Sweet & Salty

No school today in observance of MLK.  While our usual Monday routine is quite pleasant, it felt good to deviate a bit from our norm.

Our agenda looked like this:
1.  Bake healthy-ish muffins
2.  Take said muffins & lunch to WM & WJ at their now shared office
3.  Paint with WC while MD napped

Simple.  Very simple.  And oh so enjoyable.

My little sous chefs stood side-by-side at the kitchen counter busily chopping strawberries, while I rooted through the pantry seeking out muffin ingredients.  Strawberry banana chocolate chip oatmeal muffins.  Yep.  Healthy in that they had only a tablespoon of honey for added sugar and called for Greek yogurt.  Yet we snuck in those dark chocolate chips so they'd still seem like a treat.  They were delicious.  And still warm from the oven when we indulged in a post-lunch treat.  

I like seeing our sweet boys working together on these everyday tasks.  Helping.  Teaching.  Applauding.  Each.  Other.

I also like these polka-dot measuring cups.  A lot.  If all of my dishes were polka-dotted and rainbow colored (the set has one red, one blue, one yellow & one orange cup), I'd never tire of dirtying the dishes and washing them only to dirty them again.  

And since I seem to be on a rainbow hued kick these days, Channing & I actually did get around to painting.  For an hour and a half.  We sat together at the dining room table & watched as colors bled & blended into beautiful rainbow colored hues.

This technique, found on Pinterest quite some time ago, is simple.  Using card stock or water color paper, draw a design in pencil, trace it with good old Elmer's glue.  Generously sprinkle table salt on the wet glue.  Carefully shake off the excess.  Then, using a very wet brush, gently dab watercolor paint on the salt.  The slightest touch causes the paint to skip across the salt.  When it dries, it has the most beautiful texture & the color intensifies to the point you don't just see it on the paper you can feel it.  

We may have just painted the old fashioned way too.  I painted hearts.  In honor of Valentine's Day being just around the corner.  And in rainbow colored hues once again.  Channing painted an apple. For me.  And I like it so well, I intend to frame it.

There you have it.  Our day in a nut shell.  A little sweet.  A little salt.  All of it good.  Very, very good.