Unforgettable Childhood

I had a rare opportunity tonight in the kitchen with only my oldest. I had just gotten home from a meeting and the younger two were upstairs having bedtime story time with their daddy.

My oldest daughter wandered into the kitchen and wondered what I was up to. I told her I was making Big Girl Bird Seed. She was intrigued and said she wanted to help.

Little one and I are headed out tomorrow for a Bird Watching Adventure so I wanted a little treat to take along. Our ingredients:

• 5 cups Cheerios
• 5 cups Rice Chex
• 1 lb. bag M&M’s
• 10 oz. bag of Mini Pretzels
• 2 pkg. of White Chips
• 2 T. Vegetable Oil

Mix everything except the White Chips and Vegetable Oil in a big bowl. Melt the Chips mixed with the oil.

Pour the melted mixture over the bowl of yumminess.

Stir it together and pour it onto a pan to set.

I had halved the recipe and Taylor didn’t think it had quite enough White, so we decided to melt a few Chocolate chips to drizzle over the top.

After it sets you break it apart a bit and put it into an air tight container.

Now we have a snack and our Bird Watching Bucket all ready to go. We just need to find the binoculars.

Today we saw a hawk gliding through the sky on our walk home from school. It was beautiful and the girls loved watching it. We can’t wait to see what we will find tomorrow.

I saw a fun idea over at one of my favorite blogs Roots & Wings Co. at Easter. They had made a craft that I made in school as a child. I wanted to do this with my kids this Easter, but we didn’t have time.

When I was getting my activities ready for our Bird Theme I wanted to build nests with the girls. I thought about going out and having them collect things from nature, but then I remembered the Egg Craft.

I was not sure if this craft would work, but I decided to try it anyway. Instead of making eggs, we would make nests with the same process.

I mixed up glue with a little water in bowls for the girls. They blew up balloons and started making a mess.

I precut a lot of string and they started dipping. I have a house full of girly girls and they were not so sure about sticking their hands in the glue.

My oldest daughter and her friend tag teamed to get their balloons covered faster. (I can’t tell you how many times they washed their hands just to stick them back in the glue

Instead of covering the entire balloon like you would to make an egg, they covered the bottom half of the balloon only.

We let them dry overnight and then we popped the balloon. You really need to make sure the nest is dry before you pop the balloon. I did have to peel the balloon off the nest, but they kept their shape.

The girls loved how they turned out. They decided the mess was worth it. And now their pipe cleaner birds have a home.

Next we are going on a Bird’s Nest Hunt. We have our Bird watching Bucket ready to go on our little adventure.

We almost gave up. . .we thought the birds didn’t like the new feeder. I was just about to go to the Hardware store to buy a different one. I was in the car when I glanced over and saw this.

The birds finally found the feeder! We were so excited. Now we are anxiously awaiting the Gold Finches. They are our favorite. This week we are focusing on all things Bird.

We started yesterday building nests (that post is for tomorrow) and making Birds out of pipe cleaners and googly eyes. I didn’t give them any directions, I just told them to experiment.

It is amazing what you can do with colored pipe cleaners and big imaginations!

We walked to the hardware store to get a new Bird feeder and bird seed yesterday. Last spring one of our favorite activities was backyard birdwatching.

We filled it up and hung it on the tree.

And now we wait. We have bets on how many days it will take the finches to find the feeder. I think it will be full by the end of the day. We are getting all set to start some activities at home all about birds. I will share them with you as we go.

Do you have a bird feeder at your house? What are your favorite birds to watch in your backyard?