Leg Warmers

I made leg warmers out of socks that I found on clearance at Target back in the states. I can't believe I waited this long to make them because they seriously took me 15 minutes to make two sets. I had the girls try them on and they both complained about them being snug and uncomfortable. This isn't because they are too small, but because my girls are super picky about how things look and feel. I asked, "Would you wear them if I sewed Hello Kitty on them?" and got a resounding "Yes!" in reply. So a couple days later, here they are with a unique, hand-drawn and embroidered Hello Kitty on one of each set of leg warmers.

What happened when they tried them on, my pickiest daughter (who shall remain nameless, but you can probably figure it out from the first picture I took below) said, "Can we take them off after you take the picture?" I told her that I went to a lot of trouble to sew on the Hello Kitty and I wished she appreciated it more. She looked at me with a perplexed expression, head tilted, one eyebrow raised, mouth twisted, and asked, "What kind of trouble?" Luckily she's the kind that once she has been wearing it a while she forgets all about how it feels.

Isaac just had to be in the picture too!

By the way, it is still snowing! This is big for this part of Germany! You may remember that we live in a hilly/mountainous area and getting to our village is no easy feat when the plows just aren't keeping the roads clear. Yesterday, my husband gave me the day to myself and on my way home I had some difficulty getting up the big hill. Another car was stuck in front of me and I ended up being forced to stop. Since I lost my momentum, I was then stuck too. I ended up having to back all the way back down the hill since there's no turning a minivan around on these tiny roads. I won't go into all the details, but my guardian angel sent a plow up the hill after a while and I was able to follow it up.

Good, Clean Fun

I like to get messy as much as the next guy, but... Who am I kidding! I actually have to work at letting my kids get dirty. I have to admit with each kid I get better and better at allowing some messiness though. In this case, however, I was excited to have a fun craft to do with Isaac that was mess free. I found this online somewhere, but I can't remember where. All you need is a sponge to cut up, paints, a large Ziploc bag and a piece of paper. You dip the sponge pieces in different colors and zip them up safely in the bag with a piece of paper. Isaac squeezed and shook and pounded and then he threw it on the floor and was ready for a snack. This was a short craft, needless to say. (Side story: He has been a bit of a monster lately eating everything in site. Hannah has actually taken to spelling foods around him so he won't freak out and start asking for whatever it is repetitively. How considerate of her! Genna is usually oblivious to this and starts trying to guess what food she is spelling, rattling off a half a dozen foods aloud. So in the end he is asking for more than the one food Hannah was trying to spell.)

Here he is squishing away.

Here is his masterpiece.


Such easy clean up! Dump the sponges in the sink and rinse them out and voile!

Mehr Schnee

More snow!

Brian and the girls got a delay Monday morning because they just aren't prepared for this kind of snow around here on the roads. After the girls were off, Isaac and I went out to play. We tried to make a snowman, but it was just too powdery for that. So I scooped up a pile and had an idea. I went and got food coloring and we made a snow ladybug instead. This was not well thought out on my part. I didn't account for the food coloring to go everywhere and get all over Isaac's clothes. So don't try this at home! :)

After that disaster, we made footprints and drew shapes in the snow.

Isaac was a happy camper (at least, until it was time to go inside!)

Mosaic Craft

Here are our mosaics, inspired in Rome.

Hannah's: Crucifixion

Genna's: Crucifixion

Mommy's: The Eucharist in a Monstrance

We had a great time with this. It was easy to set up for and easy for them to do on their own. I did draw an outline for their pictures and they did the rest. Genna got bored in the middle and asked if she could color the sky blue instead of gluing more pieces on. Hannah even came up with an idea for her border/frame. She wanted me to cut out a big whole in the middle of another piece of paper so she could glue it on as a frame. I really enjoyed spending this time with the girls.

Sweet as pie and comical too

Genevieve's gift is her compassionate, sharing, loving heart. Something that happened a few weeks ago has stayed with me, and I want to remember it forever. It was something so simple, but so true to her character. We had to go to a different church than usual since we were leaving town that day, and they had a children's liturgy there. The girls have never gone to that before, so they wanted to try it. When they returned to join us in Mass, Hannah had a little nativity magnet and Genna didn't. Hannah was showing hers to us and I asked Genna why she didn't get one. Genna responded with a little shrug of one shoulder, saying, "She skipped over me." Brian and I were so moved by her generosity and acceptance that we got her a special lollipop later on that day. Most kids, including my eldest, would have cried and had a hard time with this, but not my Vieve. Unfortunately, this leaves Hannah nearly always getting her way since Genna gives her whatever she wants most of the time even if I try to intervene on Genna's behalf.

She has another gift too though...she's hilarious. She cracks me up, getting dressed all backwards with tags in her face and shoes on the wrong feet. Her funny stories are to die for. She's become very outgoing and will tell people the longest stories, not noticing that they don't have a clue what she's talking about or that they aren't even listening at all. She's in another world most of the time. I love that she bursts into song at random times.

As long as I am telling Genna stories, the other day she busted out with, "Mom, Hannah is not respecting me!" when Hannah wouldn't stop tickling her after she asked a million times. (I am always telling them to respect people if they ask you to stop doing something.) Cute girl!

Sleep Strike

This is what happens when you go on a sleep strike...

You fall asleep standing up!

Isaac's never been my best sleeper or anything like that, but he still went to sleep without a fuss and slept until at least 5 am. Not the last couple of weeks though, now he is crying himself to sleep, waking in the middle of the night, and/or waking up way before 5 am. Plus, he is refusing to nap as well. I hope this passes soon!

Wordless Wednesday

The Duke and the 12 Apostles

That's what our lessons are centering around these days. I checked out a book on Duke Ellington from the library and we read it this week. Then we have been listening to the Duke during breakfast and dinner. The girls love it! I heard Hannah tell her sister she loved Jazz music today while they were playing dance class. I even found a Duke Ellington coloring page.

We are also focusing on learning all twelve apostles' names. I found a song to the tune of Jesus Loves Me that teaches the names of the apostles. Here it is:

Jesus called them one by one

Peter, Andrew, James and John

Next came Philip, Thomas too

Matthew and Bartholomew

James the one they called the less

Simon, also Thaddeus

The twelfth apostle Judas made

Jesus was by him betrayed

Yes, Jesus called them

Yes, Jesus called them

Yes, Jesus called them

And they all followed him

Then we are learning Matthew 28:19-20a. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." And, of course, I found a coloring page of the 12 apostles as well.

We still haven't gotten around to the mosaic craft, but, hopefully, we will have time on Saturday if not sooner!

Snow Family Fun Day

A week ago, Saturday, was a great day! We had more snow than I have ever seen at this house, probably 4 or 5 inches in our backyard. It was certainly no where close to our Watertown snowy days but enough to have fun in. Since then we have had even more snow and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere yet.

Here we are in our backyard in the morning. (Hannah went with her dad to the barber shop, so it was just Genna, Isaac, and I.)



He is having too much fun!

Genna's snow angel

"Mom, you pushed me into my favorite snow," Genna said to me after I nudged her out of the way of Isaac's sled path. She loves the untouched snow, before anyone has walked on it and messed it up.

We went to our village ski slope to sled in the late afternoon. The kids all took turns going up the hill and loved it. We lost our seatbelt for our sled somehow, but Isaac did well staying put. We took it a little easier with him, of course. The girls both fell out at the bottom when the sled hit a hidden rock, but only Genna did a true face plant in the snow. That was good because Hannah would not have been as good a sport about it.

"I don't like being bunched up," Hannah frequently reminds us when getting bundled up. She may look happy here, but she has a pouty face on whenever it is time to get bundled up until she forgets about it.

Sledding in action

Genna taking her face plant in the snow like a champ while spitting out the snow...

We came home and had hot chocolate and popcorn in front of a roaring fire while I threw together a dinner of grilled Reuben sandwiches for Brian and I and grilled cheeses for the kids. Veggies accompanied as always. Then my husband, who never cooks, made us a South African dessert that he had last year and made some home-made Gluwein. I had my doubts about this as he asked me cooking questions while at work in the kitchen, but it turned out great. We enjoyed our desserts in front of the fire, and when the kids were all tucked in Brian and I had the Gluwein while reading our books together by the fire. What a perfect day!

Chapstick King

The girls have always been obsessed with chapstick, mostly due to my mother who is a much more avid chapstick applier than myself. She always sends them a bunch of their own special chapsticks, and consequently they have a million. They both carry them all around in their purses. The other day they were sitting together in the living room applying one flavor on top of another when Isaac decided it looked fun. He starts hollering "Chapstick" until they decide to apply some to his chapped lips. Then he ran over to Brian and I to show us his chapstick lips.

What's with the face?

Isaac has always had this particular weird facial expression from time to time, but it is getting more common these days. He juts his lower jaw out and curls his lower lip under. It usually means he is upset about something, but not so much that he needs to cry, yet anyway. It certainly is not attractive. Here he was upset because the train stopped going fast. He kept saying, "Choo train fast" and making this face. He loves to go fast. Not looking forward to his driving days. Good thing I have a while, right?

Rome: Day 6

Well, on our last day as you already know, we went to the Epiphany Mass celebrated by the Holy Father and here he is processing in just before he makes his way over to our dear children for their blessing. After he blessed them, everyone in St. Peter's clapped and cheered. It was so very moving.


We had to get our seats at 9am and wait an hour until Mass began. So the kids were a little restless. Then I found out this was to be a two hour long Mass, and I tried to take deep breaths and trust that the kids would make it. We bent some of our typical Mass rules to make it through without disturbing others since there was really no where we could go with a loud baby. I let Isaac snack a bit which is normally not our family policy. Also, I pulled out books to let them look through. They were religious books, but usually I prefer the girls not to look at books during Mass anymore since they are old enough to be participating. Three hours is a long time to sit still and quiet for young children, so we did what we could. I guess because of all this rule bending and the extended time, I felt the kids were not as good as they usually are at Mass. I was discouraged by this. Isaac didn't really cry, but he was loud especially when he was looking at his books and yelling Jesus in his typical fashion. But I was surprised again at how many people came up to me and told me how wonderful my kids were during the Mass. One older lady touched my cheek and said the sweetest things to me about my family. Several nuns practically crawled over the scattered chairs after it was over to tell me things like, "I have never seen kids behave so well in all my life," or "I wish all moms took care of their children the way you do." I was so touched and uplifted because I didn't think I was doing anything particularly special to warrant such praises. It was oddly humbling because I had been thinking I hadn't done a very good job of keeping them all quiet and still so as not to interfere with others' participation in the Mass. So I refuse to take any of the credit. Again, thanks be to God!

Pope Benedict XVI praying the Angelus outside

The nativity scene in the Vatican piazza

We saw many nativity scenes in every church and the girls called them activity scenes. They enjoyed looking at all the different activity scenes.

After the Mass we went to lunch with about a dozen seminarians and our priest friend. That was very enlightening and refreshing. It is rare to be surrounded by priests and nuns these days, so we relished it.

Then we headed towards our next adventure...the overnight train back to Germany. I thought the kids might have trouble sleeping, but they did great! Isaac loved the "Choo train" and enjoyed looking out the open window with Daddy for the first hour. Then is was time to read stories and settle in for the night. We had our own little compartment with six chairs lining the walls, three on each side. Hannah agreed to sleep on the floor and Isaac slept on me. Genna laid across two seats and Daddy squeezed in where he could. Within fifteen minutes of turning off the lights, all children were fast asleep for the night. For Brian and I, however, not so much. The train stopped every half hour or hour and then had to check our tickets again. We did not know that we would be stopping so frequently and for about twenty minutes each time while people boarded and such. How ridiculous! How is anyone supposed to actually sleep on one of these trips? That's what I would like to know!

Looking out the window

The trip was seventeen hours total. It was eleven hours before we made our first train change. Then another three hours, then another forty-five minutes, then one last two hour train ride. I was dizzy for days after this never ending train ride. I felt like I was still on a train, especially when I closed my eyes. But we had the experience, and now we know never to do it again!

Rome: Day 5

We took the Metro out to St. John of Lateran which is a little on the outskirts of Rome. This is Peter's high altar.


In my opinion, the Scala Santa was ranked in the top five spiritually moving things we did or saw in Rome. (Obviously, Pope Benedict XVI's blessing our children was number one, and seeing the scourging pillar was in the top five too.) At first, I looked at the people going up on their knees and thought, "What! How am I going to get up there with the kids anyways? And, plus, doesn't that hurt?" I can be kind of a wuss at times, and I had just fallen on the stairs in our apartment the night before on my knee while carrying Isaac and our dinner. So I had a big bruise on my knee cap. But the funny thing is I had just been meditating earlier this same day (while walking from one place to another) about how minor pains should not be shied away from and avoided at all costs necessarily, but offered up as a small sacrifice for Jesus to join with His much greater sufferings. I caught myself and decided I wanted to do it even if it hurt. The girls had to go potty right at this very moment. So Brian (my husband of such faith and devotion to God who truly rarely complains about such minor pains) said he would go up with Isaac in the backpack (all 30 lbs of him!) while I took the girls to find a restroom. Then when I returned, he took the girls and Isaac outside so I could prayerfully make my way up these steps. For those of you who do not know what the Scala Santa (Holy Stairs) is, they are the actual steps Jesus took when walking up to meet Pontius Pilate. St. Helena, Constantine's mother, went to Jerusalem in the 4th century and brought back many of the items related to Jesus, as well as other important relics. These were the steps that lead to Pilot's residence where He stood trial. They lead to the Sancta Sanctorum, which was the personal chapel of the early popes. The church which houses the Scala Sancta was build on ground brought from Mount Calvary in Jerusalem. They have been covered in wood, but there are glass covered holes to see the original steps where Christ's blood fell and the sides are glass covered, revealing the deeply grooved steps where thousands of pilgrims traversed the steps on their knees before they were protectively encased in wood. Amazing! I prayed for my husband, each of my children, and for the children that I have yet to meet and hope to have one day as I went up.

One of the holes at the top of the steps where His blood fell and marking the spot where He stood before Pilot.

Santa Croce in Gerusalemm had many relics and all were encased in these monstrances, behind a glass, and behind a big private altar. I was disappointed that I couldn't really see them. Brian had seen them on his last trip to Rome before we were married, and said they had been rearranged and moved since then. He got a better look at them before. They are: a piece of the True Cross, the part of sign over the cross that says "Nazarene" in Hebrew, Latin and Greek, doubting Thomas' finger bone which he put in Jesus' side, thorns from the crown of thorns, and nails which pierced Christ on the cross.

The Shroud of Turin

Trevi Fountain is very beautiful. We all threw a coin over our shoulder with our backs facing the fountain, even Isaac. I had the best panini ever right around the corner from the fountain.

Hannah throwing her coin

Genna throwing her coin

Isaac's nap times were spent here in the backpack.

My wonderful, strong husband toting all the kids

We also visited Santa Maria sopra Minerva. While browsing in the gift shop, some nuns gave the children holy cards which was so nice. We got quite the attention with our three little ones all over Rome, but especially among the nuns which were everywhere, of course. In general, we get stares and weird looks in Europe for having more than one or two kids. But Italy was different. So many people talked to the kids and told us we had a bella familia. Isaac got quite a lot of attention. I swear half of Rome knows his name know. Everyone asked his name and would talk to him and try to make him smile. Several men said they wished he was their very own grandson. It warmed my heart to have so many people so very happy that we have been open to life.

The girls lit candles and I asked who they were praying for. Hannah prayed for Uncle Kent, and Genna prayed for Hannah. Then Genna turns to Hannah and says, "Why didn't you pray for me?"
"Well, I can pray for you and Uncle Kent," Hannah amended. Genna was, of course, satisfied with this and they held hands and skipped off together. I hope and pray they are always this close.

A Christmas market in Piazza Navona

We went to the Pantheon next and then met a friend of Brian's (a Jesuit priest) for dinner. I was a bit concerned about being out that late with the kids so tired already, but it was a lovely time. The girls contentedly colored the whole time which I expected. But to my great surprise, Isaac was a little angel at dinner, only getting tired and irritable at the very end while Brian finished up his coffee. Praise God because the next day, Isaac was (How shall I say?) done with Rome.