Handprints

I read these two quotes, and it gave me something to think about:

"It happens before you know it. The handprints get higher and higher and then they disappear"

"Sometimes you get discouraged
Because I am so small
And always leave my fingerprints
On furniture and walls

But every day I'm growing
I'll be grown some day
And all those tiny handprints
Will surely fade away

So here's a little handprint
Just so you can recall
Exactly how my fingers looked
When I was very small"

How To Keep a Handprint

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup water
• Food coloring
• Ribbon
• Gold marker
• Wax paper

What to do:

1. Add food coloring to the water. I use pink for girls, blue for boys.
2. Mix all ingredients well, kneading until smooth. Dough should be pretty stiff, not soft or runny or it will fill with air bubbles when baking.
3. Form dough into a ball, of about what you can enclose in your two hands, and form into a round smooth ball.
4. Using a rolling pin with the dough on wax paper, roll out into
   as round of a circle as you can. Dough will be about 1/2 inch thick.
5. Press your child's hand with fingers splayed into the dough.
   Depending on child's age, you will have to help and individually press their fingers. Make sure to press deep enough without going completely to the bottom. (When it bakes it tends to raise the handprint up.)
6. Put on a cookie sheet.
7. Use a chop stick or pencil, etc. to make two holes in the top about 1/2 inch apart. This will be used to string the ribbon through.
8. Bake at 200 degrees for about 2-3 hours. Dough should be
   fairly hard but watch to see that it doesn't burn.
9. When they are done and cooled, use a gold marker pen and write the child's name and date (year). I put the child's name on top and the year on bottom, if there is room. If not, I put name on one side and year on one side. I tie a ribbon at the top (blue or pink - or gold) to use as a loop to hang.

Mother's day is coming up. One idea is to make this for Grandma's.
Here is a poem for Grandma's

I miss you when we're not together
I'm growing up so fast
See how big I've gotten
Since you saw me last?
As I grow, I'll change a lot,
The years will fly right by.
You'll wonder how I grew so quick
When and where and why?
So look upon this handprint (these handprints)
That's hanging on your wall.
And memories will come back of me,
When I was very small.

Cookie Bouquet

OK, so I was thinking about it and this could actually be something fairly simple to do with the kids and could also double as a service project. My visiting teacher actually dropped this off at my house a few weeks ago and I just thought it was adorable. Basically all you need is an old cup or vase, some pretty rocks, a couple skinny skinny dowels, some cookies, gum drops, green construction paper and a piece of ribbon.

Start by having the kids put the rocks in the cup or vase. Then cut your gum drops in 1/2 and stick it on the dowel. Next poke the cookie on the dowel and the other 1/2 of the gum drop on top to hold the cookie in place. Then cut out some leaf shapes and hole punch a couple of holes for the kids to thread through the dowel. Make a few of those, stick them in the rocks and tie a ribbon around the vase. Then you can have your kids help you to deliver it to your neighbor or someone in your ward who might need their day brightened.