DIY: From a Skirt into a Halloween Treats Bag

Because she's wearing a newly-made bat costume, IC decided that her ever reliable Halloween bag would not do anymore. She wanted a new Halloween treats bag.

Halloween treats bag from an old skirt

Busy, busy Halloween. I know why, because it falls in the same week as the kid's autumn break!

Anyway, if there's a will, there's a way; especially when IC asked so sweetly.

A confession: there's this skirt I have already set aside because I wanted to make a bag out of it. I have decided it would do for IC's Halloween treats bag.

DIY: From an Umbrella into a Kiddie Bat Costume

I have actually been planning on creating a kiddie bat costume for my girls since I saw a photo of a bat costume using an umbrella a few months ago. Why? Because I have a broken black and silver umbrella that would fit the bat costume!

The mummy costume was easier because I have all materials ready, though.

Bat costume using an umbrella

But it took me a long, lone time to finish the bat costume because I don't have the proper materials to work on the umbrella spines as suggested here. It was only when I presented the bat costume idea to IC that I really gave enough thought for an alternative. So here goes, presenting my own version of a kiddie bat costume made from an umbrella.

Materials needed for a bat costume made from an umbrella:
an old black umbrella
a black hoodie
pins
barbecue sticks
a pair of scissors
thread and needles

My old, broken umbrella

DIY: Easy Kiddie Mummy Costume

This is a result of another last minute request from the girls: 'Mama, we need a new costume for Halloween!'

Mummy Costume for Kids

Mama needs to think fast and work on the costume faster. Therefore, a mummy costume. I think it's easy and yes, it was done after 30 minutes. It helped that I already have all the materials ready for the mummy costume.

It also helped that I used a very old table cloth I retrieved from the store room, therefore I don't need to dye the fabric to create a seemingly-authentic mummy-look.

Materials needed for the mummy costume:

Rikki protecting the skirt, the shirt and the table cloth
for our mummy costume project

Mom's Early Christmas Prepping

It’s only October but I am already prepping up for Christmas. Why? Because December is the busiest month for me.  (I know, December might be the busiest for all of us, but let me continue so you would understand how specially overwhelming December is for me.)

In Germany where we live, December does not only mean Christmas but also the celebration of  the traditional St. Nikolaus Day on December 6. Add to this my daughter’s birthday which falls on December 10, another big celebration. Those are not all.  Do you know that Germans consider the 26th of December the second day of Christmas, too?

Read more here.

Food Fight One Crazy Night

I normally don't approve of food being wasted. But one crazy night last week, a food fight started after a dinner of mashed potato and sauerkraut.

It began when the girls started teasing their Papa that his left cheek is smeared with a piece of sauerkraut. Instead of helping him remove it easily, the girls just laugh at his attempt to clean his face.

He teasingly attempted to smear the piece of sauerkraut on the girls faces. By then, the girls were already running screaming around the dining room. That's when I pretended to scoop some mashed potato to toss to them.

But MC was faster, she dipped a finger in the left-over bowl of mashed potato and smeared it on her Papa's face and declared giggling, "I have always dreamed of experiencing a food fight!"

I guess, most of all have dreamed of having a real food fight and thus, the real food fight started. Still seated, I also dipped my finger inside the mashed potato bowl and smeared it on my husband's face. IC meanwhile sneaked beside me, dipped her fingers on the same bowl and gave her Papa another face dirt. Because he was laughing so hard, he thought he could escape the ladies' power by running into the kitchen.

Papa was the target of the mashed potato missiles

How to Ripen Green Tomatoes

Are you still waiting for your green tomatoes to ripen? We are.

It's October and it's colder. We wanted to save our green tomatoes! We have to do something.

We have more than enough tomato harvest last year. I decided to make homemade dried tomatoes, aside from those we have already frozen. We still have two bottles of these dried tomatoes so we wanted to make something else, especially, we wanted to save tons of those green ones.

Time for Lamb's Lettuce or Corn Salad

Freshly-picked Feldsalat (Lamb's Lettuce or Corn Salad) and cocktail tomatoes 

These past weeks, I have been serving rucola (arugula) salad at meal times. Last week, I discovered our Feldsalat (Lamb's Lettuce or Corn Salad) corner is thriving.

My husband decided to keep the snails from invading the lamb's lettuce corner by placing a plastic wall. It was effective and I could see that we would be harvesting a load of lamb's lettuce this year. Good thing because it is the girls' favorite salad!

I am also glad that we could still harvest tomatoes from our backyard garden. Greens and reds for a great side dish, yes!

Preparing to Turn Our Pet into a Therapy Dog

We have been playing with the idea of training Rikki as a therapy dog when we learned that her mother and older brother were both working therapy dogs. That was a few weeks after bringing her home in 2011.

Rikki, taking a break :-)

After which, we learned that her twin brother (I call him her twin brother because their mother had only two litters), was also adopted by a special child with special needs. Lennie (Rikki's twin)  is being trained as a therapy/companion dog, too.

We have not stopped contemplating about the idea. Actually, the whole family was keen on turning our pet into a therapy dog but when I talked to somebody knowledgeable, she recommended that we enjoy our time with Rikki first. So, we did!

A Short Hike to Celebrate the German Unity Day (in photos)

Today is the Day of German Unity (Tag der Deutschen Einheit), a national holiday in Germany celebrating the anniversary of German reunification in 1990. 

Since the holiday was on a Thursday, the school declared Friday a holiday, too -- a long weekend! What to do?

We took advantage of the sunshine and decided to go for a short hike. The girls were not too fond of the idea but they went with us after telling them we could also collect walnuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts, etc. along the way.

We are near the forest parking area and
here's Rikki running after a cat :-)

The cows are also enjoying the sunshine.

Walking beside the pet cemetery.

Inside the forest now.

The girls walking along the pet cemetery.

Walking deeper into the woods.

Back in the path after exploring the pet cemetery.

September Harvests

Sunny September means longer harvest time.

We are enjoying our harvests and there are more to come...

Tomatoes are still hanging in our garden. There are loads of green ones, too.
That means, we would have enough frozen tomatoes for winter.

Rucola (arugula), I love the smell of this green leafy thingy whenever I pluck them for salad.

Spinach and red beets. They were victims of the snail invasion but despite that,
there were enough harvested to start a great meal.