Week In Review - Ten Things Of Thankful (95)

I'm the queen of procrastination. So instead of writing about taxes and taxation right now, I'm being thankful for so, so many things last week, since indeed it was a wonderful week!

1. Spring having arrived. Once again. While we were still scratching ice off the windshield earlier this week, I actually got carried away when the temperatures rose to balmy 70 degrees on Friday and bought a swim diaper for Calvin.

(c) Life, Unexpectedly

2. Our driveway being DONE!  I bet Clark will call for pictures again, and I was definitely thinking about him as I watched the workers laying the bricks. There will be pictures, I promise, but I have to admit, there aren't any yet.

3. Getting to celebrate 9 years of marriage to my wonderful, wonderful husband. I wonder how many people placed a bet we would not even see our first anniversary, given the shotgun wedding we had not quite 5 months after meeting each other. But we both simply knew in our hearts that we belonged together. Happy Anniversary, my love! I a looking forward to many, many more years together!

4. The girls loving to spend time outside. Even though the backyard is little more than a mud pit (actually, it is exactly that, although dried up at the moment), they spend hours there every day playing with the neighbors' kids and returning as dirty as they can be, and equally happy.

5. Calvin's 8-month birthday today. I can't believe that it's been 8 months since we brought this beautiful little boy home. He's been the source of joy and severe sleep deprivation, but if we know anything in the haze that's our brain right now, then it's how much we love this amazing little guy and his equally amazing sisters!

6. The person who turned in my wallet that I had forgotten in the shopping cart (thanks, mommy-brain) at the store on Friday. All the cash was still where it was, and everything else as well.

7. Violet having a bunch of wonderful friends, who helped making her 5th birthday party very, very special!

(c) Life, Unexpectedly

8. Our house not being trashed after said party. I really have to say, those 5 and 6-year olds were really well-behaved, picked up after themselves, ate as if they were starving, and tried to maintain an inside-voice. The birthday with the 7-year old was much, much more stressful!

9. A playground we can see from our house, and two children who are now about old enough to go to the playground by themselves - at least for an hour or so while I do some cleaning around the house.

10. Having just generally awesome neighbors. We have a pretty good mix of older and younger people, and all of them just enjoy having a community of neighbors to chat with, to support each other, kids to play with for our kids. We are really lucky and happy to live here, even though we still miss our old neighbors who have become quite close friends.


What are you thankful for this week?

Week In Review - Ten Things Of Thankful (94)

I'm late and the link-up is closed. Life happened (and I'm happy it did), so I simply could not find the time to write my thankfuls for last week on time, but still I feel the need to write them anyway. Tonight, after a few very, very busy days, I finally have the time to sit down and ponder over last week, the good things, the not so good things, what I've learned, and that after all is said and done, I'm thankful for everything!

Last weeks thankfuls:

1. Having an awesome neighbor who gives me a lift to work every day. I asked her if I could hitch a ride with her for the month of March, as I missed to re-apply for my bus pass on time and buying individual tickets both ways would have been immensely expensive. Since Wednesday, I have an active monthly bus pass again, but my kind neighbor still offered to give me a ride to work (we work at the same building) so I can sleep an extra 30 minutes every morning!

2. Getting an email from the wonderful Ivy that my gift to thank her for the beautiful necklace and charms she had made for me has finally arrived. And she likes it, which makes it even better!!

3. Spring break. Lily has two weeks off from school over the spring holidays, which means no afternoon class on Monday, and all other appointments and activities for both girls are also canceled due to the holidays. We as a family definitely enjoy the free time that's opening up!

4. Get-togethers with friends. I spent two afternoons this week meeting friends of mine. It felt so good catching up!

5. Open conversations with hubby. I am so, so thankful that we can talk openly and on eye-level about our feelings, our fears, our emotions.

6. Watching Calvin around other kids his age. Last time I met my friend and her now 9-month old daughter, Calvin was only a few weeks old, and both babies were lying on their blanket without any interest in each other or the toys (of course). Now, they were playing so nicely, even though it took Calvin quite some time warming up to the two girls who were at the play group. Is he going to be a shy one??

7. My boss being flexible and allowing me to switch some days around so I could both work an extra day last week to attend a department meeting and take an extra day off when our friend from the U.S. is coming for a visit later this month!

8. Lily learning the benefits of being always honest. We've had some issues about telling the truth recently, and it was extremely frustrating. In the past, I always knew that I could trust Lily unconditionally; if she said something, I knew that it was true; but due to her lying to me (and being caught lying) a few times in the last months, sadly this deep trust is gone. But it seems that talking to her about how it is important to always tell the truth and that she would never get into as much troubles for admitting to having done something than if she's lying to me about it. The trust is definitely coming back, and I am so, so glad about it.

9. A washing machine. Seeing the piles of laundry a family of 5 produces and the state of said laundry after certain two girls return from their play in the backyard caked with mud (and absolutely happy, which makes me absolutely happy), I'm so glad that I don't have to handwash!!

10. Most importantly: Getting to celebrate Violet's 5th birthday. She has grown to be such a wonderful, caring, sensitive person over these years, thinking about others first and making sure that everyone is taken care of. In the face of her challenges, she's always brave and positive and never complains a single time. It is such an honor to be your Mami, my sweet, beautiful, lovely girl! We all love you beyond words!

What are your thankfuls for last week?

Week In Review - Ten Things Of Thankful (86)

Even though I'm not much around these days, I still wouldn't want to miss my end-of-the-week meditation on all the wonderful things in my life during the previous 7 days. It's become a ritual in my life, and I'd miss it; reflecting about all the good things in our lives is something that more people should do in order to not only improve their lives but also help create a better world. So, at this point, a big fat THANK YOU to the wonderful Lizzi for creating this wonderful place of thankfulness on the internets!

This week's ten thankfuls:

1. Getting to celebrate 7 years of mommyhood, aka Happy 7th Birthday to our big girl, Lily!!  It was a wild ride with challenges, lots of locking heads, even more love, cuddles, and the proudest moments I could imagine. I love you so much, my big girl!

2. Getting to take my mom to be pampered. She told me that she had Thursday off and needed a hair cut BADLY but didn't want her usual hairdressers to try their luck again, so I took her to mine that I'm quite happy with. We had a great time in town and later at home.

3. My appointment with my physical therapist. There's just no words that describe having your back fat be torn off your vertebrae to prepare your back for the proper exercises. Maybe OUCH!!!!!! gets close. But I'm already feeling the benefits of the treatment, once the pain had subsided.

4. Watching children's shows from my childhood with the girls, with Lily's head cuddled up on my shoulder and a large cup of cappuccino in my hand.

5. Wide, toothless baby smiles.

6. Spontaneous, last-minute inspirations to a scavanger hunt that Lily wanted so badly for her birthday party.

7. Surviving said birthday party with 10 girls between the ages of 4 and 7. 'Nuff said.

8. Hubbie taking over first shift of getting up with Calvin both days this weekend! Got to sleep in as late as 7 am; yay me  :-)

9.Lily making 3rd place in their school's reading competition. So proud of her!!!

10. Feedback from the intervention between Lily and her friend last week: The other mom told me this week that Lily's friend told her that she thinks I'm nice. Mission of reconciling the girls without drama accomplished big time!!

Have a great new week, everyone!!!

Week In Review - Ten Things Of Thankful (72)

I'm sitting here on our couch on a day-after-Halloween Saturday night, listening to hubby playing games with his friend in the States, looking at the baby sleeping next to me, and hearing the occasional cough from the girls' rooms upstairs. I know there's a post-Halloween bash happening at someone's house about 20 minutes from ours, and I was invited. I remember a time when this constellation (Saturday night, party, me at home) would have been unbearable for me. Now, I feel nothing but thankful, for everything we have, for the choices I made (or was made to make) in the past that brought me where I am today, for the people in my life, and those who used to be there, even though there is mostly a reason for them to not be there any more.

Besides these more substantial things, I am especially thankful this week for:

1. Quality time with Calvin. I know, this is a regular item on my list these days, but still. This week, we shared some good skin-on-skin time next to the space heater (waaaaaarmmmmmmm) and I gave the little guy a massage to help with his tummy ache. He was also bathed without crying!

2. Quality time with the girls. We have slightly changed their bed-time routine recently, because they have developed this hard cough again. I've been spending time with each of them separately, rubbing some essential oils in their feet and their backs to help them recover during sleep. During the massages I tell them a story instead of reading a story to them together. We all enjoy the one-on-one time, even though Calvin is not too happy about it most of the time.

3. Lily's first school break. While Violet was going to kindergarten, we spent some mornings playing games or going shopping together. She also read to Calvin and me from her new first-readers book. She's ALMOST there!!!

4. My walks home from kindergarten with Violet. I so love watching her take off on her little balance bike, training both her coordination and balance as well as behavior in traffic.

5. Meeting up with a colleague of mine in town. We had a coffee together and chatted. It's good to be missed..

6. Halloween!  The weather was great again, still around 60° when we went out with our friends around 6 pm. It was the same group as last year, and all the kids had a ton of fun while we grown-ups were enjoying chatting and stealing some candy from the girls  :-)

7. My wonderful, wonderful hubby, whose birthday we got to celebrate this week. I am so extremely lucky to have him, and really thankful for those almost 9 years we've been together now!

8. A wonderful day spent with my parents. They came up for a brunch to celebrate hubby's birthday. My mom made her yummie salmon cream cheese spread and we all enjoyed lots of food, goot chats, and a little outing to the playground to take advantage of the beautiful weather as long as we can.

9. Going back into our normal routine next week. Lily's going to go back to school, hubby's language class is starting again, and I have a bunch of appointments to remember, most importantly the initial appointment for Violet's occupational therapy.

10. Calvin being a good sleeper. Which means that I can go to bed early if I'm so exhausted that I have double-vision and cuddle with the baby.


Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

When Lisa Meets Annie (Or: The Chocolate Extravaganza Cake)

I want chocolate cake, he said...  Surprise me, he said..  So I ventured out to get a new, perfect chocolate cake recipe for my amazing hubby's birthday.  The wonderful Lisa from The Meaning Of Me was kind enough to share not only one but two of her family's favorite chocolate cake recipes. I used one of them, tweaked it a little (as I usually do, driving poor hubby insane), and added tons and tons of chocolate. The design I stole from Annie over at Annie's Eats, and of course was not nearly as skillful as she is (my cakes would ALWAYS be at the "Nailed it" sections of the Pinterest meme). Hubby still loved it (even though he did not recognize Jack Skellington - and I didn't want to push the issue), and it tasted wonderful.

Meet: the Chocolate Extravaganza Cake (i.e. chocolate cake with chocolate cream filling, chocolate sprinkles, and a double-chocolate frosting)

(c) Life, Unexpectedly

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups buttermilk


Pre-heat the oven at 350°; line a round cake pan with baking paper and lightly grease the sides.
Cream butter and sugar; add eggs one at a time and mix in well.
Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in separate bowl.
Add to sugar mixture, alternating with buttermilk.
Fill batter in prepared pan and bake at 350° for about 20 - 30 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.



While the cake cools, prepare the chocolate cream:

1 pack of non-cooking chocolate pudding mix
milk
1 cup of whipping cream

Beat whipping cream. Prepare pudding according to instructions on the pack, using about 1/3 less milk. Fold in cream into the pudding.

Cut the top off the cake and slightly hollow out the middle. Spread cream on the cake and top with a generous layer of dark chocolate sprinkles. Put the top back.

Melt about 6-7 oz of dark chocolate and pour over the cake, letting excess chocolate run over the sides of the cake. Wait until the chocolate has cooled off and hardened. Then melt about 3 oz white chocolate and pour a circle on top of the dark chocolate. Decorate with black food coloring, melted dark chocolate, or dark chocolate sprinkles.

Enjoy!!!!

PS: Hubby mentioned that there could have been a little more chocolate. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, SIR!!!!   :-)

PPS: I have entered the Chocolate Bread recipe I've shared a while ago for the Great Denby Cake Off. Wish me luck!!!!

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Birthday

(c) Life, Unexpectedly

Share Your Best

I'm in a little bit of a dilemma. Super-hubby's birthday is coming up in a few weeks, and he wants a chocolate cake for his birthday. Not the German's Chocolate Cake I've made all but one year for his birthday (last year he wanted a pumpkin cheese cake), but something new.  But I don't know anything new, and I don't have time to try something new.  So if you have THE recipe for an awesome chocolate birthday cake for my wonderful man, please share  :-)

Source

Calvin's First Month

I can't believe that our little guy is already a month old. These past weeks just flew by. He's been growing like a weed, putting on weight, and being simply a ray of sunshine in our family. He's a very cuddly little guy and generally prefers women over men (yes, a ladies' man already!!). His sisters at least are totally in love with him, and so are we!!

Here are is current stats and favorites:

Height: tbd (at the well-baby visit next week)
Weight: also tbd
Clothes size: He's still wearing a couple of newborn outfits his aunt has sent last week, but mostly he's wearing 0-3 months clothes now.
Number of teeth: none

Favorite food: mommy's milk
Favorite toy: not quite sure yet. He's mostly cuddling with a security blanket Lily gave to him, but also has a plush tiger and plush smurf.
Favorite book: so far, he's not very interested in books yet, but I tend to read out loud to him if I read my weekly magazine (note to self: an article on Ebola may not be too interesting for a one-month old...)
Favorite outfit / piece of clothing: none yet. I love his "handsome" onesie on him, or his "My Mommy can do everything except sleep in peace" shirt  :-)

Likes: cuddling, singing, getting his little toes tickled, getting warmed by the space heater.
Dislikes: bathing, changing his clothes, having a tummy ache.

Happy 1-month birthday, little guy!!

Calvin at 1 month

Week In Review - Ten Things Of Thankful (43)

Circumstances - defined as Violet's birthday party and having friends over at our house right afterward - have turned Saturday night into Sunday. Luckily for me, this is a 2-day link-up, so I still managed to be in time  :-)  This week has been so busy, and to be honest, I long for my bed so badly tonight, I don't have words for it!  And not only has it been busy, it's been packed with things to be thankful for!

1. Celebrating 8 years of marriage with the best man I could imagine on Monday. My partner, my love, my rock, my life.

2. Getting the confirmation, followed by many congratulations and well-wishes:



Yes, it's Team Blue for us this time. It was unexpected (and hubby admitted that he wouldn't have minded at all having a little Cassandra), but we're all exciting. Tons of shopping ahead of us :-)

3. Chai Latte in the morning.

4. A very, very good and re-assuring maternity leave counselling with my boss. Even though I may not have the exact same duties any more when I come back full-time in fall 2015, she told me that I will always have a job in her team, as she couldn't possibly lose someone like me. I will miss my work, but definitely look forward to a longer break to be able to focus more on the family.

5. Being able to leave work on time once this week!

6. A really, really good D20 Modern session on Friday. One of the players cancelled last minute, but since in the beginning of the session one of the characters had an unfortunate meeting with a Displacer Beast, we could still continue the game without having to create a new character first.

Source

7. Having perfect weather for Missy Violet's birthday party, so we decided to move the party to the playground nearby. At the end of the day all kids were happy, tired, and dirty. I call that a success  :-)

Courtesy by my friend

8. A great evening with wonderful friends. Even though I was looking forward to a quiet night of watching Downton Abbey, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them!

9. Getting a very positive call from our building site manager. Hand-over of the house (with the doors still to be installed after we paint) will be next Thursday!!!  Can't believe it and honestly was in a mild shock  :-)

10. Only four more days of work until my 3-week leave! So looking forward to having some time off!!


Wishing all of you a wonderful new week!!

Week In Review - Ten Things Of Thankful (42)

This week had its moments when I just wanted to hide under my blanket. When stress and the pressure working for 2+ people over the last months or so and ever-new unexpected dealings with the house took its toll and caused quite a health scare. But besides all these issues, I am thankful that there were still so many things to be thankful for this past week.

1. A March picnic. I don't remember ever having had a picnic in March before, but with temperatures in the high 70s and bright-blue skies, I simply couldn't pass up the chance to pack our lunch and blanket and head to the playground a little early before meeting with my co-workers and their children for a fun afternoon outside.

2. Getting to celebrate Missy Violet's 4th birthday today with people close to us celebrating with us. I can't believe that my little "baby" is four now. I don't know, but it is somehow still so hard not looking at her as a baby. In the past year, she's started kindergarten, met new friends, grown in independence and self-confidence while still maintaining her sweet nature (now salted with a good pinch of attitude every once in a while). And she's going to be a big sister, soon!!! So definitely, she's not a baby any more..

3. Sunny-side up cake. SO yummie!!

4. Having our building site manager make a chance trip to our house. Obviously, there's been a really bad misunderstanding between hubby and me about airing out the house and it's been closed up for the past 2 weeks. Any longer, and we'd have had a major mold issue to deal with. Hubby's still in for some clean-up, but the catastrophy was averted. Still hoping to get the gas hooked up by next week!! We now need to heat this house up asap!

5. Beautiful weather for most of the week. On Thursday afternoon, I got ice cream and went for a walk downtown with a co-worker, and it was so much fun!

6. Having a very good work-day Friday. After feeling really, really run down for days I was so productive and got tons of work done that neither I nor my poor, sick colleague will have to deal with next week.

7. Getting to watch Lily's musical today. She did such an awesome job, with all her text. And the entire class staged a simply amazing show. Even my friend, who's a 3rd/4th grade teacher was amazed by their performance.

8. A three-day-weekend to look forward to!

9. My co-workers at the IT support office who let me mooch coffee off them because the coffee at our kitchen is undrinkable.

10. The plant we got more than 3 years ago when we moved into our place. Despite grave neglect and long stretches of starvation, it still hasn't died on me yet. I promise you, plant, to find a nice, bigger pot for you to grow in and a warm and sunny place at the new house!

10 + 1:  Not getting any negative responses to yesterday's post for Janine's Finish The Sentence Friday. It was quite a rant, and I received so many good responses, even from people I haven't seen on my blog before. I don't really know what I expected, but definitely not all these encouragements and stories shared. We're definitely not alone, and there are so many people out there with the same or similar issues on their mind. I'm so thankful having had the opportunity to meet new people that way!


What are you especially thankful for this week?  Please share in your comments.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

PS: If you have a minute and feel like polling around a little, stop by A Third Baby Carriage and take the gender poll. Open until Monday evening (CET)

Birthday Party Recap

Saturday was Lily's big party with her friends. We had 8 little girls plus the two "big" girls from downstairs. It was loud, and stressful, but also so rewarding to help creating a fun birthday party for our Lily!

Shaun the Sheep birthday cake

The birthday table

Lily unwrapping her gifts

Playing musical chairs

Needless to say, I dedicated Sunday to watching the Olympics and getting off the couch as little as possible. Note to self: get ear plugs for next year!!

Out Today...

Today's hubby's birthday. Out celebrating my wonderful man!!

(Source)

Hope to see you all tomorrow for a Wordless Wednesday!!

Weekend Recap - I Need More Time Off

Recently, our weekends are so busy; maybe I'm not that boring after all??

Friday:
We were just pulling in the driveway after our appointment with the electrician when one of the twins from downstairs came running, asking if we wanted to go out to one of the local beer gardens. After being annoyed royally, this was just what I needed, so I changed into something comfortable really quick and headed out a few minutes later. We had such a great time, enjoying good food and just hanging out while the girls all went to play at the playground there. A great way to de-compress. On the way home we stopped by the building site, as our neighbors wanted to see the house, and we inspected the newly-built ground floor. I am about to get excited about the whole thing again I think! We took the girls to bed long after their usual bed time and relaxed for the res of the night.

Proof: Even I can be found outside after dark  ;-)

Saturday:
I got up around 8:30 to get ready for a run with my new running partner. I pushed the distance by about a mile while she managed to improve her time; and we both had a lot of fun, even though my legs hurt quite a bit afterward. Once I was back home and showered, the girls and I baked a large batch of muffins for the birthday party that afternoon. After a quick lunch we all headed out; arriving at my friend’s house, they were just about to leave for the wildlife park where the kids would go on a guided “Stone Age” tour. A quite adventurous short drive later, we parked and rounded all the kids up for the tour; I volunteered to go with them. The guide first took us to a house to start the introduction and show the kids a number of tools the stone age people used. After the rain shower stopped, we moved on to the late Stone Age long house, from where the kids headed out to collect nuts and grains to make food. The next hour was spent peeling wheat kernels from the ear, making brushes by crushing one end of little twigs with stones, painting the walls of the long house. The tour ended with the kids sharpening small branches to spears and having a little throwing contest. On the way back to the meeting point, we got to feed the goats, boars, and sheep with hazelnut branches. Once we got back to where the cake and other snacks were set up, I quickly confiscated all the spears (seriously, which sane person considers it a great idea to let seven mostly 6 to 8-year olds sharpen branches to spears and let them run around with it?) and we all had cake, doughnuts, muffins, and soft pretzels, yummie! The kids went on to play at the huge playground for a few more hours until the party drew to a close. After the other kids were picked up by their parents, we stopped by at my friend’s house for a little bit before heading back home. The girls were exhausted and couldn’t wait getting into bed after a quick shower. We spend the evening putting our feet up and relaxing after a busy day.

Violet painting the wall with earth paint and a self-made brush

Sunday:
We started our day around 9:00 to get ourselves ready and the houses cleaned up a little. Around 10:00, the girls from downstairs came up for practicing some English. An hour and a half later, I prepared lunch for the girls and picked up some more before heading out for a visit with my grandparents. We had a great time talking to my grandparents while the girls played in the yard. My grandma made home-made plum cake for us, and we all pigged out. Unfortunately, we had to cut our visit short because in all the excitement, Violet peed through her outfit twice and due to a lack of more clothes, we headed home around 5:30. Back home we prepared dinner and after the girls went to bed we enjoyed a quiet evening hanging out and doing a whole lot of nothing.


After this weekend, I'm not really surprised I overslept today, flex time is awesome! Note to self: check the alarm clock tonight!