Snow and Icing!!

Darling Baby Kay, the snow came!! Not a huge amount, but enough to make everything look lovely and wintery for the day! This was the view from our bedroom window out over the fields at the back of the house, about 8.00am after the sun came up!

Just as expected you were delighted to see this new phenomenon! You stood up on the settee in the living room and watched out the window as it continued to fall. Just like with the rain, and bubbles, you were totally entranced by it - it was so sweet to watch you watching the weather! I was going to get you wrapped up and take you out in it, but you have had a runny nose all day and I think you are getting yet another sniffle. This must be what it's like with wee ones - I know people have told me in the past that it is one bug after another, but I feel so sorry for you when you are off colour. I hope this doesn't amount to anything too much for you darling.

We had a wee play-date today with R&E who we haven't seen since our last ante-natal class reunion. E is 4 weeks older than you, and you both had a lovely time wriggling around on the floor. You kept watching her in fascination as she took off crawling across the mat and into the dining room, and even when she was pulling herself up to walk along the edge of the settee, but you weren't tempted to join her. R and I had a really great chat, talking about those first early weeks that went past in a blur, when we felt like we would never get then hang of being a Mother, and which now seem like they can't have been that tough - can they? Mother Nature has a wonderful way of gently pushing those those things out of our heads to leave space for all the amazing things that come along to take their place!

And, after Daddy declared last night that one of the cooled shortbread cookies was pretty good, I went the extra step and lemon iced them! I have added a wee picture of them here on a gorgeous plate I forgot we had! The girls in Poland gave Daddy and I this serving dish and 6 little dessert plates to go with it when we got married, and I have been doing what I always say I am going to stop doing - which is keeping things for 'good'. I haven't been bowled over by them myself (when you love biscuits and cakes as much as me, you are setting the bar quite high before you even start to make your own!) but they will do for now. Maybe they might benefit from a little ketchup though! You never know!

Trying something new!!

Well Darling Baby Kay, I have tried something new today!!! When I first started this wee blog for you I spent a few evenings looking around at other blogs to get some ideas of the sorts of things that were out there. I found the most amazing recipe site called Mennonite Girls Can Cook that has the most wonderful recipes for just about anything you would want to make.

Now, as you and I both know little darling, Mummy can do some basic cooking things. But Mummy can't bake, and has never ever tried!! It always looked so daunting and involved, with so much capacity for a disaster. Well, I saw the loveliest recipe for shortbread cookies a few weeks ago on this blog, and it only had a few ingredients and very straightforward instructions. So I thought - since my New Year resolution is to learn to bake, and since I haven't done a thing about it yet, that I better get started!

Nanny gave me the loan of her old mixer - which I had to stop using mid-way through as it was smoking and filling the kitchen with a very worrying smell - and that was before I'd even started baking!! But we have got there eventually and some cookies are cooling on the rack which I bought today! Once they are cooled I will try one to see if they are edible, and if they are I might attempt icing and decorating them tomorrow!

But I learned some new things this evening that most of the ladies who live in blog-land would already know, but I am only discovering now!

1. A cup is actually a precise measurement in America!! It does not mean use a random cup from the cupboard and take a chance.
2. Mixers that have been in storage for 15 years shouldn't be put straight into action.
3. You need to grease your tray before you put your cookies on it, otherwise they stick!
4. What I think is 1/4 inch thick is actually closer to 3/4 inch thick - we had a few very fat cookies ready to go before I realised they needed to be thinner, and more of them!

I am sure there is at least one person reading this who is thinking 'How on earth did she not know these things!' If they turn out ok I might hazard a photo of them on here my Darling, so you can see for all posterity your Mummy's first attempt at baking!