Preschool Perfect Playdoh

in my previous post, i said my kiddos were playing with playdoh, and then

realized i should post the recipe for my favorite playdoh!

i made it for the first time over the summer

{thanks to my mommy friend that's a preschool champion

and does tons of awesome stuff with her kids}, 

 and i completely wondered *why* in the previous 5 years of being a mom

 i hadn't made it before!

it's cheap

{with as much as my kids play with it, 

and as much as we tend to leave it out and then it gets old, 

playdoh starts seeming expensive!}

it's easy 

{about 15 minutes start-to-finish},

and honestly, 

i think SO much better than real playdoh!

  It's super soft, and you can add your own scent and color to it.  

{and sparkles! you can make sparkly playdoh, which is a huge plus in girl-world}

so, here you go:

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

4 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 tablespoon oil

2 cups water

{whatever food coloring and scent you want}

---

Mix all together in a big pot on the stove.

{including scent and food coloring. the gel kind usually works the best and gives the brightest colors}.

turn heat on medium/medium-low.

stir.

keep stirring.

stir continuously.

stir until it starts getting thick in chunks,

and then stir a bit more.

it will start pulling away from the sides of the pot.

take off burner and stir a tad more.

let cool, then play!

---

I added cinnamon to mine tonight to smell like fall.

{this is also where you would add color, but my kiddos like doing that after-the-fact and squishing it together with me}.

and what it looks like when it pulls away from the edge:

Right about now

happy friday, friends.

right about now around here?

i'm on my second {rather large} cup of homemade latte.

espresso maker?

best.birthday.present.ever.

it's a cold, chilly morning

{i kinda love it}

so we're kinda slow around here in the getting-ready department this morning.

i *must* go grocery shopping,

but there's important stuff happening at the moment:

Grant's making dog food playdough, and my sweet animal-loving 3-year-old is making{wormies}

that she carefully holds in her hands and runs upstairs to her rocking chair to rock them because

the wormies are tired, momma!

 the kiddos are playing on the new arts/crafts/school time table from Ikea.

 totally l-o-v-e it.

{there's now another tabletop there making a big rectangular work area. it's fabulous}

today marks the one-week-countdown for our church's ladies' fall mini-retreat.
i'm totally excited, but definitely feeling the crunch time for planning!
i'm not a big forward-planner 
{trying to work on that, but, i think i work best under pressure!}
but i'm confidant everything will come together.
{come together IF this fabric will get here!!}

i'm speaking at our mini-retreat.
looking forward to it, but also getting a tad nervous.
i'm worried my story won't be good enough, interesting enough, powerful enough.
and, ya know, i kinda like writing, not speaking. i can sit here in my yoga pants and click delete as much as i want. :)
but, i'm sharing what the Lord has shown me over the past several months,
and when you share what the Lord has done in your life,
that can't not be encouraging, right?  

so, that's our friday.
off to get ready and go grocery shopping,
less we eat cereal or grilled cheese for the fourth night.

thinking about making these over the weekend.
what do you think?
 

Not Supermom

i'm not supermom.

{this is shocking, i realize, to those that now me well and step over laundry piles when you visit. :P}

i got some really nice comments and messages after my last post, 

but i realized that you may have a different view of me than i really am.

{ya know, because i only write what i want to write!  maybe i should take pictures of my dishes that are overflowing the sink or the laundry room 

that barely has some floor space right now?}

i really do love my life with little kids,

and in my heart of hearts, 

i'd have a half a dozen more,

if that's what the Lord's plan for us was.

but ya know?

the days *do* get long.

seriously.

the other night after writing this post,

I told Matt that as much as I love them and even though I *know* in ten years when they're teenagers I'll miss *these* little days,

the thought of not stepping over toys scattered everywhere and not mopping the floor for the gazillionith time that day and having kids that will for-the-love-of-pete-just-please-sleep 

sounded kinda nice.

really nice. 

 i'm so not supermom.

i get impatient and irritated and cranky.

i get tired and frustrated and think i may lose it the fighting doesn't stop right.this.second.

--

several months ago,

after my initial MRI came back indicative of MS,

i was reading Matt Chandler's blog -

a well-known pastor diagnosed with a brain tumor a few years ago.

he mentioned that during his radiation treatment for the tumor 

he had a heightened sense of reality.

that's really how I feel after being diagnosed with MS -

this heightened sense that our lives are so, so short,

and that really, the only thing that matters is how much we love God and walk in humble obedience.

--

the Great Comission tells us to go into all the world and make disciples.

for lots of us, 

we don't have to go far -

we can go right upstairs, down the hall,

into the nursery or preschooler's room.

as a stay-at-home mom, 

i have every day, all day to make disciples -

to make a fully devoted follower of Christ.

and i think i've realized that it's not in the big moments around the family devotional

or idealistic scenes at the dinner table 

that make disciples.

i show my children what it means to Love God 

when I'm patient when no one can find their shoes and we need to walk out the door right now.

i show my children what it means to Love God

when i control my own frustrations over a three-year-old not getting dressed nicely.

i show my children what it means to Love God

when i love my spouse well, when i humbly serve my neighbors,

when i speak with kind words,

even when it's the middle-of-the-night and we all need sleep.

i'm so not supermom.

i just long for all my mommy friends to realize that this day-to-day stuff?

it's bigger than we realize.

we can fulfill the Great Comission,

right in our own house.

so the day-to-day moments of frustrations?

i try to remember that though they will pass,

the way i handle them?

{my kids will remember that forever.}

 

grace abigail. 

 

 

 

Seasons Change

is it feeling like fall wherever you're at?

It's a cool, rainy day here in the Midwest.

my fall-loving heart is happy.

I've had 2 homemade lattes thanks to the espresso maker 

my fabulous husband got me for my birthday last week.

{eek, 32! i am solidly in my 30's now. wow.}

In between the 84 loads of laundry I'm washing and folding today,

i sat down at the computer to check my email.

Iphoto happened to be open,

and I found old pictures like this on my screen.

gracie! 2 years ago Christmastime.

and, my heart wanted to burst.

 How I'd love to get a day back with that sweet 18-month-old!

i know all my momma friends will attest that as for our babies?

they grow too fast,

but they'll always be our babies.

i told my husband that in my heart, my three-and-a-half year-old is still this size.

just like fall is making its cool rainy debut in the midwest,

i will purpose to embrace the season of life we're in.

i may miss the previous season,

but this is the day that we have.

i will embrace it fully,

{knowing that the next season is just around the corner}.

the kiddos will get bigger,

the snow will fall,

birthdays will be celebrated,

my heart will ache some more.

today, in between breaking up fights

 and matching socks and 

loading the dishwasher,

i will hug these sweet little ones.

and I will purpose to be content,

{with whatever season we're in}.

grant (2 1/2)

and 13-day-old gracie,

newly home from the NICU.