Last week, Zoe caught her first fish with Grandpa. Tommy enjoyed fishing but nothing but nibbles for him so far.
We got our first eggs!
The whole family is very excited and now the kids and I have integrated a “check for eggs” section to our morning routine. We had scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning and you can really see the difference between the top 2 homemade eggs (as Zoe calls them) and the store-bought one I filled in with on the bottom.
The eggs are still small and there are only a couple a day so far – we’re not sure if the other girls just aren’t laying yet or if they’re hiding them in the woods. Investigation will continue!
I can’t quite believe that when we stick seeds (or sets in this case) in the ground, they grow into yummy plants. I know that’s a little odd to say but it really has been wonderful to watch. Here’s our first onion harvest – red, yellow and white, plus some garlic that didn’t quite perform as hoped.
The onions are all now drying for a couple of weeks, though we have sampled a few. Note how unbrushed hair looks a lot like onion roots….
My friend Erin tweeted about making her own watercolor paints awhile back and since we go through a lot of watercolors here, I wanted to give it a try. Also, it involves mixing baking soda and vinegar and I’ll take any thrill I can get on a Tuesday morning. :)
There are a lot of recipes out there, but because I do love Martha, we went with hers. It was simple enough (and non-toxic) so the kids did all the mixing and pouring, which they really enjoyed. The only downside is that you have to let them dry at least overnight, so its not an instant gratification kind of thing.
Also, ours didn’t dry, even after 24 hours. I think because we didn’t mix them thoroughly enough and the food coloring kind of sat on the top. I ended up mopping the top 1/4 inch off the top of each well and that worked great. The remaining paints were totally usable and colored. Its also difficult for little kids (or clumsy me) to stir the colors in the paste in the egg cartons without sloshing them out of the wells. Next time, I’ll probably use baby food jars instead, or something similar. Or mix them and then pour them into the egg carton. Or do what I did this time and call the purple encroachment on yellow a “customization”.
Despite all this, they do work as watercolors, and the kids had fun painting with them. The pictures were a bit chalky afterward, but I actually like them that way. And all those nice spatters you see on the floor around them wiped right up.
I think we’ll do it again – with a couple of modifications. :)
Summer is coming (or really, is already here if you look at the 90+ degree weather with full humidity we’ve been having here lately. Not like I’m bitter or anything) and Katie needs more clothes. Enter the diaper dress!
Its a one-piece pattern that creates a fully reversible, quick to make, cute little sundress. The pattern is from Sew Baby and is pretty good one – my only complaint is that there are no measurements on it that explain what the different sizes mean. It only takes a 1/2 yard of fabric for each for each side and comes together in about an hour and a half (when “assisted” by a 4 year old). I made the 18 month old version for Katie, and it fits, but its a bit too long for crawling. I’ll try the 9-12 month version next time.
Still, in my totally unbiased professional opinion, she does look cute in it…
