Smell like a princess.

 A friend's daughter came up to me while I was visiting, and our conversation went like this...

"Auntie Jen, daddy gave me these pretty roses. See!"

"Wow, those are pretty, that was nice of him."

"Yeah, but he says they will die. I want to keep them forever."

"Well, your daddy's right, they will die. That's just how it works."

"But I want to keep them. I love them, they smell so pretty. Can you fix them?"

"I'm sorry honey, I can't. But if you want, I can make you some perfume out of them."

"Ok! Yeah yeah!!!"

"But they won't be flowers anymore. You won't be able to see them, just smell them."

"That's ok! I love perfume. I'll smell pretty like my pretty mommy."

So after a little while, and after saying goodbye to her pretty red roses, we made it into some perfume. Which was as easy as plucking off all the petals, and putting them in a glass jar. We filled the jar with enough water to submerge the petals.

She then had a messy blast squishing and stirring it. After a little while, I told her that it needed to set, so we put the lid on and watched a movie. (It would smell so much stronger if it set overnight, but with an impatient little girl, we couldn't wait.)

We found a vase, and strained the water into it, taking out the petals. I added a little red food coloring to give it a "rosy red" color, and labeled it for her.

She loves it, and the fact that she can smell like her pretty roses from daddy.

And it's safe for her. I have no doubt it will end up on her dollies, and who knows  where else, but her mommy let me. ;)

I wish I would have done it at home, because I have better jars and things to decorate with, but we made due with what we had, and she could care less.

I love getting the change to do something girly. How could I say no to this face??

Recycled pirate booty.

 I have SO many diaper boxes lying around, so I took two and made a treasure chest during our little storm the other day.

I cut off the flaps from the top except one of the longer back sides. I then cut out two semi-circularish shapes from the other box, and stuck them to either end of the flap using tape like crazy. They stayed up pretty well.

 I then cut out a lid using thinner cardboard from cereal boxes so that it would bend over to make the rounded top.

A little tricky, but I finally got it all taped down.

Then I covered the entire thing in white paper, ready to decorate.

 It's not very pretty. Partly because I didn't feel like pulling out the paint mess and doing a much better job like I could have. I knew it would get destroyed. :)

So instead, Parker and I just took to it with markers and crayons.

I stuffed the inside with some left over shiny wrapping paper and tinsel, and a few chocolate gold coins.

Then went on a treasure hunt to find fun things to fill it with. Which in Parker's opinion, were things like, dvd's, stuffed animals, blocks, and cooking utensils. :)

"Here is the treasure chest.

What does it hold?

Rubies and emeralds,

silver and gold.

Sparkling diamonds,

Spanish doubloons.

Perfect to play with,

On grey afternoons."

Gingerbread Play Dough.

 In the spirit of Christmas, we've been having some holiday fun. Making sweets, ornaments, and this.

My homemade play dough in a "gingerbread". Pretty much the same as always, just tweaked a little.

It was near impossible to get photos, because it seemed like seconds after they were decorated, the "men" became blobs. :)

The ingredients I used:

2 cups of flour

1 cup of salt

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 1/2 cups of hot/boiling water

1 tablespoon of ginger

2 tablespoons of cinnamon

I just mixed all the dry ingredients together in a bowl, added the oil, and then stirred in the water and allowed it to cool a bit.

After that, kneaded it into a dough with my hands, (with a little help from baby hands) and after a few minutes of that, it's soft and smooth. It shouldn't be sticky, but if it is, I add a little flour one tablespoon at a time until it's just right.

Finally a use for all the junk buttons.

So fun, and it smelt yummy! Although, like with all the play dough, it doesn't taste too good, says his face. :)

Moldable Sand.

We did this a couple months ago, but I've been slacking on posting...

 This was super easy. Since we make SO much salt dough and play dough, I wanted to make something totally different in texture for him, and came up with this.

Sand!

And since we moved far away from the beaches, this was kind of fun and nostalgic for me too. :) 

 5 cups of flour and 1 cup of baby oil. That's it! Mix and play. It's got a really soft feel and shapes and molds like damp sand. He had a great time squishing it and making a royal mess for me to clean!

And Wa-La. I made a sandcastle...

Marbled Playdough!

Since it was a rainy day yesterday, we couldn't spend much time outside, so we made some homemade playdough. I prefer to make a no-cook version since it's quicker and easier. Although the cooked version lasts for up to six weeks, while this only lasts about a week.

For this, just mix:

1 cup of flour

1/4 cup of salt

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Squeeze of lemon

Then add:

1/3 cup of water (always seems a little dry, so I usually add another few tbsp)

Knead into dough. For the marbling, I added a few drops of food coloring into the dough after it was finished, but for solid colors, mix it into the water before adding it.

You can also add flavoring to give it a yummy smell, or glitter to add some shine.

He loves squeezing and squishing it, building with it (and throwing it, lol). He decided he wanted to take it onto the floor to play with. He found a tupperware lid and decided to make and plate me a nice little rainbow swirl cake that he then tried to feed to me. :)



Discovery box.

This is something I started doing a little while ago, and it's now become somewhat of a daily ritual. I filled an empty plastic storage bin with random things from around the house and left it in it's spot on the shelf. Cups, straws, magnets, paper, wooden sticks, toys, anything small enough to fit.

When he goes down for a nap, I trade everything with totally different items than the day before. Now he's getting up and immediately off to find and explore it. I love the look of surprise when he realizes it's all new. To him anyways. :)

I love the idea of open-ended playing with no real purpose other than exploring. He gets to do what he wants with all of it. It's amazing the things his little mind comes up with. Like this tower he's building.

Indoor/outdoor magnetic chalkboard table.

 I bought a can of magnetic chalkboard paint, and painted two coats onto an old coffee table that we have been storing. It seems fairly waterproof and goes on really thick.

It's proving very popular with my little guy and others when they come over to play. It's the perfect height for standing at to draw and scribble on. Standing up to draw and play seems more comfortable and natural for little ones rather than sitting at a desk or table.

Since it's so jet black, it creates a really cool effect when you throw some colored sand onto it. Almost like a reverse light table. And because it's magnetic, i'm going to have to buy some fun magnets to add to it.

Only spent maybe ten bucks, and I have a feeling this is going to get a TON of use!