Orange Play Dough Recipe

I had the urge to make scented play dough this week. I wanted it for Friday night when my parenting group meets; we have been meeting for almost six years now!

My little helper helped me mix and mix our orange concoction. It smells so wonderful and is super soft. 

I have searched high and low for the best recipe and I end up using a mixture of recipes. I like to add boiling water to mine rather than cooking it. It is a matter of personal preference. 

The recipe I used is here, but I added more flour to it as it was rather wet. If you need to add flour, do it a little at a time. 

 This is always a hit in my classroom when I use it during sensory play. It is much softer than store bought play dough and of course the smell is fabulous. Too bad Emeril didn't get that smell-o-vision working.

Do you make your own play dough? What is your favorite recipe? Please share. 

Rain Boots!

I am not sure why mother nature cannot make up her mind, but I am not going to complain. I normally don't like winter, but this winter has been mild to say the least. Of course now that I said that the cosmos is going to do what it does and bring on the mother of all snow storms. Your welcome. 

I was going to do a snow theme this week, however, all the snow melted. Rain it is. I found the best book at the library, Ooh La La Polka Dot Boots by  Ellen Olson-Brown. It is a fun little book and in it, everything goes with Polka Dot Boots! I own a pair and I agree.

Our craft is a simple not so messy one this week, surprise! We are going to use dot painters to paint polka dot boots. My friends have not used these yet in my class and I am excited to see what they think. Update: They loved it. The movement and the banging noise that was made while painting made this a huge hit!

Our sensory table is full of water. I love it. I let the children place ice cubes that I had colored with food coloring into the water to see what happens. I put out two tubs. One had hot water and one had cold. I discussed with the kids what happens when you put the ice cubes in each. They mixed with spoons and measuring cups. Of course I completely forgot to take pictures of this. Duh. 

I brought in my polka dot rain boots for the kids to see and try on. Below is my little guy reading the book, next to my boots. A couple of my friends even tried the boots on.

We finished off class with parachute play, which is always a hit. 

Have you played with the dot painters? If so what is your favorite craft to do?

Sleep

I have been trying to survive on little to no sleep for the last three years. Yes, three years!

When my youngest was born it was obvious he was a mamma's boy and a nurser. Oh my that boy loved to nurse. So much, I had to wean him at 26 months. Yep, you read that right. He would still nurse today if I let him. I feel sorry for his future girlfriends. I apologize girls, I created a boob man. I don't regret a minute of it. *I am not against formula, my oldest weaned at 5 months and was formula fed. I am pro whatever works for you and your family. No judging here. We momma's need to support each other.

This got me thinking about the saying "sleep like a baby", which is so wrong. People say it when they got a great night of sleep. That is wrong on so many levels. Sleeping like a baby means you wake up every two or three hours. I sleep like a baby and it sucks.

I want to sleep like the dead. Yes, the dead. You know you are not waking up during the night. Nope, no chance. Dead people do not wake up, well most of the time (I digress). They only wake up in movies Bruce Campbell is in. I love him, he is currently in a show I watch and his name is Sam. That just happens to be my little peanut's name. Again, I digress.

So I am toasting all my momma's who are sleeping like a baby, may you soon sleep like the dead. In the meantime, I am enjoying another cup of joe. Tonight I will be taking my Calms Forte and praying tonight will be a good night.

Almost three years ago, the beginning of my lack of sleep. I wouldn't trade them for anything; not even a cup of joe.