hello there

I ended up taking a nice long blog break these past few months.  Oh, you knew that?  Sorry.  It was rather unannounced and unintentional even.  Here's what happened in a nutshell.

The girls finished off school.  We had a week to pack then we flew to Cape Town, South Africa and had the most AMAZING FAMILY VACATION EVER for the next three and a half weeks.  That loveliness ended and we returned home to Addis Ababa with about three weeks until school started.  During those three weeks we unpacked.  I holed myself up in our home for a week or so, the girls played, I baked and we slowly worked our selves back into our routine here in Ethiopia.  We hosted brunches to spend time with friends, said goodbye to good friends and welcomed new friends.  This all happened with food and alcohol.  I said yes to hosting every bit of entertainment I could.  The weeks flew by and BAM, school started.

There have been some pretty noteworthy things of late though.  My younger sister, Megan is engaged.  Her fiance, Jerry and Meg are planning a July 19, 2014 wedding at a vineyard in Oregon.  I'm not sure if anything could sound more idyllic than that? Am I right?  The girls are flower girls and Megan has asked me to be in the wedding and make the wedding cake!  I am so excited about this task.  It's going to be awesome and personal and super sweet, literally!  So wedding plans and ideas and crafting are on my mind as well as my sister Emily's, Megan's and my Mom's.  We are so very excited to help Megan and Jerry celebrate this monumental moment in their lives.  Plus, there's going to be Oregon beer, wine and cake!

I catered a brunch event for 100 people last weekend.  It's a big deal for me. I've never done anything so large.  It went really well and I can't wait to share photos.  Brunch is my bag baby so I nailed it!

Addie got her ears pierced in South Africa and lost her second tooth the week after school started.  Oh and she asked for bangs.  Doesn't she look sweet?

Ashlynn has been completely weaned from the breast.  It's big, really  big folks.  She nursed before bed just to snuggle and then again in the morning when I was still in that sleepy haze and she's climb in bed with me and I'd just beg for a few more seconds of sleep.  Well, it's over.  She's done and it's great timing because a friend of ours contracted meningitis and I had been waiting to get immunized for a bunch of things.  One being meningitis.  I thought I'd be sad to say goodbye to this part of motherhood but I'm not.  I'm really proud to have breastfed my three daughters and it was hard and rewarding and wonderful all rolled into one.  I loved nursing my girls.  I will forever hold that first latch of each girl after birth in a special place in my heart.  But it's time to be done and I'm happy that my body is mine once again!  What a novel idea.

We came home from R&R to three sweet kittens.  Tim Riggins (the hooker with a heart of gold) surprised us with this gem.  They're adorable and we already have good homes for each of them.  Mama cat was spayed this morning so as to avoid this sweet but not ideal situation again.

As it so happens, St. George is not a puppy any longer.  The once tiny fur ball is now a good 40 pound dog and he's worked his way into our heart and our family.  He gave me this sad face yesterday, almost as if he knew we would be paying the vet to remove his berries the very next day.  He's running around with an annoyed look in his eyes due to the cone on his neck right now.  Geez, he wants to lick 'em even when they're gone.

It's been eventful as you can see and dear readers, I'm back with all sorts of tid bits about motherhood, food, recipes, family life and Ethiopia.  Get ready for our last year in Addis Ababa!