“Mommmmm, Carissa drew on the Mona Lisa!” Mara called as she ran up and handed me this drawing.
First of all, I don’t think I knew what the Mona Lisa was during my first five years of life.
Second, from what she handed me, I don’t think she knows either!
Carissa is playing so much and pretending all the time–just like big sister!
Today she had her bear in the bumbo seat, and she came running to me, saying, “Nose wipe! Nose wipe!”
I thought she wanted her nose wiped! But then she said, “My bear! Nose wipe!”
I handed her a tissue and she “wiped” his nose, saying, “Goonness! . . . My bear–cough!”
Poor little Riss has been sick soo often the past couple of months–now the stuffed animals are catching it!
We had ziti for dinner and Daniel made cheese toast. David sat on my lap while we ate, his eyes following the food to my mouth and his little uncoordinated hands feebly attempting to snag a piece of toast on the way to my mouth! I gave in and let him chew on my toast.
Wow! he would have kept going as long as I let him!
I am not ready to start him on solid foods–he is only four months old!–but he sure seems to think he’s ready!
I love how he sits in his bouncer seat in the dining room, following your eyes around the room intensely trying to “catch” your gaze. And once he does, his whole face lights up into a huge smile! And after I set him down, he started watching Daniel.
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As I assembled cube-organizers in the kids’ bedrooms, my little Riss hopped inside the cubes and popped up like a wild animal in her burrow, handing me nails while I hammered . . . reminded me of working with my dad as a very young child. I love you, Dad!
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I realized I was in the minority, going to Home Depot with four preschool children. We got all sorts of looks–more than at Target or the grocery store–but the employees were incredibly helpful to us! (“Is there anything else I can get for you?”)
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Tonight at bedtime Mara gasped, “[Gasp!] Mom! We didn’t do our craft yet!”
“It’s okay,” I promised, “that just means we get to do two tomorrow!”
With that answer she was satisfied.
Our day was full from start to finish. We:
. . . and I still need to shower, make Daniel’s lunch for work, and do a bit of cleanup around the house.
It’s crazy that I used to wonder what stay-at-home moms did with “all their time”!
Day 4–on the weekend–Micah wanted to hang out with Daddy, instead of doing a craft, and Carissa was taken by her “jingle bell,” so much that when I threaded the pipe cleaner through her bell, she melted in tears.
She didn’t care about the angel–she just wanted the bell!
These crafts are mostly for Mara anyway–and Mara was the only one who finished!
She loved it! By far her favorite ornament so far.
I think it is my favorite ornament too.
As always she kept asking to make more! Fortunately for her, there are 20 days left.
Today we switched things up and made the craft before reading the Scripture passage. We kept the craft simple enough that Carissa could join us, so all three kids worked together.
I let them pick what color of yarn they wanted to use for the hair. Despite my reminders that they were not creating a self-portrait–this was Zechariah–Mara predictably chose red, Micah yellow, and Carissa “on-gee” (orange seems to be her favorite color these days, as she chases the “on-gee” ball at the Little Gym and asks for “on-gee” bath toys).
For this craft we used: a plastic lid (yogurt containers), yarn for hair, wiggly eyes, a piece of shell pasta for the nose, and since I couldn’t find any bubble wrap for the mouth, we just didn’t put on a mouth. (I figured Zechariah couldn’t speak, so we would emphasize that by not giving him a mouth at all! The simpler the better, when you’re coaching three preschoolers by yourself and one of them is 21-months old!)
Of course, Mara was watching over her shoulder the whole time to see if Carissa needed “help.”
I was amused that each child put the pasta nose on a different way: Mara (vertically); Micah (backwards); and Carissa (horizontally)!
We talked about Zechariah and Elizabeth and how they were very old and not able to have children, but the angel Gabriel came to Zechariah and told him they were having a baby! Zechariah didn’t believe the angel and the angel made it so Zechariah was unable to speak again until the baby’s birth.
Mara, of course, piped up: “If an angel ever tells me that I’m going to have a baby, I’m going to believe him!”
I told her that God sent Gabriel to give Zechariah a message, and he should have believed it because it was a message from God. God tells us things through His Word, the Bible. So the lesson for us is that God’s words are always true and if He tells us something in the Bible, we should believe what He says–even when it is so miraculous it is almost unbelievable–and we should do what He asks us to do.
The other lesson was: Wait till the glue dries before you hold up your ornament–or the nose will fall off! Of course, that lesson is much easier to put into practice.