Did you know that if you soak an egg in vinegar for 24 hours it will dissolve the calcium in the shell therefore making it feel just like a reptile egg?
Neither did I.
I suspect that most moms out there share my love-hate relationship with Perler beads. It's a Fun New Thing to pull out every once in awhile to keep the kids occupied. I love the creativity and the peace and quiet it buys me. I don't like how, no matter what we do, the tiny beads inevitably end up all over the place. More than that, I hate how the creations sit around waiting to be ironed while children relentlessly nag kindly remind me to iron them.
Despite my misgivings, I decided it would be fun to break out the beads while we finished learning about Saint Kateri Tekakwitha this week. I bought this book as a birthday present to myself right before the Pandemic Quarantine and have enjoyed using it to stitch saints. She also sells her patterns on Etsy, if you're interested but don't want to buy the whole book. I took her recommendation to use the book with Perler Beads and the boys really enjoyed it.
Last week's outing was more Play Date than Field Trip. Youngest Boy was SO excited to see his BFF and I was equally excited to spend time with one of my favorite mom friends.
Lest you think I'm some kind of Supermom with a clean, organized home, clean, organized children and a "perfect" home school life - you should know that to buy the peace and quiet necessary to even write this blog post I'm letting the younger boys binge watch Phineas and Ferb. Sometimes I make them watch something a little more - educational. Wild Kratts being the favorite, or more recently Mythbusters Junior (science!). My older boys were Mythbusters fans - it definitely appeals to every boy's desire to blow things up.
Basically I had to bribe the six year-old with morning television viewing in order to break his habit of getting in bed with me every morning. Early in the morning. Some could argue the middle of the night. Let's just say that being woken up each night, sometimes multiple times, to the sound of my bedroom door slamming open, followed by a not-so-small child climbing into bed with me and pulling on my hair was making me rather grumpy in the mornings. He's always had this weird playing-with-mommy's hair obsession - sometimes it's adorable, most of the time it's just painful since no matter how many times I try to explain it, he just does not seem to get that my hair is attached to my head. Also it's impossible to sleep while someone is pulling on your hair.
The television habit has continued, but I did make a Video Games Only on the Weekends Rule.
It's all about balance.
