Light Painting - Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources

I've been thinking about our spring break adventure all week. I keep thinking about all the fun things we did and all the places we went. Some of my favorites are here, here, and here.

Another fun thing that we did was the light painting at the Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources. I'd been waiting for the museum to send over the light paintings that we made and I finally got them in my email today!

Emily and Noah and I had flashlights with colored plastic wrap over the lens and we were supposed to be making specific patterns. I'm on the left side of the picture and I was supposed to be moving my flashlight up and down so obviously I'm failing. 

Grandmother is behind us twirling a strand of multi-colored Christmas lights. Isn't that cool looking? 

On the last two pictures, the woman taking the pictures was moving her camera in a circle as she was taking the pictures. I think that looks really neat!

You can do light painting at home!

• On your camera, set the shutter speed to 8 seconds. You can experiment with higher or lower shutter speeds, too.
• Set the aperture to F11. If your camera does not have aperture F11, set it at least F8.
• Grab some flashlights, different colors of Christmas lights, candles, etc. You can cover the flashlights with different colors of plastic wrap, if desired, to change the colors in your picture.
• Turn off the lights and take as many pictures as you want!
• You can move the camera around if desired to change the way your pictures look. Or you can use a tripod to only get movement from the light sources.

You can go here for a great tutorial on light painting. 

Have you ever tried light painting?

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Coming Home and Planning for Easter

We came home from our spring break trip to find the daffodils still blooming happily. I was afraid that I'd missed the peak of their beauty while I was gone, but I think they waited for me. We got some rain yesterday and they are even prettier today. 

A lot of my plants in the front flower bed started to green up while I was gone. I think the Don Juan roses went from dry sticks to lovely reddish green leaves overnight. The creeping phlox is just now beginning to bloom. The "thorn bush" has turned a nice neon green with its new spring growth.

This weekend, I'm going to have to go out and trim the winter brown from the dwarf fountain grass. That is always a chore because the blades will cut you if you're not careful.

In the back, I have some new growth on some of the irises and daylilys that I planted last fall (eh, this winter.) I think they are behind schedule because I planted them so late but I know they will come along eventually. I also need to get Emily's hibiscus out of the garage because hopefully (hopefully!!!) the last freeze is behind us. 

In true Oklahoma fashion, it's going to be cold for Easter though. Easter is so early this year that I haven't even gotten all my Easter decorations out yet. I have some really cute bunnies for the porch and a wreath that may never see the light of day this year. How sad - Easter is my favorite holiday!

Whether I'm ready for it or not, Easter is upon us and I need to figure out what I'm going to fix. I usually fix a fruit pizza for breakfast on Easter. (Recipe here.) I thought about doing that again this year and maybe using different fruits. The orange glaze I made last year was really tasty though.

I was also thinking about making the Easter Bunny Racers that we made last year. They were so easy and cute. I think the kids would enjoy doing that again. (Instructions here.)

Another project I'm considering is making tie-dyed Easter eggs using a paper towel and food coloring. I saw this tutorial online and it looks so cute! The only part I didn't like was you have to let them completely dry. And I hate waiting!

What are you doing for Easter?

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Childcare Options During the Oklahoma Teacher Walkout

Well, Easter is upon us and I'm working on a post about our plans for Easter weekend, but first I wanted to mention the teacher strike that is likely to happen in Oklahoma next week. First and foremost, we support our Oklahoma teachers and we appreciate all they do for the kids in this state.

Even though the Oklahoma House has passed a teacher pay raise plan, the teachers are still planning to walk out on April 2nd. I hope the teachers can get what they're asking before the strike.

With the teacher walkout looking likely, a lot of working families are looking for childcare for next week and until the teachers return to the classrooms. What a wonderful community that we have! Many organizations have stepped in to fill the gap left by the empty classrooms. 

Some locations of the Boys and Girls Clubs in Central Oklahoma will be open during school hours next week. Many churches in the area will be having childcare available during the day. The Oklahoma Science Museum and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum will be having drop-in camps. The Oklahoma City Zoo is planning day camps for kids. Sam Nobel Museum will also be hosting a camp during the walkout. 

Here's a list of the options I've found.  If you've found others, please put them in the comments so that we can help make sure Oklahoma children are taken care of during the walkout. I'm sure there are other churches and organizations that are opening their doors to families in need of childcare during this time.

1. Boys and Girls Clubs - Memorial Park, Telstar Elementary, Cesar Chavez clubs (also some in Tulsa area and probably other areas as well, check the website) 
2. Oklahoma Science Museum - Pre-K and Kindergarten camps 9am-noon, grades 1-6 are 9am-4pm. Bring snacks/lunch. 
3. National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum - drop-in activities 10am-2pm, cost of museum admissions
4. Oklahoma City Zoo -  ages 4-11, 8:30am-4:30pm. Bring lunch. 
5. Sam Noble Museum, Norman - ages 5-11, 8:30am-5pm. Bring snacks/lunch.
6. Oklahoma Children's Theatre - 8am-6pm, call for details
7. Journey Church, Norman - Pre-K - 4th grade, 9am-2pm. Lunch and snacks provided.
8. Henderson Hills Baptist Church, Edmond - K-5th grade, 9am-3pm. Lunch provided.
9. Girl Scouts of Western Oklahoma - K-5th grade, Email info@gswestok.org for more info.
10. YMCA - Many locations open, check website
11. Riversport Adventures - ages 8-14, 8am-4pm. Bring lunch.
12. OKC Parks & Recreation Centers - many facilities open for kids during the teacher walkout, check website for details
13. Oklahoma Aquarium - 2nd-5th grade, 8-5pm. Bring lunch.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

Well, it was back to real life today after a very fun Spring Break Adventure.

I keep looking back at the blog posts from our trip and trying to remember every detail.

In case you missed them, here are the blog posts from our trip:

• Family Time at Heather and Stephen and Stella's house
• A fun stop at the Walmart Museum in Bentonville
• A self-guided tour of the Arkansas State Capitol
• Buffet lunch at Brown's Country Restaurant
• A trip to the Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources
• Lunch at Woods Place in Camden
• Some horse racing at Oaklawn
• A stroll through Garvan Gardens to see 150,000 tulips and a trip behind the waterfall
• A visit to the hot springs in Hot Springs, dinner at Fisherman's Wharf, and some ice cream at Kilwin's
• Lots of fun on the farm
• The fishing derby

It was a rainy day at my house this afternoon and rainy days mean one thing - cookies!

I didn't have a lot of time so I made no-bake cookies. This is the best recipe for no-bake cookies. They turn out perfectly every time.

Yield: 24 cookiesAuthor: Jennifer SmithPin it

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

Everybody has a no-bake cookie recipe, but this one is the best! It turns out perfect every time - thick and fudgy, never chalky or dry.

prep time: 10 MINScook time: 1 MINStotal time: 11 mins

ingredients:

• 3 cups quick oats
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 1 Tbsp vanilla

instructions

1. Pour quick oats into a large bowl.
2. In a medium sauce pan, combine butter, sugar, cocoa powder, and milk. Heat on medium until boiling. Boil for exactly 1 minute. Remove from heat and add in peanut butter and vanilla.
3. Pour chocolate mixture over oats and mix well. Let sit 5 minutes then stir again. 
4. Drop by tablespoon (I use a cookie scoop) onto wax paper. Allow to cool. 

notes

If you don't have quick oats, you can use old-fashioned oats and pulse them in a food processor a few times to cut them smaller.

http://www.gracelikerainblog.com/2018/03/no-bake-cookies.html

Be sure you save this recipe so that you can find it later because you will definitely want to try this sweet treat!

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Spring Break Adventure - Garvan Woodland Gardens

The second stop on the Hot Springs leg of our Spring Break Adventure was Garvan Gardens, a 210-acre botanical garden that is part of the University of Arkansas School of Architecture. We were fortunate enough to visit during Tulip Extravaganza where Garvan Gardens has 150,000 tulips blooming all at once. I was really excited to see all the tulips in bloom and I was not at all disappointed. 

I was surprised at all the different varieties of tulips that were in bloom. There were tulips in every color and size, tall ones, short ones.

The arrangement of the tulips and how they had certain colors and shapes mixed together was amazing to see.

I took probably 200 pictures of the tulips. I wanted to share them all.

See all those happy smiles? Noah was our map navigator. The welcome center gave Noah a bingo game, but Emily and I ended up marking the bingo spaces for him.

Emily took this picture of these yellow tulips. Aren't the interesting and totally unique?

The edges are just amazing. Like I said, there were so many shapes and colors of tulips.

The tulips were a showstopper, but there were many other things in bloom at Garvan Gardens while we were there. 

We'd just missed the peak of the daffodils, but the Redbud trees were blooming. There were many types of blooming trees.

Noah had the sillies while we were there. I got several pictures of him with funny faces, including this one beside the waterfall that I posted on Instagram. 

This picture was taken beside the Koi pond. Those trees ... the scenery ... total garden envy!

They had these origami birds in several places around the gardens. Grandmother asked Noah what the bird was made of and he went to touch it, but I made a loud "ACK" sound and scared him. Haha. He thought he was about to get into trouble!

I accidentally got all fancy with my camera and took this artistic photo. I have no idea how I did that but it's really cool looking.

We found George the peacock. He was one of the bingo squares we were hunting.

I thought their Bonsai garden was pretty neat. I'd like to have one of these in my backyard.

We walked over to the Children's Adventure Garden, which is not so much a garden with plants but rather a bunch of large rocks and a big waterfall. They are in the process of building a treehouse in the kid's area, which is going to be really cool. We went into the cave behind the waterfall. I had to take a selfie.

Noah wanted to take a selfie with me. So cute!

Noah had fun playing in the waterfall. Here's a little video from the cave. 

I'm sorry but I can't stop with the tulip-sharing. I put together a few collages with the tulips.

Garvan Gardens was one of my favorite stops. I'd like to go back in the summer ... and the fall ... and the winter when they have the holiday lights display.

How beautiful!!!!!!!

Do you have any gardens like this where you live? If so, tell me in the comments so that I can go visit!

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Spring Break Adventure - Fish Pics

We spent some time fishing at the pond while we were on the farm. This is one of my favorite activities. I could spend all day fishing from sun up to sun down. 

One evening while Grandmother and Granddaddy went for a walk, Emily and Noah and I went out to the pond and caught the smallest bass. I wish I'd taken a picture of the bait we used to catch it because it was almost as big as the fish!

Emily has gotten to where she can put her thumb in the bass's mouth to hold them up. This is a big step for her! Noah wanted to get in her picture sooooo bad! #photobomb

One morning, I drove the Ranger over to the other side of the pond away from the house and ended up catching a nice bass. 

One evening, Granddaddy and I were fishing and I caught this big bream. He was just so big and perfect, not a scratch on him. I don't know why I had my eyes closed.

On Saturday, we went down by the old dock and tried to catch some catfish. We were using hotdogs for bait. My first cast, I caught a 6-pounder. Look at the belly on that fish! 

Granddaddy said that the first pole in the water gets the first fish and after that, it's a lot harder to catch them. He was right! We had to sit and wait a long time for the second one. 

Granddaddy caught a nice one,  too. 

After lunch, Granddaddy went to a car show and Emily and I spent the afternoon fishing. We were fishing for catfish but we caught a bass and a couple bream, too. 

The biggest catfish of the day was this guy. We ran out of hotdogs and had switched over to cheese cubes. I saw him flop in the water and I cast out near him and he took the bait. Isn't that cheesy? He put up a fight but I managed to bring him to shore.

I don't like to take catfish off the hook because they can fin you, but I developed a method where I dragged them onto the bank while still on the hook then used my boot and a pair of pliers to get the hook out of his mouth. Then I would slip the hook of the fish scale under his gills and pick him and weigh him Next,  I would take the scale over to the edge of the pond and lay him in the water then ease him off the scale. Most of them started swimming away immediately, but if they didn't I would help them along with my boot. 

The biggest fish weighed about 6 1/2 pounds. A couple of the other ones were 6 pounds. We really didn't catch any catfish that were small. It was a fun fishing day.

After supper, we went back out to do a little more fishing using some little smokies sausages as bait. My goal was to catch four more fish, but we ended up catching none. I even switched back to the cheese cubes when the sausages were not working, but the fish weren't having it. They were probably full from all the hotdog slices and fish food that we'd used earlier in the day. 

I was still happy with our fishing day though. We ended up catching 7 catfish, 1 bass, 1 bream, and 1 snapping turtle that day.  Wow! What a day!

Who wants to go fishing with us next?

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Spring Break Adventure - Playing at the Farm

I've really loved the fact that we've gotten to do so many fun things on our spring break. One of the most fun parts has been playing on Grandmother and Granddaddy's farm. This is sort of a "Part 1" of our farm adventures. We did so many fun things on the farm that it's impossible to fit it all into one blog post.

Emily's favorite part of the farm has probably been getting to drive the Mule. She's been getting driving lessons on the Mule from Grandmother for a while now, but this trip she's progressed to carrying other passengers, like me! I'd ridden with her before but this time I wasn't scared. #kidding

We've all had fun riding the Ranger. Noah asks for rides pretty much all the time. On Friday, we went for a long ride all around the properties and we all got covered in pollen! That stuff is thick this time of year and it gets all over everything. It's kind of crazy. 

Noah has had a lot of fun playing on the slack line. He's finally tall enough to reach the top line so that he can hang on. Emily is really good at the slack line too. They also like to play on the lazy swing together. I haven't gotten a picture of that one yet though. 

Grandmother has a lot of beautiful flowers blooming right now. There are a lot of white-blooming bushes and trees out in the woods and some of the irises are blooming around the house. One of her roses started blooming this week, too. 

One afternoon, we went over to the cemetery on their property and cleaned it up a little bit. Keyword = a little bit. These are obviously pictures before we cleaned anything. 

It makes me wonder what the world was like when this cemetery was built. Clearly, that area was not in the middle of the woods back in the 1800's. But what was it like? Was it beside a church? Beside a road?

Beside the fenced part of the cemetery is a large slab of concrete with names and dates written on it. A lot of the graves are unmarked. Nobody knows for sure who all is buried out there. 

We've also been out in the pedal boat several times this week. One nice thing about the pedal boat is that the seats are adjustable so that everyone's feet can reach the pedals. I went out with Noah one afternoon and let him do the pedaling.

Doesn't that look like a lot of fun?

Another fun thing about the farm is Grandmother's breakfasts. She fixes pancakes and lets you put anything that you want on them! This was Noah's breakfast this morning - pancakes with melted chocolate chips and marshmallows, covered in syrup, topped with sprinkles and bananas and drizzled with chocolate syrup. What a breakfast!

I have a lot more pictures to share from our time on the farm as well as the pictures from Garvan Gardens in Hot Springs. We have had a blast and I can't wait to share the rest with you.

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