Hay Bales!

P loves riding in the car right now; all the local farmer's are out in their fields making hay bales and he loves to watch them! Yesterday he found a bunch of cotton balls (where? I have no idea!) and was playing with them. When I asked him what he was doing he told me they were bales of hay!

They're great for scooping up with your digger and for feeding the animals, of course!

Homeschooling...

Are you still considered a homeschooler if your kid goes to a preschool type program a couple days a week for a few hours for socialization and such? I feel like a traitor. I so want to homeschool, I believe in it and all the reasons why one would do it but I'll be honest, my child is a little crazy sometimes. Yes, he is two, almost three, I know this, it IS normal behavior, but sometimes mama needs a break! I love him, I do, but I can't chase him around the playground like he wants for hours.

And he needs to hang out with other kids more; I have been watching him lately interacting with other kids and I don't like what I see so much. He WANTS to play with them, he wants to be involved but the minute they try to play with him he freaks out and gets all bossy and tells them what to do, even if they're years older than him! Well... he's confident! HA. I try to remind him to talk nicely etc but that goes against my 'stand back and let life teach' philosophy too...

We went to check out a couple schools today. The first one was a Montessori school which is why I wanted to check it out. To be quite frank, it was a bit of a hole. Not somewhere I want my little guy hanging out. Which is a shame because I love the curriculum. The second place was a school that has a little more structure, but actually has better outdoor play facilities and more actual PLAY time which was interesting. They even had a big indoor gym with cars to ride and basketball hoops (adult sized ones, which P got the ball into 3 or 4 times!) and playground with climbing walls, slides etc for days when it is too hot to play outside. The menus at both places left a little (OK, a lot) to be desired but you can send your own food in, which I would do, matching it as closely to the meals the other kids are eating as possible so he doesn't feel like he's missing out. Well, on anything but excessive fat, salt and corn syrup. Both use time out and reasoning for disciplining; time out I'm not such a fan of but it's not like they can do much else is it? I did like how they explain that it is not acceptable and why first and then use time out but still.

It would be 2 days a week. For 3-5 hours max. So I guess it doesn't really differ much from a Mother's Day Out type thing. Most of the time would be spent playing with other kids, doing art projects and reading. He LOVED it when we visited and didn't want to leave. He would definitely thrive there. He does need a little more stimulation on some days where I just can't be.... *ahem* I know that.

But I still feel bad.

Waffles -- A Team Effort

J surprised me with this waffle iron earlier this week so we pledged to have waffles for breakfast this weekend. 

We thought waffle making would be a breeze; you heat the iron, pour in the batter, flip and they're done, perfect every time, right? WRONG!

Before we got started we of course had to clean and season the iron a bit. I soaked and scrubbed it with soapy water. Next time I won't bother. It was still covered in wax when J put it on a burner to melt the rest off. What a waste of my time lol 

Saturday morning I whipped up a batch of waffle batter following this recipe. It was easy to make if not terribly high in fat (did you know there is so much butter in waffles!?!) Separate the eggs, beat the whites and fold them in after combining everything else, it makes the waffles extra fluffy!

So we have our waffle batter ready, waffle iron heated to a medium heat. We pour approximately 1 cup of batter in and close the iron. This is what happens when 1 cup of batter is used:

It's OK though because that first waffle burned and tasted like paraffin wax anyway! So we try again and each waffle is an improvement over the last. We found out (through much trial and error) that 3/4 cup of batter is the perfect amount for this iron and three minutes, 1 1/2 minutes on each side, followed with a rest of 10 or so seconds before removing the waffle results in a fairly good waffle. We ended up with 4 edible waffles out of 6. Not bad for our first try!

We tried again this morning and were 6 for 6! 3/4 cup of batter is definitely the way to go and spraying the iron with a little oil in between each waffle helped with removal (wish we had thought of that yesterday!). We shouldn't have to oil anymore once the iron is well seasoned. Use a pair of tongs to remove your waffle when 3 minutes is up

And PLEASE use something VERY heat proof to hold the handles and move the iron around, it does have short handles so take that into account too. We speak from experience.

These really do taste AWESOME! We like them nicely browned ;) Now we just need to figure out how to keep them warm AND crispy while the rest are cooking... they go soggy instead...

He IS Listening!

My child refuses to count past 3. Well, he will occasionally count '1,2,3,8,9,10' but I have never heard him say the word 'four' -- probably because we want him too! HA Nor does he ever really indulge me in counting things.

Yesterday we were baking some banana oat muffins and we were counting the cups of flour. He didn't seem to be paying attention to me, he was stirring and I was counting '1...2...3...' and he said '4' ! I said '5' and he said '6'. I was so happy lol. It really does prove that even when they are not looking or appear to be ignoring you they ARE still learning. He makes me happy.

Oh and no, our muffin recipe does not take 6 cups of flour, we use the 1/4 cup because it is small enough to fit in our flour jars! ;) (and allows more counting)

While I Have a Minute

I have some wool dying (dyeing? lol) on the stove so I have a few minutes to catch up a little in between stirs. I wanted to share one of my latest creations with y'all...

Have you head of Knock Off Wood? I know some of you have. Anyway, I browse the website/blog frequently and have been adding things to J's to-do list for months and to be honest with you, it was getting a bit long! Sooo I decided to just build my latest want myself; we have been working on getting the playroom together upstairs and P needed an art table bigger than the one he has. I found this on Knock Off Wood and thought it would be perfect! We are going to attach a roll of art paper to the table once it comes from Amazon but here it is so far:

P chose the color, orange is his favorite color and he (and I) loves it! For anyone interested the paint is the Olympic brand NO VOC paint sold at Lowe's and it's great; lots of colors to choose from and goes on easily and nicely.

The table is the perfect size and height for him with room to grow. I also have some chairs I'm working on out in the garage too but it has been WAY to hot to convince P to stay out there with me so they're at a standstill. BUT I did manage to make this table all by myself! And learned how to use a miter saw, jig saw, sander and drill (lol) while building it :D Can you tell I'm proud of myself?

His new bedroom is also orange. Photos to come!