St. Patrick's Day Weekend

We had fun celebrating St. Patrick's Day this weekend. N and I went to the local parade while Daddy and L stayed home for L's nap time. I really enjoy my "field trip" days with the boys, especially when I get to take one of them for one on one time. So, this weekend our field trip was going to the parade. We ended up finding a great parking spot and were able to get to the parade without walking too far. And on the way was the fire station that allowed us to use the restroom. I will have to remember that for next year's parade. Anyway. N enjoyed catching the candy and necklaces the parade people threw out. One of the floats handed out little boiled potatoes wrapped in foil with forks sticking out of them! You had to do a little jig to get one of those. There were several cars with their windows down and music turned up loud. On the way home from the parade N said, "Mom, can we roll down the windows and turn up the music like we're in a parade?" I said absolutely! So we rolled down the windows, cranked the music and boogied. So fun! After the parade, we stopped for lunch and went to the grocery store for a few things. N and I were both pretty tired when we got home, so we took it easy for a while before heading outside to play.

D decided to create a huge spray booth this weekend in the garage to spray some tractor parts. That project took quite some time, so the boys and I found ourselves playing outside a lot. Fortunately we've had abnormally gorgeous weather lately. It's been in the mid 70's for more than a week. I think we even hit 80 one day! Our tulips are already peeking out of the ground and the boys found a toad ("not a frog" as N would say). So, I guess it's officially Spring. I haven't put our winter clothes away though. I know Mother nature can be a little tricky sometimes.

Daddy got the power wheels out a few days ago. The boys are really enjoying riding those. It's amazing how well L can drive them considering his age. I'm just convinced he's very coordinated and athletic and that allows him to run and play the way he does.

Today I made the boys (another Pinterest inspired thing) a fruit tray in the shape of a rainbow with marshmallow and cream cheese fruit dip. N tagged this another form of "fun-due." I went with it. The boys were way more excited about the fruit and dip than I ever thought they'd be! They inhaled it like two vultures. D and I kept looking at each other like, "Holy cow! They're serious about this!" So, I took a few pictures. I wonder if I make a veggie tray in the shape of a rainbow if they'd eat it....Hmmm..

We capped the weekend off with a nice dinner at home and a walk around the block. The one nice thing about being outside the majority of the weekend means the boys went to bed easily tonight!

Helping me make GF meatballs. Should I wear a helmet too?

Rainbow Fruit Tray with Dip (equal parts strawberry cream cheese, marshmallow fluff)

Vultures, I tell you. Vultures. :)

"Butter bread" (garlic bread) makes him look like a Leprechaun

Job Jar

I listen to a podcast by Simple Mom. She has lots of neat, simple ideas for families to live in an organized, but simple way. The other day I heard her mention her chore sticks. I liked the idea, so I am using it at our house. We call ours Job Sticks because the boys understand the word "job" but couldn't quite understand the word "chore." Our Job Sticks go in our Job Jar. As Simple Mom suggested, you collect a bunch of craft sticks. Then you think of a list of kid friendly jobs, write one job on each craft stick and put them in a jar. Now I've seen people get pretty fancy with their job jars using paint, craft paper, pretty jars, etc to decorate them. We kept our's simple. I simply wrote our jobs on unpainted craft sticks with a Sharpie, then stuck all of them in a green plastic cup. Each night before dinner, we all draw three to four sticks and those are our jobs. When we've completed our job, we put the stick back in the jar. So far, our jobs center around meal time prep and pick up. Here's what we have in our jar.

Clear off table before and after meal

Set out napkins and forks

Turn off TV (before meal)

Move kitchen chairs

Spray table

Wipe table

Sweep

Vaccuum

Mom's Choice

Dad's Choice

Some silly "jobs" I throw in from time to time are:

Make a silly face

Tell a joke

Favorite thing today

Some time I'm going to surprise the boys and make a stick that says go get ice cream

The boys are responding to this system really well! N especially likes it. He's kind of taken charge of making sure we draw sticks every night and he keeps us all accountable for our jobs. Each time he completes a task he's very happy to return his sticks to the jar with a sense of accomplishment.

German Chocolate Fudge Bites

I made the following recipe the other day and it turned out really good. I changed it a tiny bit (reduced coconut to 1 TBSP). I found that just a little bit over 1/3 cup pecans worked well because it allowed the mixture to stick together better. Any more than that and it became crumbly and difficult to form into balls.

German Chocolate Fudge Bites

3/4 cup pitted dates

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

pinch salt

2 TBSP Cocoa Powder

1 TBSP shredded coconut

1/3 to 1/2 cup raw pecans

Blend all ingredients together in food processor. Pour into larger bowl. Scoop and shape with cookie dough scoop and hands. Store in refrigerator.

I found that one 8 oz box of pitted chopped dates is perfect for doubling this recipe.

Flu Bug,Tape Town, Ball Run & Toy Storage

N was home with the stomach flu today. That's one illness we haven't had yet this year, so I guess we were due. Ha. When N is home from school, I try to find low key interesting things to do. When he's feeling well enough to get off the couch he can do something to get his mind off being sick. So today we did two activities that I found on Pinterest. I love Pinterest. I'm actually surprised at how many things I have pinned that I have followed through with and created!

N has always loved to play with tape, so this is perfect for him. I flipped the rug in my dining room over and we applied painter's tape and clear scotch tape to the bottom of the rug in the shape of a road. We pretended the large open spaces were various things such as Wisconsin Dells, Disney World, a farm, a car wash, an airport, etc. It was fun. Both boys (and Mommy) enjoyed it. Side note: I go back and forth between furnishing our "dining room" (that has not a stitch of furniture in it). And just yesterday I had convinced myself that it was time to buy something. Then, it never fails, we did a project like this and I'm glad we have an empty room to play in...So, my desire to furnish this room has once more passed for a while.

We made this ball run. L showed more of an interest in it. N helped cut some of the tubes in half, but started to feel yucky again, so he laid down on the couch before the project was done. In this case, I used an extra cork board we had in the basement. I cut several paper towel/toilet paper rolls in half and stapled them to the cork board. The boys and I collected several small balls from around the house and cut the drop holes in the tubes accordingly. If we had more paper tubes, I would have made more runs. I suppose we could add more as we save up tubes...if the boys are still interested in it.

Daddy has been looking for storage units to put in our garage for the purpose of storing outdoor toys for a long time. He's even purchased a couple units and returned them because they didn't meet his requirements. So, last weekend Daddy bought supplies and made his own toy storage unit and it turned out really nice!!! He used wood for the main structure of the unit, but used wire shelves that will allow dirt and sand to fall through rather than collect on the shelves. He also used peg board on the back and ends to allow for hanging space for shovels and lighter toys.