lately.

Marius and Iris at the Frankenstein Castle Halloween family day!

Enjoying - the cooler weather which has now fully settled into the bones of Germany. We're certainly missing our sunny days; autumn, winter and spring are known to be vastly occupied by unbroken cloud cover. However, there's something magical to me about this season. I love that first hot cloud of my own breath in the air as I step outside. The coziness of a mug of hot tea whilst cocooning myself in blankets and snuggling with my dearest ones will win over sweating in the sun any day!

Reading - rather, rereading the book 1-2-3 Magic. If you have children, this book is an absolute must in my opinion. When Iris was a baby, I thought I was above the idea of giving time-outs. For many years now, Marius and I have both been implementing the ideas found in the book P.E.T (which I also highly recommend as a form of learning how to better communicate.) While these methods have helped her grow into an enormously empathetic, intelligent and logical person, it just hasn't been enough to handle the often irrational toddler brain. 1-2-3 Magic really does work and I recommend it to all of those who give childcare!

Watching - a lot of Mulan, which is Iris' most favorite movie right now. I also just finished Season 2 of Once Upon a Time and Marius and I have just started watching Season 1 so he can catch up on the story too. I can hardly wait until the third season of Game of Thrones comes out on blu-ray! We've also been completely obsessed with The Big Bang Theory and Iris often asks, "are we going to watch Sheldon??"

Planning - for Christmas! I've already bought all of the presents for extended family and will be working on wrapping and packaging next week! It feels nice to get everything finished and not have to worry about rushing to get things shipped out at the last minute.

Anticipating - the Christmas Markets here in Europe! The larger markets typically begin running in mid to late November and go through Christmas. Most of the small towns here have weekend events during which entire town centers are shut down and dedicated to enjoying the Christmas spirit and shopping for locally made goods. The gluwein is boiling hot to stave off the freezing wind, the sugary scent of hot Belgian waffles and melty crepes fills the air, and that special Christmas warmth of everyone around is enough to make anyone smile (even if you are freezing half to death.)

I've missed blogging and I know many of you have missed the posts of photos and stories about Iris. Feel free to comment with what you have been up to lately and let's get back in touch!

milk and cookies.

Iris' current favorite book is one called, The Baby Blue Cat and the Whole Batch of Cookies. It was also my favorite at her age, and this is even my original copy which is at least two decades old! Sadly the book is out of print now, so I'm especially glad that my mother saved many of my childhood stories. 

This Baby Blue Cat tale is about a Mama Cat and her Baby Cats who love cookies. One day she bakes a whole batch of cookies. While she and the other cats are busy playing, Baby Blue Cat makes a few mistakes and ends up eating the whole batch! I love the soft, compassionate way the Mama cat responds to her baby making a mistake, and it's even Iris' favorite part, especially when Baby Blue cat falls asleep on her lap at the end.

So yesterday, she read the story to me and afterwards, we baked a whole batch of cookies together! She helped me pour in the ingredients and turn the mixer on. This was her very first time having milk and cookies - she loved it!