April Fools Day

Hailee absolutely loves April Fools Day. She had so much fun teasing her friends today with some fun jokes. Last week when she found out she needed eye glasses she was really hoping that they would come in time for her to wear them today. Unfortunately they didn't arrive until after she started school.  But she was excited to go get them and thought about taking a picture to text to her friends. After school we went to the eye doctor to pick up her glasses. Once we got in the car and were on our way home  she told me that things seemed blurrier than without glasses. We figured out that they put my prescription in Hailee's glasses. Looks like the joke is on her this time, but she's a good sport and thought it was all pretty funny. 

Soaking it in

I am trying my hardest to soak up all the time I possibly can with this little monkey. He will be starting kindergarten in the fall and I'm not ready for him to leave me quite yet. For now I'm just trying to enjoy the little moments with him. Things I love. 

He is such a good boy. 

He has such a tender little heart. 

He loves his family. 

He always tried to be kind. 

But above all he just wants to have fun. And he's full of all kinds of fun ideas (some his mom doesn't always approve!).

I love my little man. 

My kids

This picture was taken on Friday and perfect sums up these two little munchkins of mine. Friday was pajama day at school. Hailee was so excited, she spent days trying to decide what pajamas to wear. When it was time to pick up sissy James decided he wanted to join in the fun and wear pajams too. Of course since he has spidey pajams a mask and "web shooters" had to come along as well. 

When we picked her up I wanted to get a picture of them. Hailee was a little embarrassed to bewearing pajamas (apparently at school it was great but not at the bus stop where no one knew it was pajama day) but she hummored me. James on the other hand was thrilled to be getting his picture taken. He actually had me take two. The second one is the one I posted. After the first he knew he could do a better spidey pose. 

So there you have it the sweetest little girl who is growing up way to fast. She loves her mother and her little brother (even though we both can be embarrassing at times.) And a little boy that is so full if fun, who doesn't do anything half way, and just wants to keep up with his sister (who he loves with all his heart, despite doing his best to drive her crazy).

I love my two little munchkins. They make me one happy momma....even with all the craziness. 

Snuggling

This little monkey has been coming into our room between four and five in the morning for the last little while. I know I should probably put a stop to it but in all honestly I love the early morning snuggles. He usually doesn't say anything but yesterday morning he came in at 4:30 and said, "let's snuggle." I had already woken up (dang time change) a little before he came in so I said "I love you baby." Surprised he said, "mom, it's me James, I sneaked into your room." I guess he thought I was confused. 

Last night he brought his stuffed penguin in with him at about 4:00. When my alarm went off at 6:30 James was snuggled up right next to me and Todd was snuggled up with the penguin. So nice and thoughtful of the boy to bring a stuffed penguin for his dad to snuggle with. 

Lessons from James

After bonking his head….

Nicole: James be careful.
James: Mom, I'm not bleeding, my brain isn't leaking out, and my head isn't cracked. I'm just fine!

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After a sweaty day of running around outside he was cuddled up next to me….

Nicole: James you smell like a boy.
James: I smell handsome mom.

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We were chatting in the car for a bit but after a while he got quiet….

Nicole: James what are you thinking about?
James: Can we just drive mom?

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On love….

Nicole: James I love you.

James: I know

Nicole: How do you know?

James: You give me food.

Nicole: How else do you know?

James: You cook for me.

I guess that covers it. 

The best chocolate cake

Back when we lived in the US, I never ever made cake from scratch, unless it was cheesecake. Honestly I never found a recipe that tasted as good as a Betty Crocker box. Since you can usually buy a cake mix for around a dollar I never saw the point of doing anything else. 

Now that we've been living in Germany I've had to experiment with cake. But since it's not a family favorite (my family prefers pie or cheesecake for special occasions) I haven't made it a lot. 

That being said there are times when cake is preferred to our favorites. Taking cupcakes to school or having a birthday party with friends are two times we've run into the need to have cake. To say it's been a struggle would be an understatement. I have tried countless recipes in order to find a good one. But I must admit, sometimes you can find a cake mix here and eventhough they cost 6 euros (which is over 8 dollars!!!) I totally pick up a couple for such occasions. 

We'll not any more. I have found the best cake recipe. It all began with a series of unfortunate events. I met some friends downtown for lunch and afterwards we picked out cupcakes for the family. Since I was bringing home an extra 4-year-old and it was raining, the cupcakes got lost somewhere along the way. James realized they were gone (up to this point I had forgotten about them too). He was so sad that the cupcakes he had so lovingly picked out for his dad and sis were now somewhere lost in Munich. 

It was time to go pick up Hailee so I did a quick search on Pinterest for Oreo cupcakes. Once we got home he helped me make them. 

So cute in his new apron. 

Now the first time we made these they turned out ok. Not amazing. The chocolate flavor wasn't amazing but they were so incredibly moist and the texture was absolutely perfect I thought they deserved a second chance. I had been out of the good cocoa powder when I made them so I decided to give them a second chance with the really nice powder. And that made all the difference. 

Cookies and cream cupcakes

Serves 24

Prep time 10 minutes

Cook time 20 minutes

Total time 30 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 cup chopped Oreos

1/8 teaspoon salt

Cake

1/2 cup butter (melted)

1/2 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cups cocoa powder

3 1/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 eggs

1 3/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting

3/4 cups butter (softened)

4oz cream cheese (softened)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

4-6 heaped tablespoons milk

1/3 cup crushed Oreos

Directions

Cake

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350

In a large mixing bowl combine all cake ingredients except the Oreos. Mix well. Stir in the Oreos by hand. Fill lined cupcake tins about 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

Step 2

In a mixing bowl beat the butter, cream cheese, vanilla and salt until creamy and smooth. Add the powdered sugar and 4 TBS of milk. Beat well. If too thick add more milk, one TBS at a time. Stir in Oreos. Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Store covered at room temp for up to two days or refrigerate up to 5 days.

Read more at http://backforsecondsblog.com/2013/06/chocolate-oreo-cupcakes-with-cookies-and-cream-frosting/#wcdR3CXSCGhQXza4.99

These can be made without the chopped Oreos in the cake batter. I only made cupcakes so far, but next time I am going to try it as a cake to see how that works. I also didn't add the Oreos to the frosting but sprinkled them on top. I thought it looked prettier that way. 

The most important thing about the recipe is the cocoa powder. My favorite is Valrhona cocoa powder. And I did check to see if I can buy it in the US and I did find it on amazon. 

Hallstatt: shopping, exploring, and eating

I am joking a bit when I say this vacation was just for the kids. In reality Todd and I enjoyed ourselves as well. It was a relaxing break with a bunch of kid friendly things thrown in for good measure. Personally I probably would have wandered more and swam less. But on the other hand the kids were pretty good little wanderers and enjoyed exploring the beauty all around us, do I can't complain too much. 

In the end we were able to shop, explore, and eat our way through Hallstatt.

This was a particularly sunny spot. The lighting was beautiful, although the sun was right in our faces. James came up with his own 'sun glasses' to help with the sun problem. I didn't realize it until I downloaded the pictures. It cracked us all up. 

I'm a little obsessed about this tree. This is the first one we noticed. We were looking at the little shop when something dropped and knocked off something. At first I thought it was one if my kids touching something, but it was a pear! Then I noticed that the green on the house wasn't ivy but an actual tree. We saw a lot more on our exploration of Hallstatt and now I don't think my life will be complete until I have one just like it. I'm sure these trees took years and years to grow. I have no idea what the tree roots will do to the foundation of a house, but now that I've seen them I have to have a tree growing on the front of my house. 

Behind Todd's shoulder you can see another beautiful tree growing on the front if the house. 

This is what happens when James has to smile for too many pictures Inna short amount of time. He starts thinking his mom has lost her mind. 

I was a little worried that we were coming too late to ride in a boat. In Germany once school is back in they put away the boats. Thankfully Hallstatt didn't seem to have that rule and we were able to get views from the water. I am so glad we did. 

All of our trips seem to revolve around food in some ways. We think part if the way to enjoy a new place is to learn what they eat in the area. James think every place should have schnitzel. And for the most part he's been able to find it. I guess for him he's trying to figure out who has the best schnitzel. But if course I don't think he's found a schnitzel he doesn't like. 

The rest if us like to be a little more adventurous in eating. On this trip we would eat in Hallstatt for lunch and then have a quiet dinner in our apartment in the evening. We found two amazing places down by the lake that were perfect. 

The second place had an area where the kids could run around while we waited for dinner. It was very nice because although the food was great, they were very slow. 

Hailee kept herself entertained while we were waiting for the bill by making a house with cards. 

James kept us in stitches by telling us stories. He lives in a very exciting place. I love that half of his stories are sound effects and something exciting is always happening. 

There was not one thing I would have changed about this trip. The weather was perfect every single day for the activity we had planned. It could not have been nicer.