Homeschool. Sensory Tubs. Orbeez.

I just thought I would post some fun pictures of our sensory tub fiasco the other day!!  (BTW, I really like the whole idea of the sensory tub.  What is a sensory tub you ask?  If you haven't heard of one, click here: sensory  <----click there to learn about sensory tubs)

Annnnnnyway.....I thought I would be a "fun homeschool momma" and let Violet have a turn at a sensory tub full of Orbeez.  Orbeez are these squishy little balls. They start out tiny and hard and you soak them in water and they get bigger and squishy.  Anyway...the kids LOVE these.  I thought it would be fun to let Violet have a turn with it. I put down a towel and let her have a turn.  Let me just say...she was very excited!! 

I let Philip play with her as well because he loves them too.

This is what a tub of them look like...

She begins to start splashing them! 

And while I'm taking pictures of her and her fun she does THIS!  Hmmm...this one is my fault.  I should have KNOWN she would do this! :)

Fortunately, the girls were around and helped pick them up.  As soon as we were done with all of our school work Madeline ask to have a turn with them.  About 10 minutes later while I'm standing in the kitchen cooking lunch I see Violet carrying the Orbeez bucket sans Orbeez.  Madeline left them unattended.  And of course Violet took advantage.  Madeline had to pick these up by herself and afterwards she declared that she NEVER wanted to see an Orbeez again!! :)

Homemade Hand Soap - Super Easy!!

Well...most of you are aware of Pinterest and how addicting inspiring it can be.  Well, when I saw a pin the other day to make homemade hand soap I knew it was definitely something that I wanted to try!  I thought...if this works, I won't have to buy soap from that soap/lotion store in the mall anymore!!  Plus, I've been needing a refill for the mason jar soap pump I made (also a Pinterest project).  So...here goes. Here is a link to the original blog that taught me how to make this soap: familyoffarmers

Supplies You Will Need:

* One 8 oz bar of Myers brand soap.  Seems to me that this one works the best from all that I have read online.  If they don't sell it at your store, here is a link to their online store:  myers <---click there to go to the Myers webpage. :)

* Cheese grater

* 1 Gallon of Water

* 2 Tablespoons Glycerin (I bought my bottle at Hobby Lobby for 3.47)

Grate the whole bar.  This is a nice little workout for your arm.  At least it was for me.  It's a little harder than grating cheese :)  But it will make your hands smell good! :)

Looks like a big bowl of mozzarella!

Once it has been grated then you can mix it with one gallon of water in a larget pot.  You will also add your 2 tablespoons of glycerin at this point. 

Turn the heat to medium high and start stirring until it dissolves. 

Once it has dissolved it will look like a big bowl of soapy water!!

Then, you just leave it alone.  You let it sit for 10-12 hours.  I did it the other night after dinner and just let it sit and do it's thing overnight while I slept.  This is what it looked like the next morning.  I have to say I was very surprised at how hard it was.  I had to start stirring....

After stirring for a while, it was a bit thick.  So, I added some water...I'd say...oh....a half a cup or so.  I stirred some more. 

Then I just got out my hand mixer.  It had large lumps in it so I tried to mix them as well as I could.  It took a few minutes.  It was a very thick, almost slimey texture.  Mucous is the word that comes to mind.  Sorry if that is graphic.  But I'm a was a nurse so that's where my mind goes.  :)

In the end...this makes a LOT of soap!!  I had one large jar I had bought from Hobby Lobby to store it in but it wasn't big enough.  So, I just stored it in extra mason jars.  I have only been using it for a few days now.  It has a great smell!!  It doesn't lather and get sudsy like other soaps but I don't think that is such a big deal.  It is still a little thick...maybe i should've mixed it up with a little more water on that last step?? Anyway...I am happy with it for the couple of days I've been using it.  I hope I continue to like it because it's going to last a very long time!! :)

American Girl Birthday Party for Maddo

We celebrated Maddo's 8th Birthday yesterday with a little get together of family.  She wanted it to be "American Girl" themed.  I wanted to keep it simple and stay on a simple budget.  She requested a cake that I make myself so that was super easy and inexpensive...and YUMMY!!  She already has several American Girl things so we just used what we already had to decorate. 

Her doll is a "My American Girl Doll" that is supposed to look like you.  Her name is Alisha.  She was gracious enough to help us decorate.  Even SuSu let us use her doll, Marie Grace, to help decorate!  The girls all got some of the little mini dolls for Christmas and we used those as well.

For the goody bags, I bought a package of adorable little boxes from Dollar Tree and used some American Girl stickers we already had to decorate them.  So easy.  We had lemonade and fruit punch to drink.  Since we had the party at 11:00am it was simple - cake and ice cream.  She loved it!

Here are a few pictures I snapped during the party....

Bubbles Anyone???

I've had a lot of fun with my new camera lately...there is definitely SO MUCH to learn.  I need to just sit down with the book I bought written specifically for the camera I have and READ it!!  I'm scared of the manual setting.  I need to be brave.  I need to read the book.  I need to play with the camera.  I need to be brave enough to fail and take really bad pictures while I'm in the learning process.  In the meantime, though, here are a couple of cute pictures I took the other day while my little SuSu was playing in the bubbles.