Let them Sleep

It's a rainy day around here, and has been for two days now, so we're all rained out. Boo. My boys are outside so much now that they've got the cutest little farmer tans (despite all the sunblock that I slather on them). I'm one proud Momma when my little ones ask to go outside more than they ask for TV or video games.

But all that fresh air and sunshine brings about the best side effect of all: naps!

Flyswatter Painting

So the boys have been into arts and crafts lately. With the lack of crafts stores in Germany, it's sometimes hard to find things for them to do. I went to the German equivalent of the Dollar Tree (woefully inadequate replacement) and picked up some flyswatters. I'd seen this idea on (where else?!) Pinterest where you put paint daubs on a canvas and gave the kiddos a flyswatter and let them have at it. My boys are a: fans of paint and anything messy, b: really big fans of smacking/hitting things, so I knew they'd have a blast.

 

It turns out, though, that it's really really really messy. I would have tried it outside instead, which is probably a much better idea, but it was raining. Because it's Germany. And it's always raining.

 

If you look closely you can see the pain on his ear, cheek, eyebrows, hair...

 

It was like instant-gratification art. You get to smack the crap out of the paper and you get beautiful results. Link was a huge fan.

 

I was not a huge fan of the mess. We obviously got a little wild with our smacks, and by we, I mean them. But the fun was worth it. Nothing a little magic eraser can't help!

 

Here's our final results:

 

 

Link used a three color approach, while Drake wanted just red and blue.

 

I sealed the canvases with some glossy fixative and they now hang proudly in my foyer. Beautiful artwork with sentimental meaning at the price of fun. Win-win-win!

 

Flashbacks

Pretty soon I'll be boarding a plane to visit my stateside family. This makes me more happy than you can imagine. I'm a bit homesick. Not for the places, so much, but for the people. Although I will be totally ruining my diet with some good ole American fare. So anyway, I was looking through some photos of mine to use as a filler for a design and came across this one of my dad and my oldest son.

I just love this photo. It's such a tender moment. I think it even looks better that they aren't looking at the camera or even aware of my presence. It's a papa's sweet kiss on a chubby grandson. Man how I miss those sweet moments. Can't wait to make some more memories soon!

Happy Mother's Day

This past weekend of course was Mother's Day. As always, I had an amazing day. I woke up to freshly brewed coffee (yummy chocolate truffle blend) and the hubby made me my traditional omelet. He's the best! I wish I made omelets as great as he does. I didn't have to cook, clean, or lift a finger all day. Man, I love Mother's Day!

Here's my two sweet boys who made me a mommy. I'm so incredibly blessed! It was also Linky's birthday so we celebrated that as well. I can't believe the little guy is three!

My sweet husband even drove both ways to the museum that we went to. I love not having to drive or lift a finger. He spoils me too much, but don't tell him that. I rather enjoy it. Isn't he handsome?!?

We went to this Egyptian exhibit in the city of Speyer (about an hour away). The city itself is worth going to as it has some fabulous architecture, museums, and a lovely pedestrian friendly zone. You know you're spoiled by amazing European architecture when you don't snap photos of every little building anymore since they're all amazing.

Posing with my babies in the main pedestrian thoroughfare.

The shops along the pedestrian way evoke memories of Venice to me. The colors aren't adjusted at all. This is how they look.

We had a delicious lunch at a sidewalk cafe, followed by some yummy Italian gelato (1 euro per cone!). The boys had chocolate, James had nutella, and I had raspberry.

More sidewalk cafes and beautiful architecture.

We stopped at the park on our way back to the car. Too bad the shadows cast have our eyes heavily shadowed. That and the remains of gelato on the little guys' faces...Not a perfect photo, but definitely a perfect day.

Hope your Mother's Day was just as enjoyable!

Christmas Market

I know this post is a little late in coming, but I figured better late than never. The weekend before Christmas (which somehow seems sooo long ago already) we went to a Christmas market in Rudesheim. Germany and most of Europe is known for their Christmas markets, but this was a really fun one. We met up with some friends of ours and we braved the cold (seriously Mother Nature, quit making it so darn cold without the white stuff to make it worthwhile!).

To get there, we had to take a ferry across the river (the Rhein I believe). If that had been all that we did the entire day the boys would still have been thrilled. You would have thought the ten minute ferry ride was the BEST. THING. EVAR! Okay, so I was a little excited about it too.

The city didn't disappoint us either. I suspect that at any time of the year the city's wonderful to behold but it was even neater with the entire center being closed to traffic and filled with fragrant and colorful market stalls.

We managed to eat our weight I think that day. We had french fries, hot dogs (wursts), hot cocoa, kartoffeln soup (potato soup) in a bread bowl, and chocolate covered strawberries on a stick. And that's only what I remember. There may have been more, but I won't admit to it now.

Honestly it's days like these that make me absolutely fall in love with Europe all over again, even if sometimes I'm homesick and lonely. There's nothing like this back in the States.

O Christmas Tree

Want to see what a Christmas tree decorated by one toddler and one preschooler looks like? Of course you do!

That's right. Four ornaments on the same single branch and my "love" ornament backwards to where it looks like it reads, "eval." It was decorated with love by four little hands and it's absolutely perfect.

Weekend Wanderings - Town Fair

This past weekend our little city had a Christmas market. I love European Christmas markets and since this one was within walking distance, we of course had to go. This year it was about a third the size of the one last year so I'm not sure what was going on, but we still had lots of fun.

This is the far end of the fair, as you're walking along the main road.



The town square with its Christmas tree

A typical booth. There were several food vendors, along with clothing and home decor booths but the selection was much more slim compared to last year unfortunately. I also just randomly snapped photos because I felt like a creeper taking photos of people's merchandise.

A small four man band played holiday classics. They also played some oompah type music that Germany and Bavaria are famous for. No, I'm not sure it's called oompah music, but that's what I'm going with since that's what it sounds like they were playing.

Drake's favorite part of any fair: the rides!

He even got to go twice, this time Link's in the back of the fire engine, crying. He was tired, poor little fella. The weird part about this fire truck is that it's supposedly American (see the words in English) and also the Texas license plate?

Certainly doesn't look like a Texas license plate to me, but you have to give it to the Germans; atleast they tried to make it look Texan with the cowboy.

Yummy and adorable Santa Claus gingerbread cookies.

We also tried to get a decent photo of the family in front of a Christmas tree in the town hall. Unfortunately this is the best that we came up with.  Yeah, it was that bad. One tired toddler, two balloons that kept getting in the way, and a headstrong preschooler does not make a great photo opportunity. And I'm also wearing my son's hat rather than carrying it along since he decided not to wear it. Oh well. Atleast we had a great time, even if we don't have photos of us enjoying it together. Hope you had a wonderful weekend too!

Halloween 2011

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. It's so much fun to dress up and in this case, watch my children enjoy the season. This year is probably the last where we can tell Drake how to dress. He's definitely got his own opinions about what he likes and dislikes, but we did manage to convince him to go as Luigi from the Mario brothers this time. Link went as Mario and together they were too cute! They had a blast trunk or treating.

Hope your Halloween was just as enjoyable!