Loved Gifts

Zilla is 4 years old

Mega is 1 year 5 months

We've been busy, the weather has been cold... so posting on the blog has not been a top priority.  However, that means the desktop of my computer is filling with pictures waiting to be posted and my brain is filling with posts waiting to be written!!!

Christmas has come and gone and a month later there are some gifts the kids are still enjoying daily.  Here are a few of them:

 Kuro hige - the pirate game

A train to put together and paint - a great "Daddy and Me" type project! 

This gift was a surprise to us all and a unbelievable hit.  Of course we never imagined it would get the most use as a "boat".  Why do we know it is a boat?  That is the sign miss Mega is making in the picture and the one she makes nearly every time she gets in!

Epiphany - 3 Kings Cake

For some reason recently I've shifted into slow mode.  You may have noticed by the lack of recent posts!  I'm hoping that as the new year starts I can get back up to speed!  

One of my late-start planning things this year was our Epiphany celebration.  I wanted to do something special to mark the end of the 12 days of Christmas.  My tendency is to look for German traditions but due to time constraints I had to go with whatever I could find that would work with the things we have access to in regular stores here.  

I was super surprised to discover that one of the top pages in my Google search was that of the Dora the Explorer homepage!  I don't usually think of American mainstream media as the first place to look for old Christian traditions but since my kids are so young and already know the Bible story well Dora was just the right amount of reinforcement for them!

Here is the making of the 3 Kings Cake. It was a pretty simple recipe and the best part is that all the ingredients were already in my kitchen!  Next year I will plan ahead a bit more and try something fancier... if I remember!

Here's the finished cake in front of our kitchen window Christmas lights on their last night.  You can maybe make out the angel on the top, right and the Mary/Joseph/Jesus on the bottom left?

If the speed at which the cake disappeared is an indication then I'd say it was a hit.  The kids finished it off in less than a day!