Baked Cotton Balls

The more I read about the benefits of sensory play for toddlers the more I look for fun ideas for the little man and I to explore with. I stumbled across this really nice list and found something that would be easy enough to whip up and that I had all the ingredients on hand, Baked Cotton Balls! Sounded interesting and most definitely not something J and I had done before. So here we go!

All the ingrediance: 1 cup flour, 1 cup water, cotton balls, and (if you want some fun colors) food coloring!

Mix flour and water together. I did this in my measuring cup so I had less dirty dishes in the end. ;)

Now back to if you want fun colors, split mix up into separate bowls and add food coloring. I added 6 drops of each color, you could add more if you wanted more vibrant color. (You can skip this step all together)

Then you dip your cotton ball completely covering it in the colored mixture and place on a greased cookie sheet. I used PAM to grease my cookie sheet. (Please excuse the disgusting state of this cookie sheet, it is used for craft purposes only)

While I was putting all this together I let the J-man play with plan cotton balls. If he wasn't so crabby from teething and putting everything in his mouth I may have let him help with the messy part. But he was happy as a clam playing with the original cotton balls.

Once all your cotton balls are on your cookie sheet place in your oven for 45-60 mins at 300 degrees.

When they come out of the oven let them sit and cool.

Mine had a bunch of extra "stuff" hanging out on the cookie sheet, so I later broke all that off.

Once he woke up from his nap it was play time! Unfortunately they didn't break open as easy as I had hoped they would. So I snapped open a few for him to play with.

He really enjoyed stomping on them and roaring at me like a dinosaur.

But just as promised, hard colored shell with soft and fluffy center. Maybe if I cooked them longer or added more flour to my mixture to make it thicker would it crack easier. I may just try this again.

Starting Over

I started this blog back when I first became a stay at home mom. With a small infant, and adjusting to a new life, time got the best of me and my new blog got put on the back burner. My little man and I have finally settled into a nice little grove and I believe now that I can (or will do my best to) actually blog the way I had originally planed. Sharing with you tips, tricks, and just my life as a SAHM.

I have become very obsessed with the website Pinterest (at least I can admit it right), so I am very excited to share with you my trials of projects and such I have discovered via Pinterest. If you are anything like me and a Pinterest-a-holic feel free to look me up (srdaniel) and "Follow Me".

As I am still learning to be a wife, mom, and home-maker (when are we really ever done learning) I will ask from time to time your advice and I really hope that some of you (my follower/readers) will publish your input as I really do love hearing from you.

Oh Christmas Tree!

So the first saturday of December every year we go to "hunt" down the perfect Christmas tree. We were so excited this year since this will be Jamesons first Christmas, so this is his very first Christmas tree, it just makes it that much more special. Off we went to our favorite tree farm, popped Jameson in his carrier on my back (his new favorite way to be carrier) and hiked around for 2 hours searching for the perfect tree. We finally found one we liked even though Jake thought it was to short, I told him if it was we could just put it on a box. I like that the damn tree ended up being 8.5 feet tall, short my ass. Once we got it home we had to chop the bottom and some of the top off..... Ohh well it is pretty. I only had enough energy to put the star and the lights on, but we will get to decorating soon.

No Poo Update

So I have been doing the "No Poo" wash with my hair for about a month now. It did get pretty greasy for a while but it seems to be getting better now. I was getting concerned that the ends of my hair were really dry and hard to brush out. So I finally decided to to try the apple cider vinegar conditioner, and now I am wondering WTH took me so long. It was so easy to brush my hair out and now it's nice and soft again. :) I think I might just stick this out!

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was our first Thanksgiving with the little guy. We went up to my parents house as usual. It was so cute, my parents had a little surprise for J, The Lil Zoomers Spinnin' Sounds Speedway. He absolutely loved it!
Dinner went well, Jameson decided to take a nice long nip right before we ate, and I thought he was going to miss his very first Thanksgiving dinner. But right after we said grace the little guy woke up. :) I couldn't have been more happy. He sat and ate him green beans and sweet potatoes like such a big boy. Proud mama!

Baking with a Needy Child

Every year for Thanksgiving I cook pretty much the enitre meal by myself. My mom helps of course with the Turkey, stuffing and and few other minor details, but I always spend the day before and the day of cooking/baking up a storm. Well with Jameson in the picture this year I asked my mom if I could scale back a little. Seeing as how I am a little spoild and refuse to eat a pie make with frozen crust, I offered to make three pies and an array of different diner rolls.
So I wake up today with a very needy teething baby... Oh joy! On a day I need him to just be happy playing for a while. So while baking I had him in his high chair, on the floor with pots and pans, on my back in his carrier (which I had never done before), and napping.
The day was acctually quite a success, minus the fact that I ran out of brown sugar for the topping of my sour cream apple pie and despiritely needed to run to the store. When I bundled up me and the babe and ran out to the car I find myself with a VERY flat tire. So alas, we were stuck at home and I had to call my husband for assistance. So I had to stay up baking until 11:30 since Jake didn't get home until a little after 10. JOY!

Jameson's First Meal

I was finally talked into giving Jameson solids last night. I was excited as well, but something in me was just telling me to wait.
Anyways, I was very determined to give him avocado and really wanted him to like it. For the most part I think he was just weirded out about the texture, but he was getting it in his mouth and chewing it around. So now I know..... He is ready for food.

Ready....

Jameson's first "meal"

At least it was fun to play with

Our much needed bath afterwards

Splish Splash