52 Weeks/Shoot Me ~ Meals on Wheels!

Shoot Me! (52 Weeks) is a meme that Carin started over at "Forever in Blue Jeans." She says, "It's time to stop hiding behind that camera of yours. Your family is missing you in the picture. So it's time to post a picture of YOU (yes, you) every Thursday with your child, your spouse, your friend, your dog, or even by yourself. Just get in the picture, you'll be glad you did! And just jump in now with 1 of 52, you can do it!"

My girls and I brought Andrew & Jamie a meal since they recently had their sweet baby girl, Emma. Well he didn't have her, but you know what I mean.

She is such a pretty baby and the two of them make great parents. On the evening that I was there, Andrew was getting ready to head to work for the first time after being home for a week. The two of them were feeling sad about that and I could totally relate. Shawn always stayed home for about a week each time our babies were born. That's such a hard adjustment, but I know they will work through it.

Isn't that the cutest little outfit on her?

Melanie loved holding baby Emma. My girl looked like such a big girl holding her.

Sweet.

Braaten was loving having her own turn with the little sweetie pie. She begs me to have one more as if that's even possible.

We can just enjoy Emma, Honey.

Look at the adoration in Jamie's eyes for her precious little baby girl.

God is so good.

Stop over at "Forever in Blue Jeans" to see more moms getting "in the picture."

"52 Weeks"~~~~24/52 Cette nourriture est délicieux

Carin over at "Forever in Blue Jeans" has been hosting "52 Weeks" for the past year. She has started a new theme called "Shoot Me" with the same premise which is for us moms to be in the picture(s) on a weekly basis and post about it. I'm still working on the former theme and encourage you to come along and give it a try.

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I have no clue when it comes to speaking French. Thankfully Wikipedia came to my rescue.

So, you're wondering what the title of this post reads, right?

If I can copy the "Lumberjack's Wife" for a moment, I'll give you a gazillion (meaningless) points if you can translate it.

Answer: You'll find it at the end of this post.

So here we are. All dressed up and a fancy place to go.

It was Valentine's Day, Annette & Quentin came to visit the day before, and I found a way for my sweet hubs to take us all out to La Boheme, a great French restaurant not far from home.

How tasty does that look? It was a crab/shrimp cake. The interesting thing is that I don't love-love seafood. But when I go to this place, it's all I eat! Why? Because I don't like lamb much, and chicken isn't on the menu. And even more importantly, it tastes sooooo good.

Quentin feasted on this "Suckling Pig". If my memory serves me correctly, that was what it was called. But, again, everything they make, even things with funny titles, is divine.

Both Shawn and Annette ordered the sea bass. Yum!

And me, the non-fish eater that I am, ordered the cod. There were mashed potatoes on top of a carmelized onions and julienned vegetables.

Does it get much better than that?

Oh, perhaps it does. Two of these little delights were brought to our table and my hubby looked as excited as I was inside.

Can you tell he was thinking this is another beautiful "blog moment". "Take my picture, Honey." Don't you think he should start to write his own blog? He would be fabulous at it. After all, he does write our annual Christmas letter and always gets scads of wonderful comments from friends and family.

Coffee & chocolate-mints-in-the-shape-of-hearts anyone?

The evening was rounded out in a classy way when the check was presented with these two pretty boxes. Two chocolates could be found in each.

We had the best time together on Valentine's Day, eating fine cuisine, and celebrating friendship. The funny thing about going to La Boheme is that Annette and I enjoyed it so much, that we had the nerve, audicity I mean, to find a way to get back there just one more time before they got back on a plane 5 days later. Yes, we returned last Friday evening.

Greedy I tell ya.

Answer: The food is delicious!

"52 Weeks" (Week 21 of 52) The Loves of My Life

Carin over at "Forever in Blue Jeans" has been hosting "52 Weeks" for the past year. She has started a new theme called "Shoot Me" with the same premise which is for us moms to be in the picture(s) on a weekly basis and post about it. I'm still working on the former theme and encourage you to come along and give it a try.

We were all sitting and waiting for lunch at a cafe in Mondsee, Austria. They are known for excellent apple strudel and we just had to try some.

And now for a completely different atmosphere... we were on our cruise ship on the Mediterranean. A man came up to us and suggested we get a "kissing" picture with the sunset behind us. He caught us mid-kiss. Ahh, a sunny cruise sounds great about now, doesn't it?

Join Carin for "Shoot Me" and get in on the fun, yet memorable time.

"52 Weeks"~~~~19/52 Photos of Me

"52 Weeks" is a weekly blog carnival that Carin over at "Forever in Blue Jeans" hosts. It's a challenge for us moms to finally get in the picture instead of being the ones that are always taking them. It's been great fun and I appreciate Carin for starting it.

Several weeks ago, Shawn and I took the kids to Munich to check out the Christmas markets, and, more importantly, to see Germany. Shawn is 100% German and I have some German in me as well. Since we're talking about nationalities, I'm also French, Scottish, English, Norwegian and Irish. I know, I'm a mutt. Doesn't that sound bad? That's what people always say when I tell them all of these various nationalities that make me who I am.

We were walking around and buying little things from the market especially little Christmas presents from the kids to each other.

We went to a little town in Germany called Mittenwald that was so quaint and beautiful. Do you see the mountains in the background? It was just beautiful to be there with the snow-covered mountains and charming storefronts. My husband found the cuckoo clock he had intended to buy while visiting. We really look forward to hanging it up when we return to Michigan.

I was sitting in the apartment, kicking back, and relaxing.

This final photo was taken in another town called Rattenberg in Austria. Each year they host a wonderful Advent celebration in their village and people from all around in neighboring towns travel to go there. We were blessed because our apartment was only a 15 minute drive from it. But boy was it cold outside!

I plan on doing a series of posts about our German & Austrian adventures after the New Year. So stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by.

"52 Weeks"~~~~18/52 Photos of Me

Carin at "Forever in Blue Jeans" is the host of this year-long meme. She came up with the idea to have moms get "in the picture" for a change. After all, we are often the ones taking the photos. I've decided to take the challenge and am enjoying being a part of it. Come and join her. If you do, just link up to her blog.

~Cookie Baking~

I had one of the children take this photo of me which has nothing to do with cookie baking per se, but it had everything to do with tree decorating and Christmas, so I posed and here it is. A couple of my kiddos thought it was a little too posed, but that's ok in the name of "52 Weeks", right??

Now, on to cookies...

Every year, one of our traditions is to make lots and lots, or loads and loads as they say in England, of cookies. We make all different recipes and then plate them up and bring them to neighbors and friends. The rest is put into freezer bags to enjoy throughout the Christmas season. Before my dear dad passed away, he enjoyed joining in on our tradition. He loved cooking, baking, and most of all, being with his family. It brought him incredible joy. I really have to write a post about my dad soon.

My dear hubs is a cookie dough makin', dough rolling, frosting mixing, dough dividing genius. He typically is the one to make the dough needed for Christmas cut-outs. He's a food scientist, has worked with many thousands of cookies in the past, and currently works with cereal and morning snacks. This whole cookie business comes easy to him.

So on a Sunday, just a couple of weeks ago, we set out on our cookie mission.

Grant was helping me mix dough to make lebkuchen, a traditional German, spiced cookie. Shawn's mom always makes lebkucken, but her version is hard, which all of her children love. I don't have her exact recipe, so I found one on the internet. Note to self: ask Mom for that recipe. (Mine turned out well, but they weren't Mom's).

Shawn, in his math prowess, divided up the dough perfectly for each child to roll out and cut their favorite shapes.

My boy of many faces...

Did you know these guys, our identical twins, were born on Christmas Eve? Just thought I'd share. I had their birthday party this year in November just so they would have a special time all their own. I have yet to post about it.

Megan and Amy, my girls' friends, were over to join in on the Busse Baking party. They really enjoyed themselves. (In the photo: Melanie and Megan)

Amy & Braaten

By this point all of the cookies were being frosted and decorated.

I think this is half of what we made. We made 4 different types of cookies that day.

And last night, I had a cookie exchange (which is a foreign concept here in the UK) at my house and had made 4 dozen each of two types of cookies. I had 7 ladies show up and we had a great time. I have no pictures. Can you believe it? The women really loved the idea of exchanging all kinds of cookies and getting to take them home.

Bon Appetit'!

13/52 Photos of Me ~ "52 Weeks"

I have accepted Carin's "52 Weeks" challenge. She challenges us moms to get into the pictures. Afterall, we are oftentimes the one snapping the shots. Why don't you give it a try? It's fun and you can start at Week 1.

Another highlight of our trip to Center Parcs last weekend is when we all played basketball.

Basketball, you ask? Yes. Though I have never played on a team in my life, I had a blast running around that court. I even made a swoosh at the 3 point line. Yes, it surprised me, too. We were on 3 different teams with other families. I was on the yellow team, Austin and Melanie were on the red team, and Braaten, Shawn, Grant, and Cooper were on the green team. The reds got 1st, the greens 2nd, and my little yellow team took 3rd.

We all had so much fun!

I was getting ready to play the first 5 minute game against the blue team.

Austin & Mel

Shawn, Braaten, Cooper and Grant

Austin~ he loves playing basketball. This was a great for him.

My man was having some fun playing b-ball. I couldn't keep up with him.

Sorry about the blurry shots here. We need to learn how to work our camera a little better.

Check out Braaten.

The Busse Seven had a blast on the court.

To see more "52 Weeks" posts, visit here.