Friends and Cheesecake :)

After a look into the mirror this morning, right after I got out of bed, I was sure the day was ruined. God had a great way of lifting my spirit though. A friend called me on skype and we had a chance to connect again. Even though we didn't touch base with each other much, except the occasional hello on Facebook or through reading each others blogs, it seemed as though we sat together just yesterday. It was such a sweet surprise to talk to her and her children. It made my day, though come to think of it, I am not so sure I made their day. I was not the most pleasant sight ....

After we stopped talking, she had to go because her husband had made pancakes and everyone sat down to eat. That got me hungry and I ventured into the kitchen, only find that I was too lazy to make something for breakfast, so I ate a gluten-free Christmas cookie for breakfast. If you'd like a recipe, look here.     

The kids had fun decorating cookies :)

and they are very good as well :)

When I finally got done with my shower and looked much more presentable, I decided to make the cheesecake I had planned for yesterday. It turned out sooo good! I did make some changes though, because the original recipe calls for pumpkin puree - I made the cheesecake several time like that, but we didn't feel like pumpkin today. So I substituted sour cream for pumpkin puree and lemon for cinnamon and pumpkin spice.  If you would like the recipe, you can click here.

It actually looks a bit darker than it is.

very moist and yummy :)

After all the baking and warming up the left overs from yesterday I cleaned the kitchen, dropped off one of my daughters at the mall - insert rolling eyes - took my little guy to Target to buy Lego Batman 2 for the Wii. It was sold out and so we went to Walmart where he found his long desired game, which he bought from his Christmas money from Oma and Opa. Thank you both, you made him very happy :) Then I dropped him off at home and went to pick up my child and two of her friends from the mall, brought them all to our house and tried to ignore loud laughing of three teenagers. Then I started working on my goals and organization for 2013. I think I deserved that piece of cheesecake. It was a good day :)

Merry Christmas to everyone!

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration. Last night we went to church for Christmas Eve. That was very nice. It had been too long since we were last at church on Christmas Eve. It made everything just so much more festive and thoughtful.
Today we talked to my parents in Germany for a long time. My sister is visiting them from Portugal and we skyped with her, too. It was so much fun to connect with them and be able to at least see them and talk as long as you like. I remember when I first moved to the US in 1985 all I had was the phone. Believe you me, it was EXPENSIVE! to call Germany, so I tried not to talk too long. Of course that made the distance seem so much more. Now, thanks to computers and Skype, we can talk and see each other as long and as often as we like and it doesn't cost anything. I just love it!
Then the kids played "Mexican Train" while I made our Christmas dinner. I really wanted to make goose, but at a price of $ 70 I decided against it. So we had marinated beef, with potato dumplings and red cabbage ( Sauerbraten mit Kloessen und Rotkohl). It was really delicious. For desert I had planned gluten free cheesecake, but since I talked to my parents for a really long time, I didn't have time for the cheesecake. So we will have Jesus' birthday cake tomorrow :)
After that the girls played with their new iPad for a while and then we snuggled onto the couch with gluten free cookies and watched 631 of 1060 pictures my parents had send me on a DVD. The kids were surprised that I was once a kid ;-)  Well, not really surprised but you just don't think of your parents as having been a baby once upon a time. So we had a few laughs of how Opa used to look before him and Oma were even married or when long sideburns were all the fashion.  We looked at baby pictures of me and pictures of me and my sister in the 70's, boy the style during that time was a serious fail :D
It was a good celebration of the birth of Christ. Thank you Jesus for everything you have done and still do for us. I know that His birthday is not in December, but I don't really care, because no one knows exactly when He was born. I am just more than happy and thankful that He was born and that is what we celebrate.

This is a German tradition "Bunte Teller"
everone gets a plate with Christmas
Candy. Actually there also should be
some nuts and oranges on there but
nobody wants that :-)

In the process of setting the table 

Christmas dinner is served :D

Nina is having a deep conversation with
"Siri"  ;-)

Midnight sledding.....

Well, actually it wasn't midnight, it was more like 9:30pm :)  Jamie had a friend over and all four of them went sledding. It was pretty cold and the snow had turned into mostly ice, I guess that thought was enticing for them. Luckily Nina has her license and I didn't have go out into the cold, though they used my van instead of Nina's car. To my dismay they put the wet sleds on the leather seats.......
It wasn't far from the house only about 5 min by car and they all had their phones and about 45 min later they were back and enjoying cups of hot chocolate with marshmallows. I have a good idea of how fast time goes by and so I enjoy every minute (most of the time) with the kids. The advise from a good friend was to do my best to live in the moment, thank you P. those are wise words. So now I try to live in the moment and don't get too frazzled. I try to remember to take time to listen to what they say after I ask them how they are. I will do my best to put my work down for moment to given them a hug or a smile while looking into their eyes. All too soon all of this will be a memory and they are living their own lives with their own children....

Nina and A.

looks like they are having fun

unfortunately we don't have a picture with Jamie
because she was behind the camera

doesn't the little guy look exhausted ?

I would have thought that it would work better if
 the smaller one sits on the lap of the bigger person?

 our crooked little Christmas tree 

I just had to show those totally adorable little snowmen.
Friends gave the to us last year for Christmas, thank you again
P. family!

18 !

We just had a milestone Birthday in the family. My oldest daughter turned 18 years old.
I have no idea where the time went! I doesn't seem that long ago that I watched her on the ultrasound and saw her feet kicking me. We brought her home in a Christmas stocking, she was just too cute and born too close to Christmas to pass this by ;-)   I remember her 6th Birthday, which was a princess birthday and all in pink and purple. We made cone hats and attached some pink and purple streamers to them and all the little girls had fun playing all the games my sister played with them. I remember many more Birthdays, some with tents in the living room others going to a Castle (Schloss Charlottenburg) and dressing up there and learning some dance from long ago.
I remember the first day at school. The first friends. The first overnight. The first piano lesson....
I always told her that she can quit taking piano lessons when she can play Franz Liszt for me. Now she can play Liszt and Chopin for me and she doesn't take piano lessons anymore. She just taught herself to pay Violin.... My dear, sweet Nina, I love you more than you can imagine. I am incredibly proud of you. Not only because I get to listen Liszt now, but because you keep fighting. When life has been less than kind and gentle with you, you keep hanging on to God and get up dust yourself off and keep going. That is one reason I am proud of you. You have a very big, loving heart and give everyone another chance. Sometimes it gets me upset because so often you get hurt, but more often I admire you for that. You are a wonderful young woman and I pray all of Gods abundant blessing on your life. Now you are legally an adult. That is kind of strange for both of us, I think. I thank God for you and am very curious to see what God will do in your life. I love you!

Jamie did a great job decorating the place :)

even the pooch was decorated......

the birthday presents...

the little brother gave her his present

her own coffee cup, so I can use mine and a gift card

I think she liked it  :D

the present from her sister, silver earrings. Very pretty! 

That was her dream birthday cake ;-)