Homemade Playdough

I remember my aunt making this for us - we were playdough fanatics and used lots of different colors very often. It's easy to make your own, in any shade you need! Go light(ish) on the color, intense colors will stain hands and clothes. So think pastel-y (not all "baby" colors, just not navy blue!).

Ingredients:

2 cups of flour
2 cups of water
1 cup of salt
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp color (your choice!)

Directions:

Mix food color with water.

Put all ingredients in frying pan.

Cook on medium heat until in a ball.

Remove from heat and let pan cool. Roll out and knead till smooth.

Repeat with all colors you desire! Store in air tight containers (think plastic food storage containers).

Family-Favorite Mac 'N Cheese

Finding out my oldest couldn't tolerate boxed macaroni and cheese - an obvious kid staple, I had to search for a homemade macaroni and cheese recipe - I wasn't raised on the homemade version. ;) So, one Christmas morning I decided to make homemade macaroni and cheese, and this was the recipe I found that was very loved and highly requested. It is courtesy of Alton Brown, on The Food Network. (Link included below)

Ingredients
1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 large egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
Topping:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs
Directions

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.
Remember to save leftovers for fried Macaroni and Cheese.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/index.html

Year of Firsts (marriage) gift basket

Post to come

Crickets in your neck

DH turned off the TV, telling the kids they were going to get a "crick" in their neck.

My oldest turns his head so fast it was almost spinning (yes, I'm serious) and says "What?! How do you get crickets in your neck?" He looked so alarmed, and all I could do was laugh hysterically. (Bad mom! But, as you know, sometimes if you don't laugh...)

Travel Toothbrush Roll-Up

Travel Toothbrush Roll-Up

This definitely needs some tweaking, but for a 2 am, haven't sewn in almost a year project, I was pretty happy with it!

My sister in law originally told me about this idea for her camping trip with her family this summer.

I did a cotton outter and a flannel inside layer. I didn't measure anything, so I just guess-timated how large! I've seen these in terry cloth and I may do a better one with a terry cloth inner, and make a pattern for it too. I actually would like to make each of my boys one that snaps closed and with their name on it, perfect for overnights!!

Here are some more pictures:

I can't get these images to turn for some reason, so I apologize for that. :/

I just stuck the "wisp" brushes in to fill the pockets, since we were minus one kid who stayed home. ;) But, they'd work too if you were camping and didn't know if there was good running water!

Maybe I'll make a tutorial for the "upgraded" carriers if there's interest! :)

Our adventure in making play dough...

Making Our Own Play-dough

*work in progress*

(Need to upload the pictures!)

Laundry Stain Cheat Sheet

This was NOT created by me, but I came across it online and thought I would share with the world!