Polling Station

Thanks to those of you who emailed me or commented on my post this past weekend. I didn't mean to sound so pathetic! I have decided to rethink my blog a little bit, but that will be a slow process.

In the meantime, I was wondering if I should have a "Do-Over Friday" feature. A lot of new readers have popped up in the last 6 months. I don't know about you, but I don't really check out the archives of blogs when I start reading them. Since I'm not posting everyday anyway, I could re-post some of (what I think are) the more useful ideas from the past 2 years.

I want to know what you think so I made a poll to find out! If you're in a Reader click here to vote in my sidebar poll! Or leave me a comment.

Sensory "Tub" for Babies

New Kid knocked the barley out of the freezer and it spilled all over the floor. Instead of cleaning it up, I just plopped him down to play with it. Don't judge, it gave me enough time to pour myself a glass of water without actually holding a baby.

Bath Bubble Science

Shall I be the first one to say it? Kids think farting in the bathtub is hilarious. Why? Because it makes bubbles!While Daddy-O and New Kid were hanging out together I spent some time with Kiddo while he took his bath and we did some bubble experiments.

It's easy and free: poke a hole in the bottom of a plastic container. Holding your finger on the hole, submerge the container open side down until it touches the bottom of the tub. Holding the container down, take your finger off the hole and watch the bubbles escape. If you want, you can talk about how air escapes and rises.... so forth. You can also demonstrate suction by lifting the container slowly out of the water. You can feel the pull of the suction-action as you remove the container from the water.

We had lots of fun seeing whose container would make the most bubbles, whose lasted longer, etc. You can make different size containers to test how many bubbles each size makes, the strength of the suction and so forth. This was so much fun for Kiddo he was pretty disappointed when it was time to get out of the bath. But really, the water was stone cold by then!

I should also let you know he added some of his own homegrown bubbles to the mix.

Another Thought or Two

New Kid is not the only one keeping me up at night.I have actually lost sleep over the Supreme Court decision. It will change our political landscape forever, and not for the good. I am nauseated just thinking about it. I kept telling myself that I should not write about it on my blog, this is not what I write about here. Actually, now that I sit down, I can't write about it. It's too icky, esp. thinking about judicial elections. All candidates should wear corporate sponsor logos, just like sports players and race car drivers.

I know "it's my blog, I can write about what I want," but I am the kind of person who likes to keep things organized and this is a blog about activities I do with my kids (or give them to do).

But my blog has been seeming silly lately. Well. Okay. It always seemed silly, but now I think I should be doing more important things instead.

I've also wondered if I should be changing the focus of my blog ever so slightly (remember I love organization) to be more about life as an urban family. Just change the title? Abandon this one and start a new blog? But then, again, I come around to the ridiculousness of having a blog in the first place.

We'll see. I have some posts in the queue which I will probably still put up.
But then.
Hmmm.
I don't know.

Ring of Snow

I got addicted to making snowflakes over the Christmas holiday. I finally fashioned some of them into a wreath for our door. Others are gracing our windows.

Handmade Bookmarks

Kiddo has 8 (EIGHT!) teachers so handmade holiday gifts were in order. We settled on bookmarks. Kiddo wrote each teacher's name with a wax crayon and then painted with watercolors to reveal the letters. We took them to a store to get them laminated and included a small moleskine notebook with each bookmark.

Of course the teachers LOVED them. How could then not?

Children in Need

The children in Haiti need our help.
You can donate to UNICEF here.
And don't forget to hug your kids.

Now We Are 5

Yesterday was Kiddo's birthday. He turned FIVE!I made these yummy cupcakes for his school class (the yummiest cupcakes ever). My favorite way of decorating cupcakes is with powdered sugar. I'm not a big frosting fan, and powdered sugar is much, much easier.

You may remember this decorating technique from my previous post.

Practical Life: Plant Care

Poor Little New Kid has a nasty ear infection. He's getting better, but Kiddo's thirst for entertainment never rests. Since he loves the spray bottle I put him to work spraying the orchids. I put them in the sink with the simple instruction: "spray them as much as you want!" He did, informing me of all the parts of the plants as he worked.

What's Up for the New Year

This is what I found in my kitchen drawer when I opened it a few days ago. That sneaky New Kid.

I've decided to slow down my blogging in 2010. You may have noticed that I blogged almost every weekday this past year, despite having a new baby in the home. But New Kid is entering a stage in which he never wants to be not-touching-mommy. And he also does not bless me with long naps or long stretches of sleep at night. So I am always tired.

Also, I am having a blog-dentity crisis, but I won't bore you with that.

I like blogging, so I am not giving it up, just slowing down so I can get other things done. Like eat lunch.

But maybe this will mean that each post will be interesting, instead of a place filler.

You can only dream.