Peach Picking

Finally, a little normalcy.  Like I've said before, the summer was a little over-full.  Too much lice.  Too many friends with sick parents.  Too much travelling.  It was hard to get a rhythm.  Some of our normal activities went completely forgotten.  But we did manage to slip in a peach festival at Carlson Orchard in Harvard, MA.  We picked peaches and then took the girls on a hay ride.

We wrapped up the visit with some peach ice cream.

Ice cream with big chunks of peach in it doesn't appeal to me in the abstract, but the reality was delicious.

I took our peaches home and made peach butter and peach bbq sauce.  It was so very grounding and lovely.

Day Two of Cinnamon Rolls

Really, so many cinnamon rolls.

I figure they're homemade - no preservatives or "natural flavors" added in; iron from the brown sugar; heart-healthy goodness from the cinnamon - so the dietary police won't arrest me for non-stop white flour and sugar?

If it weren't for those pesky kids

I swore I would never make cinnamon rolls.  They seemed like such a pain.  The packaged kind are so good.  Why bother?  Frances didn't get the memo.  However, Frances did get a kids' cookbook from the library by the beloved Mollie Katzen, of  Moosewood fame.  It included a recipe for cinnamon rolls.  Frances wanted to try them.  I couldn't exactly say "no" after all the goofy recipes I try (eg. homemade bagels).

So, we gave it a whirl and they weren't difficult at all.  Here are the girls with Batch #1.

They were so not difficult, that we made at least four batches, one of them sourdough.  Mark swears he never saw a crumb of the alleged cinnamon rolls.  I think that says more about his observational skills than our baking efforts.  The cinnamon rolls were Everywhere for about a week.  Poor Mark.

Thank you, Auntie Jocelyn

The girls' Aunt Jocelyn sent a crate of hand-me-downs.  The girls were thrilled.  I mean, look at those red boots.  Who wouldn't be thrilled?

They adore each other...

...at least some of the time.

Broadmoor

In many ways, this summer felt over-full - too much vacation, but also too many friends with sick parents - but I did manage to squeeze in some normality, like a trip to Broadmoor.

The girls also had ice cream, lots and lots of ice cream.  I tried to document all the ice cream in photos.  I failed, that's how much ice cream there was.

Forty-Two Months of Preschooler Chandler

Forty-Two Months Fun Fact

• Independence:  Chandler is such an interesting creature.  She seems so young to me, and I worry about her, but the truth is she didn't blink an eye when Mark and I left her with Mimi for the week.  Really, as long as she's got Frances, she's fine.  Frances doesn't even have to be directly with her, as long as she's in the vicinity.  When they are together, they will probably be squabbling, but they'll be enjoying squabbling together, endlessly.  

Ninety-Three Months of Rising Second Grader Frances

Mark brought the girls notebooks from Europe, so I took the girls to Broadmoor to fill them up.

Ninety-Three Months Fun Fact

• Maturation:  I think I've said this before, but Frances is having these bursts of maturity that are just such a relief to be around.  She's never been a difficult child, it's not that.  But lately, she's been downright thoughtful.  She'll do things after only being asked once!  Occasionally, she'll even observe the passing scene and set herself useful tasks based on her observations.  I mean, there's still a mountain of laundry on the couch waiting to be folded, but she will fold towels with a minimum of whining when asked.  I have such hope for the future!