Kumquats and such

For Easter, Grandma gave Reagan a "Live Butterfly Garden" kit.  We waited until the weather warmed and then ordered the caterpillars. They arrived in a small tupperware with the food already in the bottom. There were four in total, one of which was really tiny! Over the next two weeks, we checked them every day and watched them grow!  These only show them on the first day. They got so much bigger! After they ate enough food and were large enough, they formed chrysalises (or "crystals" as Reagan called them:). The larger ones were formed within a day of each other. The small one took a bit longer, but finally formed a chrysalis, so we moved them into the butterfly habitat. (I failed to take pictures of these steps) About 7-10 more days after the chrysalises first formed, the first butterfly emerged! Over the next few days, the others became butterflies. We put flowers in the bottom of the habitat and sprinkled them with sugar water to feed the butt...

On Saturday, March 23rd, Reagan was spending the weekend in Woodbridge with her grandparents, and Jason and I headed to National's Stadium in Southeast DC for the DC Beer Fest. I bought tickets for him as a Valentine's gift, and he asked me to go with him...how sweet! We worked around the house all morning (him mulching the flowerbeds and me inside) and needed a snack. I made a huge fruit salad that we took with us and a dish of veggies (thinking it would be best if we at least got something healthy into our bodies:). We arrived about 30 minutes before the start time and after a little trouble, found some easy parking right there at the stadium. I had my new camera (Canon 60d) in tow, and had a great time snapping away. While we waited for the beer lines to open, we got a snack. Mine was chili cheese tots, and Jason got nachos. Thank goodness for those veggies & fruits, right?!  Each of us received a cup that we were supposed to take around to th...

A few weekends ago, I was granted a free pass for Saturday morning! Daddy took Reagan to Chuck E Cheese and to run his errands, and I was flying solo! Now I love my girl, but sometimes, it's great to have a break:)  I decided to use my free morning to wander the Farmer's Market in Old Town Alexandria: I always buy a loaf of her crunchy whole wheat bread! So nice to be able to understand ALL the ingredients in something:) I stopped by this stand, as I have previously done, and this week grabbed some chicken breasts and some beef. I wanted some bacon, but apparently you've got to be quite the early bird to grab some of that! I recently watched Food Inc., and one of the farms featured in the film was the producer of the ground beef I purchased! Such a cool coincidence! Although the prices are much higher than the grocery store, Bon Vivant has wonderful products that aren't full of hormones and have had access to pasture. So thrilled that they come ...

On our "snow day," Reagan's school was closed and so was my office, so we decided to do a project. I downloaded a stencil from the internet, traced it onto sturdy paper, and gathered some additional supplies. Then we decorated shamrocks in honor of St. Patty's Day! Our supplies: green paint, green crayon, green fabric scraps cut into various shapes, green puffballs, green beads, green plastic coins, and finally green rice & noodles. Yeah, we had green pretty well covered;) Reagan loves using glue (especially the glue stick) and had a blast decorating. Here are her finished products: And adults can have fun too when helping out with kid projects. I decorated this one with fabric scraps, cut the edges to match and then hung it on Reagan's bathroom mirror (I don't decorate much, but I've tried to put something fun/new/holiday related on her bathroom mirror since we moved here).   Really simple, fun project that perfect...

Last week we had some fun with Pinterest activities! After the homemade fruit snacks, we decided to make SLIME! Talk about a fun sensory project for toddlers. I found the "pin" courtesy of my friend, Kelley, and knew we had to put it on our list of things to do. Here's the link so the rest of you can join the fun...and here's our version: Step 1: Assemble ingredients (pretty easy, eh?!). The original post actually says you're supposed to use clear glue, but after three stores, we decided that green gel would just have to suffice. The Sta-Flo is a liquid starch that can be found at the grocery store. We also used food coloring (not pictured). Step 2: Pour contents of both glue bottles into a large bowl. The recipe calls for one and a half cups. We just dumped:) Step 3: Add the liquid starch. The recipe calls for one and a half cups. I would start with one cup and then add until you reach the desired consistency. I ended up having to use paper towe...

On one of Jessica's last days in Virginia, she was kind enough to watch Reagan while I went to work. I had left the car for them on that particular day, and when they came to pick me up, they had supplies to make bouncy balls! This is something Jessica and I did in grade school, and it's a lot of fun. You need one box of Borax laundry detergent, a bottle of Elmer's glue, and some food coloring. Step 1: Pour about 1/2 cup of Borax into a cup or bowl. Step 2: Add a few droplets of food coloring into each container. Step 3: With a small amount of the Borax in your hand, squirt some glue onto the pile and cover it with laundry powder. Start to roll it into a ball.  Step 4: Continue adding glue and Borax until the ball becomes the size you would like. Step 5: Play with the bouncy balls!  This is a fun project that you can do with little ones. They like to mix the colors into the Borax and play with the balls. The part with the glue is a little tri...