Fairies, Butterflies, and Bees - Day 1

Today was technically the 4th day of summer vacation for my school age children, but to me it was the first day. I decided to only plan things week by week in case my children loose interest. My feelings get so hurt when they do not participate in things that I plan, like my DD1 did today. Another change to my approach is to be less rigid (like my military style) and try to be more of a mom/camp counselor. Today seemed to work rather well.

DD1 was supposed to help with breakfast and baking today, but she decided to sleep all day instead, TEENAGERS...geesh! Yes, it hurt my feelings and yes, I have been waiting forever to make gluten free mint cookies that are supposed to resemble a well known cookie that rhymes with shin splint. I decided to put my hurt feelings aside and took my DD3's offer to take her place and had a great time.  It was hard for me to not bark out orders and caught myself doing it a few times, but I took a deep breath and we made it through.

DD3 Making GFree Biscotti

We made cinnamon apple granola. This is the recipe I use for my inspiration:  Alton Brown's Granola Recipe . I make tons of substitutions to make it my own because it is really hard to screw up granola. We also made biscotti using this recipe: Gluten Free Goddess Anise Biscotti Recipe . I am not comfortable enough with gluten free baking just yet to start creating my own concoctions. These were delicious. We made an extra batch of dry ingredients to use at a later date. I hope these "double ups" as I call them will make things easier when our busy days start up again.

After breakfast clean up, it was time for a craft project. This week is themed: Fairies, Butterflies and Bees. I printed out a cute planning page for my kids to plan their own fairy garden. We are going to collect items throughout the week and finish things up at the end of the week.

DD2, DD3, & DD4 watching a movie

DD3 cooked lunch with me and we all watched a movie. It was so hard for all the girls to sit still at one time, but we made it through the movie and 30 minutes of an attempt at quiet reading time. This has to be the most frustrating part of my day. I NEED the quiet time and they do not understand that. When I worked I had a lunch hour when I could get away from people. I often went and tanned mostly so I could take a nap. :D


We started up snack and worked on some coffee syrups of which my girls also use them in their milk. Here are the recipes I found on pinterest: Chocolate Mint Syrup & Caramel Syrup . And if I could just be honest, I often substitute things if I am missing something in a recipe. I just try to use common sense when I do it.

Our afternoon craft seemed to be a hit. I had the girls make me candle holders because I am tired of looking at plain white tea-lights all over my patio. I no longer buy fancy candles to keep bugs away. Instead I buy plain tea-lights and a bottle of citronella essential oil. A few drops on each candle works like a charm. If you stop smelling the citronella, then add some more. I used food coloring in modge podge and let them go to town on some baby food jars that two of my dear friends were so nice to give me. I think the candle holders look like sea glass...so pretty.

As if all of that was not enough, I read some library books from our theme and we decided to do another craft before dinner. We made fairy dust. Ours has bird seed, glitter, and dried lavender. I surely hope the birds do not get sick from the glitter...oops. Then the girls wanted to make something to put their fairy dust in...out come the baby food jars and modge podge again. This time they attacked the jars with lots and lots of glitter.

 

Here are our finished projects: