We're having such a great time with our tadpoles. I've been printing out some pictures and the boys are writing the dates and things to keep in their binders. The first page was a photo of their habitat.
Ezzy wrote, "I will always love my tadpoles!" next to his picture.
Kai decided to write step by step instructions. He wrote:
How to make a tadpole habitat
sand - water- rocks - muck - container
step 1 - put sand in container
step 2 - get water from river or lake
step 3 - get tadpoles in water and muck
step 3 - pour the water and muck into the aquarium
Next is this photo dated November 28. Ezzy wrote, "Today my tadpoles have legs." Kai wrote, "This is the day my tadpoles had back legs."
This is one of our tadpoles on Dec. 2
And now on December 3, this one is really starting to look like a little frog - amazing!
Here's another little activity I made for Jude - some black-eyed peas in a bin
He wanted to pour some water and stir, and add some color, so I let him do this in the kitchen, this is with cracked corn.
Well, then I started wondering if I could dye the beans Jude was playing with. So I looked online and found some instruction - simply soak them in rubbing alcohol and food coloring. Let them soak for one hour, stirring every fifteen minutes or so to distribute the color evenly.
Then let them dry for the rest of the day.
Here are the results! This is a mix of cracked corn and black-eyed peas.
Perfect for just playing with or all kinds of art projects, mosaics, etc.
So then we decided we wanted to dye some noodles. We got a variety of types. You just place them into ziploc baggies, add the tiniest bit of white vinegar and food coloring, mix it around inside the bag, then open the bag to let it dry. It dries fairly quickly.
Here are our results.
We made some necklaces and strings.
Good fine-motor skill practice.
And a happy, chubby baby watching everything!
I pulled out our Christmas tree and stockings, which were under our bed. Kai was very excited about this and got inspired to dress up like Santa.
Ezra made this decoration all by himself (notice the dyed beans for buttons!)
This is Ezra's gingerbread man.
Kai's gingerbread man decoration.
And Jude's. Yeah, Jude doesn't really like coloring very much, but he wanted to be included!
I had another thought this week. Have you ever heard people talk about how much more they are able to enjoy their grandchildren once they are grandparents? Well, I was thinking - let's have that enjoyment now! I don't want to wait until I'm a grandparent to truly enjoy my offspring! But the question is - how to do that? There are so many stresses and pressures to face each day. I think most times the answer lies in allowing God to transform my character, my reactions, my responses, to create the kind of home environment I want and be able to really love and enjoy my boys each day.
