Some Things About the Weekend

I remember another mom saying or maybe I read it, who knows, that she likes to get all her chores done during the week so she can relax with her family on the weekends.  I think that is a great idea too and I want to do that, yet every Saturday I'm cleaning, folding laundry and saying things like "Let's mop the floor as a family!" 

 So my floors are clean.

Today we had a get together for my very dear friend who is expecting a little girl in a few short weeks.  It's nice to get together and watch the kids play, even if they get super dirty and crazy.  I indulged in some salted caramel brownies and I'm looking forward to getting back on track tomorrow.  I have been sore all weekend from my lifting session Friday but have managed to keep up with all my Insanity workouts.  Is that balance? 

So about these borax crystal sea shells.  I wouldn't call them a fail exactly, they just didn't turn out the way I was expecting based on what I saw on Pinterest.  (Does it ever turn out the way it did on Pinterest?)  I read the instructions and followed them, but I didn't read the whole blog post, sometimes I don't want to read all of someone's jibber jabber just to finally get to the instructions or the recipe. 

 

So here's the plate of them.  

This is a seashell that turned out OK. 

I can't remember what this rock was, but it did better that most. 

Pumice with a few little crystals, I think this one is cool.  

And lastly.  

The nice thing about this project was it came together quickly.  My 4 year old and I did this together and it only took a couple minutes, which is great for a busy preschooler.  He was able to stir the solution and gently place the rocks and shells in.  He enjoyed examining them thru the glass with a flashlight every couple days as the crystals grew.  I want to try this experiment again, maybe with a deeper dish, see if we can get some better crystal saturation.  

If you've got any cool experiments to try with the kids, I would love to know about them!