Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Easter Sunday 2016


Happy Easter! He is risen! Alleluia!

We enjoyed a wonderful Easter Triduum as a family. The kids were so good and reverent (well, Emma was about as reverent as a three-year-old can be) at Good Friday service. Matthew really impressed me both with his behavior and his legitimate interest in the story of the Passion and Resurrection. When it came to be our turn to venerate the cross, I was moved to tears when I witnessed Matthew tenderly kneel down and kiss the cross gently. It was incredibly touching.



On Holy Saturday, we spent the majority of the day working on some spring cleaning. The kids were incredibly helpful - they washed all the windows both inside and out, helped me mop the floor, deep-cleaned their rooms, and soon the entire house was sparkling! We finished some food preparations for Easter and then proceeded to the main event - the dying of the eggs!



Now, I do not know if Paul and I are the only parents who feel this way, but we find dying eggs to be incredibly stressful. The kids are just not all that careful with the eggs and half of them end up not just cracked, but smashed. At least one cup of dye will spill. Their fingers, hands, their clothes...just everything becomes stained with the pink, purple, and green colors of the dye and no amount of washing seems capable of eradicating the stains! Our kids always have multi-colored hands on Easter morning, as do I since I'm the one who has to clean them off!! I see other pictures on Facebook or other social media outlets of parents lovingly sitting with their children and sharing their wonder and awe at submerging their pristine white egg into the dye and then having it magically emerge a completely different color! Not the case with us. Our egg dying involves a lot of hovering, quite a bit of mess, and the following phrases being uttered more than once:

"Don't eat the dye, Emma!"
"No wiping your hands on your shirt, Matthew!"
"TOO much paint!"
"Put the egg in gently!"
"Don't drink the dye, Emma!"
"No, you can't eat an egg right now! These are for Easter!!"
"Only color the eggs, not yourself!"
"Only dip the eggs in one dye color!"
"Don't mix the dyes!"
"Don't steal your brother's eggs, Emma!"
"Get your hands out of the dye water, Emma!"
"Matthew...did you wipe your dirty hands on the nice bathroom towels?"

By the time we are finished with the whole fiasco, the children are quite pleased with their creations but Paul and I are in desperate need of a nap!




However, our nerves were rewarded with a beautiful Easter Sunday. The weather was absolutely stunning - clear blue skies and temperatures that soared into the upper 70s. It was truly a wondrous thing to behold such a day in March!




Mass was beautiful and the kids were well-behaved, with the exception of Lucy. I foolishly chose to wear a dress that was not very conducive to nursing, but I made sure to feed Lucy well before we went with the hope that she would be satisfied for the hour we are at Mass. This failed miserably. Lucy was begging for me to nurse her pretty much the entirety of the Mass. I finally gave up at one point and spent a bit of time nursing her (with great difficulty) in the cry room which was packed with non-children for some reason. We survived and then headed home, slid a blueberry buckle in the oven, and then set the kids loose to search for their Easter baskets.




Paul and I were a bit mean to poor Matthew this year. We did not actually hide the baskets until we were finished prepping breakfast, so he just searched the entire house aimlessly while we kept working. He would come back to the kitchen every once in a while, discouraged with the fruitless results of his foraging, where we would offer him a worthless hint that would send him on a wild goose chase to another part of the house. Finally, when we were done with our work, we quickly hid his basket in a cabinet that he had not yet searched and he was relieved to find it! We stuck Emma's in plain view in the middle of the family room and she still required Matthew's help to find it. That girl is very unobservant at times.




The kids loved their baskets! We only gave them each a little chocolate bunny for candy and filled their buckets with some fun toys and summer essentials - like flip-flops, sidewalk chalk, pencils, erasers, a LEGO set for Matthew, and a Hello Kitty beanie baby for Emma. We decided to hold off on the egg hunt until after breakfast. Traditionally, we did everything before eating but I think I liked spreading it out better.




We did the egg hunt OUTSIDE and the kids loved it!!! We did a colored-coded hunt this year to ensure that the kids would find an even number of eggs. Matthew was instructed to find the orange, blue, and green eggs; Emma was to find only the pink, purple, and yellow ones. This worked out really well! Paul had fun hiding Matthew's eggs in more difficult locations. Emma had a little trouble scouting her eggs at first, but soon caught on! When the hunt was over, she was so disappointed - she didn't want the fun to end!




We spent the rest of the day outside jumping on the trampoline, dancing with the bubbles from the bubble machine, making chalk drawings, and taking long walks. We ate some great food, enjoyed lots of candy, and treasured our time together. In my opinion, it was a perfect day. I hope your Easter was just as wonderful!



Thursday, March 24, 2016

Resurrection Rolls


 Both Matthew and Emma are utterly fascinated with the fact that Jesus died on the cross in atonement for our sins and then spent three dark days in the tomb before rising from the dead. I don't think I have ever encountered two little kids more excited for Holy Week. Not Easter. Holy Week! They look forward to reenacting The Washing of the Feet and The Last Supper on Holy Thursday, venerating the cross on Good Friday, and then, on a lighter and less religious note, decorating eggs on Holy Saturday. It's all they talk about. Matthew has been drawing picture after picture of Jesus on the cross and, while I appreciate his enthusiasm for this event, I am admittedly a little uncomfortable of the constant reminder. Just the other day, he had tacked up about six graphic pictures of Jesus on the cross on our fridge. Right next to his pictures of Michelangelo the Ninja Turtle and Methuselah the Alligator. I removed them and put them in his school drawer. We have a nice little collection going.



I had seen the idea of making "resurrection rolls" on a couple Catholic Mom websites in the past and thought this would be a good year to actually do them since both kids have a working knowledge of what happens on Easter. I also love the idea of teaching through cooking especially because kids are more likely to listen and be attentive when there is promise of a sweet treat at the end! That was Lucy's favorite part.


Basically, I explained to the kids that the marshmallow represents Jesus. I had each kid "pierce" the marshmallow with a toothpick and explained how that represented Jesus dying for our sins by being nailed to a cross. Then, after dipping the marshmallow in butter and rolling in cinnamon-sugar, it is rolled in crescent dough, representing Jesus being placed in his tomb. Into the oven the tombs go to bake for a few minutes. During the baking process, the marshmallow "rises" out of the doughy tomb, leaving a perfectly hollow center in the rolls representative of the empty tomb on Easter morning! The empty tombs are pretty darn tasty too - very reminiscent of cinnamon rolls.



While explaining each of the steps and the symbolism to the kids, they seemed to be following along. Even Emma was answering my questions properly. However, we had a little bit of a hiccup when I finally took the rolls out of the oven.

Me: "Look! Is the marshmallow still in the center of the roll?

Matthew and Emma: "No! It disappeared!"

Emma: "Where did my marshmallow go? I wanted to eat it!"

Me: "Do you remember how I told you that the marshmallow represented Jesus?"

Matthew: "Yes and we wrapped him in the tomb and then on the third day he rose!"

Me: "That's right, Matthew! So these rolls now have a hole in the center. They are empty just like Jesus' tomb on Easter morning!"

Matthew: "Yes because the marshmallow rose and went to heaven!"

Me: "Ummm...no. The marshmallow did not go to heaven."

Matthew: "Yes it did. It was very good to God and God was happy with the marshmallow so when it was in the oven and died then it rose to heaven. That's why it's not there. Right, Mommy? Right?"

*Frustrated Deep Breath*

Ok, so we had a little bit of a theological hiccup with our baking lesson. After re-explaining what we did, I think he got it. Then again, this is the same kid who did this with his palm branch from Palm Sunday.



Resurrection Rolls
from an idea seen in multiple sources

1 package crescent rolls dough, separated into triangles
8 large marshmallows
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Using toothpicks, dip the marshmallows in the melted butter and then roll in the cinnamon-sugar. Place in the center of a triangle of crescent dough and then, doing the best that you can, rolls and the dough tightly around the marshmallow, pinching to seal. Place on a baking sheet lined thoroughly with foil or parchment. Repeat with remaining marshmallows and dough triangles.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the rolls are browned and the marshmallows have seeped out.

Let cool for a few minutes before eating.

Monday, March 21, 2016

Irish Soda Bread Muffins


Irish Soda Bread. It's one of my favorite treats. There is just something so incredibly irresistible about the sweet, salty, buttery crumb of a good slice of Americanized soda bread. By "Americanized" I mean that my soda bread is always enriched with butter, eggs, and a generous amount of sugar. Very un-Irish-like. However, those special ingredients not only keep love handles firmly in place on our American backsides, but also are essential in making a perfectly moist and delicious loaf of bread!

Since my kids love anything in muffin form, I decided to turn our favorite soda bread into muffins! I employed Emma to help me with this project, but after I told her she had to stop eating the raisins, she lost interest and went to read on the couch, but not before instructing me to let her know when the muffins were finished so she could eat one. My children are so helpful. Only Lucy helped out by wrapping herself around my legs and forcing me to walk as if I were balancing a tennis ball between my kneecaps, opening and closing the bottom door of the oven just for kicks, or throwing every magnet off the refrigerator door. Even with all these distractions, these muffins were ready to slide into the oven before it was even done preheating! I love recipes like this.


Twenty minutes later, we were rewarded with these wonderful muffins that are perfect smeared with jam (Matthew's preference), a generous pat of butter (Emma's preference), or eaten plain (my preference). Also delicious eating three or four in one sitting (Paul's preference). These sweet treats are simplicity at it's finest. I know it's too late to make a batch for Saint Patrick's Day, but I wouldn't wait until next March to bake another round of these babies! They are simply too good not to enjoy year-round.


Irish Soda Bread Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
6 tablespoons butter (melted) OR 1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a standard muffin pan.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and raisins.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk (or equivalent) and melted butter (or equivalent).

Quickly and gently combine the dry and wet ingredients; honestly, this won't take more than a few stirs with a bowl scraper or large spoon. As soon as everything is evenly moistened, quit; further stirring will cause the muffins to be tough.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling the cups about 3/4 full; the stiff batter will look mounded in the cups. Top with sparkling white sugar, if desired.

Bake the muffins for 20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove them from the oven. Tip the muffins in the pan, so their bottoms don't get soggy. Wait 5 minutes, then transfer the muffins to a rack to cool.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

The Birdhouse


Emma has always been a bird lover. I'm not quite sure when her fascination with birds began, but I distinctly remember her enthusiasm at choosing to be a duck for Halloween when she was only 18 months old. Her love and fascination for all living things with beaks and bills has continued to this day. So, it was unsurprising the other day when she expressed interest in building a birdhouse. She was staring out the window at the "little birdies" flapping this way and that and suddenly she looked at me and said, "Mommy...I need to build a birdhouse." I guess she thought her winged compatriots would appreciate a roof over their heads.

I told her that maybe we'll get to building one at some point, but in the meantime we do have two lovely bird feeders hanging from the trees in our backyard. We have yet to actually put seed in them, but they are hanging there. Emma looked out the window and asked "Mommy....why we not put food in them? We need to feed the birdies."

So, we went to the hardware store later that week and bought a huge bag of bird seed. The kids were so excited to fill the bird feeders and re-hang them high from the branches of our trees. They both enthusiastically watched from the window of our house for the birds to start feasting, but unfortunately none approached within the first 30 seconds, so Matthew quickly lost interest and turned his attention to other things. Emma, however, kept a dedicated watch.




The first nibble at our bird seed came from a large squirrel. He climbed up onto the tree and then took a courageous leap from the branch to tap the bird feeder just enough to send a shower of seeds to the ground below where he would eat and gather them rabidly. Emma found this quite disturbing at first - "That food is for the BIRDIES" - but quickly got over that and soon became attached to the squirrel. Still, she kept waiting for the birds to finally fly in and eat.

Finally, one morning, while eating her breakfast and staring out the window, she was rewarded for her patience when a multitude of birds suddenly flew in to visit the bird feeder. Cardinals, blue jays, robins, and little sparrows all began flying about and enjoying the seed the kids had set out for them. And of course, our squirrel friend was there too. Emma was thrilled. She had a huge smile on her face while watching the flip and flutter about. It was such a cute sight to behold!

Now, Emma spends every morning bird watching from her perch while eating her breakfast. She has lamented not having a pet in the past, but now she considers all the birds of the neighborhood to be hers! Even Lucy has started to get in on the bird-watching action.



Someday, maybe we will build a birdhouse together. For now, I love watching my little ones enjoying the miracles of spring!


Friday, March 11, 2016

Beef Taco Bake


We can't really seem to get a break from the illness. I was the latest victim of the plague that has been cycling through our family over the past month and I have had a really hard time getting back to normal. I've been feeling really weak and tired this entire week and am hoping that soon I'll be back to normal and we can get back on schedule with activities. Until then, blogging regularly has obviously been on hold and we have been eating a lot of quick meals like scrambled eggs and grilled cheese.

As I ease myself back into our regular routine, I have a quick, easy, weeknight meal to share with you. We all love Taco night - it's a family favorite that Paul and Matthew especially look forward to. I, however, absolutely dread taco night. Tacos themselves - or burritos, taco salad, enchiladas, whatever dish we happen to be making - are easy enough to prepare, but a plethora of side ingredients are normally necessary to complete the meal. Chopped lettuce, shredded cheese, chopped tomatoes, guacamole, jalapenos, beans, chopped green onions, are just a few of the many components that go into constructing the perfect taco. And nothing is worse than shredding the cheese, putting it into a glass serving dish, setting it on the table, and then heading back into the kitchen to plate the other components only to come back to find your almost-three-year-old has climbed onto the table and eaten all the cheese!

But where has all the cheese gone?!
But what about a recipe for tacos where everything is baked together in a casserole dish? I saw this genius recipe for hard tacos where the taco shells are carefully balanced in a refried bean mixture before being filled with meat and cheese. Then, everything is baked until the shells are lightly toasted and the cheese is melted. Genius! The only thing left to add is a light salad on the side. Or guacamole if you're anything like us. We're constantly eating avocados.

This is a great way to serve tacos on a busy weeknight. We all loved it and I loved how darn easy it was to prepare and serve. Paul thanked me for dinner about 20 times as he ate this. That should give you a hint as to how much he enjoyed it. Sometimes the dishes that take the least amount of effort get the biggest rounds of applause! Recipes like this are especially appreciated during weeks where I can't seem to get my act together in the kitchen.

Make, eat, and enjoy!


Beef Taco Bake
from Taste of Home

2 (10-ounce can Ro-Tel tomatoes
1 (16-ounce) can refried beans
1 Tbsp. hot sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 cups shredded Mexican-style cheese (I used Sargento Authentic Mexican)
1-1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
12 taco shells
Scallions for garnish

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Combine 1 can of tomatoes, beans, hot sauce, and cilantro in a bowl.  Spread evenly in a 13 x 9 inch baking dish.  Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese.

Cook beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat until no long pink.  Pour off fat; then stir in taco seasoning, remaining can of tomatoes along with juice.  Simmer over medium-low until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Spoon 1 Tbsp. cheese into each taco shell and top with beef mixture.  Arrange tacos upright in bean mixture.

Cover with foil and bake until bubbly, 10-12 minutes.

Remove foil, top with remaining cheese and bake until cheese is melted an tacos are crispy, about 6 minutes.

Sprinkle with scallions and serve!

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Make-Ahead Buttermilk Rolls



Yesterday, I headed to the gym for my morning run. It was snowy and cold and there were no available parking spots by the entrance. I pulled into a drop-off spot and ran the girls into the childcare area before coming back out to move my car to the parking lot across the street. As I was pulling into my spot, a man that I was familiar with from seeing in the workout area of the gym began chatting with me. One thing led to another and then he, very nervously and blushing red the entire time, asked me, "I've been meaning to ask you for a while...but...it's just...you're beautiful, really beautiful, and...are you...single by any chance?" I smiled and told him that I was married and he got even more embarrassed and started to blush some more and then quickly told me "Have a great day....I'm sorry..." before running off. I sent Paul a text message saying "Just got asked out at the gym again" (this has happened before).

Paul's response: "Well, did you accept or not?"

Haha....very funny. He then thanked me for not leaving him and reminded me to keep the children with me at all times to ward off approaches like this. He's so right!

Here are two of my "creep repellents" sporting matching Princess Leia style hairdos. It was all Emma's idea. She wanted to be Lucy's twin. However, Emma was extremely uncooperative in posing for a picture with her twin. She kept bouncing and wriggling about so the best pictures we could get were on the fuzzy side. Still cute though.



The true way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and there is nothing that Paul loves more than a warm piece of bread slathered with salted butter. Hence the reason there are a lot of bread recipes on this blog - I'm not the only person addicted to carbs in the house! So here is yet another bread recipe to add to your rotation. There really isn't much to say about these rolls other than that they are absolutely amazing! Fluffy, tender, slightly sweet, and with a hint of "sourdough" flavor from the buttermilk and yeast, I am in love with these make-ahead dinner rolls. I am always on the look out for an excellent roll that can be made in advance for occasions such as Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and so on. Occasions where you need to have a lot of fresh, hot bread to go with the meal but do not necessarily have the time to babysit the dough in the midst of all the other food preparations that need to happen. In the past, I have been unhappy with the results of some "make-ahead" roll recipes and have usually just opted to either make the bread fresh or freeze a large batch of my favorite roll recipe ahead of time. The stress just is not worth making the bread fresh and frozen dinner rolls, while still delicious, are never quite as good as a fresh-baked batch.

I was extremely excited to see Mel publish this recipe on her blog a few months ago. I bookmarked it and intended to test it soon. I make bread often because Paul cannot have a bowl of soup without a hefty side of bread - and we have been eating a lot of soup lately. Now, Mel says the dough can be mixed up and refrigerated for up to a week. So, I made the entire humongous batch of dough and then refrigerated it and baked the rolls in batches over the next week to see what effect the resting time would have on the end result. The verdict? The rolls got better and better the longer the dough sat in the fridge. I guess we all probably could have predicted that. They were more flavorful, more fluffy, and so incredibly irresistible. We just baked off the last bit of dough the other night and I was sad that the rolls are now all gone. I might just have to mix up another batch of dough and plan to make more soup next week!

Trust me, this recipe makes some incredible-tasting bread! They have catapulted to the top of my favorites list. I am planning on making a very large batch to make ham sliders with the leftover Easter ham.

Same bread dough, I just shaped the rolls differently each time I baked a batch.

Make Ahead Buttermilk Rolls
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

3 cups buttermilk at room temperature or warmed slightly in the microwave
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
6-7 cups flour, as needed

In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the buttermilk, 3 cups flour and yeast together. Cover and let stand at room temperature until puffy and bubbly, 2-3 hours.

Add the sugar, eggs, salt, oil, and baking soda. Mix well and start adding the remaining flour until a soft dough is formed that clears the sides of the bowl and is smooth without being overly sticky or overflowed. Knead for about 7 minutes. If you have a small KitchenAid, this will probably be too much dough for it. I ended up having to knead by hand because the dough kept crawling up the dough hook.

At this point, you can roll out the dough or cover and refrigerate for up to seven days. If doing so, place the dough in a large container or bowl as it will expand a bit in the refrigerator.

To use immediately, shape the dough into the roll shape of choice. Cover the rolls with greased plastic wrap and let rise until double, about an hour or so. This took a little longer for me, but my kitchen was a little on the cool side. Be sure they have risen before baking!

Bake at 375 degrees until golden and baked through. The exact time will depend on the shape and the size of the rolls, somewhere between 10-16 minutes. I made cloverleafs and traditional roll shapes. The traditional rolls baked about four minutes longer than the cloverleafs, but please keep an eye on your rolls.

For refrigerated dough, pinch off the desired amount and shape. If the dough is really cold and hard to work with, let it rest covered at room temp for 30-45 minutes before shaping.

Once shaped, cover with greased plastic wrap and let rolls rise until double in size, 2-3 hours (dough taken from the refrigerator will take longer to rise since it's been chilled) and bake with the above instructions based on shape.

Remove from the oven and butter the tops, if desired.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Baby Lucy at 9 months


Baby Lucy is now 9 months old and is such a blessing in our lives. She has grown into the happiest, sweetest, little playmate for both Matthew and Emma. She thinks they are both hilarious and they love doing crazy and whacky things to make her laugh. She is Matthew's number one fan and always delights in seeing his face pop into view. One of her favorite games is for me to hold her while chasing Matthew around the house. We will run from room to room and when we come close enough behind Matthew, Lucy will reach out and try to pat his head while he squeals and flails about. It sounds ridiculous, but all three of us are in stitches by the end. I think Lucy looks forward to Matthew coming home from school just so we can play this game. She is growing up so fast and I can hardly believe my tiny little baby will be a year old before I know it. I am really going to treasure these next three months in the "infant stage" because once these babies turn a year old, they seem to blossom into kids very quickly. But for now, here is a brief update of Lucy's growth and development at 9 months.




Growth:

Still chunky as ever, Lucy weighs about 24 pounds. She has a few extra chins on her, but who doesn't love a chubby baby? Her hair is also starting to get longer and I love that I can easily put it up in pigtails in order to keep it out of her eyes.




Motor Skills and Speech:

Lucy is also officially mobile! She is slowly crawling about the house and is quickly becoming quite the danger to herself. She is loving electrical outlets, sharp edges, and the metal vents. I am going out of my mind trying to protect her from bumping into anything hard or sharp - and I know it's only going to get worse as she gets quicker! Her absolutely favorite activity is pulling up to a standing position and side stepping her way along while holding on for dear life. She is getting better about flattening her feet out when she stands and not curling her toes. I think she'll be walking pretty soon here.

Lucy loves to clap, especially in response to music. She loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, This Old Man (still a favorite), and It's A Great Big Wonderful World. Along those same lines, she also loves to bop and dance to music. I love it!

She can give us enthusiastic "high fives" and loves to wave and blow kisses.

She has four words in her vocabulary - "Hi", "Daddy", "Mama", and "Bye". Her favorite word to say his probably "daddy". She is going through a daddy loving stage and Paul is eating it up. It's pretty cute because she gets excited whenever my cell phone rings because she thinks it's Paul. I rarely talk on the phone except when Paul calls and when he was on a trip last week, Lucy and I would Facetime with him in the evenings. Now, Lucy expects to Facetime with Paul each and every time she sees the phone. When it rings, she starts waving and saying "Hi Daddy!" So adorable.



Teeth:

She still has no teeth despite the fact that I swear we were going through a bad teething phase for a few weeks. She would cry on and off as if she was experiencing intense pain. I made good use of the gum gel and ibuprofen but nothing seemed to help. Then, one day she woke up better and that was it. But still no teeth. Emma had four teeth by now, but Matthew was toothless until he was well over a year.



Sleep:

Sleep is all over the place with Lucy, but still mostly bad. She has slept through the night a handful of times since birth but for the most part is still quite difficult to lay down at night. Once asleep, she normally wakes up at least once or twice during the night. Sometimes she goes right back to sleep, and at other times she is quite hyper and wants to play with her zombie-like parents. She is finally starting to like her crib and we have gotten better about using that versus having her sleep in bed with us.



Food:

Baby Lucy will eat anything. This is both a good and a bad thing. It's great that she is so willing to try new foods in order to expand her little palate. However, it's pretty terrible that she will eat anything she finds on the floor. Almost everything goes into her mouth. When she finds something on the floor, she will grab it, sit back on her fluffy little bottom, and inspect it carefully with her fingers before inevitably opening her mouth as wide as she can and shoving the item inside for a taste test. However, of the actual food she has been eating lately, we have discovered that she adores avocado. She will demolish her own bowlful of guacamole. It's a terrible mess to clean up after, but I wholeheartedly approve of her love of avocados. I still haven't sold Emma on them although thankfully Matthew has finally converted.


Who Does Lucy Most Resemble?

Matthew at 9 Months


Emma at 9 Months


Lucy at 9 Months


Personally, I think she looks a lot like Matthew! What do you think?