fingers and sometimes toes

Its about time for me to break out the cement again. I started a ritual four years ago (has it really been that long??) of casting my kids hands in cement as a mother's day gift to myself. I'm a fairly simple girl in the present department. I had originally meant to do it every year but, well, life happened and by the time I got to getting the supplies the next mother's day had already come up.

It's bittersweet to see how the kids have grown, though some aren't that different at all. 2006 we had Alex, Livi and Cordi. 2008 Emmy's foot got added since she was too small to contribute her handprint without the whole thing getting redone. 2010 will probably be Max's foot next to the hands of the rest of them.

I kept the fancy stamps so I can do them over and over and have them look similar. I might even have a little bag of the glass somewhere too.

The kit even came with number stamps which I placed the child's age in the center of their print.

Even though these are two years apart, Olivia was three on the first one but hadn't yet turned five in the second.

As they age and get dirty it accentuates the impressions in the stone. I used various glass shards and baubles to decorate them. It's a quick, easy project that will last a tremendously long time as long as no one drops them. It will be neat to have these year after year, then adding grandkids to the mix.

I might have to make my own mold this year though, to fit them all in.