The snow has hit us in New England. My little girl has had 3 snow days in the past two weeks.. And we have already had us a ton of snowy fun. One of my daughter’s favorites snowy day activities is making snow angels. There are snow angels all around our yard. Those adorable little angel prints inspired today’s fun snow angel craft.
We had our first big snowfall of the year. I thought Mai would be overjoyed when she woke up & saw the ground covered in powdery white. She was, but when I tried to get her in her snow suit to go outside, the protests did not stop. She put on her furry boots & headed for the front door in her diaper. Of course, this was not going to happen. We did not make it out of the house that day. She refused to wear her snowsuit because she insisted that it was plastic. Where does she come up with this stuff?
The next day however, Nana got her to finally don her snowsuit & brave it out into the snow. My little angel made her first snow angel. I love angels. I believe in them. Tonight my little snow angel & I made our own.
Dixie Cup Angels
What you will need:
Dixie cups (3oz) – 2 cups for each angel -white works best (I couldn’t find any so we painted ours)
White acrylic Paint
White cupcake liner
Elmer’s Glue
White foam sheet or construction paper
White pipe cleaner
White yarn
Toothpick
Directions:
Poke a hole in the top of a Dixie cup with a toothpick. Use this as the top cup.
Paint 2 Dixie cups in white paint & let dry. Like I said white cups would work best, but I could not find the 30z cups in plain white.
Once dry, line the edge of a cupcake liner with glue.
Glue the liner over one cup right side up.
Line the rim of the second cup with glue.
Press the cup upside down over the first cup & cupcake liner.
Draw & cut out a set of angel wings. We like to use foam because it doesn’t rip or wrinkle, but you can use paper too.
Glue the wings to the cups as shown. Lay your project down to put weight on the wings. Let dry.
Loop 6″ long yarn strands around 10 times. Glue to the top of the upside cup.
Draw on your face & loop a pipe cleaner to form a halo & insert into the hole on the top cup.
It has often been said that children can see the angels among us. Our daughter has been surrounded by two very special angels her whole life. Sadly my mother and my husband’s father passed before ever getting the opportunity to meet their first grandchild. That did not stop us from introducing Mai to them at an early age. She wakes to their faces every morning. Their photos guard over her while she sleeps. She recognizes their pictures.
It has been many years since I lost my mother. My husband’s loss is fresher. The start of every football season sends my husband into a tailspin of emotions. Football was something that he shared with his father. I can remember the exchange of phone calls after plays. Sometimes they were screams of victory, other times they were filled with obscenities and anger about bad plays, poor calls and a plethora of other football related things that I know nothing about. Those calls are something that he misses.
My husband is in a football pool at a local Legion hall, one that his father had frequented in life. Every week he goes to play his picks for that week. Recently, he needed to take Mai with him. They went into the hall, made their choices and headed right back out the door. As they were leaving, Mai pointed behind them. “Look, it’s Grandpa Mike.” My husband stopped. “Where? Where do you see him?” “Right there.” she said, pointing back at the empty doorway again. There would be no reason for our daughter to make the connection between that building and her grandfather, but she did.
Last night as we were relaxing before bed, Mai began talking about her grandfather again. She was telling us a story about Grandpa Mike. I asked her “Do you talk to Grandpa Mike?” “Yes” she replied. “What does grandpa say to you when you talk to him?” “He says I am growing bigger & bigger.” My husband & I fell silent and looked at one another. We didn’t need to speak. We both already knew what the other was thinking. I didn’t ask another question. I just reflected on our little girl’s answer.
All this time I have felt so much sorrow that she never got the chance to meet her grandparents, but it seems as if they have been with her all along.
My daughter is fascinated by older children. When we are out in public she will very boldly approach an older child and strike up a conversation. The other day she ran up to a boy around the age of 6 & said “Hey boyfriend, hold hands.” This brought a chuckle from her mother & I, but the boy was not that amused. The problem is most kids of an certain age do not quite understand her or want to engage in a conversation with a 2 year old girl.
One of my best friends has a lovely 7 year old daughter. Mai of course adores her & much to my great happiness, she like Mai too. She has a sweet and nurturing nature and is very attentive to my much younger daughter.
They came for a visit this weekend. We were supposed to go to the zoo, but since it was a rainy day, we stayed in & had a craft day instead.
Last week we were crafting & playing with spaghetti. I thought we could continue with the pasta crafts.
Pasta Angels
What you will need:
Bow tie pasta
Spiral pasta
Thick spaghetti
Paint (assorted colors)
Paint brushes
Glue gun
Directions:
Paint one of your bow tie pastas, a spiral pasta & a spaghetti in the colors of your choice. The bowtie will be the wings, the spiral will be the body & the spaghetti will be the antennas. Let them dry.
Paint as many of each as you would like, painting one of each type of pasta.
With a glue gun, glue one side of the spiral pasta & place in the center of the bow tie pasta.
And in honor of Memorial Day…
Memorial Day Pasta Angels
What you will need:
Bow tie pasta
Dry garbanzo beans
Paint (assorted colors)
Paint brushes
Glue gun
Directions:
To make the body of our angel, we painted a bow tie pasta in camouflauge. We started off with one shade of green.
Layer on a different color of green, also layer on shades of yellow.
To paint the red, white & blue wing, paint a blue rectangle on one side & then stripe the sides with red.
Let it dry.
Again paint as many as you like. Painting one camo & one red, white & blue for each angel that you are making.
Glue along the top of a camouflage pasta.
Press into place. Place perpendicular to the red white & blue wings.
Glue one side of the garbanzo bean & place on the top of the body & in the crease of the top “v” on the wings.
The kids played, painted & had a great time & so did the mommies. Craft day was fun.
Do you believe in angels? I do!
I have been thinking about my mother a lot this week. Nothing makes you love & appreciate your mother more, than becoming a mother yourself. It is a crazy thing. I can remember every smart comment & every eye roll that I ever directed toward my mother. Now looking back, I wish I could take all of those back, because I finally get it. I know why you wanted me to put that puffy coat over my princess costume when we were trick or treating. I understand why you wouldn’t let me eat Lucky Charms. I get all these things now because I have become you.
I wish I could tell you those things. I wish I could ask for your advice. I wish that you had gotten a chance to meet your beautiful grand daughter, but you are gone.
My mother battled breast cancer, not once but twice. When my mother was diagnosed the second time, it was shocking. Even more shocking was when we found out that she was already in stage 4. Six weeks after her diagnosis she was admitted in the ICU. I didn’t leave her bed side for a week. I slept at the hospital in the waiting rooms & had the nurses page me when she woke, so that she was never by herself.
My grandfather died of cancer when I was just a little girl. I never met him, but heard my mother speak of him often. I wanted my mother to know that she was not alone. I didn’t want her to be afraid. I tried to ease her fears by telling her that grandpa was watching over her & that he would protect her. I drew this picture one morning while I was sitting by her bed. Later that day, my grandfather & her were reunited. She became the angel that she always was.
Fast forward six years to the birth of my daughter. From the moment I found out I was having a little girl, there was only one name that she could ever possibly be. Mai, of course was named after her grandmother.
When she was born, we surrounded Mai with pictures of my mother & my father-in-law, who we also lost a year before her birth. We wanted their presences to be with her always. In her nursery a picture of both her grandmother & grandfather are proudly mounted on the wall, looking over her as she sleeps.
One day when she was only 7 months old, something happened. I was in the bedroom & my husband was in the living room with the baby. He called out to me. “You need to get in here”, he said. What I saw brought a tear to my eye. This is what I saw…
You come to me when I’m asleep. I hear you in a prayer.
I can not touch the soft of your skin or the warmth of your embrace.
But no one can take away from me the memory of your face.
My husband was holding our daughter & she was laughing,squealing & kicking her little feet. Mai was reaching past my husband and grabbing at my mother’s picture. It was as if she knew.
She has had such a recognition of her since she was an infant. Grandma must come to visit often.
Now when she sees her, she will point and say “Gam Ma”. “Yes baby, that is your grandma & Oh my god, she would have loved you.”
“Correction, she does love you.”
Up next… Toddler Emotions
Related topics:
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/daily-prompt-unexpected/
http://welding81.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/its-been-8-months-today/
http://sarahsiders.com/2013/12/11/how-to-get-time-back/
http://foodandeverythingelse.me/2013/12/12/when-a-daughter-loses-a-mother/
http://theblishblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/remembering-sarah-and-not-my-amazing.html