Day 2

Day 2:
Today is Monday and an extended weekend for me. I love waking up thinking you are late and then realizing “Oh, I don't have to work this morning!”, snuggling back into bed and sleeping until 9:30am. Yes that is another reason why I love my son. Every weekend he sleeps until after 9am.

Experiment details...

Family Fun Activities:
Today was Zoo day! We bought a membership for Sam for his 1st birthday, it has already paid off! Sam loves animals and watching other kids so each time we go he is on cloud nine. Today his favorites were the goats, which Ryan and I decided were probably his long lost brothers because he too is stinky, skinny and eats everything in sight. At one point Sam tried climb the fence to be a part of their exhibit. Sam also got a kick out of the Sea Lions. Today they were fighting each other for a hose. Sam also got to see both of them “walk” around and dive into the water.


A few ways I blessed Sam:
Gave his kiddie pool a good scrub.

Washed his outside toys.

Made the family Blueberry-Lavender syrup, which we had over ice cream before bedtime. (Yum!) This is a recipe I came across by accident while experimenting in the kitchen, it quickly became a family favorite. I get the lavender from our lavender plant we planted this spring. If you don't have fresh lavender you can substitute with your favorite spice, cinnamon would be great!

Blueberry-Lavender Syrup

1 Cup fresh blueberries
½ cup sugar
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons butter
2 lavender sprigs

Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sugar and water, stir until sugar is dissolved. Add blueberries. Use potato masher to gently smash blueberries. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium, add lavender. Simmer for 3 minutes. Remove Lavender sprigs. Let cool slightly, serve warm over ice cream or waffles. Store left overs in refrigerator, believe me it won't last long!

We had a busy day today. Yet still found ourselves sitting around with nothing to do. Keeping the TV off is hard when you have energy to do nothing else. We stuck to it and played outside, went for a walk and made a great dinner. We are all going to bed very tired, but very happy that we put our family first.

Day 1

Day 1:

I love weekend mornings. More then that, I love summer weekend mornings. Picture windows on the east side of our home allow the sun to pour in. I love puttering around the kitchen preparing coffee for Ryan and I and breakfast for Sammy, every chance I get, stealing a glance at the beautiful scene right outside our windows. This morning was one such morning. Sam sat content with his blueberries, waffles and milk while Ryan and I enjoyed coffee together at the kitchen table. One of those mornings where the stress of the week fades away and you can feel your soul saying “aahhhhh”.

Sounds too good to be true, and my intention really isn't to make any of you feel sick! Sure things went wrong, I spilled coffee all over the shirt I planned on wearing minutes before putting it on, Sam and I had our hourly wrestling match of changing his diaper/clothes, and we were late for church. But when these things happened they rolled away. Not ruining the greatness of the morning. “aahhhhh”

Experiment details...

Family fun activity:
I made play-dough yesterday and today we played with it. Sam was a little unsure of the texture. However he soon warmed up to it when I made a ball for him, which he threw repetitively (for me to pick up, of course!) I only told him once not to put it in his mouth (huge accomplishment for the boy who has been known to eat anything!) It is made from things we eat everyday so it wouldn't have been a big deal if he decided to eat it, I just didn't want to have to make a new batch each time we decided to use it! Here is the recipe I used:

Play-dough
1 cup flour
½ cup salt
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons cream of tarter
1 cup water
Mix flour, salt, oil and cream of tarter until combined. Slowly add water while stirring. Cook over medium heat, stirring until dough becomes stiff. Turn onto wax paper, let cool. Knead until proper consistency.
You can add fruit/veggies juices to make the dough different colors, beet, carrot and spinach work well. We left ours plain. You can even use food coloring, if you feel comfortable with that.
Store in a plastic bag or container with a tight seal.

From start to finish this process took under 10 minutes. Totally worth the fun Sam and I had today!


A few ways I blessed Sam:
One of Sam's favorite activities is getting out his toys and making a mess. Once they are out he hardly plays with them, he just like the process of getting them all out! So several times today I put all of his toys away (something I usually reserve for nap and bed time). I could not believe how happy he was as he was taking them all out again. Silly boy.

I love getting down on Sam's level. Whenever I do, he giggles, “topples” me and he is full of smiles as we play on the floor. Today, I made a point of spending some time on Sam's level. Funny how something so simple can make a toddler's day!

Sam spent time with grandma today, while he was gone I spent some time picking up his room, doing his laundry and examining the floor for “choke-ables”.

That concludes our day! I say Day 1 was a huge success! Sam had fun, I was fulfilled and we all relaxed as a family. What more can you ask for?

Why a blog?

I have an awesome little boy (Sam), he is the joy of my heart. He is very busy. Read that as VERY BUSY! He will climb, push, topple, chase anything that he can (which explains our cat's recent hair loss). He does best with a schedule and a lot of time out and about. I decided to do an experiment for one week. The experiment being this: keep the TV off, do at least one family fun activity each day and at the top of each hour do something to bless Sam.
I have a wonderful career and am currently launching my own business, so this could get interesting and very creative.
I foresee this being a great week. Full of fun adventures and many family memories. This will be the start of my blog and we will see where it goes from there!

A little about me.

I am a wife. I am a mother. I am passionate about many things and they usually vary from month to month. The passions that have held fast throughout my wife and mother years are cooking, crafting and gardening, above each however would be being creative with each one.

I have never met a recipe that scared me. I could watch “cooking TV” 24 hours a day and often pretend I have my own show. Maybe I will include some video blogs so you can join in on the laughs that creates.

I have dabbled in many crafts, I especially love quick crafts (and with a toddler there are no other kind these days!) I love to use my crafting ability to avoid buying things like home décor and toys. Not that I don't like buying these, but I love having unique items fill my home.

I came from a family of “green-thumbs”. I have always appreciated a beautifully landscaped yard or a flourishing garden but thought, for many years, that this ability skipped a generation (or more namely me!) Since my son was born I have found that gardening is much like mothering and now my garden is something to be proud of!

I take great pride in homemaking. I am not a “homemaker” per-say. I work outside of the home, however I love making our house a home. Something leaps inside of me when my husband walks in and says “What's for dinner, it smells delicious!” A huge smile appears when I walk into the kitchen in the morning to see a shiny sink and clean counters. When I get home from work, I de-stress by puttering around the house, picking things up or starting laundry. I love finding new ways to organize a closet. Nana has always said I was born in the wrong era, I would be content in 1950 something wearing adorable dresses and an apron.

With that said you would think my home is spic-n-span and completely organized. This is not the case (remember previously mentioned toddler?) actually I have always been “the messy one”. Nobody would ever label me as a “Type-A” personality. Not sure how that contradiction works together, but once you get it figured out you will understand me!