Rainy Morning

Today is a dreary, rainy morning.  After soo many beautiful days lately it's tough to complain so we made the most of it and stayed inside to do a favorite project...homemade play-dough (see here for my recipe).  Millie has never made it before and they both enjoyed measuring, mixing etc.  I think they liked making it as much as playing with the finished product! 

Stirrin' things up - and being silly.

Millie squishing

(as you can see, she couldn't get by without a quick taste)

Noah deep in concentration.

This is a great learning project too...measuring, following directions/recipes, colors....and patience!
After naps we are planning a little puddle-jumping!
Hope you are enjoying your day, whether it be rain or shine! 

Be My Valentine in 2009

Highlights from our Valentine events.

For the past three years (since having Noah) I can never seem to get my act together around the holidays to design and send out Christmas cards, so instead, I send Valentine cards. I justify this by convincing myself that maybe everyone likes to receive a card in February to brighten the sometimes gray days of winter. Maybe that's a stretch. Sadly, I usually find myself hard-pressed to even get the Valentine's out! You can see this year's version below.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

Noah making homemade playdough (see recipe below) for his friend Lizzie's Valentine gift.

The final product:

Valentine card, playdough 'cupcake' and homemade heart & butterfly crayons.

The playdough 'cupcake' would be great party favors for a birthday party too!

The Friday before Valentine's day, Noah's good friend Lizzie came over for our own little party. They made and decorated cupcakes. It was so fun to see the two of them make cupcakes together. They really enjoyed putting the cupcake papers in the pans. That was a nice quite job for each of them. Then a moment later...they were arguing over who was going to use the hand mixer first.

"My turn!"

"No, MY turn!"

"No, My turrrrrn!"

Eventually, Noah was convinced Lizzie should go first because she was our guest. :o )
Lizzie with her decorated cupcake - and her taste test.


Noah with his finished product. His taste test was a litte messier than Lizzie's.

What a great day. Thank you Katie, Lizzie and Mary for coming over!

Recipe for Homemade Playdough

(courtesy of my aunt Jeannie Diesel - thanks Jeannie!)

1 c. flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

(a powder found in the spice aisle of the grocery)

1/2 tsp salt

1 c. water

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

food coloring

Cook all ingredients over medium heat until mixture forms a ball - about 4 mins.

Remove dough from pan and let cool.

Squeeze dough until completely mixed and smooth.

Make impression in dough and drop food coloring in.

Use gloves or put dough in baggies to knead color so you don't stain your hands.

Knead until color is uniform and to your liking.

Store dough in air-tight container. Refridgerator is best, but it gets a little wet.

Have fun!