Day Out for Mama.

On Sundays, I usually get a few hours to get out alone.  Last week, I went to Bachman's, a local garden center, gift shop, and cafe.  

They also have an "idea house"that I have heard much about.  They take a real house and decorate it for the season, and you can wander through and be inspired for your own home.  I can't wait to go to it when it opens in a month.  Fall is definitely my favorite season, and I can't see what they have created!

Yay Halloween!!

The cafe.  It seems like it is outside, but it is actually in a greenhouse.

My lunch.

Which inspired me to come home and make this.  I forgot how much I love soup!

I love these type of serving dishes.  They remind me of afternoon tea.

And on a completely unrelated, but cute, note...

Schwartz Summer Camp: Construction Week

This week, I pulled out ANYTHING that the kids could build with and put it in our living room.  The place was a wreck by Friday! I tried to create an area for each kid, but Soleil wanted to sit right next to Tate while they were building.  

The plan on Tuesday, was to paint something construction oriented, but if you have kids, you already know that this did not happen.  It didn't matter, though, they painted, made a huge mess, and had a great time.

I had also planned to go to a place in St. Paul called Art Start, which is a place with recycled materials that kids or teachers can use to build with.  I haven't yet been, but it seems as though it is similar to The Scrap Store in Wiltshire County, UK.  We used to go all the time, and Tate had a great time picking out bits of stuff for junk modeling.  

7th Birthday for The Boy

In July, Tate had his 7th birthday.  We celebrated simply, with just the immediate family at home.  I wanted to make it special, so we decorated a path for him to find his gifts.  I've been trying to minimize the number of gifts for holidays, but buy items of quality, which this year I actually succeeded in doing.  He was delighted with his magnetic toy, scooter, and a few games.  His request for his favorite dinner was Ramen, which I easily accommodated. He didn't even want to go out anywhere!

Several weeks later, we had our friends, The Stokes, to visit and we went to The Waterpark of America and had a little pizza party.  We had a great time.

Lip Balm Party!

For Tate's school, I auctioned off a Lip Balm and Salt Scrub Making Party.  It was sooo fun!  We had a group of about 10 girls, and we divided the activities in half.  They seemed to like making their stickers for each of their items as much as making the lip balm and salt scrub. (We used these labels and some gel pens.) Here are the ingredient lists that I gave to each of the girls.  (Basically, you combine all of the ingredients, adding the essential oil last.)

We were so busy making our creations, that I didn't get any photos.  Equally as fun was, after the girls went outside to play, the moms all had a chance to make their own salt scrubs.  I had such a great time!

Fun in the Kitchen--Summer 2012

 My generous neighbor gave me some of her extra, home grown zucchinis.  I have always wanted to make these and thought this was the perfect time.  They were great, and even Soleil loved them.  (They are like potato latkes, but fresher tasting.)  I had them with a little lemon juice, s&p, and sour cream on top.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/08/25/zucchini-fritters/

We made this for a little gathering I went to.  The little sweet-salty treat is so good, and easy to make.

 My helper in the kitchen.

This really works to keep your salad lettuce fresh and easy to access.  I ate sooo much more salad than I usually do, since all I had to do was pour it into a bowl to make salad:)

 And on a slightly unhealthy note, these are YUMMMY!  My friend, Ann, introduced me to their spicy, corny, salty goodness.

Picnik alternative

I used to love adding text to photos using picnik.  It is no longer in existence, but found out from a friend that picmonkey.com is a good alternative.  Here are a few pictures that I altered this week, and I have to say that I like it just as well.  It makes me excited to scrapbook.  

And in order to scrapbook, I must find my scrapbook stuff.  It all seems like it is slightly organized, but really, behind the drawers and storage units, it is a complete mess.  I found this site http://craftstorageideas.com/  and now I am super motivated!  I noticed that when my scrap stuff was in the main room that we hung out, I created more.  I also blogged more!  I am considering moving it all out of the craft room into our main family room.

And now back to my Alias marathon.  It makes me want to be a secret agent.

Plaid Barn Giveaway

I haven't actually purchased from here, but I have wanted to!
I think what happens, is that I get the item in the cart, and then someone calls me away from the computer and then I forget.  In any case, I have seen some pretty cute stuff on this site.

PLAID BARN (Craft supplies with daily deals.)

They are having a giveaway from an Instax camera, which is like a polaroid, but cooler.  Here is the link:

http://www.theplaidbarn.com/giveaway/

Where did July go?

We took a spontaneous trip to Michigan, (and by spontaneous, I mean, we decided the night before to leave at noon the next day), and somehow I lost a month.

Our summer camp hasn't progressed as planned, but that is ok--we have had lots of fun activities any way.  The weather has finally cooled, so my current favorite activity, is drinking the coffee outside, while the kids play in their pjs/underwear.  Yes, underwear.

Random Things that we have done, in no particular order:

Play with Moon Dough.

Rediscovered the View Finder.

 

 Jam with the cousins.

Freezer Paper T-shirts (google it for instructions:)

 Dyed Rice for the Sand Table (This was a total hit. Again, google...)

Hang Out with Family,

Check out Real Estate.  In Michigan.

A box and markers.

 Visitors!

A snake cake, constructed entirely by kids.

Cardboard Tubes and Tape.

Tap Light, Paint, Books about the Solar System.  

(stole this from Play at Home Mom.)

The summer is going by wayyyy too fast.

Schwartz Summer Camp: Science Week

Monday was awesome.  I pulled everything that was science related out of Tate's toy baskets, and put it in Soleil's little "shop".  I also pulled out all the science-y books from every corner of the house and put them out on a fuzzy blanket.  I was able to drink soooo much coffee that morning!

When the baby went down for her nap, Tate and I started the science experiments.

1.GIANT SOAP-- Take wax paper and put in your microwave. Microwave bar of Ivory Soap. (Don't worry it won't explode!)

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2012/04/kitchen-craft-soap-clouds-and-homemade-kiddie-tub-soaps/

2. BALLOON FUN-- Put vinegar in soda bottle. Put baking soda in unblown up balloon. Secure balloon on to mouth of soda bottle and the balloon will blow up from the gas from the vinegar+baking soda.

3. ELEPHANT TOOTHPASTE and others:http://blogs.babble.com/family-style/2012/04/30/8-recipes-for-disaster/?pid=19536#slideshow

4. DIET COKE + MENTOS--explosive fun. (Use a piece of paper to put entire roll of MINT mentos in a diet coke. It goes way up into the air. The park might be a good place to do this one!) 

5. SLIME-- pva/white glue and borax. Here is recipe. We leave out the glow in the dark paint, because I couldn't find it.http://domesticcharm.blogspot.com/2011/10/glow-in-dark-slime.htmlanother slime link:http://frugalfunchallenge.blogspot.com/2011/04/flubber-recipe.html

The slime wasn't as exciting for Tate, but I thought it was super cool.  It is just like the slime that you buy!
We repeated the Diet Coke geyser because it was fun.  The kids were excited to get sprayed down by the hose afterwards.

We also went to the Children's Museum on Tuesday.  The plan was to go to the Science Museum, but I thought it would be easier with Soleil in the Children's Museum.

We couldn't get this stuffed otter away from her....

Thursday, was dino day.  (Repeat of Monday, but all the dinosaur stuff.)  This wasn't as exciting for them.   It was rainy and stormy and hot most of the day, so as all this planning sounded great, but we ended up parked in front of The Disney Channel in the afternoon.  We watched "Good Luck Charlie" for the first time, and we LOVED it.  It really appeals to adults as well as kiddos.

Three Books

I recently cleaned out the back of the minivan after our trip to the Wisconsin Dells.  It took me hours.  It was completely and totally disgusting.  I vacuumed, cleaned carpet, wiped everything down and took absolutely everything out of the car.

In the past, each kid had a bag of stuff to play with next to their seat.  That bag grew to a bag and a plastic tote and anything you could shove in the cup holders.  It sounds like a good idea to have things on hand, but the baby get frustrated that she can't really access the bag, and she tends to drop her 5 snacks all over the floor.

Now that car is clean, today, I decided to bring her 3 books.  And Tate could have 3 things.  And at the end of the car ride, those 3 things (each) come back into the house.  I'll tell you why this is great--the car stays clean AND they actually play/read with those 3 things.  There isn't a mound of stuff that they throw on the floor, and they are happier.  I had read once that if you give kids too many choices, it overwhelms them.  This seems to be the case in my house.  (Yesterday, I cleared out Soleil's little "shop", and had the same surprising result--she played with the 10% toys I left behind!)

As for the snacks....  My kids are grazers.  I think Soleil's favorite word IS "snack".  I couldn't starve the little thing, since at age 2, she weighs only 22lbs.  (For reference, Tate weighed this at 11 months, I think.)  I found this awesome cup/snack holder that clips on to the car seat AND the stroller.  I put her sippy cup in one hole and then preloaded the snack cup that comes with it.  I also brought an additional cup.  I didn't fill it, just put a small handful of snack in the cup.  Ok, there was still some mess, but way, way less!  When she wanted the second snack, I just switched out the cups and took the other away.  (This also prevents month old teddy grahams from being consumed at some other time when you aren't looking!)

Schwartz Summer Camp: Home Week

I am loving summer!  For some reason, it has been easier to get things done around the house and have lots of time for playing, with 2 kids home instead of just one.  Soleil is definitely much happier with her brother around all day to play with.  

I themed out each week of "Schwartz Summer Camp", and really, we haven't even gotten to all of the ideas that I had on my list.  (Thanks Pinterest!)  Let's not kid...I'm way tired at the end of the day but it is a good tired.

 Reading time happens spontaneously every day at some point.  Though here, Soleil just burrowed herself under the books instead of actually reading them.

Baking Bread.  She is quite confident about her bread making skills!  There was sooo much flour on the floor.

While I made dinner, Tate had some TV time while Soleil played with her giant pile of toys.  I used the mess as an opportunity to sort through it all (and hide some toys) and reorganize.  

Soleil outside our front door, just relaxing.  There is a ridiculous number of chipmunks in our yard for her to watch.  This morning we even saw a woodpecker, working away at the tree right in front.  (Which is way better than the side of the house he was working on last summer.)

A happy baby playing in the rain.  

 
 And to warm up after the rain, they took a warm bubble bath with glow sticks.  This photo is with the flash...

 This is what the actual bath looked like.  This was Tate's idea, and a very good one, I might add!