Leek pie

One of my all-time favorites!

Leek pie

• 2-3 leeks, washed, cut and sauteed in olive oil
• salt
• 1 pie pastry
• 2 eggs
• 2 c. heavy cream
• 1 c. milk
• 1/2 c. grated cheese

While you're sauteing your leeks, prepare your pie pastry and line the bottom with grated cheese. Mix the eggs, cream and milk together and add a dash of nutmeg. When your leeks are golden, place in pie pastry. Pour your mixture on top and bake until your pie crust is golden and the mixture has risen. Serve with a green salad. Enjoy!

Funky hairstyle

Pippi Longstocking?

Nope, just swimming day at school.

And Mama got a little carried away.

OK. Now that's better.

What a gorgeous little girl!

Home Improvement Project #51354

Just before this we removed the ancient carpet and hired someone to re-level the cement floors and install new carpet...

In the meantime, something got into us and we tore the old wallpaper down. 

What a relief! It needed to be done!

We chose some spunky girly wallpaper and did it ourselves. Whew!

...put the furniture back together...

...and...

...well, that was back in August 2009...

...nearly seven months later, we're still not done with all the finishing touches...

...just like a lot of other home improvement projects here in the Babin household... 

...but ssssssssshhhhhhh don't tell anyone!

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Mini Madeleines

I could say that my first attempt at making Madeleines was a disaster...

...but I couldn't get my husband and children to stop eating them...

I followed the instructions scrupulously...

Added some laughter and love...

Filled the molds generously (perhaps too generously)...

...and voilà the result.

Not at all what these delicate little pastry/cookies are supposed to look like...

...but then again...

I baked them Sunday night...

Monday morning they were all gone...

Gabi's Epiphany

Her very first "spectacle" at the maternelle and she was glowing from head to toe!

...and tickled pink to be wearing her Wise Man crown...

They sang songs about the galette des rois - the traditional pie made here in France for the Epiphany.

They also sang her personal favorite "Petit Escargot" about a little snail who only pokes his head out when it rains.

Walking back to the car in the rain...

...and later dinner with some family friends...

It was a happy day for my Gabi.
 

Girls, hair and beauty salons

It's been haircut time for a while now and these two decided they wanted the same hairstyle...

This is the best we could do, given their different hair textures and face shapes.

Good enough for these silly girls who love to go to the beauty salon just about as much as their Mama!

 

 

My favorite sis

First of all, I must clarify one thing...

I have two favorite sisters

Melody and Roberta.

This is Roberta.

I love to talk to Roberta on the phone.

We seem to have endless things in common.

Roberta is sweet, humble, patient and has a HUGE heart.

And this is her sweet little family:

her husband Jerry, whom we all just adore...

little Samuel with his boundless energy...

and little Cecilia who looks like just so much fun!

We are so grateful to Jerry and Roberta for their wonderfulness!

Only they know the wonderful things they have done for our family.

But just to give you an example...

...they mailed us our very own copy of Nacho Libre which has in recent days become a family fave!

Love you guys!

Funky, spunky urban style sports

Today the children got to show off their stuff. Here is Alex with his best friend Hugo and below doing a demonstration of how to walk and bounce with those funny looking TALL boots. They look like Avatars when they walk! 

I'm dying to try it.

I jokingly asked when they were doing a class for the parents and was told their would be a family class in April! 

I'm there!

Exciting News!!!!

Alex was in the local news yesterday!!! 

The children are on winter break these two weeks and Alex has been participating in a sports class where they are taught the basics of some trendy new urban style sports, like break dancing, hacky sac and a very funky new sport with strange high shoes that allow them to walk and bounce around. In French it's called échasses urbaines. I've never seen anything like it and it's very funny to watch! It looks like this...

Here's the link: TVFIL78 - Journal du : 24-02-2010

You go to the video box on the left 

click on CHAPITRES  

select Vacances: Un avant-goût des "Styl'U"

then click on play

The clip is about 2 minutes long.

You can see Alex dancing and he is briefly interviewed. His best friend Hugo is the little boy walking and bouncing at the end. Fun, exciting stuff!

Alex's Faith in God, Goal #1: Preparing a wholesome meal

This year Alex will has started the Faith in God program.

The first goal he set for himself

in the category of Serving others

was to plan, prepare and serve a wholesome meal.

Menu:

Tarte aux pommes de terre.

Salade aux endives.

Here he is, hard at work...

Frying up the lardons (bacon bits).

Rolling out the homemade pie pastry.

Neatly arranging the cooked and sliced potatoes.

Et voilà!

It was a joy to see him use his creative juices
to execute a beautiful plan.

And...

...what he told me about his experience...

He was excited and happy, 

but also...

just so nervous,

wondering,

if everyone would like

what he had made.

We all loved it.

Cecilia!

I know I'm trying to catch up on all things blogging for 2010,
and these pictures are from 2009,
but I just couldn't resist.


Meet Cecilia, my niece.
I've never met her in person. sniff. sniff.
But she has been a hoot to get to know through the photos that my sister Roberta sends me regularly.

Have you ever seen such a big smile?

Well, it only gets bigger and better....

Ready?

Okay....

Good.

Better.

Best.

So do you wonder 

why

she was

soooooooo

happy?

Big brother Samuel was feeding her.

Of course.

My little masterpieces

On a typical very good morning...

• Homework done, backpacks ready
• Coats & shoes waiting
• Bladders emptied
• Clean clothes
• Teeth brushed
• Morning prayer offered
• Breakfast eaten
• Hair brushed

Cartoon time at last... All is calm, just the way I like it.

The girls are all dolled up and Alex (with Pokemon stack in hand) is looking pretty handsome too. 

They're pretty darn cute, my three little masterpieces.

I love 'em to pieces.

My sweet parents

I love photos.

And I especially love photos of my family in the U.S.

The last time I went home was in December 2008.

So I am homesick.

And I try to keep all of those beautiful faces alive in my memory.

So I love when I get to see recent photos.

Because people change. Yes even family. But perhaps, especially the little ones.

My parents look the same as the last time I saw them.

Even more beautiful.

I love this photo of them with the sister missionaries and the illustration of the Savior right behind them.

This pretty much sums up my parents.

They are Christ-like in their pure, unconditional love.

Gabi, Créatrice!

This is my Gabi.

She loves to create.

Whether it's play-doh, or coloring books, or just simply drawing...

...she loves to create...

...and I love that she loves to create...

...she will plead,

"Please Mommy"

and pester

and cry

and even resort to a good ol' temper tantrum

if I don't say yes to her creative requests...

...I have a new craft closet that's packed full

of fun craft supplies

and the bottom 3 shelves

are all for my children...

But sometimes I have to say no...

...because creating also includes messifying...

...and though Gabi and Alex and Elenita are fabulous at creating,

they've yet to master the art of de-messifying...

My Melody

So I've decided I'm going to include more of my extended family in my family blog...

Although Melody is my sister, so that's not really extended family...

I really love and miss my Melody.

She moved to Texas not long after Sam and I moved to France.

The last time we saw each other was at our sister Roberta's wedding in November 2005....

It's been too long...

Melody is the incarnation of sweetness and kindness.... I'd really love to be more like her!

And she is so pretty! And I love her hair. I wish I was brave enough to do those same highlights!

Snow, snow & more snow....

It's snowed so many times this winter, I've lost count.

It's more snow than I've ever seen here in Magny.

...sometimes it feels like we're back in Utah...

...except they're not quite as quick with the snowplows around here...

We've been snowed in twice this Winter...

...and Winter is beginning to feel veeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrry loooooooooong....

ready, set, CREATE!

I finally finished the first and original Babin Blogger family journal/photo book for 2009! Please be excited for me! I'm actually quite nervous to see the finished product, but I called my husband for courage and finally clicked the button to publish my book after nearly a month of adding the finishing touches! The book will arrive in a few weeks. I will keep you posted!

And so I'm set to start blogging again! It's already mid-February and I haven't done a single entry for 2010. That's how determined I was to finish my precious family book!

So I'll be busy in the next day, uploading pictures from different cameras and organizing chronologically for 2010's first entries....

But in the meantime, please enjoy this inspirational message about our innate desire and ability to create! I love it! Enjoy!