28 March || 6 months

It's another cheat post.

Yes, another one. If you haven't caught on, that's what those linked-up posts were about. Well, and because I liked the content. Honest.

Truth is, we've been so busy. The weather's warming up (mid to high 60's! Today was 70, yes.), the wind is settling, the sun is blazing, and we haven't spent much time at home.

This week began Peter's two-week long Spring Break. Our exciting journey to Marseille (yes, that is in France) was halted when we realized an important detail: our wee ones don't have passports, or visas to get back into the country. So, we're spending break in the UK. Getting passports and social security numbers.

enjoying mama's new handbag (suitcase?), but seriously
worrying about getting lost in there.

one day he hopes to be just like his papa.

We've taught Sebastian "kiss".
Ask him for one and he'll hold your face tight in his
hands and plant one straight on your mouth.
They're good.  Really good. Tongue and all. 

just another sunny day in our garden.

___________________________________________________

madly in love with this man.

Family self-portrait attempts:

take 1. not off to a great start.

take 43.

take 58.

take 65.

Time's up. We're heading out for Edinburgh bright and early tomorrow morning and I cannot wait. I've missed that city. Time to get packed up!

Stay tuned for pictures of one way we've enjoyed Spring Break + 60 degree weather this week! They'll be up shortly. . .

Solids

Sebastian licks his fingers and runs his hand through his hair. I didn't even know he knew how to do that! Katharina sucks her two fingers between each bite. She pulls at her bib and smears orangey potatoes across her white outfit (I love my babies in white. Now I know why most mothers choose colors. With patterns). Sebastian reaches for his foot and sweet potatoes are squeezed between each tiny toe. Sweet potatoes in hair, on chairs, everywhere.

she is laughing.

This is fun. They love exploring new textures with their tongues and fingers. It's going down quite well (most of it makes it down). I'm not really sure if this is how most mom's do it, or if its the right way- if there is one. I don't know how to keep it a clean ordeal- if it can be.

It works, though I have no idea how I'd ever do it in public. We end with lots of messy baby smiles and giggles, and what we set out to accomplish- full tummies. They're having fun, and that's what my husband tells me matters right now; we can teach them table manners later.

skeletons!

Exciting discovery right in our own backyard:

http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2012/03/22/monk-skeleton-find-halts-roadworks/

Our newest household rule.

THE SIX-SECOND KISS

Jani Ortlund » Marriage

(source)

What can six seconds do for you? Woman to woman, let me encourage you that just six seconds a day can help safeguard your marriage.

How you say goodbye as you and your husband begin your day can help you build a lifelong romance. Ray and I say send each other off each morning with a six-second kiss, and after 39 years of marriage, I highly recommend it!

After years of a quick shout from somewhere near the back door, it started with “Goodbye, honey. See you tonight . . .” which left us both wanting more. It stopped when we decided that before we went out to face our day we would scout the other out, wrap each other up in a warm embrace, and begin our day with an intimate, very married, six-second kiss.

Try it. Tomorrow when you say goodbye, take your husband’s face in your hands. Look deeply into his eyes. Ask him to hold you for just six seconds. Tell him you love him. Admire him. Tell him you can’t wait until the day is done and you’ll have time together again, and then kiss him like you mean it.  

Go ahead. Try it! Your young children will grow up feeling secure in the love between their parents. Your adolescents will blush, groan, and hope their friends don’t see you. Your teens will hope that someday they can build a marriage like their parents. And if there are no children around? Hmmmm, now there’s an interesting situation!

“Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him and would not let him go . . .” Song of Solomon 3:4

Father & Daughter.

What happened in my kitchen yesterday.

New things are always exciting, at least for me. I'm like that. I like change, and just about anything that comes with it. Baby food should be no exception. Little Boy has stopped sleeping through the night, and per our health visitor's suggestion, yes, we're beginning a trek down this path. A whole month-and-a-half earlier than I was hoping. Don't watch the calendar, watch your child, is the saying I've come across many times recently. Okay fine.

The simple (and I mean simple. I'll share what we did in a second, not that it's uncommon) task got out of hand, one thing led to another, and the place was a disaster.

First off, Peter picked up these adorable silicone mini muffin trays at the one and only kitchen supply shop in St Andrews. Once filled with cooked, pureed veggies (we're starting with sweet potatoes), they produce the cutest little fun-sized cups of goodness. They're just a spoonful and perfect snack size for mamas, too. (Yes, I'm guilty of digging into the freezer bag.Why do things taste better in smaller portions that are intended for someone else's plate?) I love sweet potatoes.

Throw (or maybe set. It's hard to throw silicone stuff without having the contents everywhere but the freezer) the cuties in the freezer until firm, then fill labeled freezer-safe bags. If you're absent-minded like me and forget to pull the next day's worth out of the freezer the night before, not to worry. We have been pulling them out in the morning (or whenever we remember. . .10 minutes before lunchtime?) and thawing and heating in a glass dish set in a saucepan with about an inch of water in the bottom. Let the water boil and warm the tastiness through. It's working great for us. But watch for hotspots. You should make an extra 1 or 2 so you can taste and make sure it's not too hot. I do.

Next, these dinner rolls that look leprous. We ate the prettier batch with dinner (they weren't much prettier). These are the seconds. I let them rise too long, and they sunk while I was waiting for the oven to preheat. But simple, and a great match with the beef barley stew I put together at 3pm (15:00). My mom has the greatest tip on soups (and she is Seinfeld's Soup Nazi)- throw everything in the pot, turn it on low, and let it simmer for a few hours. I love that. She makes anything into a soup, and it's always killer.

What I really wanted to make yesterday, after the sweet potatoes of course, was banana bread. It'd been on my mind for the past few days. Cravings like that don't just go away. It's serious.

These were a grand success. I've eaten 3 today. Goodbye, waistline.

Two loaves, a dozen muffins, and 6 hours later, I was wiping counters and scrubbing loaf pans. I did fit a 15 minute nap in somewhere between simmering the soup, shaping rolls, and breastfeeding twins. Then I went to bed at 20:00. 

West Sands.

Mild, blustery, beautiful day #237.

5 months