Food I Ate Friday - Gingerbread Goodness

I've never made Gingerbread men before, so when Bill told me he used to always make them with his parents and that he wanted to bring the tradition back, suffice it to say that I was really excited. We followed a recipe Bill's mom had in a cookie cook book she uses every Christmas, and refrigerated the dough overnight. The anticipation was killing me.

There is something about the smell of Gingerbread that makes me feel all warm and cozy inside, and it filled the house with the smells of the holidays. Baking in general warms up the house and fills it with excitement. We put all the cookies on the kitchen table and filled pastry bags with icing and started creating our little men. Most of them were silly, and by no means are we professionals, but they were absolutely adorable. Everytime we completed one we showed the group and shared our triumphs and defeats.

Not only did they turn out great, but we had a really lovely time. We laughed and drank coffee and chatted and decided this would be a new tradition for our little family. Bill's parents are truly welcoming, and this was such a fun way to spend a weekend with them.

Merry Christmas Friends!

Bake something this weekend!

Comments

In the Nursery: Whole Hearted Parenting Manifesto

I recently finished a book by Brene Brown titled, DaringGreatly . It really moved me, and I am definitely still processing it. At the beginning of the book I wasn’t resonating deeply with the topic of vulnerability, as most people will tell you I am an “open book”. I will answer most questions without holding back and love to deep dive into good conversation. However, what I came to realize through her many examples is that we all wrestle with vulnerability, guilt and shame throughout this book even if is more momentary than constant. I gleaned SO MUCH from this book that I did not anticipate, and I thought I would share this Parenting Manifesto that she put right at the end of the book. I am printing it and framing it for our nursery, as I think it communicates some deep parts of my heart cry for parenting my kiddos well. I hope this resonates with someone else as much as it did with me. I needed these words to remind me that parenting is not a checklist,

A Penny For Your Thoughts - Looking Back & Missing Italy

I took this my first day in Italy, and will always remember my town just like this... I realized something about my writing the other day, and that is that I am much more present in my writing than I am in my brain. I am constantly thinking back, but I never write about my past. Sure, I write a story here or there reminiscing on my African travel, but rarely do you hear about my life pre-California unless it is in reference to my family. Lately, I have found myself pining for Italy. Did you know I lived there? Probably not, because I rarely mention it! I knew I was going to love it there, but it has stuck with me since the moment I left. I have wanted to go back every minute of every day since then. The simplicity of life, the emphasis on slowing down, the architecture, the food, the flowers, the people, the color, the trains, the bikes, the gelato, the smiles and laughter, the wine, and the cities are only scratching the surface of things I love from the bea

At the Library - May through September 2019 Reading

We had another baby in May (SO much more on that later) and blogging has obviously taken a back seat, but I am still reading for pleasure and have managed, in my sons first four months of life, to complete these 8 books! Y'all, I remember a time when even completing 2 books a year would have sincerely sounded daunting, much less with a newborn. If you want to read more, you can find the time! Take stock of your days and see where you are wasting hours. For some of these, I listened to the audio book while I was pumping or watering the garden. Rather than give you an individual breakdown of each of these books, I just want to report I found them all incredibly enjoyable. A total cross section of a food memoir to a psychology deep dive to nature centric novels, I would recommend them all in different capacities. We have fallen a bit behind on our Bible reading, but we WILL finish by the end of the year. You do not make it to September

Mrs. Rogers Neighborhood

Search This Blog