knoxville, and two back in Franklin before coming home. I feel like we really didn't get to spend enough time with anyone this trip. We'll have to plan better next time. Until then, pictures!

I want to ride the lawn mower, too!

Proud new grad.

At Joe's post-graduation BBQ.

This last one I know isn't the best photo, but Pop was dragging the kids around in these buckets, using them to smash mole tracks. The kids were sitting in them, popping up and down, and they reminded me of little prairie dogs. I took the picture so I could be reminded and laugh about it.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Puddin' Head

Oh, chocolate pudding. Another Mommy mishap, courtesy of me.

Monday, May 3, 2010

The Wrong Pajamas!


Today's irrational 20-month-old meltdown brought to you by....

...the wrong pajamas. Neely has become very particular about what she wears (what a girl!), especially when it comes to night clothes. It all started with that darn dress I made for her. That was the first thing she refused to wear. She ripped a button off, she was so desperate to remove it.

Then, she started throwing fits a few weeks ago when we tried to put certain pajamas on her. It has progressed now, and there is only one set that she prefers. She pulled them out of the dirty clothes pile tonight and had a meltdown when I wouldn't let her wear them. They're the same style as the ones in the picture, so it took a lot less time to ease the screaming than when I put a totally different type on her, oh, two nights ago. I guess we need to go shopping.