Solar Prints

I remember as a child my mother and I purchased a solar print kit. It is funny the details one can remember of certain things. I actually remember the exact store we bought it at. Anyway, I was so fascinated by it. I remember collecting flowers and leaves and such to leave on it and leave the papers in the sun. My memory is for hours, but I don't know now. I decided to buy one of these kits at Lakeshore Learning to show Hazel a bit about the sun. (Sorry they don't sell them on their website.)

It was a bit different than what I remembered. It came with prints you could use or you could use any flat thing you found. At first I didn't buy the flat things (back from my memory I didn't worry about flat things), so we tried pine cones, acorns, sticks, etc. things from our nature table. I didn't bother trying to use the clear covers it came with either since the non-flat things would not fit in them.

They also said to leave it in the sun for 1-5 minutes until the paper turned white. Then you needed to soak it in hot water and then cold and then dry. As you can see my 3-d objects were more blotchy than anything. We also left them for a few hours in the window since we started this project just before we had to leave. Since it is winter and our sun is not too strong right now, I figured we would be ok.

We also tried a paper heart and a doily. Then tried flat objects like a feather, pine needles and some of the prints that came with the kit. We used the clear plastic holders for these. I also watched these more closely.

These came out much clearer, so I guess with this kit flatter is better.

Hazel was not as excited as I expected, but she is still young for it. We will try it in the summer and see what fun things we can use.

Our next project will be to do some things with shadows as Hazel is showing great interest in shadows.

Now we can make them into cards and what not. The kit came with cards and envelopes and some of the prints they gave us were words like Happy Birthday.

Hope you will join us for Sharing Saturday tonight/tomorrow!! Last week was our largest one thus far and hopefully this week we will break that record!

Busy day

My Wool Lavender Heart

Today Hazel and I went to our parent/child class at Cape Ann Waldorf School. We love it. We made some crafts there--Hazel made a card for Mimi and Pop and I made a wool felt heart lavender sachet. I hung mine in my car and we will bring Mimi and Pop their anniversary (49 years today!) card next week when we visit them. Sorry I've been lazy with the camera.

When we got home, we had a quick lunch with Daddy and then the three of us went to run errands. The big one was buying a new car seat for Hazel in Daddy's car. A friend had given us her car seat when her son outgrew it. Well, now Hazel is outgrowing it so it was time for a new seat. After some quick research we decided on a Graco Nautilus. While there Steve also decided to buy his mother a car seat (since she has wanted one for her car for awhile--I'm not sure why). Our second choice was the Evenflo Maestro which is also half the price so that is what we picked up for her. He is now over delivering it with Hazel and trying out her new one since I installed it for him. Hopefully he will be able to install his Mom's. It is a job I usually do. These hopefully will be the last seats we will have to purchase for these cars at least. Sometime soon she will outgrow the one in my car, but not yet. She has a few more inches though considering she has grown a half inch already in 2012 who knows when that will be.

Oh, and Hazel got two more Valentines for our Valentine Swap. These came from a sister and brother in Nevada.

That was our exciting day. Now I have a bit of a break and could use a nap.

Some things to check out today though. Some of my favorite places to party on Thursdays. Check out Happy Whimsical Hearts Thursday party of baking with your kids and I HEART CRAFTY THINGS Blog Hop.

A Family Day

Museum

Today, I was lucky enough to spend the day with my family. My dear husband has taken today, Thursday and Friday off for a mini-vacation. We loved having him home. We decided to go to the Peabody Essex Museum for their story time or what they call PEM Pals. Hazel and I had gone once before and loved it. They share stories, sing songs and then do some sort of art or craft in the museum. They also have a Art and Nature Center (which is where the PEM Pals was held) that has all sorts of hands-on things to discover about nature. Currently in the Art and Nature Center they have an exhibit called The Ripple Effect all about water. Sorry I didn't take any pictures since cameras are not really allowed in the museum. However they have plenty on their website if you follow each link. (I scanned in some of the post cards we bought to send to Hazel's penpal in Australia and her project.)

Hazel's craft

Since it was Steve's first time in the museum we also went up to check out a few of the other galleries. Currently they are having a Native American Exhibit called Shapeshifting. It was interesting, but we didn't feel all of it was age appropriate for Hazel. Then we looked into some of the Native American Art, American Art and the Maritime Art Galleries. Oh, and Hazel wanted to check out the Asian Export Gallery. Then we went back to the Art and Nature Center and let Hazel play a bit now that the PEM Pals crowd was gone. She loved playing with the different types of musical instruments.

One of the neatest things  of the Peabody Essex Museum is the Yin Yu Tang House. It costs a little more to see it but it is so interesting. We did not do this today, but I hope to when Hazel is a bit older. It is a 200-year-old Chinese house that was disassembled and brought to America and reassembled. It is so interesting to see and learn about.

Then we had to get home for some lunch. Hazel fell asleep in the car on the way, but woke up when I tried to get her out. We had a quick lunch and then had more things to do--nothing worth blogging about. But it was a lovely day with my family. Do you have a museum or place like this near you?

Finally, a few things to share that I found interesting.

• Play Again a film trailer for a dvd available for purchase about screen time taking away our children's care for nature.
• Tarbeyah: Sharing My Love of Waldorf Education gives a good overall view of her children's Waldorf education and reassures me on our choice.
• LA Time: Hyping Classroom Technology... interesting column expressing opinions on technology in the classroom and how each generation deals with the new technology that will replace books.

Hope you had a great day!!

Valentine Tea Party

Yesterday was my dear husband's birthday, so Hazel and I baked cupcakes. However we did not have time to make frosting, but had some leftover from some time and frosted a few to bring with Hazel to Nonni's (Steve's mother) so when Steve picked her up they could all celebrate. We left a few at home for Steve to eat throughout the day or at dinner (I was working through dinner, so I wasn't here to celebrate). Then left the rest to frost with homemade frosting for Valentine's Day. Then I got to thinking, I remembered Homespun With Love shared a Valentine's Tea and Cookies a couple of Saturdays ago at Sharing Saturday. I also am running a meeting tonight at church for the Stewardship Ministry. We picked Valentine's Day because no one else would touch it for meetings, however it looks like it will be a small turn-out. Anyway, I figured we could make some cookies (I still had a cookie mix from Christmas sales) and I could bring a few cookies and cupcakes to my meeting and we could also plan a tea party. Hazel loved the idea and so did Steve.

Hazel cracking an egg for cupcakes

We cheated a bit with the cupcakes and used a cake mix. However, we made it low fat by using the changes I found at About.com Busy Cooks. It uses egg whites (though Hazel did get a bit of yolk in with the egg she broke), applesauce, water, and flour with a yellow cake mix (instead of the oil and full eggs). If you are making cupcakes like we did, I highly recommend not using paper cup liners. They stick to them since they do not have the fat in them. They came out delicious and we all enjoyed them.

Cupcakes Out of the Oven

I didn't take any pictures of the few we frosted with the cheating frosting. I did cut a flower out of the top and try to frost just in the hole. They came out cute with a bit of practice.

There aren't any cookies in here?

Then today we made the cookie dough. We cheated again and used our last box of Trader Joe's Sugar Cookie mix. Hazel saw the cookies on the box and wanted to open it herself. She was a bit surprised to pull out a plastic bag of powder and one of icing and foil wrappers. I believe her direct quote was, "There aren't any cookies in here? What is this?"

I let her do a lot with these cookies. I melted the butter first so the mixing was pretty easy and she did it. Then when it got harder I took over and then we had to use are hands (as instructed on the box) and of course she wanted to try.

Then it was time to roll out the dough. She helped and helped with the cookie cutter. We are still working on her placement of cookie cutters, but she is getting it.

Then she remembered tasting the cookie dough last time. We ate the scraps after we had two pans worth of cookies. Somehow she got flour all over her. I'm glad we put her apron on first.

Enjoying the cookie dough

After baking the cookies, we made some frosting. We wanted to make a chocolate frosting. I found a chocolate buttercream frosting that I had all the ingredients for at Savory Sweet Life. I cut the recipe in half since we only had half the cupcakes to still frost. It came out delicious.

Frosting the Cupcakes

Hazel helped me frost the cupcakes. She did tell me it was hard to do. We also had picked up some Conversation Hearts to put on top.

Sorry it is fuzzy, but here are the finished cupcakes

Then we started to ice and decorate the cookies. I always find the icing packet is not enough for all the cookies. Maybe I put it on too thickly. So I always need some more frosting and we used the leftover buttercream for it.

I iced and Hazel decorated. She had fun with the candies and the sprinkles. She wanted me to get the green sugar out as well as the red, but I explained to her that the colors for Valentine's Day were red and pink (and luckily had some pink sugar) and that Christmas colors were red and green.

Then we did some clean up and stalling since it was still an hour and a half before Daddy would be home. Then we made some tea. Hazel wanted red raspberry (her favorite) and Daddy wanted lavender chamomile. I made a pot of the lavender chamomile and a small amount of the red raspberry (which I added cold water to as well). However, Hazel's looked great in the teacup for Valentine's Day.

We lit the candles and set the table in the dining room (after clearing it off) and used our good china (well our good china that can go in the dishwasher). I have a set of good china that I was given from a friend--it was her wedding china that she bought from an elderly couple on her honeymoon. Each piece is numbered and has a gold rim so it is hand wash only and I didn't dare let Hazel use it yet. My Lenox set is replaceable so we used that.

One of the bonuses to having the tea party with the good china and in the dining room is we were more aware of behavior and worked on it a bit more. Steve thinks we should do this much more often, but for now I'm going to commit to every Valentine's Day. It is such a nice way to have some together time that is fun.

A few more things to share:
I got Hazel to let me put the barrette in her hair only long enough to get a picture and even with that it involved crying.

Needle felted barrette

Our flowers this morning

The colors definitely got better with more time. Even the orange is starting to show. The purple not so much besides looking a bit blue along the edge.

Hazel in her doily stenciled t-shirt. I had mine on too, but didn't get a picture of both of us.

Hope you had a lovely day!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Our mantle this morning

Happy Valentine's Day!! I hope you are finding a way to give and receive love today!! I have to say I am feeling well loved with the most entries EVER on Sharing Saturday. We have decided to end our Sharing Saturdays on Wednesday since people were not really looking at the entries added after that. So please feel free to link up today and tomorrow and go check out the amazing entries we have gotten!!

Today I want to share with you about our Kids' Valentine Swap.

We have six children participating including Hazel ranging in age from two to ten-years-old. One from England, one from Australia, and the rest from the United States. I know several parents have let me know that they have gotten them off late or have not mailed them, but we figured it wouldn't matter to the kids since getting mail is always exciting. All we asked was for each child to make a valentine and send it to each of the other's with a postcard from where you live. That way if parents want to do a geography lesson they have something more personal to use.

I gave Hazel several choices of cute valentines to make and this is the one she chose. She chose the one without candy (I was surprised) but made finger puppets.

Demonstrating how to use them

I cut out the hearts (using my scrapbook materials) and punched out the holes. Then we glued on eyes and added glitter glue mouths and stickers for cheeks, nose and ears.

On the back we stamped Happy Valentine's Day and signed her name. Then we attached a pipe cleaner for arms with a sticker.

We have only received one valentine thus far. It is the one from England. Hazel was so excited to get it.

Thank you, Annabel!!

We will share more pictures as they come in.

I also finally finished Hazel's owl last night and made her a quick valentine with it.

We have been doing some heart related crafts. Over the weekend, we made the marbleized hearts from Cheap Crafty Mommy that I featured on Saturday. Hazel's favorite part of the craft was mixing the paint into the shaving cream. After that she got bored (as she did with every craft we tried). I tried using card stock and foam hearts that we had. I discovered it didn't work well to scrap the paint and shaving cream off the foam, so I wouldn't recommend it.

Foam Heart

Oh, and we used pink, red and red glitter paint for colors.

I was happy with how they came out. Then I had to decide what to do with them. I made a mobile. For the two large ones I glued two of the hearts together and wrote God on them. Then on the small ones on the undecorated side I wrote words like: love, family, peace, hope, joy, faith. Then I strung them and hung it up.

We also tried the yarn hearts that I featured from Tot Treasures. Hazel's favorite part of this was cutting the yarn. She did not like getting her hands dirty with the homemade glue, so she quit pretty quickly on me with this one.

We also tried the bird seed ornaments that Verde Mama shared at a Sharing Saturday in January. We didn't have peanut butter since Hazel doesn't like it, but we used almond butter. It was a bit messy and liquidy at least more than I thought it should be, but that may be the almond butter. I'm not sure. Again Hazel didn't like get the mess on her hands and quit (but when I finished then asked to do another craft). We hung one outside already, but it doesn't look like it has been eaten at all yet, but our bird feeder is still more than half full (in the summer it empties in less than one day) and has been for weeks now.

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!