September Beach Trip

I love the beach. I could honestly spend all day every day there and not get bored. Luckily for me Kadin feels the same way. We had some gorgeous 80° September days here last week and we decided to take advantage of them. It was fantastic! Warm, summer-like weather...without the summer-like crowds and tourists. You could actually move around on the beach and do things. I had forgotten how much more fun the beach was in the fall. 

Kadin had a blast playing soccer with Daddy and playing in the sand. For some reason he hasn't been a huge fan of the waves this year. Hoping that will be better next summer. :)

Right after kicking the ball.

 My super happy boy! <3

Dying Rice

I seem to be getting this face a lot recently when I tell K to smile so I can take his picture.

We dyed rice today. It's something I've been meaning to do for awhile, but there was always something more fun to do. I am glad that we finally got to it though. Kadin really enjoyed it. Probably because he could do most of it himself. Very simple and it can be used in so many different ways.

All you need is rice (I had some that had expired, which is very odd for us, but I was happy I could use it for something), food coloring, rubbing alcohol and baggies/bowls/containers. I chose to use baggies. I think it's easier to contain what could be a very messy activity. ;) Add rice to the bag, add a few drops of food coloring (although we almost always end up with more than a few) and a few drops of rubbing alcohol. You really don't need much. A little goes a very long way when dying rice. 

Add food coloring and then rubbing alcohol.

And then shake it all together. The best part about using the baggies is they can do this themselves.

I was going to use sandwich bags, but K wanted to use his very special goldfish bags. So we went with that. I wasn't sure if it would make enough because the bags are small, but it's plenty for what we're  using it for. 

He was very excited about making "his own" green. For some reason I have no green food coloring so we decided to try to mix yellow and blue and it worked perfectly.

We ended up with 6 colors.

Laying them all out to dry. I recommend putting plastic bags (or something) underneath them in case you get a little extra color that bleeds through. The black had already bled through 3 layers of paper towels by the time I finished dying the rest.

These are great for learning colorings and making pouring and sensory activities more fun. I'm sure the colored rice will be appearing at least a few times over the next couple of weeks. :) 

Cooking

Some people don't like having their kids help them cook. It takes too long, they make a mess, they won't do it "right". Probably all true. I am not one of them. Yes, it does take longer. Do they make a huge mess most of the time? Yep. They're learning. They're just figuring things out. My thoughts? Let them. Let them try. Let them learn. Let them help you. Trust me if you do you will learn just as much from them as they do from you. Probably more. 

 Ask them next time if they want to help. And when they do find things they can do. My 2 year old loves pouring and measuring, cracking eggs, mixing and "helping" things thaw in the sink. He also likes to help me load and unload the dishwasher and set the table. 

Just because you can do it faster yourself doesn't make it the right way to do it. Most young kids genuinely want to help and be a part of whatever you're doing. Next time try to let them be involved with something you find mundane. Making dinner, doing a load of laundry, vacuuming can be quite intriguing to little ones. And having them involved will make it more fun for you too. :)

Kadin (over) salting our dinner. ;)

He made us some very yummy smelling chicken and pepper pasta sauce in the crock pot for tonight. I'm sure it will be delicious! :) 

Just a song that has been on my mind and makes me think a bit of my sweet baby. It's amazing! My favorite of theirs I think.

Glow Beads and Sand

I've been wanting to do more sensory activities with Monster Boy so today seemed like a good time. He's kind of finicky about some things he touches. One day he has no problem getting all dirty and the next he screams if something touches him.

I took some water beads, water, sand and a few empty containers. He loves pouring things back and forth. Always good to have some extra. 

 He kept the colors separate for a little while, but not for long. He though it was funny that some glowed and some didn't. He didn't want much to do with the sand at the beginning.

 Until he realized he could put the water beads in the sand.

 Mommy, they have beards! They got all hairy!

He likes it right until we put them all in the sand. Then he did not like them dirty anymore. Good thing we had water handy. ;)

Green and Pink Water Balloons

The kids were so excited about this one! We added green and pink paint to the water and then filled up the balloons. And they couldn't wait to get "decorating". It's always the simplest things. Very easy, there really isn't much to say about this project. I did fill up a bunch of balloons before I even told them what we were going to do. They are not the most patient children ever. :) And then had them help with the rest. 

 This is a great tool for filling up water balloons for kids. I thought it was kind of dumb at first, but with the little ones it's great. I think it was $10 at Bed, Bath and Beyond and it's full of balloons. You can use it to fill them with either air or water. 

 

 Filling their balloons.

Throwing the balloons.

The colors didn't show up well on the pavement. I didn't use enough paint in the water so it was a little too diluted for the pavement. It did show on the grass and dirt, but for some reason I don't have pictures of that. :P They didn't seem to mind. They were thrilled that they got to through paint all over the yard and road. :)

Blue Sand

K's sand and water table has been a huge hit this year. He told me one day "Mama I wish I had blue sand". Very random. Just one of those things he came out with. I hadn't thought much of it until today. I was thinking of it again and decided why not give it a try. 

First we tried sidewalk chalk. It would work if I had more chalk. With the amount I had (probably a little less than one piece) it just made it look like it had blue specks through it. Being the impatient person that I am, I didn't want to wait until I could get to the store. So we moved on.

We added about 1 tablespoon of rubbing alcohol and between 10-20 drops of food coloring. Kadin tends to get a little squeeze happy with food coloring. You could adjust it for however light or dark you wanted it to be. I had him mash the sand all around until the color distributed.

We put it in the oven at 250° for about 5 minutes.

We did 2 batches and then added it to the (newly cleaned) table.

Kadin and Uncle Nicky playing with the blue sand.

Sometimes All You Need is a Friend

So I will admit, I am totally a mom that loves having extra kids around. In all reality it makes my life much easier. It takes almost no extra work (provided the kid is fairly well behaved of course) and my kid has an automatic playmate which means I can get a couple extra things done. It's a win-win. And it doesn't take much to entertain them either. A few simple things and they get pretty creative with them.

Play-doh kept them busy for quite awhile. Way longer than it does when it's just Kadin. They were busy making up games and making things to give to each other. Very cute!

We took our snacks outside to enjoy some of the last bits of summer. I don't remember what was so funny, but they were laughing hysterically at whatever it was. 

Popping bubbles with sticks.

Kadin you have a boo-boo? I'm a doctor, I'll make it all better for you!

Let's go have your Mommy check it too.

Ok, now drink your juice. (Such a good little mommy this one ;))

And their buddy the squirrel that they chased around the yard for half an hour. 

So needless to say it was a wonderful day spent with 2 pretty awesome kids. We're looking forward to lots more play dates soon. :)