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