Lemon Cream Squares

Lemon Creame SOAP Squares

NOT for eating! lol

We made these fun all natural goat milk lemon soap squares today to test an idea and they turned out lovely! 

They look so delicious! REAL lemon was used with no added chemicals or fragrances. They smell so nice and I can't wait to put them to use in our bathrooms. Super easy and fun!

Holi Festival of Color

A couple weekends ago we attended the Holi Festival of Color in Boise. It's an East Indian festival that has become very popular in the U.S. and other countries because it's just so darn fun! Traditionally, the festival began as a way for women to celebrate their fertility and families. Now it is more about the battle between good and evil (spoiler alert: good wins). 

You don't have to be a certain faith or religion to enjoy this colorful festival. The festival involves wearing white and when you enter you are given powder paints to throw or smear on yourself and others. You can buy more as desired. It's like a giant paintball event without the guns! The paint washes off fairly easy with a good shower scrub- though you might have rainbow boogies for a day or two.    

Some fellow Boise goers.

Herrett Center Camp-In

Alex eating bagels for breakfast at the science museum camp-in.

150 kids attended between grades 3-5. They chose between 17 different science workshops to attend on the college campus in real classrooms, had a show and workshop at the planetarium, visited the observatory where Alex got to see Saturn and it's rings through the telescope, and had a midnight scavenger hunt. Of course they had a bazillion chaperones (background checked and screened) to supervise. 

For sleeping, the kids were divided into groups and slept in the different museum exhibits. How cool is that?! I thought the kids who slept in the dinosaur exhibit were probably pretty excited- or scared. There is a giant wooly mammoth skeleton along with several other dinosaur skulls and remains.

Camping in the art exhibit.

This was the primitive weapons exhibit. Arrowheads, spears, knives, etc. 

Alex was in the purple room, or the fishing exhibit. He got to camp out in the smaller movie room with a couple of friends, so they had their own little private hideaway which was fun.

Sorry for the blur. Alex saying good-bye to his camping buddy.

Hecate & Ostara

Ostara got her collar off today. Yay! Her wound looks like it's healing well and I don't think she'll be able to hurt it now by licking it. She was so happy when it came off, too. She did not like the collar one bit.  

Yesterday I caught Hecate, her sister, hugging Ostara while she slept. How sweet is that!!?? But honestly they are like this often. They are such good sisters to each other. They are very protective of each other and they've never fought. We've had them since they were about 6 weeks old, and they have always been the best of friends. 

Even though I am terribly allergic to them, I'm so glad they are a part of our family. :-)

Straw Necklaces

We had some used smoothie straws that had been washed in the dishwasher and were piling up, begging to be reused for something. Last weekend I finally decluttered my kitchen drawers and set the straws aside to use this week in a project.

Making straw necklaces is a fun oldie but goodie, especially when using giant colorful straws like these! 

You'll need yarn or string, tape, and straws. 

Cut the straws into 'beads', making them different lengths as you go for variety. 

Take some yarn, cut it into necklace lengths (be generous), and tape off the ends for easy threading.

Place the beads and cords on the table and let the kiddos go to town creating!

Threading beads is an excellent fine motor skill builder, too. This is just right for 3-5 year olds, and challenging for 2 year olds and under with varying degrees of assistance. 

DIY Pet Cone

Ostara came inside this morning with an injury. Maybe a scrap with the neighbor cat, or maybe she got stuck on something. Thankfully it isn't bad enough to need stitches, but it's deep enough it needs treatment. 

At first I cleaned it and applied some ointment, but she licked that right off and obsessed over it, as all animals do. So I made a makeshift cone out of a paper plate and duct tape. It was perfect for a kitty head!

She isn't happy about it, needless to say. But it is staying put and she can still eat and drink.

No kitties were harmed in the making of this post! :-)

Alex is holding her while I treat it again. You can't see it well here but it's not pretty.

She's just very unhappy at the moment. I can't blame her but this will speed her healing time, I hope and prevent infection.

Plotting revenge, I am sure.

Making Bread

 Today we made bread!

When making bread, we tell a story...

First we have to make some soup for the hungry yeast. We mix 2 cups very warm water and a big spoonful of honey. This is the soup. The yeastie beasties are VERY hungry and so we add a T of yeast to the soup and watch them eat. When they get foamy we know they are happy and well fed.

When the yeast are all full, it begins to snow! We sprinkle 4 cups of flour over them, taking turns stirring and kneading and sprinkling until the snow storm has passed. Sometimes it's a blizzard, an avalanche, and sometimes just a light blanket. We add a dash of sea salt.

Once the flour is all mixed in, and it's hard for us to stir and the dough isn't sticky anymore, it's time for the dough to take a nap. The dough is VERY tired after all that work. We put it to bed (large bowl), cover it with a blanket (kitchen towel) and let it sleep. We now consider our dough to be a baby. We know that naps make us BIG and strong, and so we have to wait for our dough baby to grow big and strong, too.   

After about an hour, we gently and lovingly uncover our dough baby and check on it. Our baby has grown SO big!! It's time for our dough baby to wake up and play. I add flour to everyone's workstation on the table, and sprinkle flour on everyone's hands, then pull off big blobs and give one to each child. 

Now they can fold, knead, squeeze and punch down their dough until it's just right. 

Many talk to their dough babies, " I love you my little dough baby, but I am going to have to eat you soon. Don't worry, I'll make more of you again!!"

Letting it snow / sprinkling flour onto the yeast mixture.

Stirring.

More stirring.

More snow.

It's getting thicker and more solid now.

Time for the dough to rest and take a nap.

After an hour, the dough has risen to twice it's size!

Kneading the dough.

Placing shapes onto baking sheets. The kids can make ANY shape they want.

You can see everyone does something different. Some like big blobs, some prefer to roll small blobs, some do snakes and worms. It all ends up just fine!

This recipe really makes quite a bit. It takes me 3-4 cookie sheets and two oven batches to bake these.

Now we let the dough rest a little longer, maybe 20-30 more minutes. It's hard work being shaped and punched!

Then I place them in the oven on 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

With this recipe, the dough doesn't rise much more, and it bakes pretty quick. I take out smaller pieces and let larger ones bake a little longer. This dough isn't dark when it's done, it stays pretty light.  

We also made honey butter.

A lovely snack time outside on this cool sunny day. 

Warm handcrafted bread fresh from the oven and sweet butter. Yum!

Taste wise, the bread is a little sweet but not too much. The bread is dense and not like loaf bread. This particular recipe is great for kids because it has very few ingredients and it's really easy to make. It's almost nearly impossible to make a mistake. And best of all the kids get to make their own pieces, rather than a larger shared loaf, which is fun, too, but this is a nice way to show their creativity and be expressive in their baking. Also, the kids get their own baked items when they are done, so they get to see what their creations look like at the end. And they can take their leftover pieces or piece home to share with family or save it for later. 

Alex at the Dentist

Last week Alex had a dentist appointment to evaluate a chipped molar.

Alex getting his bite wings for x-rays. 

This Alex's full mouth x-ray. Look at all those permanent teeth ready to pop through!

Jace was kind enough to come with us to Alex's appointment and had fun in the playspace. He also chatted up the dentists and hygienists, complete with dramatic hand gestures to emphasize his point, like they were all old friends and he was there everyday. Jace thought Alex's x-rays looked like a monster, while I saw only cuteness. 

No cavities, and the chipped tooth is scheduled to come out on it's own in June or July, according to his psychic dentist, so we didn't need to do anything for it except let nature take it's course. Yay! 

Alex DOES need to brush better, though, and hopefully that will improve, but so far he's cavity free and going strong with straight (thankfully) teeth, like his mama. 

One thing I was dreading, because this is a new dentist for us, was going through the song and dance about no unnecessary x-rays, no fluoride  no chemicals, etc. But I was so pleasantly surprised that they were right there with me and didn't need explanations or justification. No one tried to talk me into anything and they respected my decisions, which meant I felt free to approve x-rays this once. They have plenty of non-fluoride and anesthetic alternatives available so I feel comfortable with his care there. I'm so glad we found this dentist. I admit I was procrastinating because I really expected a fight. We are so used to open-minded & holistic style doctors back home and I thought for sure I would run into old-school mindedness and sneers at my hippie ways here. I guess I worried for nothing!