Hand print ornaments (The finished project)

Kylie's in the process of being made.
Plus a few of the Stockings and Candy Canes we made.

 So, we finished our ornaments last night and I think they turned out great! The girls wanted theirs to be red, so I added the red color to the water before adding it to the flour/salt mixture, and I think it turned out great doing it that way instead of painting the color on like I did on Gabryle's. Gabryle's still turned out great even though I painted the green on with watered down food coloring. 

Mackenzie's in the process of being made. 

Gabryle's ornaments in the process of being made.

 We had quite a bit of extra dough so as the girls hand prints were starting to dry I used some cookie cutters and made some stockings and candy canes. Mackenzie thought that was a great idea. We baked them in the oven for a shorter time than I did Gabryle's and they did not puff up any like a couple of Gabryle's did, which I am thrilled about. I was also afraid that after  they dried a little the color would turn more pink than red but they haven't. They have still kept their red coloring without fading. (whether they fade over a long period of time we shall see!) 

After they cooled to the touch and had set for a few hours I pulled the paint out and started painting the small little ornaments how I wanted, just to make sure the metallic Gold color looked all right with the red color of the dough. Kylie thought I Was crazy for painting them at first! As those dried I separated the girls hand prints and wrote their names and the year on them with a gold permanent marker then painted the hands. 

I haven't had to touch up the paint on the hand prints, which I'm glad about. By the time I was through painting the hands the stockings and candy canes were dry and I was able to check them out better. I think they turned out just as cute as the hand prints. 

This morning the hand prints are still a little damp on the back, but I imagine they will dry fairly quickly and be ready for hanging on the tree. I'll recheck the paint in a little bit just to make sure 

The completed Ornaments 

I didn't miss any spots on the hands and that all  of

the red is covered in the hand area.  

I enjoyed doing this with the kids. It was easy and quick to do, and it uses every day things that most people have in their house to begin with.   Once we get our tree up and the ornaments up on the tree I will post pictures so you can see them hanging with all of our other family ornaments. 

Till Next Time!!!

Salt Dough Ornaments

I came across a recipe today for Salt dough that you can use to make craft projects out of.  I have been searching the past few days for a recipe to make homemade hand print ornaments for the kids to do this year for Christmas. Every year we have a tradition of adding 1 family ornament to our collection of ornaments. So far this year we haven't really come across any pre-made ornament that we like, so I thought maybe of having the kids make their own ornaments, by doing a hand print ornament. It'll be a great keepsake, especially once they get a lot older.
I've already tried it out this morning with Gabryle, and did different sizes of dough and I believe I have found the amount that works just right. The ones that were too large ended up bubbling up where Gabryle did his hand print so those were not usable. I found the less dough you can use, the better it turns out. I baked the dough for less time than the recipe called for and at a lower temperature, just to make sure it didn't brown or anything like that.
I think they will make wonderful ornaments once I get the girls home and we do theirs also. I will have Gabryle do another one just to give me another option. He had a blast being able to sit there and mash his hand down on the circle of dough I had him do. I guess he thought he was like Daddy in the kitchen cooking being able to stand up on the chair with me and watching me do what all I needed to do.

Gabryle's first ornament attempt.
This is the test run outcome. 

When I do our batch later today I will also add a hint of food coloring just to give the dough a little color. I colored the one good one Gabryle had today with some food coloring and I think it just looks better once you add some color to it. I'll post some pictures later once we get our final ornaments done and I have included the recipe for salt dough below.

Till Next Time!!!!

SALT DOUGH

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 cup salt

3/4 cup water

1.Mix together the flour and salt till well mixed together.

2. Add water and stir until a ball of dough forms.

3. roll out in sections or a flat sheet and cut out shapes or form to desired shape.

4. bake on cookie sheet for about 2 1/2 hours at 375 watching regularly to prevent browning OR let dry for 24 hours.

Update on Kylie's Pumpkins

So, it has been almost 3 weeks since I told you about Kylie's pumpkins. I am here to tell you that they are STILL growing and thriving! These two pictures were taken a few days ago, and as you can see they have not stopped growing yet.

They have grown a good two inches since the last time I wrote and have put on quite a few leaves. A lot of small leave buds are almost to open also on both of the stems. The stems are strong and seem very resilient.

We still have not added dirt to the cup, or put them into a pot. I do not give it any type of fertilizer or nutrients. I honestly did not think they would survive this long. They have survived me over watering them, and being dried out once. So how is it that I can keep a pumpkin alive, but not a cactus or flower or ivy plant?  I suppose we will go buy a pot and soil soon so we can transplant it soon. Of course the roots are all embedded in the paper towels so it will be interesting to see if we can get them worked out of the paper towels.

Kylie is glad her pumpkin is still growing. I can see her wanting to take it for show and tell next month when it is her day to do show and tell. It's fun watching her go check it every few days to see how it is going. She told me that she keeps watching for the flower to come so that there will be a pumpkin and then we can make another jack-o-lantern or maybe a pie. I'll update on the pumpkin again in a few weeks with new pictures.

Till Next Time!!

Nice Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Yes yesterday was Thanksgiving so I'm a little late on the blog but oh well. We had a very nice Thanksgiving and were able to see a lot of family!

We left home Wednesday around lunch and headed to the City. We got to My Dad and Brothers house a few hours later and spent the day with them. The kids had fun with their Uncle, Marisol, Dante and Grandaddy. Around dinner time my Mom and Step-Dad came over  and we all had some pizza and visited for a while. The kids were excited to see Nana and Gramps since they hadn't seen them in a while. After Mom and Rick left Jerrod and I went a little later and caught a movie by ourselves. We  went and watched the new Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1, which I loved!

Thursday we got up and got the turkey in the oven and started our meal that we were having with Dad. We had everything fixed and ate an early Thanksgiving Dinner with Dad then lounged around the house the rest of the afternoon. Jerrod and Gabryle at one point crashed and fell asleep on the sofa for a while. Too much Turkey for the boys. Late in the afternoon we got all of our things packed back up and then headed over to Uncle Don and Aunt Gayla's house and had Thanksgiving Dinner with Mom, Rick, Patrick, Jamie, Uncle Don, and Aunt Gayla.

After dinner and visiting a little we then needed to head back home. All in all it was a really good holiday! It was nice seeing family we had not seen in quite a while and the kids had fun! Now that Thanksgiving is over, we can now start getting ready for Christmas.

Till Next Time!

Cool Fall Day!

It was a cold fall day here yesterday, so the kids and I while Jerrod was at work had a lazy day watching movies all day. We rented some movies from one of the Redbox machines in town and had fun just sitting around. We don't do that too often, but the girls seemed to enjoy it!
We started off watching Rio, which was pretty cute. The girls loved it! Of course what kid wouldn't love singing birds? Then we watched Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer. It was definitely a kids movie! Kenzie loved it and Kylie thought it was okay. That movie was right on for what Kenzie likes, so maybe we should get her some of the books that the movie is based off of. I didn't realize till it started that the actor who played Urkle is in it!
After that it was time for Pirates of the Caribbean 4, On Stranger Tides! I LOVE the Pirates of the Caribbean movies! Kenzie sat and watched the entire movie with me and loved it too. Kylie however, as soon as Gabryle woke up from his nap went and played with him in the bedroom. (I love that Kenzie will sit and watch the Pirates of the Caribbean movies with me! She loves them just as much as I do.)
By the time the last movie ended it was time for Jerrod to be home and we had dinner. It was a good day. We don't all that often just sit and watch movies all day on Sundays but it was fun to just sit and do nothing with the kiddo's for a bit! It was a nice way to start the week of Thanksgiving!

Till Next Time!!

Early Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving next week, that means the girls will have a few days of vacation from school. Due to them only being at school twice next week, the school held their annual Family Thanksgiving dinner today at lunch. All parents and younger or older siblings who might not be in school are invited to come and eat with their students during lunch and have a traditional Thanksgiving Meal. They serve turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, giblet gravy, hot rolls, chocolate chip cookies and my favorite, the cranberry sauce from the can with no cranberries in it.
Due to the higher volume of people in the cafeteria with this meal, they change up the lunch times for the students so there is plenty of seating in the cafeteria for everyone. Instead of getting to eat with both the girls at one time, I went up to eat with Kylie and then Jerrod went up to eat with Mackenzie. Kylie's lunch was from 10:30 to 10:55. Yes that is early, but its just fifteen minutes earlier than what they are used to eating anyway. It does explain a little why Kylie is always so hungry when she gets home from school. (The fact that she doesn't eat her lunch also has to do with it also. Lately she has been a very picky eater!)
I never told Kylie that I would be eating with her today, so when she saw me as she came out of her classroom she was thrilled to see me. She came up to me and says "What are you doing here?"
my response, "I'm eating lunch with you."
"Okay cool."
We went in and I bought my ticket and we got our food. The tray was full and Kylie was afraid of dropping her food so she got help to carry her tray and we went and sat at one of the big round tables they had set up for extra space. She was thrilled she got to eat at the big peoples table and not the little tables. First thing she ate was the cookie, which was really no surprise to me. After that she ate her roll then finished off her chocolate milk then was through eating. She wouldn't even touch the turkey, dressing, potatoes or green beans.She even drank part of my tea once her milk was gone.
After we finished eating she showed me how you dump your tray at school and that  you have to be careful or you can slip and fall if there are spills in the floor.
I think her favorite part of lunch was all the Thanksgiving decorations they had up around the cafeteria. They had paper turkey's on all the tables and cutout paper leafs. They even had pumpkins and flowers on the adults drink table and where they had the cranberry sauce and the butter and silverware. She also made sure that everyone that we saw knew that her Mom got to come and eat with her. I think it made her day!
Jerrod enjoyed going and eating with Kenzie at her lunch time and maybe next year when they do it we can get them to see if we can have both the girls come to the cafeteria at once. When the girls get home later I'll get to hear all about lunch again, even though we were there. Oh well, its worth it!

Till Next Time!!

Music and the Kids

One of the favorite things lately for the girls is to have me put some music on and let them sing and dance around the living room. We turn the TV off, and I start the music on my computer and they go to town! Gabryle even has lately gotten in on dancing in the middle of the two girls and trying to imitate both of the girls at the same time. That parts get pretty darn funny!
Tonight is no difference. I turned the TV off while they were in their room playing and started some music and in they ran to start dancing. First came Gabryle running into the living room, and not to long after here came the girls. Kylie was thrilled cause after they came in I started one of her most favorite songs that I can think of, 'Kiss a Girl' by Keith Urban. She has most of the song memorized and every now and then when she takes her bath I'll hear her singing it while she is in the tub. Kenzie's favorite consists of Justin Bieber of course, and 'The Climb' by Hannah Montana. All three of the kiddo's love Avril Lavigne's 'Alice' song from the Alice in Wonderland movie.
I on the other hand have so many favorite songs I would probably run out of room in one blog post to put them all in. With the music between Jerrod and I, the kids get quite a selection of music. They hear everything from Country to rock to classical to soundtracks. I love getting the soundtracks to some movies just for the instrumental tracks. I'll sit and listen to the music over and over. I have noticed with the girls, they each have started getting their own favorite types of music. Used to be they both just loved Hannah Montana but now they have branched off to different things. Kylie seems to favor country music and Kenzie seems to lean a lot more towards rock music (however she has mentioned she does not like rap!)
I hope when they are old enough they try choir out. As much as they love singing right now by the time they get old enough for it, I think they will be great!
With as much music that runs in the family besides just me and Jerrod I'm sure they will be involved in one way or the other hopefully. They have aunts, uncles, and grandparents who were all involved in either vocal music, instrumental music or both. Maybe one of these days I can catch them on video of while they are singing and get it posted!

Till Next Time!!

Kylie's Pumpkins

Kylie's Pumpkin

So, before Halloween Kylie's class got to carve a pumpkin actually in class. After they carved it that evening her teacher cleaned off enough seeds from the pumpkin so each child could take a couple home with them to do what ever their parents allow them to do with the seeds. Kylie decided she wanted to try and grow the pumpkins so we can have all we want to make many more jack-o-lanterns. I warned Kylie that I am not great with growing plants, but that doesn't matter to her. She was determined we will grow these pumpkins.

So I got one of our clear plastic cups, put a couple of paper towels in it then stuck one seed on one side and one on the other side. We watered the paper towel/seed combo and stuck it in the window sill. A week later we had one of the seeds start to sprout! Kylie was thrilled when she saw that the seeds had started to grow! Her seeds have been growing now for about 2 weeks and are about 6 inches tall now. She loves seeing how much they have grown!

Kylie's pumpkin

 What I am surprised about, is how We have been able to grow these pumpkin seeds, with no dirt, over watered and they are thriving! I am not a gardener by any means! I have tried to grow flowers, we've tried vegetables, and I have even tried cactus and I can't grow anything!! I have literally kissed cactus's, and I only watered them once!  Maybe it's Kylie's determination to grow these pumpkins, but I'm shocked that they have not died yet. I think I am surprised most about it, because we haven't put any dirt in the cup. She's happy with them, so that's all we can ask for. If they die before we replant them somewhere not to sure what we will do, but I'm sure she will be okay with it. Hopefully they don't thought!!!

My Kylie!

                      Till Next Time!!!

Best-est Friends

As Mackenzie and I were running an errand earlier this evening she was telling me about one of her friends. His name is Aftyn. He is not just her friend, but her best-est friend as she put it. As I was driving she was telling me that she played with Aftyn at her recesses today so I asked, is Aftyn your best friend. Her reply was "Aftyn is my best-est friend. I play with him almost every school day, except for when he is sick or if I ever get sick. If he is sick I usually sit on the sidewalk and watch the other kids play." I thought it was sweet but a little sad at the same time. 

She and Aftyn were in pre-k and Kindergarten together. This is the first year they have been separated in classes. They were inseparable last year in kindergarten and I bet if they were in the same class this year, they would be inseparable again. They play vampires a lot during recess and I believe what they call werewolves. She told me today that during recess they like to have races, but Aftyn is way to fast for her. Sometimes he will hold her hand while they run so they can win together. 

I think its cute how she thinks Aftyn is her best-est friend. Last year she always called him her boyfriend and told us that she would marry him. She has many many friends, don't think otherwise. Mackenzie has friends with kids in all of the other first grade classes, and then also in second grade and I believe a few third graders. All three of our kids are very likable. I guess that is why all the neighborhood kids love to come play with them. 

Till Next Time!

Gabryle's Story

Gabryle fast asleep a few nights ago
before he got Croup.

Once there was a boy named Gabryle. He started to get a cough, and his parents thought it was just a cold. After a few days the cough got worse and he sounded oh so congested. They decided then to take him to the doctor to have him checked out to be on the safe side.
Gabryle's Mommy took him to the minor emergency clinic and was seen fairly quickly. As soon as they got back to the room they took his temperature and pulse-ox and weight. His temp was at 101 even and his pulse-ox was a 95 and weight was 27.7 pounds. The doctor has at the computer by the scale and went ahead and prescribed a breathing treatment after his full history was taken. The nurse showed us to the exam room and went to get the treatment and nebulizer and a shot of a steroid. We fought with the breathing treatment. Gabryle was not wanting to do it, but Mommy and the nurse did. Ultimately Gabryle's Mommy got most of the first breathing treatment.
He was starting to sound better after it and he took the shot in the leg. He was not a happy camper unfortunately. The doctor ordered a chest/neck x-ray just to make sure nothing was swallowed by chance and to make sure his lungs looked okay. We walked down to the x-ray room and he was not liking having to lay on the board or sitting up while Mommy and the nurses held him to get the pictures needed for the doctor. After about five to ten minutes Gabryle and Mommy were able to go back to the exam room. The x-rays were clear and another breathing treatment was started. This one was a little easier on Mommy. Gabryle laid his head on her chest and drifted off and on to sleep while breathing in the treatment and did not fight as nearly as much.
The doctor came back in and let us know that poor little Gabryle has Croup. Since it is viral no antibiotics will be given, however we will be having him take a steroid for a few days.
Little Gabryle is now home and has had his lunch. His breathing sounds much better and hopefully will be completely back to normal quickly.

Till Next Time!