Go Outside & Play - Building Snowmen

We love winter.

We had a late start on winter here in Wisconsin, but it finally arrived...in March!

Luckily, we were all ready to go and enjoy the snow when it arrived.
We got ready for some serious snowman building fun.

 

Every year I take a picture of the kids with their snowman and add it to their memory book.

It's a tradition that gets us really excited about the winter snow.

We needed a few supplies for our snowmen.

Charcoal briquettes are an old fashioned must for snow man decorating.
We use them as buttons on the front of the snowmen.

My very talented mother made mittens out of this adorable plaid fabric.
I stuffed the mittens and tied them onto sticks so the kids would have easy snowman arms.

Carrots for noses

Red marbles for mouths.
Cranberries work as well, but it was too late in the season for fresh cranberries.

A basket of beautiful scarves for our snowmen was also provided by my mom.

These are not for the snowmen.
These are for the snowmen creators and their cold little hands.
They are filled with rice and microwaved.
The kids loved these things for a quick warm up.

I hope you get a chance to enjoy the great outdoors this winter.

Winter Inspired Tablescape

We are having some friends over for dinner this weekend.  

With our family of 6 and their family of 7, we are going to need a few tables and lots of food. 

For fun, I am dressing up the adults only table in a winter theme.
I gathered a few things to put the table together.
Just a few things
 

This little shot glass is going in my centerpiece. 

 

My favorite are the napkins my mom made for me on that beautiful stack of linens.

Actually, she made the entire stack of linens.

I save so much money by buying beautiful fabric and sewing napkins, runners and tablecloths.  

 

I am using some frosted brandy snifter candle holders and there are a few clear ones tucked in the back.

I made pickles this summer and the recipe called for pickling salt so I sent hubby to the store for pickling salt.  He came home with the biggest container of pickling salt I have ever seen in my life.  Since I am never going to use it up before it goes flat, I am re-purposing it as snow.  :-)

The silver oval is going to be part of the centerpiece.  

I love this...I don't even know what it is technically, but I got it for $2.50 at a garage sale this summer.  

{What a steal!}

Okay, let's put this table together.  I am using a plain white table cloth.   Notice something wrong with it?  It's really wrinkled.  That is because when I went to iron it, my iron did not heat up.  :-(  I'm going to miss that iron.  Do you know how many times my boys have come to me at the last minute telling me that they need their shirt ironed?

Back to the tablescape.  

Add a wrinkled runner to your table.  

I am going to cover it up anyway.  

I know this looks kind of weird.  

In my head it's going to look really great.  

We'll see what happens.

The layer of plates start with these beautiful silver chargers. 

That spark of silver in the plate stack is so pretty. 

Next on is the silverware...

napkins....

and glasses. 

Now for the fun of the centerpiece.  

I never start adding the centerpiece until all the necessities are on the table.  

I never want the table to be over crowded.

I added lots of snow...pickling salt...to the silver oval.

The candles match the colors on the table and I painted them with Modge Podge and rolled them in more pickling salt.  

I think I love pickling salt.

The table is starting to come together, but we need some height.

I stuck some birch branches in a shot glass and used more pickling salt to hold the branches in place.

I love the way the branches look like a bare tree in the middle of winter.

The frosted candle holders get nestled together in odd numbers with tiny little tea lights ready to be lit.

The clear candle holders got dressed up with some pickling salt and a tea light.

They are resting on these great big silver snowflakes.

These napkins and snowflake napkin rings are my favorite part of the table.
The napkin rings were a gift and I love pulling them out whenever I can.

For a bit of fun, I dressed up the buffet table with some snowflakes and candles.

Now all we need is food.

And some friends.

And some laughter.

I am linking up to Tablescape Thursdays at Between Naps on the Porch.

Play Dough Day

We FINALLY had a snow day. From the weather report the night before we were really hoping that everything the weather man teased us with would really happen. Our youngest immediately asked for a play dough day. Like the good Daddy that he is, my husband ran up to the store for a few packets of Kool Aid so I could make play dough if we did wind up with a snow day.


When our alarm went off this morning, my husband immediately grabbed the remote control and tuned into the local news. I was so excited I fell immediately back to sleep. Hubby went to tell the kids to sleep in. Sometimes we have amazingly obedient kids. :-)



Homemade play dough is a tradition in our house. It's a winter staple. It is very simple to make and it is also very quick. You really don't need the Kool Aid, but it does make the play dough smell pretty good. Food coloring will work just fine if you would rather use that. I use both.



Start with one cup of white flour in a saucepan.



Add 1/2 cup of table salt.



Add 1 Tablespoon of cream of tartare.



Add 1 Tablespoon of vegetable or canola oil. I used canola oil.



And finally add 1 cup of water to the pan.



Whisk everything together to form a nice smooth paste.



Like this.



Turn the heat onto medium and trade your whisk for a sturdy wooden spoon that can get into the corners of your pan.



It does not take long for things to start looking pretty ugly. That's what you want though. The trick is to use your muscles and give the whole thing a good stir while it thickens up.



When the dough pulls together and forms a ball, dump it out and let it cool off for a bit.



When the dough is cool enough to work with, sprinkle a package of Kool Aid onto the dough. I am using grape flavor for this batch.



To knead in the Kool Aid, just start folding one corner of the dough over so the dough is folded in half. Then press down so the dough flattens out again.



Now grab another corner, fold it over, flatten and repeat. You are kneading. :-)



This purple color is not doing anything for me, so I am going to add a bit of food coloring and knead it in.



That is a bit better.



For storage, I mold the dough into blocks to store in a plastic container.



You can store the dough in any air tight container you have.



I wound up making 7 batches. The white dough in the middle does not have any Kool Aid in it. I left it dough colored and because I am all out of vanilla, I used a few drops of almond extract to give it a good scent. I also added about 1/4 of silver glitter to it. It was just a fun touch, but not necessary. For the brown dough, I added about two tablespoons of cocoa powder to the dough. It smells incredibly good. Don't try tasting this stuff though. It is pure yuck.



After that, the kids went crazy with it. They played "Iron Chef: Play Dough" for close to three hours. I gave them an assignment and set the timer. When time was up, I awarded a first place and second place prize for each round. The kids kept track of their wins. Here are some of their winning creations.

Summer Time Treat: Root Beer Float



Favorite Fast Food: Pizza



Favorite Snack: Mandarin Oranges with Blueberries. Also pictured with Lemon Pudding Pie and Bruschetta



Favorite Breakfast Food: Pancakes


What I am most proud of, is that our almost 17 year old played along and had just as much fun as our 11 year old daughter. I love that the kids spend face time with each other playing with something creative and with each other. Go Play dough!

For a printer friendly version of this recipe click here.