Back to update you on our "Snow Dough" experience from this afternoon. It lasted for all of about 15 minutes. Once we made snowmen the boys took the snowmen apart and started throwing the play dough balls all around the kitchen. Lovely. Snow Dough balls covered in dog hair. While I was excited to try it, next time I think I need to wait longer in between play dough days. We brought out our play dough box on Monday and the boys played happily for over an hour. I guess they used up all of their doughmagination the other day.

It seems that the day goes smoother for Dill Pickles when it's structured and planned. Yea for figuring out what seems to work! Oh my for almost no time to get anything else done. This afternoon we plan on playing with "Snow Dough." The homemade recipe was inspired by a post on My Montessori Journey. Here's the basic idea:

1 c. flour
1/2 cup salt
1 T. cooking oil
1 T. cream of tartar
1 c. water
Food coloring of your choice
Add-ins of your choice (i.e. spices, extracts, glitter, etc.)

I added 1 tsp. of vanilla and 1 1/2 tsp. of a white/shimmering glitter and it doesn't seem like enough. It smells a bit vanilla-like, but I can still smell the salt. I think next time I would add 1 T. of glitter. We'll see how the boys like it this afternoon after nap time.

Maybe I really need to start making my Christmas gifts in March! I still need to make my sister's Christmas gift from 2008. I did make a bunch of gifts though. Dill and Sweet Pickles each received a wooden name train. They also got bean bags with a letter from their name on each bag. I think they really like them a lot. Of course I still owe one to my niece as a Christmas gift. My needle kept breaking and I was getting frustrated so I just stopped.

I added a Shelfari to the sidebar. We pick a monthly theme and check out lots of books from the library based on the theme. This month is winter. The boys really like all the books. I can't believe I actually checked out Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. I had to memorize that and a ton of other Frost poems my senior year of high school for English class. I thought I was done with Frost. Aparently not.

I'm really going to try and write more here. I want to. I really do. I am just beat by the end of the day, especially is Daddy Pickles is at the fire house.