Some super random thoughts

(always going for those grainy family selfies)

- We have been biking so much more than I ever imagined we would. Cohen bikes every single day, even if it's just for half an hour around our court with the neighbour boys. As a family we bike at least twice a week. I never dreamed I would be comfortable biking with the two boys without Jon, but here we are. On the biweekly Monday I am home with the boys, we are definitely biking around the town on the sidewalks and trails after school. I love it so much. Sometimes I feel like a lot of activities we do with the boys are just for them, and we only enjoy them because the boys are having fun (like visiting the playground). But biking is something I loved doing before kids. So it's just so cool we get to enjoy it together now. 

- Jon and I have been trying to learn French for forever. We both took it in a really spotty way in school. I even chose it as an elective in high school, and did so bad. A few years back we bought audio books with workbooks and stuff, and went through it faithfully every weekend for probably 6 months. And now Cohen is doing French immersion grade one in the fall, so we are newly interested. Our new thing: we listen to French radio in the car all the time. I heard "tomber la chemise", which I think means "put your shirt away." And I have been listening to French podcasts.

- Related to the whole French thing, I just read "Educated" by Tara Westover. OMG so good. One thing she said in the book was that she learned how to read with the Bible. And she completely didn't understand it but she read it anyways. And she said it takes a lot of patience to read something you don't understand, and that's a skill that came in handy for her so much over the course of her life. And so I'm trying to read and listen to French, even though I don't understand it, and it would be sooo much easier to just listen to English podcasts. 

- I have tickets to see my absolute fav author and reader, David Sedaris. I am so incredibly excited. What I love about his stories (other than they are so funny) is that he writes the exact thing I have been feeling forever but I didn't even know it. It's this sense of recognition that makes me feel so seen and connected. It's a lot of feelings just for a few sentences. 

- Jon and I just watched the Raine Maida and Chantal Kreviazuk documentary on Netflix. Wow. I was super reluctant to watch it because it sounded boring to me. But I was glued to the screen the whole time. And I cried basically the whole time. I LOVE hearing/seeing couples getting therapy. And the whole thing is about the time their therapist told them to get away together, so they go to this little French island off Newfoundland and write beautiful music and fight and make up. Just so good. Also watching really talented musical people do their thing is pretty much breathtaking. Also Jon and I visited the same island pre-kids. 

Some recent pics

My whole entire life has been hectic in the best possible way. I have moved every couple years, and changed everything in my life a dozen times. These last few years have been no different. Jon and I consciously decided we wanted a few quiet years after Will was born. And we are living the quiet times now. There is nothing better for us than spending the weekend biking around our town, visiting the park and the Saturday morning market. I'm sure in another few years we will be itching for international travel or moving to a different house, but for right now, we are really enjoying our time with the boys staying pretty local.

Cohen is on a mission lately to master the monkey bars at the playground. 

A baby swing just does not work for this one-year-old. My nerves are gone with this little guy.


This is our spot at the market that we always like to sit and have a snack and people-watch.


Our little soccer player, who got a black eye when a kid bumped into him at school while waiting in line.


J and I got to have a little date the other week. We did a downtown date, visiting three different restaurants for drinks, then appetizers, then dessert.

My sister’s buttercream flower and succulent baby shower cake

So a few months ago I became kind of obsessed with making a buttercream rose cake for my sister's baby shower. I first saw the idea on this blog and wanted to do it. A month out from the baby shower, I started testing out different colours of icing. I bought tons of those gel food colourings and a few pounds of icing from the grocery store, and started testing.



I also watched a few hours worth of youtube vidoes, and bought a handful of new piping tips. Then I started practicing. I would listen to a podcast with my headphones and pipe dozens of roses, peonies, succulents. I did that each evening for a week, throwing my results in the garbage each time.













This is what I learned:

1. You need to cut little parchment paper squares for the flowers so you can put a cookie sheet of them into the freezer for 15 minutes so they are hard enough to transfer to your cake.
2. Using two shades of icing in each piping bag makes the flowers look so much more legit. also the lighter colours seem to look more realistic
3. Make way, way more than you think you will need. That way you can layer then to create more height, and also you can pick and choose your favourite ones.
4. You need one of those little flower nails. It lets you twirl the flower around in your hand while you are piping, which is 100% necessary.
5. You want to keep everything pretty chilly while you are working. The icing needs to be room temperature to actually work with it, but after the flowers are make, put them into the fridge or freezer.

Another thing I did after watching so many youtube videos: I used pliers to bend the top edge of my piping tips to really make the edges of the petals super thin and delicate, just like a real flower.

I also saved some icing in a piping bag to add some little rosettes at the end to fill in any gaps in the cake. I finished the cake the night before the shower, and in the morning mom and I drove the 1.5 hours to Moncton for the shower. The cake was way too high to be contained in a cake box, so we just carefully surrounded the cake in an open topped box with blankets and pillows. I was so nervous!! Anyway, the cake arrived safe and sound and it was a total hit.