More Baked Goods continued..

Here is a cake we made together.  Even though it was a box cake mix (insert gasp here) we at least sifted it to make the cooking experience last longer and “feel” more real.  The chocolate frosting is homemade and ohhhhh sooooo good. 

More Baked Goods

There is a fantastic French bakery down the street from us (appropriately called The French Bakery) and Olivier and I spend enough money there that we had to create a separate category for it in Quicken.  Olivier and Hayden’s favorite is the Pain du Campaign, Tristan’s is brioche, and mine is the apricot brioche…or strawberry croissants… or palmier…oh I can’t decide.  Last week I decided that this almost daily habit was becoming too expensive (it wasn’t even a decision on my part really, just reality) and thought “hey, I could make this stuff myself.”  Ha Ha Ha.  I tried and was somewhat successful but my bread baking will never replace that of The French Bakery.  I’ll keep trying but in the meantime we’ll just have to give up heating our apartment to offset the cost of the bakery habit (it’s almost summer anyway, right?).  Below are pictures of the brioche.  They look beautiful and they were edible but even Tristan said he like the ones from the bakery better (little snob). 

Reading Chairs

Recently, my mother-in-law, Syma, gave the boys their own R2-D2 reading chairs (from Pottery Barn if you’re interested in getting some for yourself).  They LOVE these chairs and it has opened a new door on our reading time.  Since we don’t have any proper living room furniture (don’t ask) we’ve been sitting on the floor for our reading time, which isn’t very comfortable (especially when you are 7 months pregnant).  Anyway, now with the chairs I find both boys reading much more on their own and to each other because they have a comfortable spot to sit!  (I still need something to sit on but that will come in time).  Thank you Syma.

 

Tristan the Baker

Tristan and I do a lot of baking together; mainly chocolate chip cookies aka "Wookie Cookies” which were inspired by our Star Wars cookbook.  When we aren’t baking for real, he likes to play with his kitchen set, making us dinner, birthday cakes, or coffee. 

A friend of mine gives her kids cotton balls to play with, so to help with his creativity I gave Tristan some to use in his “cooking” but they ended up pulled apart strewn about the apartment.  Of course that didn’t  work so out well with me and my excessive need for things to be clean and in place.  So last night I decided to let him use a Costco sized bag of Dove chocolates for his imaginary baking.  (The rule was he could play with them, NOT eat them- and he abided).  That kid played all night with those silly chocolates- and Hayden even joined in.  I’m glad we put the chocolates (which have been sitting in my pantry since Christmas) to good use. 

 

Nesting

My pregnancy “nesting” instinct has kicked into high gear!  Since they baby will sleep in our room for the first few months (okay let’s be honest, the first two years) I can’t really set up a nursery, so instead I focused my energy on decorating the boys’ room.  They have never had a “decorated” room (they spent the first years in our room and once we moved to Seattle, they got bunk beds and their own room, but we never decorated it with anything other than hand-me-down blankets and a black sheet as a curtain to block out the morning sun) so this was a real treat for all of us.  (I even want to move in- it’s so cool).  Thanks Mom for the duvet cover that got this all started.

 

As you can tell, it’s a Star Wars theme.  I made the top bunk’s duvet cover by sewing two navy blue flat sheets together (much cheaper than buying a real duvet cover).  The vintage artwork on the wall is Star Wars prints Olivier’s parents gave him when he was a kid!  Thanks Syma for sending them to us!  We framed 8 of the prints and the kids LOVE looking at them and discussing the back story to each. The sketch above the pillows on the top bunk was done by a local pre-teen who was selling his art at the “Kid Farmer’s Market” in Redmond ($12- a steal).  Another item we framed was a poster and Star Wars stamp Olivier bought at the post office last year.  We got the Darth Vader bucket at Target during Halloween last year (Hayden was Darth Vader and Tristan was Obi Won).  Our last project (although I don’t know when we’ll actually get around to doing it) is to make a Death Star “globe” to hang from the ceiling.  Now I can’t wait to decorate another room!    

A Fabric Sample

This post is just to show off some fabrics that I fell in love with.  When it goes on sale (presently it’s $12/yd) I’ll grab several yards and save it for my little girl’s room.  The other two fabrics that go with this are a light beige and the palest beige/yellow each respectively with a faint floral and honey bee pattern. They were out of swatches otherwise they would be highlighted as well.  The fabric and color pallet are even prettier than anything you could find at Posh Tots (and much cheaper).  Now I just have to unpack my sewing machine..oh, and have the baby!

 

 

My Haircut from Tristan

This afternoon as I was playing chess with Hayden (he won) Tristan came up behind me and started playing with my hair.  He said he was going to give me a haircut as he ran his fingers through my hair and flipped it around; I said that would be great and continued with the chess game.  A few moments passed and Tristan bolted out of the room, and I kept playing (knight to D4 or nd4).  The next think I remember was hearing a “schwit” sound, and then another.  Oh my gosh!  Tristan was really cutting my hair. 

I turned around and he was proudly standing there with his scissors in hand, and smile on face.  I wasn’t mad but I screamed because I didn’t know what else to do.  I looked down and there was a pile of clean hair on the floor.  I ran my fingers through my hair and out came another clump.  Just as I began to scream again I looked at Tristan and his smile melted into utter shame.  He began to cry…uncontrollably.  He stared to run off but I grabbed him and cradled him in my arms saying “It’s okay, it’s okay, I’m not mad, I love you.”  He could not stop crying and begged me to let him go to his room to be alone.  I obliged, but only for a few minutes. 

As I walked into his room he hid his face in the bed covers and wept.  I curled up next to him and kissed his head, stroked his back and just cuddled.  Finally after what seemed like an eternity he calmed down enough to tell me he was sad and he would always feel sad from now on.  My heart was breaking and I wasn’t sure what to say.  (my assurances that I wasn’t mad or upset weren’t working).  I realized that his reaction wasn’t about how I was feeling, rather what he was feeling.  Total sadness. 

This was a great opening for us to talk about feelings (yes, republicans have and talk about feelings).  I tried to explain that feelings come and go; that he may be feeling sad now, but sadness would go away and happy would “come in” (pointing to his heart) or silly, or mad, or poopy (the poop word always makes him laugh and I was desperate to make him laugh- it did the trick). 

Now that he was smiling again I challenged him to a game of chess and off we went.  Happy had come in.