Ornament Exchange

Inspired by Pinterest and trying to consciously find some fun activities to do with Ryan when he's home at night, I decided to tackle some salt dough ornaments. It's a simple recipe:

2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
3/4 cup warm water

Ryan helped me measure and then mix everything together with a spoon. Then, I kneaded the dough on a floured surface for 10 minutes. (I gave Ryan his own little piece to play with like play-doh).

I rolled out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and then had Ryan and Cohen put their handprint in it. I used a bowl to cut the right size circle around it. Then, Ryan chose a few other cookie cutter shapes and helped cut them out (teddy bear, tree, and football). We used a straw to poke a hole for hanging and pricked with a toothpick. Then, I baked on the parchment paper on a cookie sheet for 4 hours on 200. (I actually put the largest ornament back in for another hour since it seemed soft on the back).  The next night, Ryan helped to paint them with some leftover acrylic craft paint.  He painted the brown on the teddy bear and the green on the tree and did the football all by himself. He also directed which color should go where on the handprint ornaments.

At night, we headed to Boyden to one of my High School friend's parents' house where they were hosting supper for several of her friends. It was really fun to get together and see some of them who I don't see often and to let our kids play together.  We did an ornament exchange with the kids so Ryan gave the tree and teddy bear ornament away. He got a fun Mickey Mouse tractor ornament and Cohen got a cute little elephant!

Ryan and Cohen B., Emalynn and Aubrie A., Mason and Hadley R., Piper L.