Day 31 - Calm Down Jars

I never had much of an interest in creating a Pinterest account, since I figured it would only make me want to spend more money on stuff. But I finally broke down and created one so that I could "pin" all the articles about running that I see come across on Facebook. So now that I have an account, things of interest are starting to show up ... and I like it! 

Yesterday I saw something related to "calm down jars", which I had never heard about but sounded interesting - so I read on. For anybody who is not in the know, just like I was, the whole point of these things is to ... well ... help you calm down! And as anybody with kids can attest to, when there are kids involved there is always someone who will lose it and will need to relax.

Once I learned what they are all about I had to have one! So today we headed to the store to buy everything we needed and created our very own calm down jars for Bella, Sofia, and I. The concept is actually quite simple, as you only need a bottle, glitter glue, food coloring, extra glitter, and warm water. You mix them, shake them up vigorously, and voila, there is your jar. For added interest you can also add a mini-figurine, which in our case was Lego girls. Mine unfortunately lost its head as I was pushing it in (was that a sign?), but what are you going to do? I guess my jar will be a little disturbing to look at.

The idea is that when somebody needs to calm down they can go get the bottle, shake it vigorously again, and then sit there until all the glitter settles back at the bottom - which can take quite a bit of time. Pretty straightforward, right? Making the bottles was fun. Now let's see how it works for us in real life.

Day 31- Museum Center

This afternoon I wanted to go check out a new park, but I got overruled by the kids who decided to go to Museum Center instead. Since it was really hot outside I went with it, instead of trying to convince them to change their mind. Since we were not going to be outside in the brutal sun, Abuelita also came along.

The girls wanted to go straight into the Children's Museum, but I convinced them to go to the Museum of Natural History first. In there they gave Sofia a scavenger hunt to complete, which was great because it made her pay attention and enjoy our visit even more.  Since she got the answer to all 5 questions, she was allowed to claim a prize: A small shell, a small rock, and a fake fossil. Totally worth the exercise!

Day 31 - Our summer so far

Day 31 - Swim lesson

This morning Bella had her second swim lesson of the summer, and in the meantime Sofia enjoyed playing in the warm water pool. I also let them play for a few extra minutes after the class was done, so in total they spent like an hour and fifteen minutes in the water.  Being there for that long doing nothing can be boring, but I planned ahead and took a magazine with me. I still spent quite some time checking on them, but I also managed to read a few pages and feel like it was a bit of "me time".

Day 30 - Friends and Ice Cream

Today Sofia's friend Samantha came home with us for a play date after their swim camp. It was very hot outside, so they stayed in for the most part. At the end of the day, before dropping Samantha back off at her house, we went to Creamy Whip, the local ice cream shop. That was our humble attempt to cool off, and our excuse to get out of the house.

Day 30 - Trensitas

This morning, after Bella's swim lesson, she actually let me do something with her hair AND kept it for longer than 1 hr. What a special, special day!

Day 30 - Green tomatoes

This morning Bella went to check on our tomato plants, which are now taller than she is. By her count, we now have 18 little tomatoes growing in there.