Feet

One of the craziest things about being a mother, is the sudden realizations that your babies are growing up and the tears that brings. It can be seeing your child sleeping at night and how big they suddenly look in their bed, noticing their pants aren't fitting the same way, feeling their weight when you carry them, or a sudden glance at them that just floods you with emotion about this incredible being you've created. I had yet another moment like this yesterday, from Luli's feet! Feet, of all things! She had fallen asleep in her chair during nap time and when I woke her she was having a tough time coming through. But her little bare feet were right there on the floor, her toes stretching and curling as she tried to wake up. I was struck by how big they've gotten over the past four years. They used to be so tiny and compared to her newborn feet they're huge. And yet still so small, she's grown so much and has so much more to grow. I was just struck with the feeling of how blessed I am to have these two amazing little girls in my life. And thinking what they will be like when their feet are as big as mine. I was thinking about all the places these little feet have taken her already, carrying her body and helping her learn. One day these little feet will carry her away, living on her own to her own life, and I won't be waking her from nap and cuddling her to help her feel better. It makes me sad to see them grow, but I'm also so amazed by them. They are really wonderful girls, their manners are blossoming and their personalities are much larger than their little bodies would make you think. So I brush off the sadness, cuddle my babies (because frankly they will be my babies until they are 100 years old, no matter what Luli says right now) and enjoy the moments of today.

Real Snow Storm!

For Virginia's standards, we had a real snow storm last night, waking up to close to 5 inches! The girls were super excited and couldn't wait to get outside and play in it. Oscar stayed home for the morning and cleaned the driveway and steps for us. Once the girls had breakfast we were ready to get our snow clothes on and get outside. Unfortunately the wind was a bit of a deterrent from staying out too long. We started a snowman but couldn't take the wind much longer. We did enjoy a little sled ride, well the girls enjoyed a ride and I pulled (man are they getting heavy!).

When we got back inside we warmed up with snack time and Chocolate caliente con queso (Spanish hot chocolate with cheese). There is a saying in Spanish that chocolate without cheese is like love without kisses, I've come to agree and the girls certainly agree! So here is a picture of their hot chocolate faces.

Collages

This evening we got even more crafty. We read Lucy's Picture, by Nicola Moon this afternoon. We had gotten it at the library today. Lucy creates a picture during preschool for her grandpa who is visiting, it's a collage with many different textures. At the end we find out Lucy's grandpa is blind so she made the textured picture so he could "see" it. The girls were fascinated with the idea of a collage and given my accumulating pile of unusable scraps we got to work on our own creations. And seriously this held their attention for at least an hour and a half.

I was really impressed with their excitement and ideas. I told them if they wanted any of the fabric cut in certain shapes they could tell me and I'd do the cutting (because safety scissors weren't going to do the trick). Here is the almost final product, pretty cute!

Girls Get Crafty

For Luli's birthday she received several really cool crafty projects. The one we did most recently was the decorate your frame craft. Eliza and Davy gave this to Luli, who graciously allowed Fiona to assist in the decorating. It was a lot of fun, and I really just took a back seat to photograph and enjoy watching. I do have a tendency to try and control...who me?





The first pic is the before and the second is almost at the end, I'll have to get a pic of the finished product (which still needs an actual photo in it!).

Skirt Sewing Craze

For Christmas my parents were very generous and got me all sorts of fun sewing gadgets. After all the sewing I did for Christmas I've been a little lax on the sewing since, and hadn't tried out any of my new toys- until this week! I was checking out my friend's blog the other day and noticed the adorable skirts her daughters were wearing. Well she made them and was kind enough to pass along the "pattern." I put the quotes because it isn't really a pattern, more like directions to making the easiest cutest skirts ever! You can find the pattern here, courtesy of the Oliver and S blog, which has some super adorable patterns for purchase and a couple for free. We hit the fabric store, with my gift card courtesy of my cousin Matt for Christmas, and purchased a variety of fabrics. If it weren't for this store's complete lack of awesome ribbon we would have walked away with A LOT more fabric.

With fabric and ribbon in hand I was ready to try these skirts out, and incredibly pleased with how simple they really were. The first one I made took longer because the elastic was difficult to thread...oh but then I took a gander at the pile o' toys my parents gave me and looky looky, someone got me a BODKIN! Well that would have saved me a good chunk of time! Thanks Mom and Dad! I have now made 3 sets of skirts for the ladies, and have 3 more planned.

The only problem is my obsession with sewing this week is not well timed. I am taking two classes for an add on endorsement to my teaching license and of course had a lot due this week. Perhaps this is just procrastination, I clearly needed to focus more time on the paper that was due and the test that needed to be taken. However, my mind was consumed with sewing these skirts. All in all, the paper is done and handed in, the test is taken and about to be handed in and 3 sets of skirts are sewn...that's a pretty productive week if I say so! Now the real question is, can I make the pink with white polka dots in my size? Is it OK for an adult woman to wear elastic waist bands? And, is it just too over the top to have all three of us matching?

Oh and this blog, just posted this adorable dress...which will get made for this summer for sure!

Oh Yea, Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is not something we generally make a big deal out of, so I was caught a wee bit off guard when Oscar had planned a whole day's worth of activity and meals. He started off the morning with a very New York breakfast, biali's with cream cheese, onions, tomatoes, lox, and capers. It was excellent, and a long time since I'd last had it.

I came home from my dentist appt (my gift to Oscar, if you knew my dental anxiety, you'd know this is a big deal!) to find one of my favs, cheese fondue with bread and apples...oh so good! The girls and I were in heaven, who doesn't love melted cheese with bread and apples?!

For dinner we started with an eggplant parm appetizer. This was really yummy and really

easy (OK for me, the whole day was easy because I didn't cook anything). It was basically, roasted eggplant slices on top of a slice of baguette, topped with marinara and a slice of mozzarella. Super easy and super yum!

The main course was a grilled tuna steak, nicsoisse salad, with a red pepper and tahini dressing. It was so good, and the red pepper tahini dressing was amazing!

For me, Valentine's day is far more about being with the people you love and letting you know how you feel about them, focusing your attention on this, when ordinarily your attention may be focused some place else. The girls were appropriately lovey with each other on Valentine's Day. Showering each other and us with lots of hugs and kisses. Unfortunately we couldn't capture the adorableness of them hugging and kissing as it truly happened, because they just wouldn't angle right for the camera! This is the closest we got to catching it...

Note on "Let's Get Fired Up"

Apparently there is a movie coming out, or out already, called "Fired Up." I guess it is a cheerleader movie? I randomly heard a commercial for it the other day and I think this is where Luli's classmate heard and has learned this lovely phrase. I'm very happy to report that she hasn't repeated this phrase since that one day. Though she cracked me up today by describing her "Welcome Home Daddy" banner as "crazy beautiful."