Cloud Dough

We recently made cloud dough after reading the post at Tinker Lab.  This is so easy and kids love it!  We had a 3rd grader, two pre-kindergarten students and a two-year old digging in, collaborating, and absorbed in play for over 20 minutes.  My kids and I have played with it often, and keep it stored in the garage so we can play outside and worry even less about clean up, but this stuff really is a nice sensory product.

 (This photo was taken on a different day, while the little man was busy digging in the dirt.)

I just googled cloud dough and found this blog with some variations.  I have a giant bag of flour from Costco and I bought some cheap baby oil (rather than using my more expensive olive oil supply) so this is a very inexpensive project.  I think we'll try the lower flour:oil ratio just to see what we get and of course my kids will LOVE adding glitter.  And of course we have lots of shells around, I'm not sure why I didn't think of using those before.  The silicone baking cups have been a big hit, too.

(Random photo of S waving good-bye to Daddy.)

I haven't done much sewing lately, except to alter some old clothes to fit my expanding baby belly.  Perhaps I'll take some photos eventually...

Pirate Looks at 40

Mother, mother ocean, I've heard your call

Wanted to sail upon your waters 

Since I was three feet tall...

(Jimmy Buffett)

My dear hubby turns 40 today!  He's been planning a "Pirate Looks at 40" trip a la Jimmy Buffett for a few years, and is now on his way to a much deserved boys-only Key West vacation.  He's worked so hard ever since I've known him, never had a serious break from all of his training, going straight from fellowship to working hard for our family.  To celebrate, the kids and I made a pirate cake.  Hopefully he'll get a real live boat in the near future--he deserves it!