Friday, September 27, 2013

Mommy & Baby Hand Prints


I found this basic recipe to make salt dough for prints.  It looked so easy and fun so I had to try it.  Since the recipe I found was so basic it took me two tries to get it right.  It was a lot of fun and really fast and easy to make.  Here's the recipe with my additional notes. 

1/2 c salt
1/2 c flour

1/4 c water (give or take)
 

Mix together well.  (I used a wooden spoon at first, then finished mixing with my hands until I was able to form a ball)
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  
Form the dough into a ball or brink (depending on the shape you want) and roll it out onto the cookie sheet.
Firmly press Mommy's (or Daddy's) hand in first, then firmly press the child's hand.  If it doesn't work out roll the dough out again.  
If desired, use a straw to make holes for hanging.  

Bake at 210 degrees F for 3 hours until it's fully dry and hard.  If it's still wet or soft, place it back into the oven for another 1-2 hours.

Paint desired colors using acrylic paint. 


I've decided to display the hand prints using a plate holder.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Learning to be OK with a Messy Home

I hate having a messy home!  I hate stuff!  I like clean and organized.  I like to have things kept in their place.  I can't relax and enjoy myself if my house is a mess.  God is teaching me a lot about patience and releasing control lately. 

It's been a struggle for me to keep the house clean since my baby was born.  Baby stuff just seems to consume your whole house.  No matter where I turned, there was baby stuff.  If I wanted to escape the baby world, I was able to go down to our family room (that we hardly ever used before baby) and sit in the family room.  Then around 6 months I felt like I was finally starting to gain control over my unorganized home again.  I was in a routine with being a working mom.  I was finally learning how to live off 6 continuous hours of sleep (baby was sleeping around 8 hours but I needed that hour each night & morning for me).  I was feeling good about myself.  Sure my house wasn't spotless, but it was organized. 

Then somewhere in the 9th month I lost control big time.  All of a sudden my sweet little baby girl decided that she too can "help" with folding laundry.  She too can "help" clean out my purse or her diaper bag.  She decided that her toys & books do not belong on her shelf and would pull them all off first thing every morning.  And if you tried to pick them up, she'd be right behind you pulling them back off.  She decided that the tables in the living room needed to be clean 24/7.  If you put anything on the table, she's throw it on the floor.  Now she's learned about the dishwasher...DUN DUN DUN!!!  Loading the dishwasher has been a really big challenge b/c she wants to help you unload the dishwasher.  We constantly have dirty silverware on our kitchen floor now when we're trying to clean the kitchen.  Luckily we don't wash any of our knives in the dishwasher, so I don't have to worry about her cutting herself.  However,  I've been finding ourselves in this constant battle in cleaning our house.  When you try to clean and organize, my sweet little angel is right behind you.  My husband will jokingly say "Here momma!  You didn't do this right.  The _____ goes over here." or "Let me help you momma!  I can _____ too!"  as our little girl is destroying everything that I just worked on. 

God works in funny ways.  As I'm struggling with this whole messy house thing, He leads me to an article from a newsletter I receive, that describes your baby at 10 months.  It said that at this age your baby creates clutter.  AMEN to that!  It was really good for me to see that this was normal and it's not just my baby.  So, this past week God has really been working on me and saying "It's OK if the house isn't perfect!  Enjoy your daughters curiosity.  Enjoy your daughter's enthusiasm.  Enjoy your daughter!"  I still don't like a messy house.  It still drives me crazy but, I'm learning that the world is not exploding because my daughter's room has her clothes thrown all over the place because she wanted to "help" me with the laundry.