Look what we found Mom.......

My children were supposed to be getting into our vehicle to go to the store.

Instead they were deeply engrossed in this stump....... They found something much more interesting......a roly-poly! It is the little things that are so much fun!

Making the best of a snowy day.....

The kids were supposed to go on their big end of ski school trip to the Black Forrest a week ago. My husband got up at 4 am to get them to the base by 4:45. The snow was so bad that he was barely able to see to drive. He was almost to post when he received the call that the trip was canceled due to the road conditions!! So, he turned around and slowly came back home.

I caught the girls outside making snow angels since they were so bored!

I on the other hand was not so bored as I was slaving away in the kitchen when I looked out the French door to see them making snow angels...they were on their 2nd set in the yard!
Lauren...

Sarah...

Luckily, the trip has been rescheduled for this coming Saturday.....they are ALL really excited!

What a day!

Today went something like this:

4:50 - phone call saying there was a 2 hour school delay due to snow...yes!

8:00 - make breakfast

8:30 - phone call saying school is now canceled due to snow

9:00 - Chimney sweeper arrived....he comes 2 times a year (winter and spring) and it is always a surprise...no notice ever! Yes, he wears a traditional chimney sweeper outfit and is covered in soot.

12:30 - I decide today is a good day to make my first batch of homemade spaghetti for dinner tonight. I was in the process of making the dough when.....

1:00 - furniture delivery....YES....we now have some much needed storage for the kitchen AND for the bathroom upstairs. That will be another post. Lets just say there is NO storage in German homes!

1:15 - back to making the spaghetti...

I read that fresh spaghetti is best with a dairy based sauce. So, I had all of the ingredients to make Artichoke Hearts and Tomatoe Sauce which is made with a heavy cream.

Add these ingredients plus a little water....

After I took this picture I realized that I had the dough hook on instead of the flat beater.....
Due to the large amount of counter space in my kitchen (wink), my cooktop doubled as my workspace. The dough is divided into 4 sections and then runs through the pasta roller several times to knead the dough. Then it runs through a few more times on smaller settings to create the thickness desired.

Here is the dough after running through one time....each piece ended up being at LEAST 4 times this size!!!
Now it's time to run the extremely long dough through the spaghetti cutter. Um...I learned that I need to cut the pieces into smaller pieces than I did today!

My kids loved this part!

Here is the finished product on the drying rack......

Basil Italian bread we had with our dinner.....

Colton took this picture of Ian sleeping. Yes, he has a bed, but the floor works fine too:)
Homemade pasta IS different....lighter and less chewy! It is DELICIOUS!! Totally worth the small amount of effort it takes to make. I see more batches of dough in our future!

Outdoor living complete

I mentioned in my last post that we had purchased flowers for our terrace. We have an awesome outdoor living area! It looked really nice last summer and then somehow it just went down hill and I mean way down! There was broken glass from something that blew over, lots of dead plants, and dirt that has landed up there over time.

Here is a glimpse before we cleaned and planted:


The kids helped me plant LOTS of flowers which they situated all over the place (spared you a picture of every one...was tempted though). We also planted herbs, green onions, kiwi, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, and beef steak tomatoes. They are very excited about the strawberries!

Here is the terrace now:

....and 2 of my little helpers

All we have left to do is hang the "See Rock City" birdhouse that I finally put together. Purchased it just before we moved here almost 1 1/2 years ago!! I needed a bigger helping hand so that will be for later today. You can see it sitting in the chair waiting for my oldest son to get home from school.