So, I wanted to try something new.  This month, every Friday will be a Friday Favorites post.  I’ll share my favorites on a topic with you and I hope you’ll share yours too.  Just leave a comment with your favorites and maybe we can help each other find some neat, new things.

This week:  books.  I will be nursing again in a little over a month and I found that reading was the best way for me to not completely despise the time I had to sit off in another room alone with my half-asleep baby.  With Little J, I often felt off in exile while the rest of the family was watching a movie or whatever.  Little J WOULD NOT breastfeed under a blanket, so if we were in public, I had to go hide while he ate.  It was frustrating.  However, I’ve always liked to read.  Being able to do so with my phone helped me tolerate the breastfeeding phase (although I was none too sad to wean either).

My favorite books:

What are your favorite books?

This post contains affiliate links.  I would receive a small commission should you choose to purchase from the links herein.   I appreciate any support and have included the links to help you understand which products I am referring to.  I have in no way been compensated for these links.

Valentine’s Day is less than two weeks away.  Do you have plans?

Growing up, Valentine’s Day wasn’t a holiday for my parents.  Meaning, it wasn’t a holiday just for romantic love.  We didn’t watch them get all dressed up, exchange flowers and chocolates and go off to a fancy dinner together.  It was more of a day to remember all the people you love, in whatever form it might be.  I’m not sure if my parents intentionally taught me to look at Valentine’s Day that way or if it just worked out like that, but it’s the same approach we’ve taken with our kids.  They get to see Mom & Dad celebrate each other on our anniversary and then we all celebrate the people we love six days later.  It works for us.

However, I’m a romantic at heart and a huge supporter of Date Night.  So, I usually do try to do something with Mr Napping that’s a little more special at least a couple time a month.  Something that says, “Hey, I thought about you today while I was doing the dishes and changing the bajillionth diaper.”  Even if it’s something small.  While you can definitely use these ideas on the 14th, you could really do most of them anytime.

AT HOME DATES:
–  Movie Night In.  Set up a snack bar with popcorn and different seasonings.  The photo below is an affiliate link on Amazon to some of our favorite seasonings.  I have seen individual bottles at Wal-Mart as well.  Theme your popcorn bar however you want!

– Fondue Night.  Slice up some fruit, grab a bag of marshmallows and a package of graham crackers.  Heat up a bag of chocolate chips and you’re all set.  Enjoy.
– Nerf Gun War.  Grab some kitchen chairs and blankets to set up your bases, then it’s every man (or woman) for themselves.  Our guns of choice are the basic Nerf N-Strike Nite Finder EX-3 (Affiliate link, click to see photo.  I couldn’t get it to show up.).
– Game night.  Pull out your favorite board and card games.  Boot up the game console.  Play hide & seek.  You decide on the consolation prizes.
– At-home spa night.  Use oils and lotions to give each other a massage.  Soak in a bubble bath and enjoy a little bubbly (apple juice and sprite or 7up is a quick and cheap substitute for sparkling cider).  Listen to music and read a magazine together (or read your own magazines).  Enjoy each other.
– Mini golf.  Set up your own course with things from around the house.  Under chairs, over book ramps, around the kitchen island, under the dining room table, whatever you can come up with.  Use small boxes on their sides or ceramic mugs as your “holes”.  If you have access to a set of kids’ golf clubs, those work great.  You can also use brooms, a pool noodle, or other toy as your clubs.  Balls of various sizes would add a twist to the activity.  Use what you have.

– Teach each other something.  Show her how to change a flat or check the tire pressure.  Introduce her to the power tools in the garage.  Show him how to use the sewing machine.  Or learn something new together.  Half the fun is learning from your mistakes and figuring it out together.
– Build something.  You can find a woodworking project to take on, make a quilt together, get that gallery wall hung you keep talking about.
– Lego Contest.  Pull out the Lego collection and have a contest to see who can build the coolest car, the tallest tower, the biggest castle or whatever you can agree upon.
– Blanket Fort.  Build a blanket fort together.  The bigger and more extravagant, the better.  Grab some take out and eat in your fort.  Watch a movie, play a game or whatever else you can think of to do together in your fort.

– Go camping.  In the living room.  Roll out sleeping bags.  Toast s’mores around the stove or make a fondue version by dipping graham crackers and marshmallows in melted chocolate.  Take a pack of glow in the dark stars and make constellations on the wall.
– Try a new recipe together.  Share some with friends or neighbors.  Bring out your inner child and leave them doorbell ditch style with a fun little note.

DATES OUT:
– Sonic Slushie/Ice Cream Date.  McDonald’s has $1 sundaes for a super cheap date out.
– Play at the park.  Or in the snow.  Depending on the time of year.
– Scavenger hunt.  Choose a place to go together and make a list of things you might see.  If you choose the mall, hunt for a woman with red fingernails, a baby with a sippy cup, and an elderly man in a suit jacket and the like.  You could visit the bookstore, the pet store, the park, the library, a restaurant (enjoy a dessert together while you hunt).
– Hike/Nature Walk with a picnic.
– Fly a kite.
– Four-wheeling/ATV-ing or dirt biking.  See if you can borrow equipment.
– Bicycle rides.
– Movie on the laptop.  Find somewhere unusual to watch your movie.  The park?  The bookstore?  On top of a mountain?
– Candle light dinner in the park (check fire restrictions).  Or on a mountain top.  Or on a friend’s front lawn.  Clear it with your friends first, but don’t tell your sweetie.  Just go set up your picnic on their front lawn.

Find even more dating ideas in the date night archives!

I have been struggling lately to keep my rambunctious, energetic boys entertained.  All I want to do is sit all day.  I have a mile-long list of third-trimester pregnancy woes that leave me with the energy of… something without very much energy.  And a similarly long list of aches and pains, not limited to but including the occasional contraction that makes me think there’s no way this baby will reach his due date.

But, back to the boys that aren’t causing me physical discomfort (most of  the time).  They need to move.  They need something that keeps them active.  Otherwise, they use that energy for evil mischief.   I need something that doesn’t have me chasing them all over.  So, we’ve been doing a lot of  “projects” and “experiments” lately.  The kind that mean I can pull a bar stool over to the island and sit for the duration of said project.  These birdseed feeders totally fit the bill.

I bought the birdseed last spring and had intended to do pinecone and peanut butter feeders.  And then the bag sat on top of my fridge for at least six months.  I decided we ought to use it, but the thought of giving my boys peanut butter and birdseed sounded like a big mess for me to clean up during nap time.  I remembered the gelatin I used a couple weeks ago to make the DIY Gel Air Fresheners and wondered if that would work.  I googled it and sure enough, you can find other recipes that use gelatin.  By this time, my children were climbing up the cabinets and I decided to just wing it rather than let them tear down the house while I searched for instructions.  Here’s what we did:

Materials:
– 2/3 cup birdseed (we got ours at a local pet store, but Wal-Mart -and maybe Target, not sure on that though – carry it too)
– 1 packet of Knox Unflavored Gelatin
– 1/4 cup water
– 1/2 tsp salt
– Silicone molds
– String or twine – something neutral

Directions:
– Heat the 1/4 cup water in a microwave safe dish for two minutes, or until the water boils.
– Pour the gelatin into the boiling water and stir until completely dissolved.  I found a wire whisk worked the best.
– Add the salt and dissolve it too.  I don’t know if you really need this or not; but, in the air fresheners it was added to help prevent mold.  I figured I would add it rather than grow mold in my backyard.  It hasn’t seemed to deter the birds any, as far as flavor.
– Stir in the birdseed 1/3 cup at a time and make sure the gelatin coats all the seeds evenly.  You don’t want clumps, they’ll fall apart later.
– Pour the birdseed mixture into your silicone molds.  Cut your twine or string and press the ends into the mold cavities and cover with the seed mixture.  The string should make a loop you can hang the feeders by later.
– Allow to solidify.  I stuck ours in the fridge to help it along because my boys are always wearing what we call “impatient pants” and wanted to hang them up NOW.  They were awfully upset with me when I told them we had to wait.  The fridge helped in two ways: solidifying the gelatin faster and out of sight, out of mind.
– When everything is solid, you can hang the feeders.  You may need to let them dry out for a day or two before you actually hang them outside, especially if it’s cold where you live.  Otherwise, the sunshine will probably help it along; and, in that case, hang to your heart’s content.