Rainy day activities: Edible Finger Paint

Finger paints!  Three ingredients!  Let's do this thing!

Let me start off by saying that this was a bit of a fail.  Not an epic fail, but I probably would try a different recipe the next time I make finger paints.

The basic recipe is 1:1 flour and water, then add food coloring as needed.  A lot of the recipes I saw involved heating on the stove and some other ingredients, and I just didn't feel like it (let's be honest, sometimes you just don't feel like putting in any more than the minimum effort), so I just poured warm water and flour into a bowl and mixed with a whisk.  I used one cup of each, 1/2 a cup would have been more than enough.

 

Then I poured some of it into a mini muffin tin and added 2 drops of
food coloring to each cup.
 

 

 

Time to paint!

So the issue I had with the recipe was that it ended up being really gritty, and because of that, sticking to skin.  It wouldn't wipe off with baby wipes, so A ended up in the shower.  Which is fine, but unplanned showers can be a real pain!

Rainy day activities: Ribbon box

Today is another rainy day, so it's time to try another rainy day activity!  All you need for this is a box (shoebox, small cardboard box, whatever), some ribbon, and a pair of scissors.

Being the crafty (and nerdy) mom that I am, I had a variety of ribbons in matching themes.  I chose a set of pirate themed ribbons and a set of monkey themed ribbons.  The nice thing about these is that they come on a spool with three different ribbon sizes and patterns.

Cut some holes in your box.  Thread the ribbon through the holes, tying a knot in each end.  Hand to kid.

Voila!  Miss A is entertained!  At least for now...

Run, Run, As Fast As You Can!

Well, maybe not as fast as you can...

Once I got out of the recovery window for a c-section, I decided that I needed to work on getting and staying healthy.  With both of my pregnancies, I lost 25+ pounds while I was pregnant, because I had morning sickness throughout the pregnancies (including throwing up at least three times a week during the third trimester, boy was that fun).  After Abby was born, I gained the weight back.  Since I lost it again, I don't want to have a repeat weight gain, so exercise was a must.

I started doing a couch to 5K program (I hate the abbreviation "C25K" because it looks like the number twenty-five in the middle, and also, 2 should never be used in place of "to") two weeks ago.  The real impetus behind starting it was getting a hand-me-down double jogging stroller.  It's hard to fit in exercise with a 2-year-old and a 3-month-old, and being able to take them with me to exercise has made all the difference.  I've been walk/jogging around my neighborhood, which isn't very big, but I can do several loops to get the program in.

Week one was a five minute warm up, eight intervals of one minute jogging and 90 seconds walking, and a five minute cool down.

Week two, which I finished today, was a five minute warm up, six intervals of 90 seconds jogging and two minutes walking, and a five minute cool down.

I just took a peek at next week, and I'm a little nervous about it (but still going to tackle it).  It's a five minute warm up, followed by 90 seconds jogging, 90 seconds walking, 3 minutes jogging, 3 minutes walking, and then repeating that sequence once more, followed by 5 minute cool down.  Theoretically, Saturday is an exercise day, so we'll see how that goes!

And of course, no post about about exercise would be complete without a picture (or three) of my running companions!

Rainy day activities - painter's tape

Monday was a rainy day, so I decided to try playing with painter's tape and strips of construction paper.  I stuck a bunch of pieces of painter's tape on our glass door, for Abby to move around.  Pulling the tape off is good for fine motor skills, and you can use the tape to make lots of shapes!  The construction paper was fun to play with too, though it mostly ended up on the ground instead of taped to the window.