Leilani loves to write cards. Christmas cards, thank-you-notes, even letters. They are a lot more work than if Andy or I would write them… Leilani tells us what to write, and if it should be upper or lower case, and then traces the letters.
On this picture I hold her hand, not guiding it just steadying. The later ones she wrote mostly by herself
I also made a slideshow.
My dad made this nativity scene, and months before I travelled to Austria to say Good-Bye to him I got new figurines for it and painted them (not the angel, she is played by one of Leilani’s Schleich Fairies as you can see by the un-angelic neckline and gloves)
Leilani took a photo of our Christmas plants…
…and of Christmas Rudy…
…of her Christmas stuffed animals that she gets to play with just once a year
…of random decorations…
…and of my office (in the background I am working on her school’s website and probably talking on the phone judging by my hand).
She still tends to photograph her fleeting art…
Leilani is playing nicely with her friend. Even though I like her and her sister, that could have been our last visit. She decided that the one Barbie they were playing with was too ugly and shot her with a pretend gun. Leilani was almost as upset as I was. I told her Nanny, who said she’d talk to the mom… I wish I had called the mom myself… but Leilani reacts really good to these things (she has 2 no guns signs now, actually one is a no-blasters sign after Andy pointed out that Stitch has blasters…)
Recently at school I was the art teacher… we made coffee filter flowers. Lots of fun!
Other photos we took early this winter.
It’s a monster. No its scare-cat!
Leilani made this purse from a kit she got for her birthday, and was so proud of it!
What could I do with these flowers?
I know!
Can I be a model when I grow up? I already know how to pose!
I feel exhausted just to post all these birthday events… seems all of December was consumed by birthday preparation, school birthday, party, Christmas preparation…
Rain or Shine, the party was outdoors at Lemos. Leilani had invited all her friends, so we did not have a backup location. A storm was predicted and I got a lot of phone calls and a few people decided last minute not to attend… but Leilani inherited my good weather fortune and instead of a storm we got occasional drizzles and a little sunshine in between.
Lemos Farm is a great place, lots of fun activities for kids.
Say “Cheese”
Trains are almost as much fun as horses…
But where are the trains taking us?????
No foodcoloring on that cake…
Within minutes of leaving the party the rain started pouring and Leilani fell asleep
After all that celebrating on Sunday, Leilani celebrated her birthday at school on Monday (her actual Birthday)
I baked her a beautiful pumpkin bread, and pinned tomatoes and blueberries on the whipped cream icing
Make a wish again…
MMmmh… fake cake…
Monday she got more mail… more gifts… this time from ebay from Grandma!
Lots of beautiful and warm clothes…
The felt purse and sock puppet craft kits were a big hit. Leilani could do most of the crafting work herself and was soooo proud of the finished products. Some other crafts were 6+… Andy is still laboring on one of them while Leilani admiringly watches…
On Tuesday the last gifts arrived. At least the last until Leilani’s big party the following weekend…
Leilani really likes cards. Writing them as well as receiving them – and especially if they have mazes or coloring pages on them… (and so sorry to all who have not received Thank-You notes, we are behind on them as well as most other stuf…)
Christmas deer! Wished for since May
Took me a long time to post this… and more to come too.
For her birthday she wanted Marzipan animals and a cake. She had her teacher write me a note a week earlier that she wanted me to make a necklace too… “Dear Mommy, I am so excited about my birthday that I can’t even forget it. I like cake the best. Please make a beautiful necklace so I could puff up my head.” Nobody was quite sure what it meant, and I didn’t get around to making the necklace, but Leilani would not let me forget the Marzipan animals. And she helped too, can you see her cute snowman?
What we did with the leftover marzipan…
Leilani took photos while Andy and I were lighting the candles.
Blow and make a wish!
Leilani loves Lilifee. And Oma made sure Leilani got a lot of Lilifee. Thanks Oma!
Leilani also loves Mummies. I had gotten her 2 books about Egypt, a really good one and the little one that she loved so much, because it has such nice mummies(!!!)
Oh yes!!!! The book I wanted so much!
A Lilifee puzzle!
Which she completed right away, and photographed too.
We got her an ant farm, because 1/2 a year ago for a short while she was obsessed with the idea. That was not a good idea. It looks cool, but the ants escaped once, and Andy and I got bitten (badly, like a wasp sting) and everyone feels sorry for the poor locked up ants. But we don’t really know what to do with them. They won’t find home…
Note to self: Do not buy presents in advance…or on impulse… and if you do think twice before ordering the living accessories.
Leilani picked out her own birthday card. Among all the glitter princesses and cute animals and funny cartoon character it had to be this one. (She also took the pictures)
The fist thing she opened on her birthday was the card. And immediately she got a piece of paper and carefully put the ribon on (she said she could not put it on her clothes, because the washer would damage it…)
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