Yesterday we gave you a taste of food for the first time.

A friend from America who is also living over here to learn French gave us some Gerber whole wheat rice cereal that she no longer needed for her twins.

You still aren’t sleeping through the night so we wanted to see if food would help you sleep more soundly.

We used your Christmas present from Aunty Sally.  She gave you a lovely bowl, fork & spoon and sippy cup set from the Cath Kidston collection.

Obviously Sissy wanted to help feed you so we took a snap of her over-enthusiastic attempt.

You did very well and today you did even better with Daddy feeding you at lunch time.

Your sister was exactly 5 months when we started feeding her more than just formula.  Here is a little pic of her.

Today Henry turned 5 months old.  The photo above shows how much he has grown.

We just cannot get enough of his huge smile.  It just lights up his whole face and all it takes is a full tummy and a good nap.

There came a time (a couple of months ago) when Henry would no longer lay his head down on my shoulder .  He just constantly wanted see what was going on.  Well these last few days Henry hardly wants to lay down at all, he wants to be sitting up and looking around.  His balance isn’t quite there yet so he topples over but he’ll get there soon enough no doubt.

He is wearing 6 month clothes but he is long and lean like his Daddy.

He is a little chatter box like his sister and we are preparing ourselves for another little firecracker like Poppy.

This video was taken a couple of weeks ago I think.  Enjoy.

I LOVE Peppa Pig.  Here’s a little look.  My fav line in this episode is “naughty messy Daddy”.  If we lived in England we would definitely be visiting Peppa Pig world http://www.peppapigworld.co.uk/  Today Poppy watched Mummy Pig’s Birthday, it was so cute.  They even do episodes in French!!

Anyways, back to the baking.  Poppy really enjoys little tasks so baking is just perfect for her.

She meticulously placed the cake cases into the pan and loved using her utensils for the stirring.

Most of the time her fingers and mouth were somewhere near the ingredients!

15 minutes must feel like eternity to a little girl waiting on her fairy cakes.

But then it came time to make the icing.  Unfortunately I didn’t have the heart to share these cakes with the neighbours, not after she started eating the icing right out of the bowl.

It took alot of concentration to do the icing, I didn’t think she had it in her.

She was very pleased with the outcome.  She spotted we were missing a Peppa pig. She probably ate it earlier.

The best bit of all, liking the icing off and leaving the cake altogether.

You can see that it’s not always clear where snow peaks end and clouds begin. But back down on the ground we were pleased to encounter Mr. Donkey, a vineyard, a hang glider, a little village and rose hips. Thank you, Granny, for filling me in on rose hips. =)

L’Epiphanie is apparently a pretty big deal here in France. To celebrate, all the bakeries and supermarkets sell galette des rois or king cake. “King” in the name, of course, refers to those magi we just talked about. Imagine a festival about kings in a country that so cheerfully deposed their own some centuries ago!

Here is the galette des rois I picked up from the bakery just down the street from us. And what a tasty opportunity to practice my French!

The cake itself is a sort of flaky pastry with a layer of frangipane in the middle. Though that’s not all. Hidden inside is a fève, a trinkety little porcelain or plastic prize. The person whose slice contains the fève is crowned king or queen and gets to wear the Burger King-esque golden crown.

All during dinner Poppy could hardly wait to dig into the cake and wear the crown. In fact, she prematurely crowned herself queen of our petite ville.

After dinner and once the cake was apportioned, the lot was cast and and we waited to see who’d be our king or queen for the evening.

Who will it be?

Poppy?

Mummy?

Granny? Granny!

I mean Queen Granny. Grandad was a good sport about it, knowing all along who the real boss is.

Our fève was a mini box of movie theatre popcorn. So, apparently the three wise men brought Jesus gold, frankincense and popcorn!

Meanwhile, Henry longs for the day when he’ll be king and can drink all the milk in the world.

We wanted to blog and post pictures sooner, but it has taken a couple of days to get internet setup in our apartment; our French isn’t that good after all! We went through orientation at the French school today and classes will start tomorrow. Adjustment to life in France overall has been smooth and we thank you for your continued prayers as we learn this language! Merci!

Here are just a few of the things that we’ve been experiencing:

• Goat cheese pizza
• Pink toilet paper
• Gendamarie (police) with machine guns
• Bonne année – “happy new year”
• Granny and grandad’s help with the kids
• Princess bubble bath–Disney princesses no less
• Chocolate milk (called “Candy Up”), cheap cola
• Letting agent made the mistake of telling the landlords that we speak French well
• Landlady speaking French 100mph
• Big block of cheese and cakes from our landlandy
• People wanting to practice their English
• Women on bus asked me how to get to the prison
• 2 and 12 sound similar thus we’ve accidentally said we have 12 kids!
• Pizza place across the street from us!
• Lots of dogs as pets
• Fresh bread on the cheap
• Shoot in the cupboard for trash

We really couldn’t have asked for nicer weather for our walk around the (free!) Botanic Garden over in Ft. Worth. There was no blazing, blinding Texan sun or sky full of clouds, only a pleasantly breezy autumnal afternoon. Truly a photographer’s dream!

When we arrived, not one but two latina gals were having Quinceañera pictures taken (see the first photo below). We told Poppy they were princesses. As they were walking towards us, Poppy was walking down the steps and subsequently tripped and feel on her side. Right in front of the princesses! Don’t worry, Piggy, even princesses fall down sometimes.

After reviewing the pictures, I realize that I didn’t really get any of Henry. It’s difficult when he’s usually attached to Mummy in one way or another. It’s a shame, too, because you don’t just want to wait until your baby grows up to take pictures, but at the same time, it can be tricky to snap photos of an infant. Remember my post about passport pictures?

On a sidenote: I’m not sure why a garden should need to specify itself as botanic. Aren’t all gardens botanical?!  These are the sorts of questions that keep a linguist up at night–that and a 2 month old!

Well somewhere along the lines it has kinda turned in to my own personal journal and I look forward to the day when I click back through these posts and remember the time when Poppy made meatballs with Drew or Henry visited the Texas state fair as an infant.

Currently we’re facing the task of downsizing yet again.  This time its serious.  There won’t be a UHAUL trailer this time, instead it will be one single trunk (boot).  We’re not really storing anything, I’m only leaving a few sentimental things with Drew’s parents to pick up in a few years.  And we’ve decided its not worth shipping anything so we’re looking at 2 suitcases, and a carry-on.  Have you ever tried fitting your life into 2 suitcases?  I thought not.

I have actually been finding it quite emotional and stressful.  You wouldn’t think letting go of material things would be so hard.  Its an awesome challenge though and I’m praying its going to be freeing when we finally leave Dallas with 6 suitcases, 3 carry-ons, 2 car seats, 2 laptops and a camera.  We’ve definitely opted for simple living.

Matthew 6:19-21 comes to mind, where it talks about not storing up treasures on but rather in heaven.  Verse 21 has become my prayer, “For where your treasure is, there your heart is also”.  Isn’t that just beautiful and such truth.  I’m being honest and admitting that I’m not finding it easy giving up all these silly little things, but I pray that God changes my heart and gives me the peace to let go of all this junk.  Because I want my heart to be with him and for him not bound by materialism.  Its crazy looking at stuff and thinking we need it!  Like today I decided to give away Poppy’s play house.  It folds up nicely and isn’t too heavy so I could take it with me but whats wrong with a bed sheet and a couple of chairs???  Oh the things I convince myself I/she/he needs!

What essentials would you pack in to two suitcases?

With all that said it leads me to remember that my memories are my prized possession and the photos we take are what I treasure the most.  I already regret not taking more photos of Henry in his first couple of weeks and I hate the excuse that we were caught up in classes.  My baby is just growing so fast!!  So to counteract the lack of tiny toes and squishy sleeping poses  here is Henry at his 2 month check up and later with his cute band aides from the shots.

Getting measured. 23 inches long

Yay for chubby legs

Brain growing nicely

Calm before the storm

Later with his Bugs Bunny band aides