Sticky sand activity

Since Zoe has been born, Elias hasn't been getting as much outside time as he normally does and with the weather being 95+ this week, we haven't been out much at all! I've been trying to come up with some different creative things to do inside as well as starting a bit of "school" with him last week. 

We are in the middle of a giant purge as we get ready for a garage sale and a possible down-sizing in the coming months. As I was going through some of my craft supplies, I came across several jars of sand leftover from decorating from my wedding. I immediately thought we should use them for some sort of activity for Elias. So thanks to the internet I found this recipe for "sticky sand". So we made some!

Basically it makes perfect "wet" beach sand except it's not really wet. It holds together and makes great sand castles! I put it in a big tub in the kitchen and let E go to town. Rookie mistake. Definitely should have put something down on the floor first. I'll probably be sweeping sand for days. 

Anyway, he scooped and made sand shapes for a while. Then he got some trucks and things got really exciting. He played at that sand bucket for well over an hour! 

His little construction trucks were just the right size! 

We stored the leftover sand in the small plastic tub with a lid. Supposedly if it's stored in an airtight container it will last for a long time. I guess we'll see! But we won't be doing it on the kitchen floor again for a good long while ;)

And this is what Zoe-bug thinks of sticky sand...

Don't forget to check out the full recipe and original post here!

How I managed to ruin two perfectly good appliances in one day...and other mom-fail moments

Mom-fail #1 

Yep that's right. Two. In one day. About 20 minutes actually. Although one isn't actually ruined after all. So here's the story. After living in absolute chaos for a few months, I decided it was high time I get back into a cleaning routine. So I started last week and was feeling pretty proud of myself for keeping the house at least sanitary again. Until Tuesday that is...when I attempted the kitchen. I usually clean our microwave with vinegar by steaming it. You can read all about that process here. Well I've been doing it this way for about 6 or 8 months so I've done it plenty of times. But apparently I did something different this time. I put the vinegar/water in a glass bowl and turned on the microwave (just like I always do) and started cleaning the dishwasher front. The kids were asleep so the house was quiet except for the hum of the microwave running. And then it happened. It sounded like a gunshot went off and I jumped and screamed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the microwave door flying open and the glass bowl hurtling out. After I recovered from my mini heart attack (my heart was racing for a good ten minutes) I realized what had happened. Apparently the vinegar evaporated. Apparently when that happens the glass bowl gets reeeeally hot. And apparently when the glass bowl gets really hot it explodes. So yes, basically I exploded the door off my microwave. The bad news is the microwave no longer works. The good news is that apparently I have two really good sleepers because neither of them woke up ;)

Ok, appliance number two. As I was recovering from the shock of an explosion in my kitchen, I decided to continue cleaning the other appliances. Typically I just use an all-purpose cleaner and wipe down the fronts but I thought I would go the extra mile and clean our stainless steel appliances with a cleaner made specifically for that purpose. So I cleaned the dishwasher front. Sparkling. The oven? Sparkling. The refrigerator? Streaky and scratched. No one told me our refrigerator was a fraud. It's FAKE stainless steel and that does not work well with stainless steel cleaner. 

However, I was able to salvage the fridge pretty well after lots of rinsing and wiping and buffing. It's not as good as new but it's not too noticeable. 

Mom-fail #2

Twice in the same week I drove home from an outing without buckling my toddlers car seat. Somehow in the chaos of getting both kids out of the parking lot and into the car and loading the stroller while the baby's screaming all while it's a million and one degrees outside...it just got overlooked. And I get reminded about it regularly by my 2 year old who remembers everything. "Mommy didn't buckle me earlier and yesterday! Isn't that so silly?!" Yeah....

Mom-fail #3 

I'm standing in church Sunday morning with my family (E has started coming to "big church" for the music part of our worship service since I've been taking a break from playing keyboard). I was just singing and noticing all of the babies in the service (our church is full of babies). I heard a baby start crying and thought to myself how glad I was that our church recognizes the blessing of children and enjoys having them in service. The baby continued to cry and I began to look around to find out whose it was. All the babies in my line of sight looked happy. "Whose baby is that?!" I said to myself. And then I realized what you've probably guessed by now...it was my baby. Mom-fail.



Thankful that these moments are laughable now. And thankful for grace as I muddle my way through this mess of motherhood.

Until next time!

Adventures with two kids

Well I know you probably don't believe it since I've been MIA since Zoe was born, but we ARE surviving!! The adjustment phase is lasting a lot longer than my optimistic brain planned on it being but that's ok! Zoe has been a really great baby for the most part. She's starting to be awake a bit more during the day and is smiling and "talking" more every day. She sleeps great at night, usually about a 4 hour stretch at the beginning of the night and then eating every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. She doesn't cry at all at night so we are actually getting a decent amount of sleep. The evening however, is a different story. As best as I can tell she has colic (that mysterious and dreaded word). So we have nightly crying fests (mostly her, although I may have joined in a few times). Elias has had a bit of an adjustment phase as well as he gets used to sharing mommy's time. We've been having a lot more behavioral issues than we were used to with our usually complaint little man. All to be expected, but the combination of a demanding newborn and a much more demanding 2 year-old has left very little time for much else besides survival. I'm sure as the weeks go by and things smooth out, I will feel like we have a life outside of crying babies again! So here are some of our adventures with two kids!

First church day 

Lots of walks in the boba wrap!

Sunday night trip to the myriad gardens for water fun and live music (plus the best chocolate malt ever!)

Zoe's first trip to the zoo!

Lake fun with family

Sometimes your house looks like this...

And sometimes you let your kid jump on the bed with a bucket on his head...

LOTS of days this happens...(why yes, that is her brother's rain boot looming ominously in the corner of the photo) 

And some days, if you're lucky, this happens. 

And that's what makes it worth it. With all the good, the bad, and the ugly, I wouldn't have it any other way. Sibling love melts this mama's heart. 😍