Yesterday I had Justin drag up the good old folding table from the basement before he left for work. I thought it'd be a good day to do something fun with the girls. Wednesday is our Monday, you know.
{Off topic, Justin recently got his Wednesday work days shortened and gets off work at 3:30 now instead of 7 p.m. We're so glad with Advent services coming up and such. Yay!}
We whipped up some salt dough, which is incredibly easy: 1 cup salt, 2 cups flour, and 1 cup warm water--knead for 5 minutes and you're ready to play.
I was surprised that neither one of them tried to eat it. It would have been an unpleasant taste, very salty!

Oh how I wish ALL dough was as well behaved as salt dough! It is the easiest dough I've ever worked with, which makes it perfect for little ones to play with.
I was curious how this type of cookie cutter would do with salt dough--would it stick? Nope. Turns out salt dough is perfect for this sort of cookie cutter, the impressions even withstand the baking and they make for perfect painting ornaments.
Viv had a total conniption fit over the kitty cookie cutter. We had a time out or two, I'm not sure what her problem was. Sometimes it's discouraging when you're trying to do something fun with your kids only to have one of them melt down over it... oh well, that's life as a mom.
Maybe that's why I got the stink eye? I'm not sure what these looks are for. Sheesh. If looks could kill...
Once the ornaments were in the oven baking {200° for 3+ hours until dried out} we had plenty of dough left over to play with. And play we did.
I need to do these hands-on activities more often. We're hoping to get the girls a sensory table for Christmas so we can explore all sorts of new things together.
Later that night we got nude and painted our baked ornaments with glitter paint. Bath time followed. I want to sew them some cute art aprons.
This morning they were all dried and ready to be hung on the tree. Can you guess which one is mine? ;-) Yes, it's hard for me to watch my girls do something creative without taking part myself. I love craft time as much as any other 4-year-old.
I used to want a "pretty tree" with all color coordinated ornaments. But now I find myself making exceptions, proud to hang these creations on my tree, as I'm sure many parents do. Let's just be honest, their paint jobs are...atrocious. But they're supposed to be, they're 1 & 4! And my kids made them, so they're beautiful to me! I love them.

If you have older kids who can paint within the lines, these ornaments can really be quite pretty and VERY cheap to make. {Another reason why I've given up on having a fancy tree, ornaments can be expensive!}
The Pies were so excited to hang their creations on our tree this morning. When you have little ones, you have a distinctly decorated tree: pretty on top with all the breakable ornaments up high, but decorated quite haphazardly on the bottom.
I'd love for them to make these every year and see how their art work progresses. In 10 years, we might have a very eclectic looking Christmas tree ;-)
Although it's already very strange looking, rattling and shaking throughout the day because a certain naughty kitty can't stay out of it.