This morning we had an early Easter Brunch from DH´s work. This time not in the office but at a restaurant. Great food, the kids were taken care off because there wereindoor games, so a nice brunch. This is the lood they brought home, so enough chocolate for a few weeks...
This is us, 4 years ago. Wow, I can´t believe they grow up so fast. There he was happy with his pacifier, now he is sitting in the couch with his new NDS, playing mario or something.
And as I am typing this I am waiting for the oven, where there are more cupcakes... For his party later this morning. Happy Birthday from us!
It was a very busy week with training, work and other stuff, so I enjoined a bit of free time with only son #3 and my quilting project. I can´t show you too much since it is a babyquilt for my BIL and his wife, and it is a surprise. My SIL chose the colors and now I am almost finished with quilting. This morning son #3 and I went on a quest for red fabric while the two other boys were in school.
This is son #1 six years ago... We arrived home at 2.30 in the morning. Nic was born at 12.10 and around 2 o´clock in the morning we were released from hospital and on our way home with our first son... Little did we know.
And this is him now. He asked for cupcakes for his class so I made a whole bunch of them and they were all gone, so I think everybody liked them.
I think he had a wonderful day yesterday, he asked for french fries and chicken nuggets for diner. Afterwards, we had strawberry cake, and the best part... The nintendo he got for his birthday. :-)
Today I followed a course how to make an Old American square and a little matching flower. I can crochet in circles but I am not good in reading patterns, so I followed this course and I must say, now the symbols make sense...
In the afternoon I rushed home, because son #1 has his birthday tomorrow, so the kids party was today. 12 children in total and they ate a lot of cupcakes and poffertjes (a dutch small pancake), so after an afternoon full of play and party, the boysare off to bed with all the presents.
I finally finished my WIP. I wanted to make this before we went on our skiholiday...But I finally finished it, so now I have to incorporate it into a red/white quilt I want to make for our future skiholidays.
Today my friend Eevelyn and I went to Gent to pick up some japanse stash we ordered from this webstore Japanese Zakka
Well, we are back home and an experience richer. The funeral was very nice, if you can say that of a funeral. The somgs that were sung, the flowers, everything and especially the presence of so many people that liked uncle Jan and travelled very far to come to his funeral.
Afterwards, we, this is a custom in Ghana, went to the bar next to the chapel and had a drink with all the funeral attendants in honor of Jan. As you can see, if you own a car, there are always persons that want to catch a ride, no problem, this is Africa. Yesterday we passed a school and some kids asked for a ride, before we knew it, there were 21 kids in the back of the pickup...
And DH birthday was on the same day of the funeral, so we also had a beer for his birthday, nothing fancy, but still, it was good to see old friends that travelled from Accra to Sogakope for the funeral. When DH saw the Lamborghini, he wanted a picture with it for his birthday.
Yesterday we also visited some friends at their home, which is just lovely and a wonderful garden, as you can see there was quite a bit of wind, but it was very nice to sit in the BBQ house near the river. 
And yesterday when we drove to Kotoka Int. airport, we saw this truck with engine problems... It is loaded with plastic eating bags, the kind in which they put burgers, but in Ghana, the serve chicken and rice in them.
Yesterday DH and I had our birthday party, we invited some friends to come over and celebrate. I must admit that I was spoiled and received all nice baking stuff. Two books with cakes and cupcakes recepices, a Pip bag, an oven glove from Blond, a voucher for lunch and a very nice quilting book. So I know what to do today, DH started the wood burner and I will make waffles this afternoon and since it started snowing again, we will stay indoors and make it comfortable.
Yes, today is my birthday, again, a year older.
I have been working on my black and white babyquilt for our futher nephew. He is due in April, so I had to start working on it, especially since in the coming week I will be at a course abroad, so I won´t be able to do much crafting overthere.
As I said in my last post, I have been stitching on my Milka cow. Not much has been going on, working and trying to get all the laundry ironed and into the cupboards.
Yesterday we went rodeln on the Wildkogel. It is the longest rodeln track in Europe (14 km) and it is great fun. The first 2 corners are a bit tricky and perhabs a bit dangerous (because you are on a red skislope) but after that it is great fun. The boys and both of us loved it, we didi it for the second time and it is just fantastic.
But to all good things come an end and today is our last day here in Austria. Tomorrow we will be driving back, so the boys are skiing with their dad and son #3 is playing in the snow. It has been a fantastic week with snow and losts of sun, so that was great. The boys both got in first at the contests so they are more than happy with their gold medalls. So everybody had a wonderful vacation. We can´t wait to go on our next skiholiday.
Today the Super G was skied by both of the boys. Nic had a real slalom contest on the mountain, as you can see.
Peter also had a contest but it was less demanding on the little ones. They had to ski between little flags. And he did great.
Son #1 came in first and son #2 came in second place. So they did both fantastic, since they are 5 and 3 and had to compete against older children. They boys both can be very proud. I know I am, but offcourse, I am their mum... :-) 
The weather here in Austria seems better than at home. It snows so there is no sun, that is a pitty because we have a big sun deck here at the chalet, but it is not too cold, around -5 degrees Celsius during the day. 
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We will be leaving for our annual skiholiday tonight, so I will be off the blog scene for about a week, unless there is an internet connection in the chalet.
This morning son #3 assisted me in some crochet, as you can see. This is the result of my crocheting: an alien rabbit for my SIL future baby. She asked me for a red alien rabbit, so here he is.
I also made three chicken legs for son #2´s kitchen. He likes to cook, so I made him some vegetables and the tree chickenlegs. As you can see, DH oalso likes them, but to guggle with them. 
First of all, let me wish you a happy New Year. This picture was made last night when the boys were lighting firworks. As you can see, as a safety consultant, I had to buy the boys firework safety goggles. And after the blast of all the fireworks that were light, all fingers, toes and eyes are accounted for.
And as a good Belgian tradition, the boys read their New Year letters. OK, read is a big word, they have memorised them, so I don´t want to know how long the teacher is busy tring to get them to memorise the letter. But they both did very well, so their piggy banks are a lot bigger now.
And after all the partying, again, we ´aired´ they boys on the beach at Katwijk, but it was very cold, so Ruben was not amused and we turned back, but it was a very nice but cold day at the beach.
We had a lazy day after the holidays and went for a walk on the beach. It was a bit chilly but the sun was there, so it was a nice walk. The boys needed to be ´aired´... after a couple of days indoors.
Well, this is the result of an afternoon grocery shopping, cooking and baking. The turkey is stuffed, the cookies are made and a speculaas parfait, which is delicious. We tried the parfait last week and is was so good, we decided to have it for christmas day dessert.
Some cupcakes filled with cherries and apples. Some traditional cheese cookies in the back and some white fondant cookies.
OK, this is becoming a record for us. The snow is still here and the weather forecast stated that it will snow again this afternoon. Could there be a white Christmas? We didn´t have a white Christmas since 1986, so this would be fantastic... We will see.
I think the ice crystal cookies look fantastic, and the taste as good as they look. Another thing we tried, was the cookie christmas tree:
Let me tell you that this is not wath I expected... It is fun, but it doesn´t look so nice. And it doesn´t look like a christmas tree, what it is supposed to be... but we tried, and we will try harder next time.
Yesterday it started snowing, just a little bit, but it kept snowing and by the time I had to leave to go home, the roads were one big chaos. The public services didn´t clean the roads so it took me 1,5 hours to drive 11 km...
Another package was awaiting me and that was this little cute book. It is a dutch translation but I think the original is called subversive stitching... In dutch it is called ´stitching for bitches´. It has some great dutch strong sayings and I just love it.
Yesterday a package (well actually more than one package) was awaiting me.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon and evening celebrating Sinterklaas´ birthday. So gifts and poems were exchanged. The kids saw Zwarte Piet bring a big bag of presents, and spent most of the evening unpacking all their goodies and fell asleep very happy.
