Baby dolls and Racer

My girls love to play baby dolls. They love changing their clothes. They love brushing their hair. They love naming them. They love being mommys to their babies. You may be wondering where Racer comes into play here. Racer is my brother. He's 11 years old. He is one of the sweetest kids I've ever met. When I go down to visit my parents, Racer comes running out, rain or shine, sometimes barefoot, sometimes without a coat, and he greets me at the car door, "can I help carry anything?" Both of my girls love him (Pike too for that matter,) but Jovie especially. When I ask if they want to go to the girls' house, Jovie chimes in "and Racer!" He has left such a good impression on her, that the little cabbage patch kid in the orange shirt on the left is his namesake. Even now, Jovie came up to the computer to look at the picture and she said, "oh, there's Racer!"

Under the weather

The past week has been a week that I hope to forget, soon. I have had sick kids, a sick husband, long days and even longer nights. And wouldn't you know it, I seem to be the caboose of the bug. On top of being sick, after a long night of basically no sleep, Pike woke me grinding his teeth! Yeah, his little body decided it was a swell time to cut his top teeth. This was the first bug that really had me worried for my child. Pear contracted the flu on Thursday night. She had a fever and aches which lead to a sore throat and cough. And with Pear, when she has a cough, a couple episodes of coughing so hard that she gags herself and throws-up are bound to happen. I began to get concerned when after 3 days she still had no appetite and she still didn't want to do anything but sleep. Jovie, on the other hand was back to normal after 48 hours. But here we are, this is day 6 for Pear and this is the first morning she's played. She is also slowly starting to eat more. And of course we made sure to keep her hydrated through it all! Praise God we are on the mend!

Shabby Apple

I'm on a kick! I want to go shopping. I want to buy dresses. I want to dress up. I want to be feminine. But, I'm not made of money. I don't have time to shop. And honestly, it's not extremely realistic for me to wear dresses every day. With 3 kids in tow, well, it's just not practical. A Few of My Favorite Things is hosting a giveaway for a dress from Shabby Apple which is a new favorite place for me to window shop. Ahhh. Dresses!

Coccodrillo

If you know me well, you know I love to bake. It is a hobby and something I do to relax, to keep me busy, to enjoy and to share with others. Baking is one of those things that when you find a good recipe, whether it be for cake, bread or cookies, you stick with it. Why mess with a good thing? Lately I've been baking some bread and I'll be posting some of my favorite recipes. Today I'm sharing a rustic Italian loaf that has a hearty crumb and a robust flavor.

This recipe was adapted from Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking
Makes 2 large loaves

For the sponge:
1 package active dry yeast
3/4 cup dark beer
3 cups room temperature water
1 cup semolina flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

For the dough:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semolina flour
1 tbsp sea salt

About 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour for the work surface and pan

The night before you wish to enjoy this bread, prepare the sponge by mixing all ingredients until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature.

To make the dough, transfer the sponge to the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the flours and salt. With dough hook, knead on low speed and add a little (I usually have to add about 3/4 cup) more flour as needed for the dough to come away from the sides of the bowl after a few minutes. (Note that this makes a wet dough so don't be surprised by it's softness.)

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise 1 1/2-2 hours.

Flour a cookie sheet with about 3/4 cup additional flour. Bounce dough in flour to make a nice big ball. Let rise for 30-45 minutes. Preheat oven at 400 degrees.

Gently cut dough in half down the middle to make to loaves. Carefully turn loaves onto their sides to have the ruff cut end facing up. Bake immediately for 35-45 minutes. Turn the oven off and let the breads sit in the oven for 10 more minutes to set the crust. Enjoy warm or cooled!

artwork

Someday, I hope to have nice artwork adorning my walls. I could fall asleep gazing at a print such as this classic Van Gough:
Or this modern, simple piece by Piet Mondrian:
Or even a moment caught by Norman Rockwell:


But for now, nothing could make me smile more than these:

In case you couldn't tell, from left to right: Me, Pear, Pike, Stephen and Jovie.

If I could...

I would buy all of these things.

Pom Shift Dress from AnthropologieA complete cosmetic set from Laura Mercier

The Kapow! Boot from Modcloth

World Map from These Are Things

Berry Delight Tablecloth from House8810

The Lemonade at Lunch Dress from Modcloth

The Carly Chair from Crate and Barrel

Happy Birthday Towels From House8810

Clothbound Children's Classics from Anthropologie

But, what fun would it be to window shop if you could actually have everything at your fingertips? Yeah. It wouldn't be much fun at all...or would it? ;)

a hair cut

I know. You probably thought I'd have pictures of my mangy hair turned into a stylish do but nope! I still have my old mangy hair. It's the platinum blond in this household that gets the attention today. I gave Pear kid-size scissors and some paper and told her she could cut shapes. I've worked with her before and taught her the proper way to hold scissors, I've watched her cut paper, I've left her alone before to cut paper. Last Thursday she had an urge to cut something other than paper-her hair! I was literally only out of her room for 2 minutes and in those 2 minutes she managed to lop off several chunks, each about 3 inches long. I walked in the room and she said, "look how short my hair is," to which my jaw dropped and I gasped and before I could even say a word her lips began to quiver and she cried, "I'm sorry mom! I'll never cut my hair again. Can we fix it?" No punishment needed. No anger let out. The poor thing was devastated by that momentary urge to cut her hair. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad. We went that evening to get her hair cut. The stylist managed to taper it around her face a bit so that it wasn't noticeable that a 4 year old had done the cutting. And of course, amongst the drama, Jovie wanted to get her hair cut so we treated her to her first haircut.