dripping with passion

there is nothing like london in the spring. nothing!! we had an unseasonably warm week last week and bam ! spring arrived. we spent our days just intoxicated with that giddy joy that comes from the start of springtime. we're now back to dreary skies and chilly air for the time being, but the blossoms are out ! and there's a lot of warmth to look forward to.     it's been getting lighter earlier in the day, and i've been heartily enjoying sunrise runs around hyde park and kensington gardens.   we've been blown away by this incredible  yellow tree that burst in our garden, and all the magnolia trees blooming like crazy in our neighborhood.   ian and i got to go to a football match for a date night. it was such a fun cultural experience. sooo much energy in that stadium, and our home team, chelsea, won 3-0.   gabriel has been scrambling all over the flat with his adorable one-knee-one-foot crawl. he's the wiggliest, giggliest baby ever. ...

i have to say, i did a pretty awesome job getting everything ready for christmas and fitting in all the most important london/family festivities before gabriel and i left for arizona on the 18th of december. in november i carefully scheduled everything in our calendar, bought all gifts, and ordered a big grocery delivery to arrive on the 23rd. and in december, i really tried to relish every christmassy moment in this amazing city and with my three excited boys. this made for a pretty great christmastime. in the days before gabriel and i took off across the pond, we... went to see santa!     and finished our all-from-scratch gingerbread house: (it was so fun to really involve moses in this project this year, especially with the decorating. don't you love how he chose to put an elephant in the yard? we are serious this stuff around here - we make our own gingerbread as well as stained glass windows and special drapey snow. this year we used playdough cutters to make heart, b...