a song, a book, a quote, a look

About a month ago I did one of these posts for the first time, inspired by this lady, 

and today I'm at it again.

Song (or rather, new (to me) group) : 

This awesome band from Iceland: Ásgeir. 

My favorite song of theirs (so far, it's all good). 

I don't know what it is with these Scandinavian bands, but I just love their sound.

// 

Book: 

Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho. 

I love each and every one of his books and this one is just as eye opening and intriguing as any of them. 

It is about a prostitute and contains some graphic parts, but actually it's a beautiful book about love.

// 

Quote:

From previously mentioned book.

source

//

Look: 

It's getting cold here! So I've been pinning all kinds of cozy, including this look. 

Warm socks, tights and booties.

source

Happy Weekend!

Love, Maria

little jokes

One of my favorite things about Micha is his sense of humor, and his happy personality. 

He loves acting silly and we have our own little running jokes in this home. 

Some of my favorites:

- Before mealtimes we always sing a prayer and we usually ask him if he can sing along with us to which he replies by humming and raising his eyebrows and then laughing out loud.

- Every morning when I go to get the little mister from his crib, he covers his eyes, shakes his head and grumbles the moment I turn on the lights but then greets me with a big goofy grin.

- He's such a little actor, whenever I ask him if he's sad he fake cries, and then when I ask him a second later if he's happy he fake laughs.

-He loves giving himself big sloppy kisses in the mirror and then laughing at his reflection.

-His favorite game is to put toys in silly places and watch for our reaction. 

This morning, while we were eating fruit, he decided to give Pooh a bath in a glass of water and threw some chunks of apple in for good measure. And all the while looking at me with a side eye and a grin on his face.

Sometimes his jokes are a little cheeky, and laughing isn't probably the best thing, but I just can't help myself most of the time.

I just think he is the funniest little dude ever.

I love him so much!

Love, Maria

extra spicy gingersnaps

I've always been a big fan of food with a punch. 

I love the burning sensation in my mouth after I've eaten some spicy Thai food, 

or the lip puckering flavor of a lemony lemonade. 

I always add extra hot sauce to my fried rice and my favorite candy is the the sour kind.

You understand, I like a punch. (in my food, not in my face)

//

The other day I was looking for a recipe for gingersnaps and none of the recipes seemed gingery or spicy enough. 

So I decided to adapt the recipes to make them more my kind of cookie.

(this recipe was my main starting point)

I upped the amount of ginger, added candied ginger,  

threw in a pinch of pepper and used freshly ground cloves.

I also wanted to make them a teensy bit healthier, 

so I subbed 1/4 cup of the regular flour for 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

The cookies turned out so delicious, I made about two dozen (they were on the bigger side), 

and a day later there definitely aren't as many left. 

I'll just leave it at that.

Extra spicy gingersnaps

1 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cups oil

1/4 molasses

1 egg

1 and 3/4 cups flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ginger

about 2 tbsp of finely minced candied ginger

1/2 tsp cloves (I used freshly ground cloves)

a grinding of fresh black pepper

1/4 tsp salt

granulated sugar

Mix the sugar, oil, molasses and egg together. In a separate bowl mix together the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, candied ginger, cloves, pepper and salt. Fold the molasses mixture into the the flour mixture. Roll into small balls, using about 1 tbsp of dough for each ball. ( I made mine bigger, and that's fine too). Roll in granulated sugar and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 180 c/ 375F for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy the delicious smell of ginger and spices wafting from your oven and when the cookies have cooled down enough to handle I dare you to just eat one. You won't succeed.

Love, Maria

saturday morning breakfast

Hurray, it's almost the weekend! 

One of my favorite things about our weekends is our Saturday morning breakfast. 

Ever since I was little we would have a special breakfast on Saturday morning. 

Usually it would be pancakes or waffles, of course with bacon and eggs and all the works.

I remember waking up at dawn and rushing downstairs to help my dad. 

He taught me the golden rule of pancake baking: 

they're ready to flip once the bubbles stop popping. 

When I was older and felt the need to sleep in, the delicious smell of pancakes and bacon wafting into my bedroom would have me up and ready in no time.

How different is the the (lack of) breakfast culture here in Holland

(it's one of my biggest pet peeves about this little country.) 

For most Dutch breakfast is never a big deal, most people just eat a sandwich with cheese or jam, or if they're feeling adventurous a bowl of cereal, probably muesli. 

Maybe on Christmas morning or Easter the Dutch will treat themselves to a special breakfast of buns and croissants and feel all luxurious. 

note: these are tongue-in-cheek comments and probably quite generalizing.

But that's not hoe we roll at all. 

I'm so glad B. has embraced my Canadian big breakfast loving side and it seems like Micha is loving our tradition too. 

Big breakfasts are the way to go!

These recipes look perfect for a Saturday morning breakfast:

clockwise:
One Hour Cinnamon Rolls
Buttermilk Yogurt Pancakes
Monkey Bread 
Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

What's your favorite breakfast food?

Love, Maria

Happy Weekend!

An overwhelming, beautiful responsibility

The other day B. was putting up a shelf in our hallway after Micha had pulled it down.

Of course Micha, lover of all things noisy and technical, wanted to check things out for himself.

I plopped him down in his high chair in the hallway with a perfect view of the 'construction site', and he sat there perfectly content and so interested in what his papa was doing.

I watched as B. showed Micha all kinds of tools and even let him try some out, and I loved what I saw.

Right there in front of me was my husband teaching our son things he will someday learn to do by himself.

I already see it, Micha at eight building a tree fort with B. and my dad in my parents back yard, or him at sixteen fiddling around with his bike, or maybe when he's twenty-five building a home for his family.

// 

It's an overwhelming, but also such a beautiful realization that I get to be one of the lucky ones who will raise Micha and prepare him for life as an adult. 

I'm so thankful I don't have to depend solely on myself for this task but that I have an awesome husband to be my partner, a great big circle of family and friends for support and above all a God who will always make right the wrongs that I do.

I hope Micha will grow up to be confident and kind, generous, wise and loving to all.

And I pray he will know Gods love for him and love him back with all of his heart.

I can't wait to see all that is in store for my boy!

Love, Maria

parka, parka, parka

Parka is such a weird word if you think about it, no?

sources: 1,2,3,4,5

The weather here in Holland is getting colder and it's definitely necessary to bundle up when we go outside. I've been on the look-out for a new coat, since I've worn my old one for two winters already and it's time for a new one. 

I'm loving the all the parka's I see in the stores and on Pinterest and there is one parka coat at H&M that I'm particularly fond of and when I tried it on in the store it looked really cute and was very comfortable. 

It has a waxed feeling to it, has a faux-fur collar and it's lined with warm fleece, perfect for this winter. 

Apparently it was my lucky day yesterday, because when I checked the website to see if it was still available, it had been selected for the weekly discount and I was able to order it for 50 percent off! 

Happy dance! 

I can't wait to get it in the mail next week!

So, what are your thoughts on parka's? Yay or nay?

Love, Maria

a fun week... no, it was not.

Happy Monday! I'm baa-aack!

enjoy this photo of my boy in handsomer times
I call it his 'hey girl' photo ;)

Wow, it has been quite the week here in our household.

It started off with a bad cold for me which turned into a flu. 

When I finally felt better, Micha started getting a red rash around his mouth, 

his molars are coming in (ouch, and no sleep) so I thought it was just a teething rash, 

but the rash turned into little blisters and the blisters turned into crusts. 

My poor handsome baby was now a pimply, crusty boy. 

So shallow, I know, but I'm not used to such an ugly child, haha!

I took him to the doctor and it turned out it was not a teething rash, but something called Impetigo.

Apparently it is a pretty common skin infection among young children but it is quite contagious, so no play dates for us until it's over... 

The doctor prescribed an antibiotic ointment and the rash is getting better, yay!

Luckily B. and I haven't caught it, phew! 

I've had my share of bad skin when I was a teenager thank you very much!

So that was a little recap of our fun week, I have a feeling this week will be much better!

How was your week?

Love, Maria

Hellooo?

Instead of my sick face, I'll just share this cute one.

Just want to pop in to tell you I'm still alive, though barely... 

I've been fighting a bad cold the last few days and my bed is just way to comfy during Micha's naps 

(during which I usually blog).

Hope you're all having a better week, and I hope to blog again soon!

Love, Maria

stormy treasures

This week we experienced the heaviest storm since 1990 (I think?) here in Holland and Europe.

We don't get storms like this often.

It was crazy and exciting and a bit scary too...

// 

The day after the storm a friend and I decided to go for a walk with our boys and collect some of the fallen branches to use as decoration.

I found a long, thick branch that would be perfect for things like this:

sources (clockwise) 1,2,3,4

I can't wait to get all crafty this weekend, I'm thinking something fun to hang in front of our living room window with twinkle lights and mason jars with candles to light up our house in the dark November days to come.

Happy Weekend!

Love, Maria