Just Another Day In Paradise

White-throated Sparrow

Our 6 year old little girl Maria loves to paint. She could sit at her desk all day painting anything that's in front of her. This weekend she noticed a few White-throated Sparrows in the back yard and she decided to paint them. I quickly ran outside and took a picture of one of them so she could see it upclose. I remebered I had purchased this awesome Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song book a few years ago, so we looked through it and found him. It was great being able to listen to its call and she was able to use it as reference. She painted the bird with Pentel Arts Water Colors on a piece of copy paper since we ran out of water color paper, but it still turned out great! I'm so proud of my little artist. She has a bright future ahead of her. :)

Catching up on blogging

One of Angela's favorite Christmas present was an Archery Set given to her by Cecilia. Angela has always been an outdoor girl and is really enjoying learning a new sport. I did end up buying an extra set of arrows since she lost some in the back yard. I also bought Kolbe an archery set of his own. I had a feeling he might like shooting the trees in the back yard.

Since Cecilia worked at a pizza shop this past summer she learned the secret to making the perfect dough using this awesome dough docker. I never really thought about those little indentations on the pizza before. It really did make a big difference and the pizza turned out amazing! Here is the recipe we used. This one is definitely going in my recipe binder.

We celebrated the feast of Mary, Mother of God by treating the kids to hot cocoa in these beautiful earthenware mugs and cinnamon rolls before going to Mass at 10:00 am. I really want to start major feast days with a nice treat for the kids. It's easy to do it with hot cocoa during the cold months, but I'm not sure what I'll do during the warmer months. I really love these mugs, so I keep them on the island for the kids to use every day. 

What can I say? We have a carrot! Our winter garden hasn't done as well as I had hoped, but spring will be here before you know it, so we plan on starting our seeds sometime in the next few weeks. I'm really looking forward to spending time outside working in the garden. I really need some sunlight. 

The Three Wise Men brought Angela this woodcarving set today. She has been wanting one ever since I read The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey to the kids this past Advent. I actually bought this book 12 years ago, before she was even born, but she's now old enough to get interested in wood carving and I thought now would be the right time to get her this kit. I can't wait to see what she ends up carving. She's an amazing little artist. I'm so proud of her.