Lily

Lily 1 year

Lily 8 months

Lily 3 months

Lily 1 month

Lily 1 hour

Lily 1 minute (ewww slimy)

My baby is 1 year old. I can't believe it! 12 months ago I was laying in a hospital bed thanking my lucky stars that the castor oil worked! She was laying on me and we were happy. My brown eyed baby has been a joyful addition to our family. She is our baby born in the wilderness and the Lord has blessed us. She is up and walking as of today! She stood up and walked across the room to take the phone from Phoenix.

Playdough is my NEMESIS

I know you might all think that play dough is fun and cute... but really it's the bane of any mothers existence. We hate it. It's messy and sticky and mixed with carpet makes you want to stick a fork in your eyeball. Yep that good. But here's the crux of it... in order for your children to grow up semi-normal you have to let them play with it. They need to squish it through their fingers, and take a tiny taste of it's salty bouquet. Children need to make figurines out of it and let them dry. How else are you going to know if they are true genius sculptors? They need to mix the colors until it is one solid clump of grey dough. They need to learn how to ball it up and roll it out into a snake. So what to do? Here's what to do BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES and whatever else. I declare this NATIONAL PLAY DOUGH DAY.

PS if it gets in your carpet, the easiest way to get it out is to let it dry, and then pick it out or cut that string or two out.

Here's a really good recipe that smells yummy (that way we KNOW the kids will want to eat it):

KOOL-AID PLAY DOUGH

Mix:
2 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. salt

1 tbsp. alum

2 pkgs. unsweetened Koolaid (that's the little ones ladies)

Add to dry ingredients:
3 tbsp. oil

2 c. boiling water

Knead until well mixed. Let cool. May feel sticky at first, just keep working with it.