Rainbow Tot School...con't

Last week was week two of rainbow week.  We continued making our play-doh rainbows, reading our books and playing with our rainbow people.  We did do some new activities though...

brought out Candy Land...

made a simple rainbow that he was very proud of..

very simple rainbow chain...

drew this rainbow over and over..

Around 6pm is when the rainbows come in the living room through the prism.  He loves climbing up on the couch and twisting the prism 'rainbows'. (It's been neat to watch the time changes of our prism...8 last summer when we got them...3:45 in the winter and now around 6 pm again. - observing seasons and sun setting times)

 working on hand/eye and gripping...

of course some activities were done with a rainbow wig :)

our 'rainbow balls' sensory bin (they are water beads from Amazon - super cheap/free shipping/lots of fun!)

and the last rainbow activity ...this one had Tot's heart....rainbows AND trains (I felt pretty ingenious after doing this one!)

Notice his loving stare - he laid right down by them... sheer amazement that his trains could make a rainbow ;)

As for some other tot school, we brought out our printables from "The Mitten" - placing all the animals, while we read, in the mitten.  They're magnatized on a cookie sheet - got them from http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net/ somewhere.

I found these SUPER strong magnets that Aunt Margie bought Captain a long time ago.  When he opened them I thought...'magnets....hmmm...' - should have known they would be a winner for years to come (you give the best gifts Aunt Margie!)!  Tot LOVED them!! He laughed so hard because they're so loud and strong and whip the other ones to them so fast.  We dropped them on the cookie sheet over and over and then I laid them all out and he used his one to grab all of them.

I thought Tot was close to child prodigy one day when he climbed up on the table, saw this puzzle and said 'play America'...

 Then as he was clumping them back in, I heard him say "Jupiter goes here"... ;)  Harvard will have to wait a few years ;)

Amazing how much fun playdoh is with two eyes and lots of toothpicks - he does this one often.

One day to keep him busy and quiet for 10 minutes because I figured Harvard would be calling soon, I gave him some letters to play with...

He knew so many more than I thought he did - I blame the annoying ABC fridge magnet (that's how Rex learned all his letters and sounds too!).

So today, I read him the Catholic ABC book (which he loved) and he found the matching letter and lined them all up in a row and of course we sang the ABC song over and over and over and over again!

 Rex took a picture of us :)

 matching his 'C'

 lining them up...

 I really didn't know how long he'd last (though I often say he's my best student!)

 yep...all the way to Z! Yeah!

Then big brother brought in that annoying wonderfully educational fridge magnet and they sang the song over and over and over and over.... you get the picture!

I had one last rainbow surprise but have yet to get to the store to buy bubble bath.  We're going to do a bath with bubbles and drop in food colors and mix with popsicle sticks for a rainbow bath!

Next week we'll focus on Jesus of course for Holy Week.  He'll really like that.  Randomly he says "Jesus die on cross"....getting so big...

Have a blessed Holy Week.

Sweet family moments and new recipes :)

We had a wonderful last few weeks and I thought I'd post some highlights.  

First, I just had to share this picture of daddy's weekend crepe making.  The boys all have their special (assigned) spots.  Rex has officially moved down to a chair and Tot took his place.  They boys get SO excited when dad makes crepes!

I didn't even make them pose this way (which sometimes I admit I do!)!  They crowd around the crepes (they were all blowing on it in this picture) and almost every time the crepes don't make it to the table! This picture makes me so happy!

Next, dad started cleaning out our beehives and putting on new frames since we have two hives coming next month.  MMMMM....honey!  The boys ripped out all of the old honeycomb and then they melted it down for some beeswax.  I'm excited because I just found a recipe for a lotion bar I want to make that takes beeswax, shea butter and coconut oil! I'd also like to try lip balm...

It smells so good!

Next came the first crocuses! Now they're all dead outside and covered with snow, but they were nice for one day....spring is coming!

Dad has been doing push ups a lot and little Tot wanted to try ;) Too funny!

Now for the recipes!  My dear friend Nicole taught me to make mozzarella cheese 1 1/2 years ago and I haven't attempted it yet! Then another dear friend Jen just spurred me on with her recent success! So here were are making 30 minute cheese! Yes really - 30 minutes! and they rest of the whey can be made into riccotta!

 Just 2 gallons of milk (I used 2%).

 You add a little citric acid on top, heat to a certain temp, then add dissolved rennet and it starts separating into curds and whey (I never had a clue what Little Miss Muffet was eating until last week!).

 Then we strained it and squeezed out the whey. 

 You have to put it back into the hot whey and stretch and shape out all the lumps a few times..(skinny daddy is demonstrating - he lost 30 lbs in 2 months!)

 mmmmm....I can't wait for the tomatoes and basil to come!!!!

If anyone wants the recipe, let me know! Too much to type if no one wants it ;)

Our sweet temporary roomie Katie helping with our 3rd bath.

A few days later I wanted to try a new one that I've also been putting off - homemade tortillas! I can't find one in the stores without partially hydrogenated oil :(  So....sweet daddy again rolled for 2 1/2 hours!!! I accidentally added too much water so had to double the recipe - won't make that mistake again!

They were truly the yummiest I've ever had! I froze a bunch plain and then made these delicious crock pot refried beans to freeze bean and cheese tortillas!  I so miss refried beans since I don't eat out of a can anymore....(see this article why) and these were SOOOO easy and yummy! Yeah!

And lastly...the smell was heavenly when Dad threw some pineapple in the dehydrator..and it tasted fan-tabulous ;) 

Have a blessed week!