Bavarian Bobby

One of my best friends had a baby boy recently and named him Boniface.  You can read about that here on Sancta Nomina.  He's Catholic name famous.  Since Boniface is named after the patron saint of Germany, I was on the lookout for St. Boniface stuff, but, alas, Germany is not so faithful to the man who brought Christianity to them so many years ago.  I looked all over Oberarmagau for a wooden statue of Heilige Bonifacious.  All I could find was a sweet lady who offered to order him for me.  I did that and then went right down the street and bought him real deal Lederhosen.  My friend asked for size 2-3T.  That's when I realized Bobby would fit in it now and he had to have pictures in it before I mailed them.  That's probably breaking some etiquette rules, but we're very close friends. :)  Here's my adorable Bobby in his Bavarian Lederhosen made of real leather.  If you've been reading my blog you know that he does not like stiff clothes.  This took some fast talking and a little bit of Popsicle bribery for him to wear these for less than half an hour altogether.

Barfusspad

I have always wanted to do this, but didn't know if my littlest ones could do it until now.  Just in the knick of time we planned a field trip to a barefoot path.  

I had way more fun than an adult should be aloud to have on her children's field trip.  Bob and I were way behind, but we just enjoyed the forest and I enjoyed the feel of the different textures on my bare feet.  Bob, on the other hand, refused to take off his shoes.  This was not a surprise since he is funny about it even at home.  He likes to have socks on all the time so stuff doesn't get stuck on the bottom of his feet.  Going barefoot is not for him, so far.  

This was the mini barefoot path at the beginning with all the textures right in a row.

Sand

There were lots of miniature bridges and things to mix it up a bit and give your feet a break on a smooth wood plank.  There were textures such as sand, wood chips, pebbles, mud, logs, smoother wood.  At one point it almost seemed like the path ended, but I had read on the website that if you took "care" you could walk through the rougher part and finish the loop with more textures and bridges.  This rough part, was fine for the bigger kids, but the littles were not careful and got the spikes from chestnut coverings in their feet.  Those chestnuts are spiky!

Wood

Judah is very into bugs!!!

Logs

Before we left, we let the kids play on the coolest playgrounds.  One was an exercise park with real exercise equipment with pictures of how to use each machine.  There was one station with logs attached in one spot that you could left up and down for strengthening. 

The other playground had trampolines built into the ground, tons of sand, and slides built into the natural landscape, big wooden ships to play on, and water pumps.  It was an afternoon of fun for all ages!

Then we had the pleasure of taking some friends to choir practice afterwards.  The girls took over the last row in the van and had a blast.

Remind me never to cut corners on the icing again!

And this isn't my first rodeo, people.  I know better than this.  What is more, I know that it doesn't actually save me that much time.  The homemade Wilton icing is so very simple and quick.  In the end this "time saver" ended up costing me time AND a pleasing finished product.

Looks good, right?  You're asking, "What is she talking about?"  This was after fixing it THE FIRST TIME.  I made the cake and iced it quickly with little swirls because what else can you do with canned icing, right?  Then I went to bed.  When I came into the kitchen the next morning, the icing had run and pulled the cake with it in three different directions.  Yep!  A really big crack.  That didn't phase me too much.  I just tried to use more icing to put the cake back together and hide all the boo boos.  I had already planned to decorate with some fresh flowers from the side of the road vendors here.  I went to baseball games and picked up flowers on the way home.  I finished the cake up and took pictures immediately, and I am so thankful for that.

We were having a barbecue party for her at the park.  Since at this time we were in the middle of a string of long trips and trying to get ready for company and the movers to come right after the company leaves, I tried to make this as low maintenance as possible.  We did brats and hot dogs, chips, a couple last minute salads because we were given a bunch of lettuce and tomatoes.  Then there was the cake.

On the 45 minute drive to the park, I was holding the cake in the passenger seat while Brian was driving when the cake cracked wide and irreparably open.  I didn't cry but boy did I whine and moan about the cake the rest of the drive.  This is what it looked like.

Oh, so embarrassing and humbling.  Genevieve was, of course, so sweet about it, but I kept apologizing to her nonetheless.  The rest of the party was perfect and all the children had a blast playing and eating.  In the end, I pre-cut the cake and plated the pieces while the kids were playing.  I even dangerously put twelve candles on Genevieve's slice so we could sing to her.

The big cake fall of 2018 will be remembered in those precious little minds for years to come.  I like to think of my mistake less as a mistake than as a memory peg for my children to remember this day for a long time.  LOL

Cuties and Antiques

Bobby is something else.  He was such a shy infant that I have been surprised at how outgoing and social he has become.  Don't get me wrong he still needs to be close to Mom, check in a bunch of times if he gets out of my sight line, and constantly declare with gusto how much he loves me!  However, he talks nonstop and hates to be left out of the big kid's stuff.  He really is quite the ham and adores anyone who will be silly with him.  He's loud (we're majorly working on inside voices), super chatty, and a huge Mama's boy.

Yes, yes, I know!  I let my kids eat on the stove if I'm cutting veggies or making sandwiches because they love it and we get some one on one time while I get something accomplished.

I mentioned that he tells me he loves me, on average, 50 times a day, or he declares it randomly to a room full of people, the whole grocery store, or just me.  When he announces it, it is loud and every female "aah"s because it is totally, melt-your-heart sweet.  He will sometimes tell me 10 times virtually in a row while playing in the same room as me.  I have a notion that partly it is a type of checking in without coming over to touch me which he also does often.  He has another habit that traces all the way back to when he was nursing.  He loves to touch my neck or cheeks.  He'll even just walk up to me and ask me to bend down so he can "touch my neck."  It's a little strange and a little precious all at the same time.  Not sure what has made him so attached to me, other than not being dethroned by a new baby brother/sister at a young age like the rest of them were.

Judah and Bobby are playing together a lot more lately, but also fighting a lot more as well.  It's funny because if they do fight and hit each other, they will apologize and be hugging each other to death right afterwards.  All is forgiven and they just go right back to playing.  They are both so forgiving and physically affectionate that the hug destroys any lingering animosity which isn't the case with Drew or Hannah because they are not physical touch people.

Those were the cuties, now for the antiques.  Technically, only one of the following things is an antique.  We purchased an antique Brittany style buffet to go with our Brittany style table.  It holds all my tea cups, Polish pottery, Souflenheim pottery, and even some of Brian's overflow beer glasses.  It is a gigantic, substantial piece of furniture.  It's hard to see in the photo, but on either side, you have carved people just like in our table legs and there are scenes carved into the doors.  I LOVE it!

Then we bought a brand new grandfather clock very recently.  In fact, when they delivered it, they didn't even put the weights and pendulum on because the movers were coming just a couple of days later.

At the store, with the pendulum and weights in it.  There's a notable amount of glass in it and so I am hoping and praying it arrives stateside undamaged.

The last item is new as well.  For a good bye gift, Brian's co-workers and employees bought him this Nativity scene candelabra.  I have always wanted one of these, but never actually purchased one, so I was so touched at this personal gift and by the beautiful words that were said about my man at his barbecue.