Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

Tonight we made new cookies.
They were really easy to make.
I was a little hesitant because of the whole cup of sugar, but they were good and it was nice there was no added butter/oil

In some of the reviews they people said they thought they might be just as good or better without the jelly.
I made a few without jelly and I agree with that. They were sweet enough with out using jelly (and I used a n all fruit preserve)

Westley liked them, Will said he didn't like them without even trying them (even though I had to stop him from eating a bunch of the dough... that is Will for you)
I liked them, it made nice soft peanut butter cookies

1 cup peanut butter ( I used all natural - no sugar added)
1 cup white sugar (I added a little less than a full cup)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons fruit preserves (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. In medium bowl mix all ingredients until well blended. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Use a fork to make cris cross patters. Make a small hole in the top of each cookie using the handle of a wooden spoon. Fill the hole with the preserves. (Be sure to just put a small amount in each cookie).

Bake 8-11 minutes. Allow them to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 12-15 cookies

recipe from Allrecipes

Where Will goes on Wednesdays

Starting last month, I have been taking Will to Peggy Olsen- a craniosacral/birth trauma resolution specialist.

Please click here to read our whole story/experience.

Tissue & Starch Art

This is a common preschool activity I have thought about for a while (we have had our liquid starch) but I finally got out for the boys.
I cut some of my tissue paper into squares and then poured some liquid starch into a bowl. The liquid starch acts as glue, so it can be painted on and the squares will stick.
The boys were both very into this, and too it quite seriously (as you can see from the looks on their faces)
It was a calm, enjoyable for everyone activity

Our Orange Family

We got a big bag of oranges from Aunt Cheryl.
Westley was a champion at juicing us up some fresh squeezed orange juice.

While we had all the oranges on the counter, I asked Will if he could pick a Daddy orange, Mommy orange, Westley orange, and Will orange by size. He picked these out with a little bit of suggested wording from me (do you see a big daddy orange?)
I then wanted to see if he could put them in order according to size (seriation).

That was a little harder for him to concentrate on doing, but Westley helped him out.
Then I asked if we should put names on them and they said yes.

I left them on the edge of the counter to see if they would engage our orange family in some level of pretend play (my boys do much less of that than many children). No luck, a little while later they just told me they wanted to eat their orange selves. So they did :)

Drum Beat

Westley and Will have been into our drum lately. I was trying to teach Will how to step to the beat of the drum, one step per drum beat and go fast and slow.
Really he just drummed and watched me do the stepping. He still had fun though.
I'll have to try it again sometime to get the boys to catch the beat

Bear Hole

In the lobby of the boy's preschool, they have an activity table that they change the activity on every couple weeks. Lately it has been the counting bears in baskets. There is a hole in the wood table top so the kids really enjoyed pushing the bears through the hole and then catching them in a basket. Will loved this and wanted to do it everyday.
So, I tried to replicate it on a cheaper, recycled scale at home.
I took a box and cut a hole in it, and then found another box that would fit inside to be a drawer to catch the bears. He is enjoying putting the bears down the whole and collecting them in the box (Westley joined in too), and then dumping them out (everywhere)

Tunnels

Today I pulled out our tunnels to give more opportunities in crawling and other gross motor movements. The boys enjoyed crawling through them, rolling with them, and standing in them.

Even Major went through the tunnel!

Parachute Ball Game

I guess we are on a ball game streak!

The boys were throwing plastic grocery bags into the air, so I quickly wanted to think of a way to make that more fun.
I got a wiffle ball and tied each of the handles to it.

Then I showed Westley how you could throw it, but it flew slowly because the bag was acting like a parachute.
We played catch, and we also experimented with how far it we could get it to go when we made sure there was no air in the bag at the beginning of the throw compared to when the bag already had some air.

I will add a warning label since all plastic bags have them:
Caution, use only under direct adult supervision. Plastic bags can cause suffocation.

March Madness

The boys love love love Basketball!
Westley likes to watch basketball games, and both boys love to play basketball in the backyard.
This has been going on a few weeks. Sometimes I have a hard time pulling them away from the basketball hoop to do other activities!
Even in the rain today, they wanted to play basketball!

Milk Carton Ball Toss

We actually did this activity a long while back, but it is such a good one I wanted to repost. Also, the boys are now experiencing it in a new way. Today I taught them both how to throw the ball from the carton. They both did it, and now I think they are both better at it than me!
We stood in a triangle taking turns throwing and catching. They did it well enough for it to be a fun game for everyone!

Hatching Praying Mantises

I got a good deal on this Praying Mantis kit on a Groupon type website.
Then we had to mail away for our eggs. Once the eggs came we could set it up.
We are waiting for the egg sac to hatch (Takes 3-6 weeks).
In the meantime we got a book about Praying Mantises and learned some neat science facts about them

Representations of Earth

Westley was painting with water colors, made a brown circle splotch and said he made Earth.
I asked him if he wanted to make a circle Earth and he said yes. Will said yes too of course.
So I cut to circles our of some thin cardboard we were throwing away.
I got out pastels to work with as I knew the colors would be more vibrant and could blend.
I talked to Westley about what the main colors he would need - green for grass, trees, forests, blue for water, brown for land, white for snow.
Here's what they did on their own

St. Patricks Day Leprechaun Visit

Well we didn't catch a Leprechaun, but it was obvious they were in our house.
The cookies we left out were eaten... just some crumbs were left which Westley took care of.
They sure did make a mess of our house though, literally turning things upside down, scattering toys, and getting food out of the cupboards!

They did leave us some neat gold coins though in our pot below the rainbow!

Update:

We did make a catch of some sort the day after St. Patrick's Day!

Leprechaun Trap

Grandma helped the boys make a Leprechaun house to put cookies inside, to see if we can catch a Leprechaun tomorrow.
The boys wanted to paint the box first, so they did, and then they all decorated it together

Shamrock Cookies

Today we made our annual Shamrock cookies to leave out for the Leprechauns.

Mail Carrier Play

Today's activity just evolved, from nothing, to one of the boy's favorites.
I got the mail and there was some junk mail, I gave a postcard ad to each boy. They were entertained by that alone for a while. Then Westley got on the scooter and wanted to deliver mail.
I taped on and envelope so he could carry the mail in it. Of course I needed to do the same for Will.
Then they need a mailbox to put it in. Westley got a larger cardboard box for the big mail, and I made a mailbox for the smaller mail.
The boys spent the longest time taking their mail to the mailbox, and then delivering it out.

Update: 3 days later and this play is still continuing!

Who needs fancy toys when you have junk mail and old boxes...
:)

Gardening at Grandma's

Today we went up to Hemet to visit Grandma and Grandpa.
Grandma had a project (aka work to older kids/adults) waiting for the boys.
She loves having flowers and plants all over the backyard, so the boys took on the job of clearing out, raking and planting seeds and watering  in like 10 pots. They were happily busy for an hour!

Decadent Chocolate Cake

We were having friends over for dinner, and I couldn't decide what to have. Somehow the boys were suggesting chocolate cake (Funny, as I don't think Will has ever had chocolate cake, and Westley has maybe once)
Ideally I would like to bake from scratch, but sometimes there's just no way we have time for that.
I used a Trader Joe's all natural chocolate cake mix for the first time. Will helped me make the batter (he loves using the mixer) and we put it into a Bundt pan to fancy it up.
It turned out great.
I melted chocolate frosting from Fresh and Easy to pour over the top. It looked good, but I didn't really like the frosting. No one else seemed bothered by it though, so maybe it was just me

Peach Leather

I had bought a bunch of peaches, but none of them were very good- they were too mushy.
So, I cut them all up, and then the boys helped me blend them up in the blender.
Will likes to eat the puree just like that, but the purpose was to use our dehydrator.

It turned out great as fruit leather. Westley especially likes it.

Under, Over, Under

Will didn't crawl long as a baby, so I am trying to create more opportunities for similar movements now.
Today I taped up some streamers and had the boys crawl under one, step over the next and then crawl under again. They were pretty close together so it wasn't a fast race type game, but was meant to be done more slowly.
Will was more patient and into the activity that Westley (which was fine since it was more for him anyway)
Both enjoyed though!

Helicopter Visit

Today I accompanied both boys at school to see a Mercy air Helicopter.
We had to wait a while for their turn, but the kids all had the chance to sit in the front area, the back area, and try on the helmets.

Both boys really enjoyed it!!