pants off play dough

When I was kid, my mom often made homemade play dough, and I still remember being so excited when it came out of the pot all warm and smushy. Ben is so fond of crafts of any kind, that I thought he would particularly enjoy this activity. Sure enough, it was a hit! We actually tried three different recipes until we found one we liked. The no-cook method did not work for us at all. Cream of Tartar definitely turned out to be the magic, non-negotiable ingredient. It took a while to knead the food coloring into the dough, but my little helper was more than willing to punch poke stab knead it in until our desired colors were achieved. I highly recommend this simple activity for crafty kiddos.

And now, if anyone has any ideas about how to encourage a four year old to see pants as a virtue, please let me know. Ben is not any fan of pants, and while this isn't so big of a deal now, I'm not sure this freeing habit will go over well in kindergarten.:)

Quick update on Mike's car accident from last week: It turns out the driver was both "under the influence of alcohol" and only 20 years old. At least that makes our end of the insurance business pretty easy, but jeesh, isn't that crazy?