Sugar Shacks

Mid-January we made sugar shacks.

When I was growing up, my mom would have us make graham cracker houses in February around Valentine's Day instead of in December. We used lots of red and white and pink candy. It was the only time of year that we were allowed free access to candy - don't even ask about Halloween. BUT the free access only lasted for the few hours that it took to do the houses and then the extra candy was taken away and we were only allowed to eat the candy on our houses.

I was smart. I made a garden and frosting trees stuck through with candy and fences and gates and chimneys and so much candy decorating the house that I would have candy for at least a week. Heh.

But somehow my brothers, who did all the smart things I did and ate through their candy twice as fast always had candy long after I did. It wasn't until I was eight years old that I caught on to what they were doing. They were making their house walls, filling them up with candy, and then putting a second story of graham crackers on to hide their first floor so my mom wouldn't confiscate it.

So this was a tradition I really wanted to carry on. For obvious reasons. Heh.

Problem was, my family has tons of traditions (mostly centered around Christmas, but still...) and my husband's family has, well, one - at least only one that my husband or any of his siblings that I've grilled can think of - and that tradition is graham cracker houses at Christmas time. It's really not exciting to do graham cracker houses twice a year. So I was stuck. I didn't want to give up my cool, fun, sugar-memory-laden tradition, but I wasn't about to throw my husband's one solitary tradition out in favor of mine.

Then I saw Steph's sugar shacks and thought we'd give it a try. It's a perfect replacement and it has the added benefit of being a perfect craft for tiny, chubby two year old hands. They can handle and manipulate those sugar cubes so much easier than graham crackers. Ains actually worked really hard putting her cubes just where she wanted and building her walls.



She had little interest in her roof, so as I made her roof and Hannah's roof, Hannah decorated them...



though she ended up not needing a roof herself since her shack ended up being all garden and tree.



I've learned that the best way for me to keep my interpretations, 'helpful suggestions', and controlling tendencies out of their creative processes is to do my own project to the side of theirs and only help them when asked. I did an igloo to the side. It was a really simple one with not much embellishment until the next day when Hannah and Ains got out their watercolors and went to town on it - I thought you'd like this, Steph.



Pretty cool, huh? And I would have never thought of doing that.

Helping in the kitchen.

I walked into the kitchen one afternoon and saw this...



She'd filled up the sinks and was washing and rinsing the dishes all by herself. I was told that she was 'very busy. Too busy for pictures, Mother.'

Another day found us making carrot cake. I pulled it out and stuck it on the stove to cool. About fifteen minutes later I walked by and saw this...





It had been tested in the center by Ains and decorated with all of their farm and garden popsicle stick sticker puppets. They were very pleased with it - it was stunning. I like their initiative.

Honeycomb 'candy'.

I found a recipe for Honeycomb Candy online somewhere. Can't remember where now, but it's just as well. It was a horrid recipe. I was really disappointed because the type of candy it was supposed to be was so yummy in Ireland. So I found this one. We'll try it. Later. After the memories of this one have faded from our taste buds. It was that bad. But the foaming and the air pockets were cool.

Daddy helping measure out the ingredients.



Ains sprayed the pan for us. That candy ain't sticking.



Hannah watching the temperature on the candy thermometer.



After it's heated up, you add the baking soda. When you do that, it foams up so fast that you have to be ready to pour it immediately. It will overflow the pan. It's very impressive.

It cooled quickly, so the girls could use their fingers to feel it go from soft to brittle.



We tried it. It was foul. So the girls got to go after it with vegetable peelers. That was fun.



So if you try the recipe I linked to, let me know how it turned out. I'm not going to get brave again for awhile.

Catching up.

It's been a busy few weeks, but I've been held up on posting some pictures, so here they are - weeks worth of pictures narrowed down to a few different posts with pictures that I couldn't just skip over.

Snapshot Sunday

How it began.

Steph's up!

Duffs are up!

Because it's so cold here,

and it's so hot there.

Check out the heat in Australia.

Swimsuits and Bubble Painting on the Prairie

So the day after the swimsuit request was, naturally, beach day. Food was eaten on towels near the bathtub, and the girls lived in the bathroom splashing and laughing all day. And there was much peace.

The last two days, however, have seen them forget completely about swimsuits as Hannah has, out-of-the-blue, decided that the 'Mary books' are back in. On Tuesday morning she declared "Mother, I'm into the Mary books again. Can we start reading?" I asked her if she wanted to start over with Little House in the Big Woods, which is her favorite, or start up where we left off, partway through On the Banks of Plum Creek. "The Plum Creek one." So we started there.

For two days, she has been Mary. She relates more to Mary than to Laura. Ainsley has been told she's Laura (though she's been quite insistent that she is, in fact, a horsey), I have been Ma, and their father has been Pa. That leaves Grayson. Poor Grayson. Baby Carrie is the only character left. "OH!", says Hannah, "I have an Uncle Kerry! Gray will be Baby Kerry." So Baby Kerry he has been.

Lots of looking at animals on our favorite animal website - swans first, then following intriguing suggestions on the website and in her mammal encyclopedia. The basking shark was a huge (literally) hit. And we found images and even a video of triops, which she has (hopefully hatching) in a tank.

Ains is rarely to be found without her magnifying glass in hand, looking for footprints, elephants, Grayson, or her ponies. "A - HA!!!" is not heard often, but when it is, it's very triumphant.

She's also very good at goading Gray into playing with her. Today she had him crawling in a three foot diameter circle, lapping him seven times for every one of his circles. Every time she passed him, he would giggle hysterically as if he thought he was almost going to catch her.

Remember the bubble painting? Hannah and I tried a suggested improvement - using a small amount of tempera paint (in place of food coloring) stirred in before the bubbles are blown. It makes much more vibrant art. I wouldn't do it with a little one though who might forget that she can't *suck* on the straws and might do so.

Swimsuit season.

My girls are on a daddy-daughter outing to the city to go to 'the fish restaurant'. A big, big deal.

Gray and I are here playing alone.

I got a phone call about thirty minutes ago and was informed that my girl wanted to negotiate with me. Apparently they'd stopped to pick up some stuff at a store.

"Mother?"
Yes?
"You know, I like to take baths."
Yes, you do.
"You know, sometimes I like to wear my swimsuit in the bath. It's fun. It reminds me of summer."
Yes. I know.
"You know, I haven't been able to wear my swimsuit in the bathtub because it's too tight and then I can't swim and that's no fun and then I'm cranky and then I fight with my sister and then she's not happy and then there's no peace and Barack Obama said peace."
Where are you, Hannah?
"We're in the two year old swimsuit section. But none of these fit me. I need the five year old section."
I see. Do you want a new swimsuit that fits?
"Oh, yes. And they're only $10 and Ainsley is giggling, but we have to get two, Mother. One for me and one for her. We share really good, Mother, but we can't share swimsuits. So can I get one?"
Yes, sweetie, you can get one.
"Can Ainsley get one?"
Yes.
"Oh, you're the best Mother ever!"
Well, that was easy.

That child makes me smile.

Snapshot Sunday

This card was sent to me by a dear friend. It is by my favorite modern artist.

Stephanie's up!

Check out Stuff about the Duffs!

Ains count!

Hide and go seek is a favorite game around here these days. Hours on end, which is surprising given the age of the younger player. The other day I hid behind the laundry pile and Hannah couldn't find me. I need to work on that pile, maybe. Anyway, the pattern is predictable - a parent counts and seeks, then Hannah counts and seeks, and then Ainsley declares that it's her turn.

"Ains count!" and she throws herself up against a wall with her arms over her eyes. "One, two, three, four, eight, sixteen, COME!!!!" And then she runs to find. If she finds you in the first thirty seconds, you're good. If not, you'd better come out because it's likely she's found an intriguing toy, or decided to cook in her kitchen, or has inexplicably decided that hiding is more fun.

"Barack Obama said peace."

Hannah watched the inauguration with me and, while she thought Rick Warren's prayer was 'silly' (I'll say that I agreed with her. In fact I muted the man after about twenty seconds of his shouting and gesticulating.), and she colored through most of the part we watched, she listened more carefully than I thought to Obama's speech. And I didn't think she listened at all - she is, after all, four years old.

Since that day, I have heard "Barack Obama said peace" more times than I care to remember. No raised voices allowed around her. When we were in the car today, she was very quiet so I asked if she was asleep. "No, Mother. I'm fustated with Ainser but Barack Obama said peace so I'm breathing like you do when you get fustated." Okay, then. When she and Ains were playing in the bathtub last night and Ains got upset with Hannah for taking her starfish, Hannah jumped in with "Barack Obama said peace, Ains. Be peace." Ains thought she'd be peace just fine when Hannah gave back her starfish, thank you very much.

I *am* wondering what else Hannah picked up out of that speech that I didn't even think she was listening to...

Bubble art.

Ainsley loves to blow bubbles in juice, water, chocolate milk, shakes, any liquid placed in front of her with a straw. So today we encouraged it with bubble art.

Put a little bit of water in a bowl with some dish detergent and food coloring.

Edit: We have discovered that if you use a small amount of tempera paint instead of food coloring, the art is more vibrant. Stir the paint in before you blow bubbles. I wouldn't do it with little ones though - I didn't try it with Ains because when we did the food coloring version, she sucked up one time and got a mouthful. Ick.



Using a straw, blow into the water, making bubbles come up over the edge of the bowl.



Gently lay a piece of paper on the bubbles.



If 'gently' isn't your style, by all means go with what feels good to you.



We got some very pretty pictures.







This one looked like a microscope slide of plant cells to me. I wish you could see it better - it's very faint even when it's in-hand.



In the first picture, you can see that Hannah's putting the food coloring on top of bubbles she'd already blown. She got some really interesting pictures that way.



This used a lot of food coloring and you don't want very much water in the bowl or the food coloring gets too diluted and the bubbles aren't colored. Yellow doesn't work very well with this project.

Snapshot Sunday

Stuff about the Duffs is back. Cool elephants.

Here's Pam, joining us for the first time!

The Ladybug Game

Have you seen this game?



It's a very cool game, made by a kid, for kids.

A child doesn't have to know how to read numbers to play this game, so it can be played by the very young.

It's a bit odd that as you gather up the aphids to eat them, they're grinning happily. Maybe aphids don't care. I dunno.

It's an easy game to make into a cooperative game, as everyone can pool their aphids to help those get home that don't have enough.

And when you're two and you lose interest in the minimal strategy of the game, the cute illustrations and playing pieces make for a fun storyboard to play around on.

We've had it since Hannah was two and she's loved it. It's definitely worth owning, this one.

Camouflage.

You know in some movies, how either good guys or bad guys can sneak up on people by disguising themselves as a stationary item that just slowly moves? Like a tree or a bush that starts out in one place, far away from you, but every time you turn around it's just a teensy bit closer. That happens to us a lot here.

It's usually something like a blanket that's completely inconspicuous on a beanbag.



But then you walk into the other room, and you turn around to see that the blanket has somehow made it to the refrigerator.



No harm done. It's out of the way there. But then, when you're not looking, the blanket sneaks farther into the kitchen until it's underfoot.



And no matter how many times you pick up and move the (hysterically giggling) blanket...



It always ends up back at your feet.

Today we...

Made kaleidoscopes. Very cool. Thanks Katey!

Made money. Very Useful Money.



Spelled names. This never stops around here these days.



Played Poisson Rouge (Red Fish). Discovered new games added to Peep. Decorated cakes in Ponyville.

Discovered seals.



Hilarious creatures that they are. Apparently.



Played in magazines.



Played in beanbags.



Did yoga.

Cooked in the little kitchen.

Read books.



Played with sticker books.



Played with ponies.

Marked days off on the calendar.

And to make Gray feel included here - nursed, nursed, giggled, pulled hair, nursed, nursed, slept, nursed, teased sisters, cuddled with sisters, and nursed.

Made banana pops. Discovered Mother's huge stash of popsicle sticks when looking for sticks for banana pops. Made popsicle stick art.








Changed clothes a minimum of seven times throughout the day.

Made chocolate muffins.

Dressed up and danced the night away.

Took a bath to get banana out of hair.

Fell asleep. Wonderful.

OLM-inspired post. To make me notice the Magic.

Do you see his face?

We're all healed up but him. The girls are watching Strawberry Shortcake. He's too sick to escape. Heh.