Art Day with Schleich

We love Schleich Animals...LOVE.THEM.  Ren has them in the bathtub, the sandbox, at his bedside, in his pockets, riding with him in the car, carries them when we go to run errands, they sit by his plate during breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner...and now we do art with them!

I saw an idea of making animal tracks with Fisher Price animals on Pinterest (that's a link to my account btw)...and thought that we could do much better.  The Fisher Price animals do not have distinctive footprints but the Schleich animals do.  So distinctive that my Ren can tell you what animal track it is after he has laid it down.

Oh so careful to paint the feet

For this project we used art paper, washable paint, paint brush, water cup for cleaning the paint brush and an old towel.  I  also covered the dining room table with an outdoor tablecloth and had Ren put a paint smock on.

Ren picked the animals that he wanted to make tracks with and we lined them up on the table.  One animal at a time he picked a color, painted their feet and "walked" the animal on the art paper.

Walk the Pig

 This is what we ended up with...

Animal Footprints with Schleigh

I love how the octopus, lobster, seal, sea turtle and alligator turned out.  Ren painted their whole underbelly and we made sure to press all the legs and tails and parts down.  I also labeled each of the animals so that I would remember. 

We  have done this art project now about 4 times and it is a favorite of my Lil PeaPie's.

Do you or rather your little loves have an art project they like to do again and again...I would love to hear about it!

Awe

Sometimes at the end of my day, sitting still for a few moments, thinking on what has gone by, what cannot be changed, memories that were made, actions and reactions.  Knowing there are moments through out my day that I would change, that if I could have a do-over for my thoughts or actions or rather reactions I would take it.  I would make that moment better.

Daily, I fail, daily, I have to get up. Mama work is so much.  This work teaches me, exposes my heart, lays bare my soul and often sends me to my knees asking for forgiveness from my Father God and then begging for wisdom.  Wisdom that I need to guide my boys, to be the Mama that God created me to be. To follow His heart and His will for my little ones.

And then at that moment at the end of my day....I am overwhelmed.  By this life, by the love that fills my home.  By all that we have that is not tangible but priceless.  Hearing laughter, joy, quick 3 year old wit, love from my husband, seeing the work of his hands and feeling the babe that grows in my inner most being; move and kick and have a personality that is all his own...even before he opens his eyes to this wide world we live in.  These things they fill my heart, brimmed and overflowing.  And I stand in awe of the beauty that surrounds this life of mine, in awe of my handsful, in awe of the love that my God has for me and the ones I love.

I am linking this post to Heather of the EO, Just Write.

Life and Love

Some days of this Mama-hood are long and weary.  So much said over and over, discipline for the same things over and over.  The repetitive-ness, time outs, tear stained cheeks, shushing, running to catch, "let-me-outs", all again and again and again since we made the beds.  And then, then I am reminded, ever so gently and brought to tears....so thankful, so overwhelmed, of these handsful.... of this life we have.

This work that I have.  To mold and shape my boy so that one day he will be a good man, a man that loves well and lives well.  Striving to be a godly example to him and falling short....daily.  Showing him that my Abba-Father is working on me...still.  I have to ask for forgiveness too, for being short-tempered, not loving, not patient, not kind, not gentle.


His sweet little body curling up to mine.  "Mama, lay with me for naps", "you want to hold me?", sharp elbows, warm blond head, sweet voice....climbing up on me, hugs and kisses all is well and forgotten. Time to play, create, explore, learn, listen and take this life that we live in.

Mama-hood is hard work, weary work, glorious work, heart-full work.

We are blessed, with handsful of life and handsful of love.

Mama

‎....The most important thing she'd learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one. -- Jill Churchill

I came across this quote again today...I saw it first Aug 30, 2009...my sweet PeaPie was 5 months old and I was brand new Mama..still sitting, spending hours in my red chair, nursing my sweet babe and dreaming about the years of wonderful Mama-hood ahead of me. I did not then and do not now, think that there is any Mama who is a perfect Mama....but I do know that there are a lot of good ones out there. Many who am a blessed to call my sisters and my sister-friends. Mama's that I can look up to, the ones that I no longer live near, but I watched them with their little loves and how they Mama-ed them and I took note. And now that I am in the trenches of two and almost a half with my little PeaPie, I remember their words, their actions, their tone of voice, their conversations and their Mama-love. No days are picture perfect, but there are hours sometimes it seems that the world is just right and I see the sunshine and smell the roses....and when those hours tick-tock down and the day seems long I remember. I dig deep and calm myself, take patience off that shelf of virtues and breathe for just a moment.

These days...the long, drawn out, why isn't this kid sleeping....doesn't.he.know.that.it.is.nap.time.and.we.played.for.hours.outside.just.so.he.would.nap

These days, they are the best days and I want to live in the moment of them and enjoy them and suck the life breath from each passing minute. I want to Mama to the best....to my best...I want to be a good Mama.

Best Breakfast Evah!

Let me tell you this is the BEST French Toast ever.  I came up with this when I was at the beach with my girlfriends years ago...it was eaten up so fast I should have made double the amount.  Ren called it just Angel Food and I thought it was the perfect description for this light and delicious breakfast. Breakfast is also my favorite meal of the day; I could eat breakfast foods for snacks, lunch and dinner. I think I love breakfast so because it has just the right amount of sweet and salty. This recipe does not include any salty but just add your favorite breakfast protein to the plate and you have the perfect combination....with a hot cup of coffee of course.

Angel Food French Toast
Ingredients

1 store bought Angel Food Cake cut into 1 inch slices
6 eggs (beaten)
1/3 cup milk
2 tsp cinnamon
butter for your skillet 
powdered sugar for dusting
4 cups of diced fresh seasonal fruit
zest and juice 1 orange
2 tsp of honey

Instructions
Combine eggs, milk and cinnamon into a shallow bowl.
Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat.
Dip the Angel Food Cake slices into the egg mixture and cook lightly browning both sides.
Combine the fruit, orange juice, zest and honey in another bowl and stir to coat. 
Serve the Angel Food with a dusting of powdered sugar with fruit on the side. 
(I used strawberries, blackberries and apples). 

I hope you try this simple and so yummy breakfast recipe...let me know what you think if you do!

Quilt in Progress

Wordless Wednesday...

Books We Read

My Lil' PeaPie is a lover of books and letters and animals and books... and we read a lot....I mean A LOT...

I thought I would share with you some of our favorites right now, books that I have long ago memorized and come to love. When I am old and look back on my PeaPie's youngest years I know that I will fondly remember these books and I hope that they remain in our little family library for-evah.

The Big Red Barn by Margret Wise Brown quickly became top on our list of nigh-night stories and day ones too. We checked it out from our local library and fell in love. After two weeks we returned it and my PeaPie did not stop talking about it...so we checked it out again and again and then I finally bought it.

Time For Bed by Mem Fox is my go-to baby shower, 1st birthday book. This one came recommended to me by a sweet friend with two boys, she said it was and still is her little guys favorite book and she was sure that my PeaPie would love it. She wasn't wrong. Ren likes to point out each animal and their Mama as well as when they are doing or what is happening in the background behind them.

Zoo-ology by Joelle Jolivet is an over-sized animal book and it's all about the illustrations. Ren loves to look through this one page by page and talk about the different animals, what they look like, where they live, what sound they make and then we play match with his Schleich

animals.

Any Dr Seuss...Hop on Pop, Fox in Sox, Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish Two Fish, Mr. Brown Can Moo, The Foot Book, There's a Wocket in My Pocket....and my smarty-pants PeaPie knows the name to all of these books and can pull the right one off the shelf.

Humphrey's First Christmas By Carol Heyer, other-wise known as "Camel the Humph", Room for a Little One by Martin Wadell, other-wise known as "Kind Ox" and Who Is Coming to Our House by Joseph Slate, are three Christmas books that we started reading at the beginning of Advent 2010. Long after Advent was over Ren pulls them from the shelf, reads them on his own and asks me to read them too.

Quiet Night by Marilyn Singer, is another local library find that quickly made it's way in to our family library. My PeaPie loves this one and enjoys the illustrations as much as he enjoys making the various animal and bug noises.

Bear Snores On By Karma Wilson, I just happened to see the one at a local bookstore, quickly scanned through it and knew that it had to be added to our family library. I'm so glad I did, Ren loves this book as much as I do.

On Noah's Ark by Jan Brett, is one of the many Jan Brett books that we own. We love the animals (of course) and I love having another book that I can use to teach Ren about God's promises. Ren's other favorite Jan Brett book is Honey...Honey...Lion!

A list of a few more books we read:

The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward

Little by Little by Amber Stewart and Layn Marlow (Hardcover)

When We Went to the Zoo by Jan Ormerod

Read and Share Toddler Bible retold by Gwen Ellis

God Loves Me More Than That by Dandi Daley Mackall

Barnyard Dance! by Sandra Boyton (ALL books by Sandra Boyton!)

Going to Sleep on the Farm by Wendy Cheyette Lewison

Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball by Vicki Churchill

I hope that my sweet Lil' PeaPie always has a love for reading.....I keep my Amazon wish-list updated and always full of new books to buy.

What are some of your favorite kids books?