Shrinky Dinks and Other Obligations

Last week was nuts.  (What's new?)  Rachael was sick, I thought I had a kidney stone, I was trying to coordinate a plumber and a handyman to come fix a little thing we needed to take care of before the physical house inspection on Thursday, I had my motherhood class to prepare for and present also on Thursday, I taught a bunch of kindergartners about Brahms one afternoon, there was an early morning kindergarten music program another day that threw the whole a.m. routine into chaos, (and of course Kate needed a special shirt at the last minute for "twins day" that same morning - told me at 7:45), I had a swing dancing class with the 14&15 year-old girls at church one night, there was Open House at the school followed by a friend's going away party another night, a book report, a cello lesson, a science test, and merit badges to work on with Will, and so it goes.  

Sometimes when things start getting too crazy and I'm feeling stressed, I instinctively do things that will at least create the illusion of calm so my stress doesn't rub off on the kids too much.  I think it's as much for me as it is for them.  I try extra hard to keep it cool at home and make things feel "normal".  Even though it's counterintuitive, I will just do something in the middle of all the chaos that feels like we have all the time in the world.  Another reason I like to do this, is because I feel like the little girls get short changed.  When the older two were their age, we DID have all the time in the world.  I only had two small children and no school, no lessons, no homework, etc.  Life really was pretty slow and simple back then.  (It didn't feel that way to me compared to life B.C. - before children - but looking back now that stage was easy peezy lemon squeezy.)  

So last week, in the middle of all that insanity, I indulged the little girls in a craft project in the middle of the day.  Shrinky Dinks.  I always wanted them as a child, but it took my own daughter getting them as a birthday present from her friend, Grace, to actually do them.  Right before I took this picture, I was right down there with them!  It's pretty fun to watch those things curl up and shrink.  And look at the super cute results below.