picture round-up

you know that saying, right? About how many words a picture equals? Well, I've been seriously remiss about this whole blogging thing. Good thing I've taken lots of pictures regardless. So here you go...Life in January, February, and March. Or a snippet of it, anyway. Enjoy!

First, some perspective:

Remember the snow people Jake built in November?

In January they looked like this:

Today (March 18th) they look like this:

I had this vague idea that I should take a picture of them every week over the winter and string them all together. I didn't, kind of wish I did. Oh well, some is better than none. Side story: When I first moved to Winnipeg my dad would always ask how much snow we had in winter. In Calgary that question makes sense - you could have zero snow one day and 2 feet the next, and then it'd be gone a week later. Not so here. Here is it just piles up. And up. 

Next up: we have a new niece! She is our favourite Winnipeg niece. We are very lucky that she and her parents live so close by, so we can see her grow and be part of her life in a way that we can't be for our other niece and nephew who live far away. We love her dearly.

She is only a few days old in this picture - already looking much older and wiser! Our dear little Scout Sparrow!

I made her an afghan with owls on it. How cute is that?! I found the pattern here - took a few tries to get the hang of it, but once I did, watch out! The only thing is that I did the eyes with yarn instead of buttons, because babies can pull buttons off. Therefore, some of the owls look a little wonky due to different eye sizes.

I've been baking a lot lately. Mostly motivated by Scout and also the birth of twin boys to our friends one week after Scout was born. I'm not really a baker. The problem is two-fold: 1. I eat a lot of dough WHILE I'm baking. It's an addiction. I can't help myself. 2. I eat a lot of baking when there is baking around. New, nursing mothers can handle that kind of caloric intake. Me? Not so much.

Anyway, it's also nearing that time of year when we celebrate new life in many ways and eat delicious, sweet, eggy, cake-like bread called Paska. I made a batch in time for our early family Easter dinner this year. There are a LOT of steps to paska. 

First, the recipe - the original:

Re-written by Oma or my mom? Not sure, but definitely more legible.

Step 1: let yeast get going with warm water and sugar. 

Step 2: beat the yolks of 10 eggs with 3 cups sugar and a few other ingredients till it is a smooth, sticky, bright yellow goop.

Step 3: beat the 10 egg whites till they are stiff. Thank goodness for the Bosch for this one!

Step 5: Get out your BIG bowl and put a cup of flour in the bottom. Survey the various bowls you need to make this bread.

Step 6: Scald 2 cups of milk

Step 7: pour milk over flour and stir vigorously till it is smooth. This part is always hard for me. I can never get it fully smooth. Then add the yellow eggs and yeast concoction and stir. Then fold in the eggwhites. Let that rise for 1.5 hours

Step 8: Start adding flour. The recipe says 12-16 cups. Use your best judgement.

Step 9: Kneed/punch the dough till you can't lift your arms any more, flip it over a few times, and do it again. Then shape it into a ball(ish), cover it, and let it rise for an hour (at least)!

While you're waiting, go check on Jaker who is busy painting frames for our art project above the couch! Exciting things to come!

Step 10: Punch down the dough and put it into greased loaf pans. Pop them in a warm oven to rise for 2 more hours.

Say hi to Jaker again!

Step 11: Admire your nicely risen loaves in the oven (kudos to convection baking!). In your excitement, forget to take a picture when they are out of the oven. Devour one loaf (with the help of family) immediately.

In your paska-induced stupor, admire your new parlour furniture!

We bought a teak chair and  couch from Jake's friend's mom, but since we didn't have room for the couch, and we know a talented wood worker, we did a little editing with history (much to the chagrin of some). Henry John turned the couch into a chair to match the original chair (bet you can't tell which is which),

and then created a little footstool out of the rest of the couch to go with the chairs in our parlour! How cute is that? Next up: Mantle, wainscotting, window trim, and new cushions/upholstery for the chairs/stool. 

Also, I take pottery now. But more about that another time. One more thing: The living room/dining room trim is complete! More about that next time too. 

1 week till spring break. Can't wait!