Experienced

As a mom I'm always pleased when I feel "experienced." You know the times...when I deftly rescue a child from a precarious position on a playground, when I have a well-balanced lunch that my kids actually eat, when my timing is great and we arrive home before a meltdown or a hunger strike. I am, after all, the mom of a 4 year old and a one year old. I have years of experience now!!

But are you surprised to know there are days when I have to ask, "What was I thinking?!"

We had one of those days last week. Ambitiously I planned a craft: A Pinecone Bird Feeder. A simple pinecone covered with peanut butter, corn meal and bird seed. Hang it on a tree with string and you're done! I have, in fact, been planning this activity for quite some time. I collected pinecones on our camping trip in September. I secured bird seed sometime in November. I added peanut butter and corn meal to my grocery list last month. I even had to rescue the pinecones from the trash where my husband deposited them while decluttering the garage.

So, with great expectations I headed outside with my boys, the recipe, ingredients and a camera.

If you are an inexperienced Pinecone Bird Feeder maker I will share with you what an experienced mom might have known going into this:

-pine cones are very pokey and really not very fun to work with
-peanut butter is not easy to work with


-some crafts are better done without the help of a 15 month old
-peanut butter and corn meal is apparently very tasty


-dogs like peanut butter, peanut butter does not like dogs
-once you start helping with this project do not touch your camera
-making 6 Pinecone Bird Feeders is about 4 too many for a 4 year old

-the verdict is still out on whether birds actually like Pinecone Birdfeeders

Does anyone want to share some hard earned experience?