Cheaters bread

More rain called for a new activity for the kids. I picked up a bag of raw bread dough, already risen, and left Zita amd Freddy to it.

One of the best single euros I've ever spent.

Brothers

Exploring Cascais- Malveira da Serra

After dropping Freddy's at a friends house, the 5 of us went exploring in the hills between Malveira da Serra and the coast. 

Resting tired legs and arms on the side of the trail.  I forgot the Bjorn so we all took turns carrying Sebby. 

We felt like we were on set filming Lost and at any minute, a Dharma Initiative trap door would appear. 

This beautiful flower was everywhere along with bright purple bulbs at their peak. Anyone know what these are called? 

Zita doesn't look pleased, but she held up fairly well considering she was lured out of the house with promises of Santini and instead got to go on a hike. 

What a glorious Sunday we had. 

17 Weeks and 4 Months

Seb Joins the Orchestra

I thought for sure Sebby wouldn't be able to cope with the noise of the orchestra so Pai has always been the one to take Zita.  Boy did I get that wrong.  Sebby's body went into that dead weight calm that babies get right before sleep, and he listened the morning away.

During the break, Zita and a friend gave him a percussion show. Percussion cupboard= baby's delight.

Freddy's School Tea and Show

At the end of the show, parents had to come up on stage and dance to prompts given by the children. I was dancing with Seb in my left arm, and a shaking a home-made musical shaky thing with my right hand. Freddy was beaming. I was embarrassed.

A blurry shot of the menu, written by Freddy. No future doctor here- his handwriting is already better than mine.

Zita came out of her class early to visit with us. It's not every day that most of her family is hanging around school. She took Seb back to her classroom where everyone jumped from their desks and crowded around to have a look. Seb wasn't so sure that all the extra attention was a good thing.

By the time we got home, he couldn't keep his eyes open. It's not your imagination, the boys are looking even more like twins now that Sebby's skin is just as doughy and white as Freddy's.

Ginger Cookies

Let's talk about ginger for a moment. These past two weeks will go down in family history as the week that I put ginger in everything. These cookies were the umpteeth and last ginger laced delicacy I made as Zita suggested that she was more than done with ginger.

This is the first time I made ginger cookies, and it most certainly won't be the last. There's nothing to it.

This recipe is molasses free:
http://www.food.com/recipe/molasses-free-gingerbread-343321

I used a teaspoon to measure out the refrigerated dough.

One can make two versions using the same dough. For crispy tea-dunking ginger snap style cookies, turn off the oven after 7-8 minutes and leave the cookies to harden.

For chewy bendy melt-in-your-mouth ginger goodness (shown above), remove cookies from the oven promptly before they are too brown (around 8 min., but know your oven!) and allow to cool off the baking sheet.

I'll save the rest of my gingery cooking for another post. Happy Weekend!