salt dough ornaments!

I decided Ally was old enough to partake in some fun arts and crafts this year, so I found a recipe online for salt dough and made some ornaments using holiday cookie cutters, which we then painted, covered in an acrylic varnish so they'll stay nice and pretty, and finally added some little jewels to make 'em sparkle - cuz all girls love a little sparkle :) Anyway, it was a blast and they turned out so cute! I'm already excited to make this a new holiday tradition each year. The recipe for the salt dough is after the photos below if you're interested! It's SUPER easy. Happy Holidays!

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Salt Dough Recipe:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup salt

Mix all ingredients together until it forms a dough, then turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it for a few minutes until you feel like it becomes uniform and fairly elastic. Then roll it until it's about 1/4 inch thick and cut out shapes with cookie cutters (or free-hand it if you're feeling crafty). Place cut-outs on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and use a straw to poke out holes in the top for the ribbon to go through once they're done. I baked mine in a 170 degree oven for about 6 hours because at higher temps they were puffing up, which is not pretty. You can try at a higher temp if you kneaded your dough better than I did, but keep an eye on them because you DON'T want them to puff up. Once you feel they are completely dried out from baking, take them out and let cool. Then paint with acrylic paints, and use an acrylic varnish to coat them again once the paint is dry - this will make them last so they don't absorb moisture in storage and turn into dough balls again by next Christmas. Then decorate with more adornments if you'd like - for older kids glitter would be fun! Then just loop through some ribbon and tie for cute ornaments, or you could even skip the hole and turn them into magnets or pins - really cute homemade project and REALLY easy.

bed-head

Let's just appreciate the bed-head for a moment. I'm looking forward to seeing how this story develops as she gets older and the hair gets longer. I'm anticipating quite a display of bed-headedness in years to come. Behold:

holiday photo shoot

I was determined to get a cute photo for Christmas cards this year, so I set up a quickie photo shoot, which consisted of one white sheet draped over our dining room chairs in the dining room because it gets the best light, and one small fake christmas tree. Add cute outfit and toddler and voila - let the games begin. Unfortunately, getting a 2 year old to sit and smile on cue is near impossible. I think I took about 50 pictures, and the three below are the only ones worth presenting. The rest are all half closed eyes and her trying to run away. Anyway, I'd say getting a couple memories at least was worth it!

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i know, i know...

Enough with the close ups on the eyes - in my defense, I've been doing it so I can practice eye sharpening techniques in photoshop. Plus I just can't help myself.

silly mommy...

You thought you could sneak up on me? I can hear you a mile away.

nature museum

Today Ally and I ventured a whole 5 minutes across the freeway to a little nature museum that features local wildlife (think coyotes, badgers, raccoons and otters) and also has a few fun little hands-on children's exhibits. I thought the animals would totally thrill her, but she was more interested in jumping up and down the stairs (except for the otters of course since they're always entertaining and adorable).


The exhibits inside though, were her favorite.  Probably the best was a tube meant to illustrate and updraft that helps birds fly, among other things.  The kids could put colored foam thingies into the tube and then watch (or squeal with delight) as the air blew them up and out the top.



The other hit was a wall filled with holes and colored water bottles that was meant to show how a certain type of worm (I can't remember which one) burrows and lives.  Ally just liked the pink ones and spent a good 20 minutes hoarding them together in one section.



Girls - as long as they're pink, even worms are attractive.

beach day!

We headed over to Stinson Beach over Labor Day weekend with some friends, and actually saw the sun! I dragged my camera along and got a couple good shots of Ally and Rowan (our friend's little boy). Fun day overall and the kids had a great day in the sand :)



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