When all is right in the world.

I know I've been lamenting the fact that I've been so busy lately. But this Christmas Break stuff, with no schedule is pure bliss right now. I'm sleeping in a little, getting my house cleaned at my leasure, my kids are playing and taking hour long baths. It's amazing! And the one thing I miss most is not having time for art projects anymore, so we decided to bust out the paints again yesterday. We made snowmen after the book Snowmen at Night. I was actually enjoying the moment and was present with the girls, which is hard to come by these days. Miguel said he's glad I do that and I enjoy it so much, because it's not his thing. One day I'll get him to join us, but for now, I'm glad he entertained Max for us.

 And here is the final product!

Don't they look amazing?! I'm so happy with how they turned out.

My kids really are great artists!

It goes:

Julianne, Sophia

Mommy, Gabriela

 Onto other randomness, here's Sophia baking a bazillion cupcakes for the neighbors. I'm a little remorseful that they didn't go as far as I would have hoped, so if you are a neighbor,  and you're reading this, and you didn't get any....we are so sorry! I'll come up with a better plan next year so that I can get something to everyone I know. But we still love you! and they weren't anything special.

 Here is Julianne after her preschool Christmas party. She's just the cutest little elf and she adores that elf hat.  That's also the nice little gift she gave her Mommy and Papi! Have I said how much I love Patchwork Preschool. I've got a link on the side if you're interested.

 And lastely, Max has mastered the art of hand balancing. He's gearing up for the big talent show. (Wishing that picture wasn't so dark)

Dear Gigi and Elena

My girls are obsessed with paper and markers. They spend hours creating things like this. And since they choose the biggest paper we have to write letters, this is my way of delivering them to the recipients.

Hope you enjoy!
Love, Gabriela and Sophia

What we do when Papi works late.

One of my very favorite things to do with my kids is art. I could probably be a little more laid back about it, but hey I'm working on it. I get a little up tight about how much glue and paint they waste, but like I said, I'm trying to be better. Anyways, last night Miguel was going to be working late, so I decided to fill the time after dinner with an art project inspired by the Eric Carle book Mr. Seahorse which we had in our library basket this week. Thanks to Deep Space Sparkle for the great idea.

The kids love to do stuff like this and they especially loved it when I showed them how to splatter paint. What Mom? You actually WANT us to throw paint?

It was fun watching their faces light up everytime the paint landed on the paper.

When Miguel came home there was paint, sequins, scissors, and more paint everywhere, but at least I was meeting my goal in spending more time engaged with the kids.