Rainy Days...

Rainy days sort of fill me with dread. My son is a very active little boy and would love to spend all day at the park, but when we're home, he often wants to sit and watch something and it can be difficult to think of new and exciting things to do. So. When I see squalls of rain outside, my first thought is "what on earth are we going to do today?"

Today was one of those days. The answer, came as if by magic. Salt Dough. I have never made it before in my life, and I have never even pursued the possibility. I don't know what made me think of it today, but I did. At first, I thought of it only as a play doh substitute. It was only when I found a suitable recipe that I was reminded that you can MAKE things with it and bake it! Isaac was absolutely and completely made up about the idea of making something with play doh and then painting it....like two hobbies in one!

Salt dough, traditionally, is something that's baked in the oven, and can often take a long while. This recipe suggests cooking it in the microwave (read it here). I was thrilled. As a Mum, I'm pretty spontaneous. If I have an idea of something to do, I like to do it immediately. I don't like waiting for another day, and I don't like doing something that doesn't have instant results...like salt dough. Perhaps that's because I know Isaac would lose interest! So this recipe suited me down to the ground! It LITERALLY took me 3 minutes to make and we had ages worth of fun.

Recipe

1/2 Cup Salt
1/2 Cup Water
1 Cup Flour

Mix it all together. I needed all the water, but you might not. It should be quite a dry dough, so if yours is too wet, add more flour.

I equipped Isaac with a suitable knife, some cookie cutters, and a rolling pin.

Isaac is incredibly excited for Christmas....for Christmas trees, presents, songs, and Santa Claus (or Clawhauser if he's getting confused with Zootropolis), so we made some tree decorations with cookie cutters and used a chop stick (of which we have plenty- my husband lived in Japan for 2 years) to make the hole in the top.

After we made those, I was inspired by Isaac pressing his hand into the dough and decided to do some hand print ones. I'm delighted with how they turned out!

To make them, I...
-flattened out a ball of dough until it was about 1cm thick.
- Pressed their hands into the dough to make a print, focusing on each individual finger, then their palms.
-Then I used a pen to draw the outline of their hands into the dough
-I then wrote their name, age and the year.

I was initially concerned with how the details would be preserved on cooking but I needn't have been. They looked exactly the same!

Before...

After!

I cooked mine in 30 second increments. The original blog suggests a cooking time of 3 mins in total in 10 second increments. Mine needed a shade longer than 3 mins, and I turned my dough pieces over once to make sure they were cooked through.

Some of my snowmen bloated a little, so they'll be quite fragile, and part of Isaac's hand print burnt but other than that, this worked wonderfully.

My next salt dough project will be a little nativity. I can't wait!!

See Rainy Days Part II for my "Painting Bath" idea...coming very, very soon!

Sanctuary.

It's been a while since I've blogged, but Paw Patrol is on, so now is the perfect time.

The title of this post reminded me of that one time I asked to be directed to the Sanctuary products in Boots, and the lady took me to the sanitary products....

Anyway.

It's a different Sanctuary I'm talking about today.  I went to sleep last night holding my husband's hand, while he sat up and listened to live updates from the US general election. When we woke this morning, we heard the news about Donald Trump. I couldn't quite get over the image in my mind of this man, who, only a couple of weeks ago, was defending his "locker room banter", and now is in the White House. I cannot imagine what the next 4 years is going to bring to us. I feel like there's a lot of uncertainty about the future and about the way the world is going. It is scary. We all talk about wanting our world to be a better place for our children to grow up in and it's easy to fear that world, especially with all the political surprises we've had recently.

But, here's what I learnt this morning.

This morning, Isaac and I were setting up his train track in his room. We were having so much fun, we didn't want to go downstairs, so we had a breakfast picnic of crumpets, brioche and grapes.

Then we build a pirate ship den out of pillows and duvets. As I was cuddling Olivia and we were watching Isaac play, I realised that, for my children, it doesn't really matter who's the President of the United States. It doesn't even really matter who Theresa May is, or when Brexit will happen. All that matters to them is that THEIR world is happy. When we worry about making our children's world a better one, we shouldn't be worrying about the world out there. We should be worrying about the world in here. The world they sleep in, wake in, eat in and play in. If the politics of our home are honest and fair, we don't need to worry.
If the co-president of my home and I treat each other with love and respect, we don't need to worry.

Yesterday, my husband rescued me from a stressful shopping experience

 with my 2.5 year old son. During the Daddy-Son debrief, I heard Ieuan say "Isaac, look at Mummy. She is the most special person in the world. You must treat her like a princess."

My husband is this wonderful to me because his father is the same way with his mother.


 Leading by example really works.
If you don't ever want a world leader who objectifies and disrespects women, then don't be a home leader like that. The way we raise our little ones directly impacts the world around us, and our future.


We don't need to worry. For our children, right now, the state of our homes is all that matters. Have hope and take courage. Build a Sanctuary full of fun times, good food, fair discipline, love, light, laughter and plenty of kisses and cuddles. That's all the world they need right now.

"Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House, but what happens in your house." Barbara Bush