Abby's Party...

 On Friday, we celebrated Abby's birthday with a "cooking party".  The kids created chef hats, wore aprons and got their hands dirty making pizzas and decorating cupcakes :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Three of my most favorite people have birthdays this week!  :)
Happy Birthday Brad, Abby and Memoo!

Scenes from the weekend...

Friday::
Our weekend started by welcoming Abby back home from her ski trip (in one piece I might add)
and then we were off to Luke's school for their International Family Night.  I asked Luke what he wanted me to make, as we were supposed to bring foods that represented our home country.  Can you believe he wanted cornbread! :)  So we made cornbread muffins, paired with some chili.  Pretty American, don't you think?

Can you find me serving up the chili to the masses...

Along with bringing food, you could also wear traditional clothing. 
Here is our good friend, Whitney representing her home State~

 

that shirt speaks volumes doesn't it?

Saturday::
Levi was invited to a fun birthday party
and Luke sat around the house, continuing to let his leg heal

the highest point in this picture is his knee, and that big colored bump is the hematoma that is continuing to stick around.  If it is not significantly decreased in size by Thursdsay, then they are talking about having to aspirate that fluid from it. ouch!  Please pray that the swelling continues to go down.

And as per usual on Saturday, I did some grocery shopping.  See me with my granny cart...

(I thought my shadow looked pretty cool...)


Sunday::
We started off the day right with cinnamon rolls

Levi was certainly excited!

After breakfast, Luke continued to work on all of the schoolwork he has to make up

Milka lounged on the couch

Levi worked on a puzzle

and Abby played with her dolls

then since the weather was so nice, Brad put the kiddos to work on the terrace...trying to get it ready for Spring...which is coming by the way!

A lovely weekend of playing, working and resting and now we are off to church!

It feels like Spring!

and I like it! :)

Weekend Update...

This weekend was a lovely time in the mountains!  The retreat was a nice mixture of fellowship, studying, worshiping, eating and playing.

Brad and Abby were home just long enough to unload and then re-load the car, and then they were on the road again.  Abby's class left by train this morning for their ski week near Salzburg, and because we were still on our church retreat Abby needed to be taken by car this evening.  Brad will spend the night there (as it is about a 4 hour drive) and then return in the morning.  Abby will return back home by train on Friday.  Can you tell that she was excited? :)

Budding photographer and the latest on Luke...

 

  I was clearing the photos from my camera and I came across these.  At some point in the week, Abby played photographer!  She has a pretty good eye. :)

This last picture of Luke says a lot.  This is how he has been spending his days...camped out on the couch or in his bed with his leg elevated.  He has been listening to a lot of audio books and has been trying to stay caught up with his homework (he missed this entire week of school).

Yesterday, Brad took him back to the hospital per Dr's orders, and after removing his cast they determined that he needed another one.  His leg continues to be quite swollen and painful.  They also did another x-ray, and it was the same as the last time.  I do not understand how the x-ray is inconclusive, but yesterday's Dr. seemed to think that something is in fact broken.  Luke will return to the hospital next week for another evaluation.

So, even though we were hopeful that Luke would be on the mend enough to go on our church retreat this weekend, it seems that it will not be possible for him to manage the trip.  Thankfully, some of our dear friends, the Mason's, have offered to keep him and his bum leg for the weekend :)  He is actually looking forward to hanging out with his buddy, Andrew and he continues to be in good spirits!

Thanks for your prayers.  Keep them coming... for Luke's leg and our church retreat this weekend.

Celebrating 14 years ago...

Exactly 14 years ago yesterday, Brad asked me to be his bride.  Obviously, I said "of course I will" and it has been an adventure ever since!  We try to make time for dates...but we aren't so good at it!

Last night we made the time and had a wonderful dinner at Eulennest and then we had Fondue at Süssi.
Both of these restaurants are located on Operngasse, right next to our church and we highly recommend them if you are in Vienna!

Every time we make the time for a date, we always say "we should do this more often"!  It makes us better spouses and parents :)

A look at our calendar....

* Last week, we celebrated Lindsay's 25th birthday

* Today, Luke still remains home from school as a result of his leg injury :(

* Tomorrow, our sweet, fun, beautiful and smart niece turns 15!

Happy Birthday Elisabeth!

* This Weekend, we are headed to the mountains for a church retreat

* and Next week, Abby will be skiing with her class ALL WEEK!

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!