Gooey Gunk, AKA SLIME!

My boys love messy, sensory "experiment" type activities. I love these types of activities too, and for those of you who need to know, they involve all sorts of curriculum connections. Math, Science, Reading, Art... But most importantly, they are lots of fun.

I have found many great activities in a favorite book of mine titled The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions. I have used it for years, and it is one of Noah's favorites. He pulls it off the shelf almost daily and asks to make something. We made SLIME the other day, and it turned out really well. You remember SLIME, don't you? It came in the little garbage can...

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

Solution A
1 c water
1 cup white glue
food coloring

Solution B
1 1/3 c warm water
4T Borax laundry booster

HOW TO CONCOCT:

1. Mix ingredients in Solution A together in a medium bowl.
2. Mix ingredients in solution B together in another bowl until Borax is dissolved.
3. Slowly pour Solution A into Solution B. Do not mix!!
4. Roll around solutions 4-5 times. (I let it sit a few minutes.)
5. Lift Solution A out of Solution B and knead 2-3 minutes. Play!
6. Store in air tight container.

For a good free time...

visit the horse barns at UNH! The boys and I went over yesterday with some friends and had a great time! Our friends visit often and had some old apples with them; you can feed the horses unless a sign on their stall indicates otherwise. We fed the horses, played in the grass-- the boys loved it!

Nothing

What we do when we make time to do nothing at all...

Picnics in the tree house, science and art on the front porch. Sometimes I wish I could put the rest of life on hold and just stay home and do nothing all day.

He laughs

Not a little laugh, William's been doing that for a while now. But a full on belly laugh, and it was fantastic. Henry was jumping on the couch and laughing himself. William and I then sat down next to him and William just started laughing. Henry thought this was great, and he was right.

The beginning of what I hope will be a life time filled with laughter. Shared among brothers. Added to the short list of great moments of my life.

It was a beautiful September afternoon. We were playing at the park. Noah approaches me with a dandelion, gone to seed.

"Here, Mama, make a wish," he requests.

I pause, giving the moment more thought than required.

"Did you wish that everything would stay just the way it is right now?"

Mind reader.

"Yeah, buddy, that's exactly what I wished."

Our little Lefty!

This statement could thrill me on so many levels, but Henry seems to be consistently using his left hand for just about everything these days. Of course this could still change, but it would be pretty cool...

Don't judge a book...

I wasn't so sure about Noah's new school. The building is not much to look at, the playground lacking. But I really liked the director and teacher so I figured we'd give it another try. School, that is.

The first time around didn't go very well, as most of you know. My spirited boy who loves to learn and couldn't wait to go to school was not received well by his previous teacher. Actually, I received negative feedback on the very first day. It never ended. Everything from "He takes too long to put on his snowsuit." to "I just don't connect with him.". (Don't connect with him?! Who says that to a parent?!) And of course the discussion about his "will". It's a strong one. Too independently minded. Yes, I understand this will very well, thank you. The will of my boy who was born almost 7 weeks early and never needed the NICU. It can be challenging, and I thank God every day for it. We didn't last the school year. But they did have a beautiful playground.

It took a lot of courage to try again. For both my first boy and me. And faith. God and I have had many conversations since we began a few weeks ago. I'm so glad we were feeling brave when we made this decision, because so far he loves it. Today, at pick up, I heard things like "he's really creative", "he was so excited today", and "it was a wonderful day". And there is a new favorite friend. He happens to be there on the same mornings as Noah. There was so much joy this afternoon at dismissal there was hugging. Want to guess his name? I kid not, it's Will Henry. Thanks, God. I owe you one.