little talks

"Mommy, when I was walking back to my class after seeing the principal, I saw Mackala in the hallway.  She was cheering me on and waving her hands up and down."

Oh, she showed up at school?  How nice you saw her.

"No, she is with me everywhere I go...even birthday parties.  I can see her but no one else can. I can talk to her with my brain."

"Mommy, I was dreaming!  I had a dream!"

What was your dream about?

"I don't remember.  My brain knows but it won't tell me."

"Momma."

The word I have been dying to hear!  Yes, she has been saying "Momma" but only in reference to more food, not me.  Today, she called for me!

milestone

milestone: an action or event marking a significant change or stage in development

On a quiet morning in the middle of town, she had the nerve to give it a try.  She reached far and used all her strength to finally accomplish the monkey bars.  Without fear of ridicule from peers or siblings, she did it.  On her own time, she did it!  When I walked up,  she beamed as she skittered around the mulch, "Momma, I can do the monkey bars!"  "Look, I can do it!"  Delighted, we all stood to watch her cross the monkey bars.

Since that day, she has worked up enough courage to practice the monkey bars at school with her friends.  Each day, she comes home and proudly tells us how many times she was able to cross those bars.  Each day, the grin gets bigger and her hands become more blistered and calloused. 

As a parents, tit is so neat to witness your child growing, overcoming fears and accomplishing new feats on their own.  Now, we just have to figure out how to get some monkey bars in our yard...at her pleasant request!  

hunting for green

Today, we are in search of green all around.  The earthy color seems to magically appear in places we never notice.  All of the sudden, the Irish magic heightens our senses and that lucky color finds its way into all the nooks and cranny's of our day.  

Normal foods we eat everyday suddenly appear only green when paired together in a new arrangement.  A few drops of green food coloring makes our milk green too.

Bright green socks are dug out of the sock bin and proudly worn

 to avoid a dreadful pinch.

Little green bows and hair-clips adorn red Irish locks of hair.

We sit in the tiniest patch of green and hunt for signs of a four-leaf clover 

and perhaps a lucky Leprachaun prancing around.

They peered into a small pond, confident they could see a Leprechaun dashing about.

Snippets of spring green are spotted among the ruffles of a homemade spring dress.

Even green hangars are found amongst a pile of laundry.  They make great teething toys.

And all this hunting for green has pleasantly reminded us that Spring is just around the corner.  The trees are blossoming and grasses are waking up, eager to spread more green all around.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!

May the luck of the Irish be with you today and always!

homemade bath salts

My big girl recently received a book {The Girls' Spa Book by Mary and Jessica Wallace} about homemade spa and bath goodies.  She quickly marked several pages of relaxing bath goodies that she wanted to make over Spring Break.  After a quick trip to the store to gather some ingredients, we begun our little test kitchen.  

The first item on her list was Bath Salts.  I wondered just how complicated some of these recipes might get but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the recipes were to make.  The ingredients for the Bath Salts were simple.  My girls enjoyed picking out food flavorings to make their salts smell.  They picked lemon extract, mint extract and strawberry extract for their fragrances.  After some measuring, dumping, squeezing and mixing, the bath salts were complete.  After trying them out in their evening bath, the bath salts got 3 thumbs up from my girls.

Homemade Bath Salts Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups Epsom salts

1/2 cup sea salt

1 cup baking soda

food color

food flavoring (extracts work perfectly) for fragrance

be sure to have a few jars with lids ready for layering and storing your bath salts

STEP 1: Mix Epsom and sea salts with baking soda in a bowl

STEP 2:  Divide the mixture into three equal portions.  Add a few drops of food coloring and scent to the  amounts of the mixture.  Mix and stir well.

STEP 3: Pour or spoon mixture into a jar (or jars).  Layer different colors for a colorful mixture.

USE IN THE BATH:

Add about 1/2 cup to your bath water or use 1/2 cup in a basin of warm water for a relaxing foot soak.

little snippets

exploring a new park - walking the baby dolls - Sunday dinner with the cousins - baking cookies

a big sand pit - going the the library with your sisters - lots of digging - fogging up the back door

giddy up!

Giddy up!  In our neck of the woods, this week was all about Texas and cowgirls.

Our big girl had her first speaking part, on stage, in front of an large audience during her class play.  Although she was nervous and asked to be absent on the day of the play, we were delighted to see her confront her fears and perform without a hitch.  She did great along with all her classmates.  It was such a treat for the parents to see how much our first graders have grown!

Meanwhile, over in PreK, we were all set to attend the annual Cowboy Breakfast at preschool but our plans were derailed by a pesky cold that kept our middle one home for the day.  She donned her cowgirl apparel for a few minutes this morning before she asked to get back in bed to rest.  Poor kid.  I guess sausage, gravy, grits and biscuits might need to make an appearance on our weekend breakfast menu.

Snow?

via B E Nelson Design

If it is going to be cold and icy, why can't we have something more like this winter wonderland?

We are desperate for some REAL winter weather to play in before the season ends.