City Biking Truth #17

22 Fun Experiments & Activities to do wtih Kids!

Back in December I made a list of different experiments and activities that I've done with the kids that I nanny. Here is my round 2! 

Make your own potato stamps--pictured above


Awesome newspaper forts


Climbing love bugs


Color your own komodo dragon!


Wiggly eye drawing starter


Salt dough keepsake


Healthy peanut butter dip for fruit 


Making a straw flute

Masking tape roads



Musical Balloons

Balloon ping pong


Hidden Treasure Matching Game


Water resistant Valentine cards


Celery color absorption

 






  






Giant gummy worms!


Colorful Density column


Does it dissolve?

 
Fizzy Dino Tracks
 

Making it rain!

Making dew & frost 


Yarn monsters

 

Dyeing Eggs with Dum Dums
 

Oregon Coast Adventure

Florence, OR

Florence, OR

Florence, Or

Devil's Churn Wayside

Devil's Churn Wayside

Devil's Punch Bowl

Otter Crest Scenic Loop

Newport, OR

Newport Sea Lions

Newport, OR

Yachats, OR

Love Monsters---not just for kids!

I saw this tutorial over here and loved the idea of making monsters with the kids I nanny. I did the trickier parts like the hot gluing and cutting but the three year old really got into decorating his monster. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of his but I believe there ended up being four eyes on his and four noses and a big green yelling mouth. The six year old was not having any part of this project so I ended up decorating the second one and taking it home to my hubby! Because who doesn't like a good love monster?!

Self Portrait Sunday

For Valentine's Day, my hubby made me a giant fort in our living room. He.is.so.awesome.

Stumbled On Favorites

A few of the favorite things I've stumbled on recently.

Love biking on sunny days.

This music video is beyond cool.

The Kiss on a war torn building...beautiful.

Japanese manhole covers...how cool would that be?

This video is awesome. Totally had me going.

A breathing bicycle...wow! Now can I stop worrying about Beijing and their smog problems?!

Love the interactive quality to this Color Me _______ art exhibit.

Maidae celebrated Valentine's Day by having a bunch of people write love letters to their little selves. I love this idea...so sweet.

Just learned about this blog...I'm excited to dig into it a bit more.

THIS (helpful?) VIDEO IS AWESOME. I've watched it like 50 times (ok, 3 times).

Lumberjills

DIY Cat (Scratch) Fever

Time: A couple hours
Listening to: Solange
Drinking: Cold leftover coffee

I have a few cat fanatic people in my life so when I saw this kitty over here...I knew I had to whip a couple up.

DIY Valentine Flowers

Happy Valentines Day!

I sent some homemade flowers out to a few of my friends today. Inspiration from here.

2013 Reading Goal: Bridget Jones's Diary

My latest book on my 2013 reading challenge is Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding.

Rating: 4 Stars

.

My boss and I both love Pride and Prejudice so we often end up telling each other of every single possibly offshoot that we can read and watch to satisfy our P&P itch. And this was one of them. She told me it was hilarious and that I had to read it. So I immediately put it on my to-read list. It took me about 50 pages in and I was hooked. (I always give books to page 77 so this definitely made the cut.)

Everything about Bridget Jones should drive me crazy. She obsesses over her weight, she freaks out over everything, and she is desperate to not be single. All of those things have always been on my "do not do" list. But gosh she is so funny. And somehow you find yourself agreeing with her, sympathizing with her, and understanding the complexities of what it means to be a woman! She bumbles around as a thirtysomething trying to figure out why her life isn't panning out to be what she has always pictured it to be....and what she can do to improve it.

She has a wide range of influences in her life that she is always getting advice from.  She bounces between her very verbal feminist friend to her homosexual friend who gives her tips on getting a guy's attention. She also has a mother who is trying to figure out who she is as a woman after spending years being a homemaker. When she tastes freedom, she goes wild. After one lunch date, Bridget says, "As I went to the till to pay, I was thinking it all over and trying, as a feminist, to see Mum's point of view..." And I think I love that most about Bridget. She is really trying to figure things out--as a woman who values feminism but also as a woman who values relationships and love. 

Fielding is hilarious when writing about expectations for women in today's society.  When getting ready for a date Bridget goes into how exhausted she is before she even has the date. "Being a woman is worse than being a farmer--there is so much harvesting and crop spraying to be done: legs to be waxed, underarms shaved, eyebrows plucked, feet pumiced, skin exfoliated and moisturized..." and ends it with "Ugh, ugh. Is it any wonder girls have no confidence?" Later on she says, "Wise people will say Daniel should like me just as I am, but I  am a child of Cosmopolitan culture, have been traumatized by supermodels and too many quizzes and know that neither my personality nor my body is up to it if left to its own devicees. I can't take the pressure."

I find it so interesting the thoughts that go through her head. Weight, men, food, single, marriage---the whole grass is greener on the other side thing. She has friends who are married and are dealing with affairs and communication issues. She goes to baby showers where all the parents are lying about how advanced their kids are. And yet, everyone keeps asking her why she isn't married. Tick tock, tick tock. People obsess over it so she is forced to constantly be dealing with the question. So much so that even as a reader, you start to wonder why she hasn't gotten married! Fielding points out the ridiculous in life while her character, Bridget, bumbles around trying to figure it all out.

The only bummer thing was that I had seen the movie several years ago so kept picturing Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant as the characters. I didn't dislike them...I just didn't love them in the roles.

I also kept picturing Colin Firth as Mark Darcy, but I didn't really mind that one....

____________________________________________________________
As I mentioned in my 2013 goal, I’m reading mostly women lit that focuses on women authors or complicated, strong female characters this year. Here is the list of my previous book reviews that I've done on this journey:

First: Madame Bovary
Second: Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress
Third: Patron Saint of Liars 
Fourth: Bird by Bird
Fifth: Frida Kahlo
Sixth: Women Seeing Women

Hidden Treasure Matching Game for Kids

I saw this idea to make hidden treasure rocks and was inspired to make a matching game for the boys I nanny--ages 6 and 4. We use vinegar and baking soda a lot but they never tire from it. The idea of explosions, fizzles, and overflowing always bring them running to the experiment table! 

Part 1:

Have the kids help find 3 different sets of 2 similar toys. We had 2 dinosaurs, 2 frogs, and 2 fish. They should be able to fit in your palm. Next, pour a bunch of baking soda into a bowl. I probably used about...1 cup? Slowly stir in some water making sure you don't add too much otherwise it won't form together.  Form balls around each individual toy. Place each ball into a small container. 

To add some variety, I added cocoa into half of the baking soda mixture. If I had thought about this before I started, I probably would have make them all brown. It smelled good and it was more rock like!

Let it all dry! They should harden up in an hour or two.

Part 2: 

Here comes the matching part. I had each of the boys pick two containers that they thought might have the same set of toys inside. Placing both containers inside a deep 9x9 pan, pour vinegar over to slowly dissolve away the baking soda to reveal the toy inside. This is the fun part because it overflows and fizzles! Make sure you have enough vinegar on hand because the more you add, the more it overflows!

If they had a match...they won! If they didn't, have them pick one of the leftover cups. My kiddos didn't get a match at first so they each grabbed a cup, dissolved it away, and then both quickly found their match.

This was a fun activity that both the 6 and the 4 year old liked. You could definitely make it easier or more difficult depending on your ages.

Hope you have fun with it!  

 

Most Amazing Banana Oatmeal Cookies!

I've been wanting to make this recipe for weeks now and finally got around to it. This recipe was extra fun to make because my hubby helped me! Baking is super fast when there are four hands involved!

Ok, enough chit chat. Here is the recipe:

Cream Together:

2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar

Add in:

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Mix in a separate bowl:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup flaxmeal
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Add dry ingredients into the banana mixture.  Once mixed thoroughly, stir in:

3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup peanuts (optional)

Bake at 325 on a greased cookie sheet for 12-15 minutes. 

 

Self Portrait Sunday

I'm loving my bike these sunny days.

Moss and branches...two of my favorites

City Biking Truth #16

For more truths...head on over here for 1-15.

Cozy Whale Stuffed Animal

Time: An hour?
Listening to: Murder She Wrote
Drinking: Diet Coke

My little niece just needed one of these...so I made her one!

How is that for a backdrop?!

Square Stuffed Felt Horse

Time: An hour?
Listening to: Murder She Wrote
Drinking: Diet Pepsi

I've been wanting to make one of these for my nephew for some time now. So I did it! I hope he likes his little stuffed horse!

Stumbled on Favorites

A few of the favorite things I've stumbled on recently.

Source

I've been watching and loving Betty White's Off Their Rockers. So so so funny.

I want to do this with my mom! It would be so fun to have hanging on my walls.

Gangnam Style Flipbook...umm...yes please!

Sexist Vintage Ads--oofta!

I love these embroidered photos!

I want to try this recipe pronto!

Such a helpful camera gear list from A Beautiful Mess.

I have some leftover corks from my trivet project...maybe I'll give this a try!

I love this Downton Abbey Summary of Episode 4...too funny.

I've watched 10 episodes of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Only 82 more to go!

2013 Reading Goal: Women Seeing Women: From the Early Days of Photography to the Present

My latest book on my 2013 reading challenge is Women Seeing Women.

Rating: 4 stars

Goodreads

I did some searching on different art books that focused mostly on women artists. I stumbled upon this one and was delighted on the topic. What a cool idea to look at this unique relationship among women from the start of photography. When I picked it up from the library, I was shocked at how massive it is. It is big and slightly intimidating. I didn't even crack it open for a week. When I did decide to tackle it, I opened it up and sighed with relief. Oh yes, this is a pictorial history! I can handle a massive, giant book that is mostly pictures! And great pictures at that.

There was a great introduction to the book that explained the history of photography while focusing on the part that women played throughout it. It wasn't until the late nineteenth century that women really became influential in the photography world....all because "advertising by the George Eastman Company invited them to use the Kodak camera to become keepers of family memories..." And it didn't stop there. Women suddenly got hooked and realized the potential that this form of media has.

When reading about each artist in this book, I was reminded of how so many of them had been educated in art schools. Yet, because they were women, they were held back from becoming artists. The book says, "Photography...would still allow women to fulfill their expected roles as family guardians because its tasks could be divided up and was less demanding than painting or sculpture." Women encouraged each other in this medium. One well known woman, Catharine Weed Barnes, "lectured and wrote widely, urging women to take the medium seriously."

And they did! You can see throughout the pictures how important they viewed each picture. They studied movement, shadows, emotions, society, and of course, the female body. "In the interwar years, however, the nude female body became a subject of much interest to women photographers....they, instead of men, could control how the female body was represented."

The book also highlights the importance of the role of the one being photographed. In the back of the book there was information on each of the photographers...and also of the women being photographed. Sometimes there were even photographs that one female photographer took of another female photographer that was also mentioned in the book. It was great to fully recognize that each picture had two women playing their roles--and that there is an important relationships going on in each picture.

The book is laid out chronologically which is great in showing how pictures have changed over time including image quality, themes, and messages. It was also interesting to see various artists' influence throughout multiple decades. The one downside to this book is that all the information about the artists is in the way back of the book so I had to constantly be flipping back and forth to find out more.  My arms were tired by the end of it!

____________________________________________________________
As I mentioned in my 2013 goal, I’m reading mostly women lit that focuses on women authors or complicated, strong female characters this year. Here is the list of my previous book reviews that I've done on this journey:

First: Madame Bovary
Second: Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress
Third: Patron Saint of Liars 
Fourth: Bird by Bird
Fifth: Frida Kahlo
 

Self Portrait Sunday

I got a new Wacom Bamboo Tablet and have basically been dedicating my life to it. Here is a nice little self portrait I took...or did I draw it? Bwahahaha

Healthier No-Bake Cookies

Time: 1/2 hour
Listening to: Grace Potter
Drinking: Diet Pepsi
Eating: Kale chips from yesterday

I've been wanting to try some baking that is a bit healthier than I typically make. I LOVE sweet things...love, love, love them. So I figured if I can make some recipes that are even a little bit healthier than normal, I'd be doing good. First recipe up to bat is...no-bake cookies!

Add in a medium saucepan:

*1 ripe banana, mashed
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
pinch of salt

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Let mixture boil for one minute. Remove from heat and let mixture cool for one minute.

Add in:
 
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups instant oats

Drop onto waxed paper and let cool.

*I only had a small banana, so I ended up using a little bit of butter, too. 

Baked Kale Chips

Time: 15 minutes (not including bake time)
Listening to: Grizzly Bears

I've been wanting to try these out for a while so when this recipe popped up on my radar, I figured I'd give it a try.

I don't really love these. They leave a kind of funky after taste. I did end up eating a good portion of them, though, so I guess they aren't too bad!