Other than Mothering

Although I don't do much other than "Mothering" I do sometimes steal a moment or two away to do something I love.  I made this saint doll for Brian's newest godson for his (late) baptism gift.  I made him a soccer hat (they are a big soccer family) for his birth gift, but I think I forgot to take a picture of that.  He is named after St. Maximilian Kolbe and so I made him that saint and picked a beautiful quote from him for the back.  I haven't made these in a while, but now I'm already in the middle of my second one, and Drew and Judah have requested one as well.

One night I went to a Ladies Night Out with women from my church group.  It was a "Wine Tasting and Pasta Making" event.  We were taught how to make pasta by a chef trained in Bologna, Italy.  He was American and owns a shop called Ciao in Landstuhl.  De Vine (you only get the joke in this name if you know the German word for wine is die Wein, pronounced de vine) is a wine shop across the street from Ciao and has a large room upstairs perfect for pasta making in a large group.  It was a long even with some down time when the dough needs to rest or dry which is when we were able to sample the Italian appetizers.  The wine tasting was interspersed throughout the evening and led by the son of the founder of De Vine.

I don't know why this picture flipped upside down when I uploaded it, but oh well!  This was my appetizer plate.

This is how we took it home to cook it the next day.

And my dinner the next night!  Fresh pasta is amazing!

I have also taken a shot at Zentangle Art.  The girls took a free class at the library in the summer and I was immediately drawn to it.  I love patterns and doodling.  My godson's sister asked me to draw her a swan, and if you knew this girl you'd understand why I dropped all my other projects to fulfill her request.  She's a sweetie.  I started with the outline of a real swan and then decided to go a different route and Zentangle the swan.  I drew everything inside the swan in pen, but I had a couple pencil drafts of the big swan first.

It's really on white paper, but the poor lighting in our house made it look yellowish in this picture.

Genevieve has been drawing more lately too.  She drew this owl for a friend as well.  I am very proud of her.  She seems to have it in her head that Hannah is the artist of the family, but I think she's got her fair share of talent.  Looks like we may have several artists in this family.

I have also become fond of hand lettering.  I have been making quotes to post around the house.  I am currently working on a canvas for each of my children with a quote from a classic book, Winnie-the-Pooh, Peter Pan, A Single Shard, Jane Eyre, etc.  I will have to really work hard to get all the hand made gifts ready before Christmas.

An example of the quick hand lettered quotes from saints that I've been posting all over the house. 

Finally, I went on a Catholic retreat.  Brian stayed home with the kids (or rather took the kids all over the place without me).  It was good to get away, spend time with friends, go to daily Mass, and get lots of extra uninterrupted prayer time.  It was in the Netherlands (barely across the border) at the Rolduc Abbey.

This was right across from my room.  It made me happy!

 I was supposed to have a roommate assigned, but I never met her. Her stuff was in the room once when I went to grab something and then it was gone the next time.  I never did meet her or find out why she didn't stay.

Basement Bar- for hanging out in the evenings after the scheduled events were completed

A beautiful chapel in the Abbey!

Courtyard View from my window

That's all, Folks!