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.

She has settled in very well and is taking everything in her stride.  We have made her bedroom very cozy and familiar with decorations we bought with us from her old playroom and her Grandparents bought her wonderful bed sheets for Christmas that made ALL the difference when it came to settling in at bedtime.

Watch out for our next newsletter because I think we will be sharing some photos from our apartment and the sweet little town we are living in.

Until then here are a few photos that I have snapped of Poppy in the last couple of days.  Poppy is on the cusp of being completely Potty trained and the other day she made us laugh.  Drew was in the living room hanging out while Poppy was watching t.v.  Suddenly he shouts “Emily come here.”  Here Poppy was sitting down in front of the t.v on her potty (Drew says she ran and got it herself), trousers down and everything!  Couldn’t resist snapping a pic.

These days she is all about dressing up like a princess/ballerina.  I need to tell Poppy’s Memaw that Poppy puts her fancy Christmas dress on at least 3 times a week when she wants to be a princess and runs around the house twirling and spinning.  Poppy may have only worn it once over Christmas but it is definitely getting worn now!  These next couple of photos are of Poppy in her ballerina outfit that I actually bought for her to wear at her first Birthday party (which is why you may recognise it.)  When I got it a year and a half ago it was way too big and I had to alter it to fit, but now that I’ve unpicked the stitches it fits perfectly!!   Prior to putting on this dress we were pretending to be cowboys riding our horses, shouting yeehaw and slapping our behinds.  Which explains why she is wearing her cowboy boots too.

Since we have started buying Poppy her own yogurts she will go in to the fridge and help herself, I caught her in their yesterday but she didn’t look like she was getting a yogurt.

Baylor University’s Dr. Scott Carroll, the scholar who oversees Green’s collection, dates the manuscript fragment to the 2nd century, some 1,800 years ago. The interviewer remarks that such a find is “important for people of faith.” Yes, m’am, you’re right. But the fact that this ancient piece of Romans matches our copies of Romans today says a lot more to people of faith and as well as to people of no faith. What a precious find!

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.

Happy Birthday, Peanut! We love you. We won’t reveal your age here, but suffice to say this is your last one that starts with a two.

Emily barely got out the door this morning for class without Poppy grabbing a bite of her birthday croissant au amande (almond croissant). Leave your birthday love for Emily below in the comments.

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.