bits and bites

Well I just finished making 4 batches of play dough with my 4 year old and my hands are stained with food colouring. I made the mistake of doubling up the batch for batch 3 and 4. Ick. It didn't cook through enough and I had to knead it for 30 minutes to get it unsticky, and now it is kind of tough. Don't double the recipe!
I just made the traditional one, I have 2 books of dough recipes, but I always come back to this one.
1c. flour
1/2 c. salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1tsp oil
1 c. warm water
food colouring
stir in heavy bottomed pot over medium heat til it comes away from the pot. Then knead til smooth.
easy peasy.

I decided to be a good mother today and not ignore my children for my computer or hide from them in my room with a book. I sat with them all morning while they did school, something I need to do every day but have been neglecting. The little ones were driving me crazy though. They were running around, screaming and bugging their brothers. Hence the playdough. Next week I will be bringing out the dough, the paints and craft stuff while the boys are doing school so that the littles will be occupied. I am also hoping to start some basic school stuff with the 4 year old, he is really keen, but I haven't spent much time teaching him.

Right now it is snowing and blowing outside, so much for the spring weather. Oh well, I know at this point that any cold weather will be short-lived.

Had my first prenatal appointment yesterday. I had it booked before, but the doctor had to run over to the hospital so I showed up only to be told I had to rebook. I will get to go have an ultrasound on the 26th and then another a couple of weeks later. I can't wait, it always gives me a bit of a respite from my anxiety. I tried to speak to my doc a bit about the anxiety I was having and had hoped to segue into the mild prenatal depression, but she kinda rushed me out the door. That was a bit upsetting. I didn't even get to listen to the heartbeat or anything, cuz it was a 'talking' appointment. Now she is only one of the 5 doctors I will see at this clinic and I know some of the others are great listeners and will address my concerns. I also should have been more forceful. I did write out all my concerns in the 6 page questionnaire I had to fill out, so once she reads them I am sure she will be more open to listening. I left a bit disheartened, especially because I had misgivings about going back to this clinic because of the 5 doctor thing. They have a new policy of having you see one doc for the first 20 weeks and then 20 - 30 weeks you meet the other doctors and then finally you go back to one doctor leading up to delivery to promote continuity of care. I hope that is how it actually works, because with Girly I kept getting different docs even in the last 4 weeks. I guess we shall see. If I am not happy, I will find another doc. I know tons of child-bearing women with doctors they love!

Tonight begins another hockey marathon. Running around, playoff games, eating on the run, over-tired toddlers, these are what makes up my weekends. I do get to go to an Oil Kings game tonight with my 10 year old and his whole hockey team. I am looking forward to it, but my son would rather his Dad took him. Daddy is way more likely to spend tons of money on crap at the game. Mommy is way too practical for that. Poor kid.