Monday, April 12, 2010

Our Monday Morning

What a morning! We were all bundled up and ready to head to school, when I realized that I didn't have my van keys. Oh great! Now, I tend to have a *bit* of a reputation of losing things, especially my keys and my pocket calendar and cell phone, to be specific, so I felt pretty crummy. I was thankful that we didn't have to drive Kai's classmate today, as we drive him each day, to and from, as I just knew we would be late! Since it was my Hunny who used my van last night, and I didn't remember him ever returning the keys to me, I called him. Of course, he didn't answer his cell phone. (That drives me nuts; he has the ringer off, which I don't understand!) So I call his work, but it turns out he's not in yet, so I try his cell again, but since he's driving, he doesn't answer, which is good because it's against the law to use any hand-held devices here. *sigh*

In the end, he called me when he got to work, told me that he had my keys, and said that he was going to come back home to return them to me. (it was that option or the kids miss school today and he leaves work early to pick up Eric, the classmate of Kai's, and take him home. Hunny opted to return!) So to keep me busy (since I was starting to feel slightly sleepy again), I started another load of laundry, folded the laundry I did last night, and thought about cleaning up my Stamping Room! (notice how I said "thought". *smile*)

I got the kids off to school, and yes, of course, they were late, but it was all good. Everyone was in Chapel, so they hadn't missed any schoolwork yet. I helped them both into their classrooms, chatted with the teachers a bit (well, Abi's was going home as she was suddenly feeling really ill so I told her that Abi felt strange this weekend too, with a sore tummy, and headache, and generally 'off', to make her feel better! I don't know if it worked; I think she just wanted to go home!) Then they joined their respective classes in the gymnasium and I went back to the van.

What is it about Mondays that people have a hate for? It is because it's the beginning of a new week? The fact that the weekend is over and it's back to work? Or it is truely "cursed"? People have a tendancy to blame things on the day, or assume it's going to be a bad one just because it's Monday. It was interesting to see that we weren't the only ones late for school. As I was leaving the school, another one of Kai's classmates came in with his father! And our neighbours were late too; they slept in! Strange! Must be "Monday"! Poor day with such a bad reputation!

To thank Bryn for being so well behaved (Rhys was too, but that's because he was napping!), I took the boys to Tim Hortons for Timbits! We even went inside! I don't know if you're like me but I've chosen the lazy way out: I always use the Drive Thru instead of going in. Sometimes (ok, most of the time) taking 4 children out just to pick up some food quickly is a lot of effort and not really fast in the end! But I decided to be different. Of course, having just two children makes it easier! (gosh, that does sound lazy, doesn't it?) Inside, with our Timbits, Hot Chocolate (for me) and Apple Juice (for the boys), we chatted and Bryn told me his grand plans in life. (this was a continuation from the conversation in the van with Kai and Abi) He has let me know that when he's six, he's going to be a policeman and ride a motorcycle and fly a helicopter! When he's six! I guess when you're three and a half, six seems awfully old! (I don't want to offer my own age to him, what'll he think? 30-ish is so ancient and inconceivable!) Then we talked about what we'd do today. Bryn decided that we should make some playdoh!

So we did!

Okay, so *I* did. Bryn helped as much as he did. When Abi was in preschool, I got a recipe from her Teacher Michelle, since she would get a parent to make a new batch each month for the kids. It was colour-coordinated to the theme. (ie: red for February and Valentines, green for March and St. Patty's Day, etc.) I love this recipe! Have you ever made Playdoh at home? It's a gooey mess and very salty and you just dry your hands out and it's creepy and you spend the rest of the day applying hand cream because you just can't get the moisture back. Just sayin'. Maybe that's just me. This new recipe requires an ingredient I've never heard of and you cook it on the stove! Wow! I've included a handy-dandy tutorial for you!

Homemade Playdoh
2 tsp cooking oil
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
food colouring


Mix the first four ingredients in a sauce pan. (the dry ones ....oops, I guess the oil isn't considered "dry", is it?)


Add water and food colouring together, then add to the sauce pan.


Stir constantly over medium heat. It will start out all gooey, but that won't last long!


When it becomes thicker (it'll happen suddenly) and dough-like, remove from heat.



I place it ontop a sheet of wax paper to cool. It doesn't take too long, maybe about 5-10 minutes. (When cool, store in an airtight container or ziploc bag at room temp.)


I told Bryn to pick out a video to watch while we waited for it to cool. I figured a Veggie Tales one would be good; you know, they're only half an hour! Bryn put on the newest one, Pistachio, which also happens to be my newest favourite! In the time it took to watch half of it, I had made a few more batches! (in total, I made green, red, yellow, and blue. Nothing fancy, just the food colouring bottles!)



When they had cooled enough, I let the boys play with the playdoh on our "coffeetable" (it's the last 12 boxes of bamboo flooring that'll be for my bedroom!) while watching the video.










What a fun morning! Of course, now bits of the colours are mixed into the green. I'm going to be a Big Girl and not let it bother me. I'm going to be okay with that. For some reason, it doesn't bother children to have one large mixed-colour playdoh ball. For some reason, it bothers me! I'm sure that even as a child I wanted them all in their separate containers! And no, this has nothing to do with skin colour or racism (goodness, you jump to conclusions, don't you? lol) but because I wanted the playdoh to last longer. You couldn't make a multi-coloured house or blue-red-yellow grass, could you? Just sayin'. But I am going to be OK with the kids mixing up new colours with their dough. I'm good like that.
Now if they would just return the dough to their bags....

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