Making Stepping Stones

Since mom and I were were fixing to start on our 'major backyard project', (more of that later)it was very important that I get the girls to make some stepping stones. Well, being me, I try to cram as much in as I possible can. On this particular Sunday, we went to lunch after church, then off to the mall, then to lowes to buy stuff for our project, then back to the mall to get Chris and the girls...then home...So, as I said, I cram lots in.

Me preparing the 'work space'!

We got home from the mall and it was time to make the stepping stones. It was pooring down rain outside, which is where we should have been to do this, but we couldn't wait on the rain to stop because we HAD to get these done so they would be dry in time for their addition to the 'backyard project'.

I mixed the concrete(and got it all inside my sore thumb which I had previously sliced open on July 4th) and finally we were ready to get started. So, we headed out to the sunroom with newspaper and all our tools. The girls were too excited and bugged me from the time I said we were going to do it until I finally had all the supplies together(it sounded something like --'when are we going to make our stones? Are you ready yet?') We convinced Chris to come out with us too so that he could take the pictures, and just to be a part of this great 'family event' First up was Katie... I took her hand and laid it on the mold and she just kept pushing it down. When she pulled it out, we had a great print, but it was just a deep. Next we did her foot. She didn't quite understand the concept of spreading her toes out so her foot print didnt' turn out quite as good as I would have liked, but cute nonetheless. Then it was out the door onto the deck to rinse off her hand and foot--thankfully it was only sprinkling by this time.

Next up was Stephanie. She is such a big girl and understood exactly what she was to do. Her hand and footprint turned out perfect. So, off she went to rinse off too before we embarked on the decorating.

The fun part was now. I let the girls decorate their own stones with various mosaic and garden shapes. They really enjoyed this and were very insistant on filling up every little space, with the exception of the space I had told them their name had to go.

Finally, I crammed Katie's name and the year('08 was all that would fit) onto her stone and we had one completed stone. I then gave Stephanie and popsicle stick and tried to teach her the art of writing with it. After smoothing and resmoothing many times, I finally decided to try a pencil...MUCH BETTER. After much work trying to get a long name in an already small space, the name was finally there...and I crammed in '08 again.

At last, we are done. I think they turned out pretty good and just wait until you see where they are going!!!!