There is a time and a place for plastic

Near the beginning of the school year we had been dealing with some pretty major temper tantrums.  I had seen the "calm down jar" idea on Pinterest but when Tony and I saw one at the girl's school I went right home and made one.  MISTAKE!

I have no pictures of this because in the heat of a major blow out our sweet little 3 and a half year old chucked it so hard on the floor that it shattered.  You need to understand that that doesn't mean that glass went everywhere.  It means that glass, and water, and glitter, and glue went everywhere.  In their bedroom.  It was kind of a disaster.  The good that came of it is that she got what it was for us to be super mad and we didn't even give her a consequence for an hour or two (mainly because we needed to think of something that would be serious to her but not be too painful for us to enforce).  We decided on no bike, no tv/movies, and early bedtime (7:00, with Emma) for a week.  That made an impression.  

Today we finally got around to making a new one.  Mostly because I finally had an empty peanut butter jar that was made of plastic and I would feel comfortable letting them have.  The fact is I gave these little girls a healthy dose of my Sicilian blood and sometimes it comes out in their temper.  

Fact is I believe in the principle of letting children have real breakable materials.  They use real plates and glasses to eat and drink but I think giving a small child a glass jar for the purpose of shaking it up and watching the glitter swirl and settle so they can settle down when they're upset is a recipe for glitter glue all over your universe.  But other kids might be different.  And at school it apparently isn't an issue.  

We made 3 jars but my favorite is the lighter colored one.  I think I added too much color to the others but they're all fun to play with.  I had looked at a few tutorials but in the end I just put some clear glue in the jar added a tube of glitter glue, some food coloring, a few jewels, and warm water- all by eye, no measuring.  Hot glue gun on the rim before adding the cover then purple duct tape over the whole thing.

Calm down jar dance party shakedown.

 Stacking the jars.

 This is the best one of the actual jar and Em is pretty cute too!

A little project

I have been looking at an ugly spot in our living room since we moved in.  The previous owners had moved the outlet up on the wall to accomodate a tv.  Nice idea except we didn't need it and it's difficult to hide and also use the outlet.

We had an awesome floor lamp that had a tall pretty paper shade but the switch broke so we threw it out before the last move.  I couldn't just chuck the paper thinking I could use it for something and here it is.  This is a deep wooden frame I found at savers for $2.  Then I just cut and hot glued the paper over it.

I was planning on using little brass hinges so it could swing out for access to the outlet then remembered those little 3M velcro things and stuck those on.  I still don't love it, but it's better for sure.

Cooking with Poppa

I am the first to admit that I tend to over think things, but one of the things I like most about our family is we don't necessarily have "traditional" gender role duties around the house- we both do laundry, clean, cook, use power tools, mow the lawn, etc.  For sure with Tony's hours these days I do most of the house chores, but we really try to help each other out and show the girls that our family works best when we all pitch in, help each other, and work as a team.

One of the "non-traditional" things that Tony likes to do is cook.  In fact, he impressed me on more than one occasion with his cooking skills while we were dating.  

The girls love to cook and bake with us.  This is Ada helping with prepping and tasting the beef for some chili.

When Emma woke up he worked with both of the girls to make some cornbread to go with it.  YUM!

In case you were wondering... it was super yummy!

Vote for what you believe in

I look at this blog as a virtual diary for our lives.  Obviously mostly it's about the girls since they are the driving force in my life these days but there is some more personal stuff in here too.  While I don't want to be too political I feel like I need to write a post about the election as it's a major part of what I've been thinking about lately.  But I'll keep it short.  And I'll throw in a couple pictures of the girls.

I have never been a very political person until this year.  There is a proposal to change the Minnesota State constitution on the ballot this year and I am thrilled that I get to cast my vote on it.  I am decidedly in the "Vote No" camp and even put up a lawn sign and bumper sticker on my car- something I've never done before.  The amendent proposes to change the constitution to read that marriage is between "one man and one woman".   While I have tried to understand the "yes" side to this argument I keep coming back to the fact that my marriage means love, I was able to marry the person I love and if anyone had tried to tell me that I couldn't I would have been devastated on many levels.  

I think it's important to know that even if this amendment does not pass, gay marriage will still not be legal in MN.  This is simply a constitutional amendment that defines marriage.  Personally I would be proud to be a part of defeating this amendment and hopefully move forward to making marriage in MN legal for all.

Furthermore I have a difficult time stomaching the fact that between both sides of this argument over $15 million have been raised.  Imagine if we could have donated that to the Hurricane relief instead of fighting about words that are designed to hurt people.   

When I taught high school I would always ask the students having their 18th birthday if they were registering to vote.  I would even print off the forms for them if they needed them because ultimately I believe in this country, in democracy, and I believe we are all entitled to our opinion and obligated to vote.

Sorting snack

Just a simple little snack.  I had Ada guess which color there would be the most of then she sorted and counted each pile.

Post nap sleepy Ada

She didn't eat a single one until she was finished... Emma was another story!

Changing over the shelves

Halloween is over and I'm trying to get everything switched over.  This month is funny because I want to do some Thanksgiving themed crafts but Emma will have her birthday in the middle of the month and we'll be transforming the whole living room for her Eric Carle themed party--I am beyond excited!  So this morning I threw a few random but vaguely fall related trays together for the girls to find when they got home from school.  This afternoon they will discover the new art cabinet stuff I'm sure.

Foam apples with 1-10 and pom poms to practice counting. ABC Puzzle- shortly after this Ada asked for some containers and sorted the letters by color.

Matching shapes.  I added the little pieces of foam (it was packaging from something) so the blocks don't roll.

Some different leaves laminated.  We did some sorting by color and by shape.  I am hoping to expand this a bit with Ada.

 Ada really liked the roll and count activity with the Halloween stuff so I found this on Pinterest.  I think she will enjoy it- plus you get to use dabbo's!

I had printed these cutting strips last year and had a few left over and ready to go.  I plan to have the girls use the pieces for collage work closer to Thanksgiving.

Acorn stamp.  I just wrote acorn on a piece of brown foam for Ada to use as an example- she really enjoys writing these days.  Plus, the stamp pad smells like chocolate- WIN!

A shark, turtle, octopus, and a ghost (sort of)

Halloween was a smash success over here.  Tony was home and we were able to all go out together.

Ada dictated the costume choices for this year and I did my best to fulfill.  Hers is from Target and super cute.  When she would say "trick or treat" she would often clarify that she was a "nice shark" so people didn't have to worry ;)  Emma was a turtle - a teenage mutant ninja turtle costume from salvation army for $1 and just cut and safety pinned some pants and took off the red ribbon.  Added some google eyes and we were done.  I attempted to be an octopus with puffy paint and an old black t shirt and hoodie.  Ada wanted Tony to be a ghost but when he put it on Emma was too scared, crying and saying "Poppa off ghost" so he just carried it.

They held hands, were polite to our neighbors and had a ton of fun.

And post sugar...