Espana Here We Come!

We are moving to Spain for 6 months. Here's our Spain blog address if any of you want to keep up with us there. I am excited and terrified!

Trashy or Economical?

Is it trashy or economical that I bought lingerie AND a black reversible tank top at the Dollar Tree? If I think about it, I can get at least $1 worth of use out of each item right? What say you? Is this a sign of the times? 

Bye girls

Thanks Opal Q for setting up this blog. I think it helped me at some point, but now, I'm moving towards another stage. I will start working in August and my 4 kids will go to school from 8.30am till 4.30pm as of September. An au pair will pick them up from school and take care of them before Monsieur and I come back from work.
I found a French website about familles nombreuses (meaning 3 kids and more) called http://la-marmaille.fr/ and I'm using the forum to get tips from other mums about daily concerns in running a big family.
You can see recent pictures and videos of our family on my blog http://hmlesaffre.free.fr (click on NOUVEAU BLOG link) including a link to the video I did this morning of the Coton footpath bike ride between Madingley observatory to Coton School. Bye bye and talk to you maybe on my blog!

Eat Your Veggies

I tried a new recipe that is really simple and yummy. My friend from my cooking group gave it to me and it is originally for broccoli, but tonight I used it for cauliflower. Beau Brummel (who usually hates cauliflower), HotDog and I loved it. HotDog said it reminded him of the soy sauce he had at a hibachi restaurant last weekend. My friend's family full of super picky kids loves it too. 

Roasted Broccoli of Cauliflower

1 head of broccoli or cauliflower (1 3/4 pounds)

2 T oil

1/2 t salt

1/2 t sugar

Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place large rimmed baking sheet on rack and heat oven to 500 degrees. Cut broccoli or cauliflower at juncture of florets and stems. Cut crowns into 4 wedges so that each piece has a flat side. Place broccoli or cauliflower in a bowl and drizzle with oil, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with salt and sugar and toss to combine. Working quickly, remove baking sheet from oven. Carefully transfer broccoli or cauliflower to baking sheet and spread out in an even layer, placing flat sides down. Return baking sheet to oven and roast until florets are lightly browned, 9-11 minutes.

Here's another one I am going to try next time, but I don't know if the kids will like the garlic.

Roasted Broccoli with Garlic

1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets, stems peeled and sliced

1-2 T extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss broccoli florets with olive oil, garlic, salt and lots of black pepper on baking sheet. Spread out in a single layer and then roast without stirring until edges are crispy and the stems are crisp-tender, about 20 minutes.

Gooey Gooey Lovey Goo

What are you all doing for your significant others for Valentine's Day? We are renting Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist because we love Michael Cera. I am also making chocolate covered strawberries and I tried to find Virgil's root beer because Beau Brummel and I love it, but the store was out, I might try again today. I am going to collect all the letters and cards we have written to each other over the years together in a binder for him as well. 

For my kids I am going to heart attack their rooms with little paper hearts with sayings like 'U R Smart' and stuff on them in the middle of the night so they will see them right when they wake up. I am also going to try to get up at the butt crack of dawn to get these awesome apple and raspberry turnovers from the BEST soft pretzel place outside of Switzerland. I will also pick up a variety of pretzel bites. If I don't manage to get up early enough I will make heart shaped waffles with strawberry syrup instead.

I am not expecting much from my husband because we usually do things pretty low key. Oh yes, we will probably have some quality alone time since it is one of two romantic holidays in the year (our anniversary being the other one), but I think I will skip the rose petals and music and candles and just go for some lingerie instead since it is so underused.

Well, what are you gals doing to keep the flames alive?

Water of the Gods!!

This is for anyone who suffers with CRABBY BABIES!!! My twins are now one month old and, like my other two, they are really crabby babies. They have colic and cry whenever they aren't sleeping or eating. Gripe water is a life saver for me :)

The Best Brush Ever!

Please excuse the grodie looking picture, but it was the biggest I could find online. This brush has changed my relationship with Sassafrass forever. It used to be that from a very young age she would cry or scream or make a huge fuss when I would do her hair. I had to bribe her with candy and/or cartoons to make her hair look nice. She is 7 now and was still crying when I would brush her hair. I have really curly tangled hair myself and a tender head and so I would brush her hair really gently while holding it so it wouldn't hurt so much, but still the crying and carrying on and accusations that I was hurting her on purpose. Since I got this brush, she has asked me to brush her hair because it feels nice. There is no more screaming or crying. And I can use it myself on my tangled curls and it brushes through without me crying as well. So if you have daughters (or sons) with long hair and hairdo time is an ordeal, I highly recommend this brush. It has changed my life (at least regarding hair).

Nice holidays

This year for the first time since 7 years, our Christmas-New year holidays were great. Because of what? Because out of 6 persons in our family, nobody has been sick over this 2 week-period of visiting the grand-parents, playing with the cousins, going out here and there.
What a change! Good nights of sleep, nice evenings of talking to each other while eating great food, glorious days out with the family and relatives walking on frozen lakes, playing with snow, and giving gifts to each others at Christmas and looking at the kids so happy.
I so appreciated not being too tired, too exhausted or too sick to enjoy myself!

Dummy Dilemma

Headbanger, who will be two in a few months, is hooked on her dummy/pacifier, even though she only gets it when she sleeps. I would be happy for this to continue, but she often wakes up during naps and in the middle of the night and can't find the beloved pacifier. She then starts to cry, waking everyone up, and continues to cry until I find it and give it back to her. I've used pacifier tethers, clips and strings, but she knows how to remove them and usually does.

I would really like to get rid of the pacifier but I'm dreading all of the crying that will happen before she learns to live without it. I have a goal of throwing the last one in the bin by the end of the month, but I doubt that I'll have to resolve to do it.

So I need to hear your dummy tips and experiences. Are there ways to make this process less painful? Should we just throw it out and make her go cold turkey?

Potty Kitty

Before becoming a parent, I often imagined parental work as changing lots and lots of diapers. Now that I changed lots and lots of diapers for two children, its really not so bad. In fact, its probably one of the easier things that I do. Still, it would be nice to cut down on some of that work and not to have to buy so many diapers. Headbanger has been showing signs of potty training preparedness for some time, and yesterday I finally bought our first potty.

My goal for today is to get her to sit on the potty and she got there, though I started out a little too fast. I got her pajamas and diaper off and sat her on the potty and she started to freak out. She was clearly bothered by the fact that I was asking her to sit on a hole. Not wanting to traumatize her forever, I got her dressed and we left the bathroom. Since then, she has returned to the potty and started to play with it and gradually they are becoming friends. Kitty, her favorite toy, has even spent some time in the hole and has shown Headbanger that its not so bad. After that, Headbanger worked up the courage to sit on the potty, which she has now done a number of times, though fully clothed.

So for those of you who have done this before or observed the process - how do I proceed?