Flowers from Daddy...

Stephen is such a sweetie! He often surprises me with beautiful bouquets but the other day, he decided to surprise the girls at lunch time with lovely bundles of tulips. The girls were thrilled! What a wonderful daddy.

French Pastries

I think I've mentioned before, in this household, we LOVE food! I've posted before about Pain au Chocolat but I don't know if I've posted before on the divine satisfaction from the Vanilla Bean Croissant. Well, last week, I just so happened to have fresh yeast on hand that had to be used by Saturday. So, I made a batch of buttery croissant dough, (you can find the recipe here,) and Friday night I rolled my dough to a nice 1/8" thickness and stuffed some of this said dough with bittersweet chocolate batons and the other portion of this said dough I filled with vanilla bean sugar, (a simple concoction of 2 cups sugar, 2 vanilla beans-pods scraped into sugar and bean stored in with sugar at least 3 days,) and rolled cinnamon roll fashion.

Jovie eating up the fact that I'm taking a picture of her! Unless I catch her by surprise, this is the smile and face she gives the camera.

Pear was also in a "posing" mode.

Pain au Chocolat (Chocolate Croissant)

A day in Seattle...

For Stephen's birthday this year, I asked my parents if they would watch the girls so that Stephen and I could spend the day in Seattle. It was so nice to have a day away together. We started our morning off by going to Bakery Nouveau, (I think I've mentioned this bakery before.) We tried some of their fresh pizza which was delicious! Then we purchased some pastries and headed to Vivace, a coffee roaster on Capitol Hill in Seattle. There we got to sit and enjoy our coffees while devouring a raspberry almond pastry. The ambiance at this coffee shop is quite fun. We visited Stumptown in Queen Anne and then explored the area a bit. Of course, I was drawn towards the children's shops, bookstores and this divine chocolate shop- Chocolopolis. Although I enjoyed the Queen Anne area, I still prefer Ballard.
We also went to one of Stephen's favorite grocery stores, Uwajimaya. If you know Stephen, you know he loves Asian food and if you love to cook Asian food, there are certain ingredients required that you just can't find in a normal grocery store.

For dinner, we decided to venture past Tom Douglas, (owner of Dahlia Lounge, Lola's, Etta's, Serious Pie and Palace Kitchen- some of our favorite eats in Seattle,) and try Pasta Bella which serves authentic Italian food and handmade pastas in the middle of Queen Anne for a very reasonable price. We found their food to be good, authentic and worth the price. The service was good although it seemed to be a little like the cake shop comedy act. There was one man there to be host, waiter, answer phones and tend the bar. He came up to us several times only to run back to the counter to answer the phone. We found it entertaining. Oh, if you do ever go here I'd recommend you skip the dessert or at least don't get the canolli. The filling was so-so. The canolli shell, okay. But then they ruined it with fake whipped cream and Hershey's chocolate syrup. I have a big sweet tooth but Stephen and I left most of that dessert on the plate.
With satisfied stomachs we went to the Imax showing of Avatar in Southcenter. Stephen and I saw the preview to this movie several months ago and both agreed it looked extremely stupid. But, we gave into the hype everyone has given it and decided to trust the majority of reviews that this movie is great and to many, not just great but the best movie ever! We got there early which is not like us. We hardly ever go to the movies but if and when we do, we don't wait in line for hours before! How ridiculous. Yet, there we stood. The time finally arrived, we got our glasses and went to sit down and we actually got decent seats even though there were maybe 100 people in front of us in line. The movie was pathetic. Okay, maybe not horrible, but certainly not the greatest movie ever! I thought the story line was poor. The effects were cool. Although I wasn't amazed by the 3D experience, it was enjoyable. I don't know, I left thinking, "what? That's it?"

We had a wonderful time being us. I was Paige and Stephen was Stephen. We had a full day without being "mommy" and "daddy". Ah. A breath of fresh air.

milestones...

So, either my life has been a little on the boring side or I've simply been too busy to write. Maybe it's a little bit of both. Either way, I want to make sure and give Jovie the praise she deserves this week as she has accomplished a lot.

1. My little chunker is now walking everywhere. Last week, I took her bare footed everywhere, (because she doesn't really like shoes and she usually kicks them off in the car therefore, I have to stand in the rain and put her shoes back on or else leave her bare footed,) now she is sporting adorable size 3 tennis shoes.

2. We snipped the tip and said good-bye to those bouncy-ball binkies! Never again will I use Soothies binkies, (the ones given out by the hospital.) They literally bounce, roll and some how runaway anytime the child decides they've had enough sucking. On top of that, Rosebud (my parents' bloodhound) loved the thick silicone bink and decided it was the perfect chew toy. So, anytime we went there we had to keep a close eye on where the binky was. One time, my mom caught Rosebud's stash and there were 3 binkies in the garage, all with the end chewed off!

3. We have adjusted, (or we are adjusting still,) to taking 1 nap a day. This is partly because Jovie wasn't napping well. Partly because she was waking up at 5am. And partly because, I just thought she was ready! Well, though she's been napping a little better, (maybe giving me a 1hour nap,) she is still not napping long enough. And she is still waking up EARLY. Only now it's more like 4am, goes back to sleep at 4:30am and then wakes again at 5am. I'm sticking to my guns for another week as we've been through a lot this week and this sleeplessness could be because of any number of factors.

All this to say: Way to go, Joves! (Or should I be patting myself on the back?)

Ruffles & Stuff Giveaway!

Check out my friend's current giveaway at Ruffles & Stuff. Disney is so talented and her jewelry is feminine and gorgeous. My only request is that you simply check out her blog and DO NOT enter the giveaway! You see, if you enter than that makes my chances grow a little more slim. Just kidding.

My chunky monkey- Jovie!

Jovie is such a joy. She is growing and changing at a rapid pace. She can walk now, however, she prefers to crawl and the few times a day I see her toddling around, she does it with much caution. Her hobby is still eating. Which in turn seems to make my hobby cooking/cleaning. People continue to comment on her adorable chubby cheeks which I sort of hope never thin out. Jovie plays monkey-see-monkey-do with Pear. Her most recent copy trick is picking her nose and giving me a boogie to wipe on tissue. (She hasn't been successful on her hunt for gold yet though.) She is becoming more vocal and though her words are limited, she figures out ways to communicate. The other day, Pear had hit her on the head while I was in another room, Stephen however was reprimanding Pear and taking care of the situation. When I came into the room, Jovie made it very clear what the situation was. She began hitting her own head while looking at me and gave an"Eh! Uh! Eh!" Which I clearly interpreted "oh, did Pear hit you? That wasn't nice. Pear won't hit you any more." To which she nodded enthusiastically and said "eh." Jovie loves to give kisses and we all take as many as we can get in a day. She loves to snuggle and cuddle. I am soaking this up as I know some day she'll be out of that stage and I will look back and want one of those little kisses or her cuddly head on my shoulder.