Luke's crazy cast...

Luke had a pretty hard fall yesterday, while playing dodge ball in school. His knee took the brunt of his weight as he landed on concrete.

After a trip to 2 hospitals, (because at 3pm the children's hospital stops doing x-rays)
an x-ray and then an MRI...it was determined that his tibia is not broken, but he does have a large hematoma with lots of swelling.  They put a cast on it to keep him from bending it, and he is not to bear weight on it for a week.  Fortunately, he is in good spirits and not in very much pain :)  Here is a picture of his crazy cast...

Pastor's Kid...

Do you see anything unusual for a 12 year old to have as reading material?

See it?

Here is a closer look...

This week...

(Brad walking in the garden behind the museum)

Enjoyed:: a day date with my hubby to the Liechtenstein Museum

Reading:: "A Wrinkle in Time" with the kiddos

Wanting:: to make one of these...using a map of Vienna

Eating:: potato soup

Trying:: to organize my photos

Watching:: my Valentine's day gift from a friend...bloom :)

Faschingsfest...

Our neighbors, whom we love very much, invited us over for a little Faschingsfest celebration!  We cracked up as soon as we saw their costumes!  They were all decked out in Harley attire...with piercings and everything! (look closely at Hans' nose, lip, eyebrow and ear)

Here I was wondering if Hans was going to plant a big crazy kiss on me... :)
They are so fun!

Nothing says love like...

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberry Swirl

adapted from www.CusineAtHome.com

I am putting it in the oven now...it will be in the fridge overnight and be perfect for our Valentine's Day dessert.  Hope you all have a "sweet" Valentine's Day!

Here is the recipe:


For the Sauce-
10 oz. frozen raspberries
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. raspberry preserves
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 Tbsp. water
2 tsp. cornstarch

For the crust-
2 packages of Oreo's (European size boxes)
2 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. melted butter

For the cheesecake-
8 oz. white chocolate, chopped
3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese at ROOM TEMPERATURE ( I use 4 of the European packages)
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs (at room temperature)
1 tsp. vanilla
juice of 1/2 of lemon
1/4 cup of raspberry sauce

Process berries, sugar, preserves and lemon juice for the sauce in a food processor until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat.

Combine water and cornstarch in a small bowl until smooth: whisk into berry mixture. Simmer to thicken slightly. Transfer to a bowl, cover and chill until cold.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees with rack in the center. Coat a 9 inch springform pan with non-stick spray.

Process cookies and sugar, add butter as machine is running. Pat crumbs on bottom and up sides of the pan.

Melt white chocolate over a double-boiler and set aside.

Blend cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Blend in melted chocolate, vanilla and lemon juice. Pour batter into prepared pan, then drizzle with 1/4 cup of the raspberry sauce.

Swirl the sauce into the batter to create a marbled pattern. Place on a baking sheet and bake until the edges are set and puffed, but center is slightly still jiggly. 60-80 minutes; Do Not Overbake!

Turn off the oven, crack the door with a wooden spoon and cool inside of the oven for 1 hour. Cover cake with a towel and chill in the refrigerator overnight.

Slice cheesecake and serve with remaining raspberry sauce.

Enjoy!

Sneak Peak...

It certainly is still a work in progress...but our little space is coming along nicely!

Thanks Brad for all of your fabulous painting skills :)
and to Whitney and Melissa who put this couch together.  I don't think putting IKEA furniture together has ever been so much fun!

Painting Projects...Work and Play

Work ::
I don't know if it was so smart to begin some painting projects while the kiddos are off of school for a week...but we did it anyway

see the mess!... this was an office, that we are transforming into a new space that has yet to be defined :)
(stay tuned and we will hopefully show you the finished product)

Here is Abby working her magic with a roller...

Play ::

If "crafting" were a love language, it would be Abby's :)

We took a break from the painting at home, to spend some time with our new friend, Lillian.
 Made by You was the perfect place to hang out and make something fun!  Lillian painted a mug for tea, while Abby painted a cup used to hold eggs.

Ice Skating...

Today was the first day of "Energiewoche".  I am not exactly sure how it originated, but our kids have this entire week off of school.  Most Austrians go skiing.  We have decided to stick close to home, and just do some fun outings in the city... like ice skating at the Rathaus!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous~ with the sun shining and temperatures in the 60's!

Valentine's Day Prep...

This weekend we started our Valentine's Day Prep...

we made some Valentine's and some sugar cookies

We shared with our neighbors...
and now I need to clean up the mess...
and go take a nap, cause lovin others makes me tired :)

We used my friend Sharbelle's Sugar Cookie Recipe:

1 cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 tsp of vanilla
2 tsp. of baking powder
3 cups of flour

Bake at 400 for 6-7 minutes
and then THIS for the icing

And how cute are THESE!
or THESE or THESE!

This week...

  

:: Abby started a new Turnen class (gymnastics)

:: Levi got letters from all of his old classmates at SHCS, telling him how much they missed him! :)  So sweet! 

:: We figured out how to make Striezel at home ( I did not use the recipe on the video, but the concept is the same)

:: Thursday, it was pet show and tell for Abby's class!  Everyone loved our Milka pooch!

:: Like most Friday evenings, we made homemade pizza!  And we got to meet some of Whitney's family visiting from Minnesota

:: And this morning we braved the wind and hung out at the park with our teammates!