It's been hard...

We've had a bit of a difficult time since Anneli and Vincent left us, Leah has taken it very hard and says she wants to move to Sweden or go on a holiday to see all of her family. Had lots of tantrums again and learned to say no they way Vincent said it when they were here.*sighs* what can you do? Gonna be good to have mum over in march, I'm sure that'll make her happier!

She is also getting fed up with Erik always bulldozing his way through everything and all of our toes in his walker or talking her toys etc as you can see in the video.

This weekend had been crap! Alarm decided to 'die' on us and sound the alarm and we were unable to turn it off, then the taps for the bathtub stopped working- and Micky had to screw the whole thing off and back on and eventually got the damned thing off, and then we've all got the cold, Erik the worst though poor thing! Better now, but now it's my turn. Bah! Too negative now, we're all good, Erik is growing fast and can sit up fine now and is trying to crawl but ends up going backwards. We are also gonna go to see 'Tangled' with Leah of friday, looking forward to it!

ha ha ha!

Christmas

We had a lovely time when Anneli and Vincent was here and Christmas was lovely and stressfree with good food, but I didn't really get to enjoy it until after because I was doing the cooking and felt 'full' already. But I think I've made up for it- have been stuffing myself everyday since! House was so full of life and feels very empty now, we miss you so much!

It's not been that nice after they left, pipes burst and no water for a few days=no heat! thankfully it's 9c+ outside now so house is nice and warm anyways.

For more pics from Christmas and Erik's christening go to my facebook page!

christmas preparations!

Loooove Christmas and this one is gonna be great!! So excited!!! Tree is up and beautifully decorated by me and Leah (who put about 3-4 baubles per branch!) The whole room smells lovely!
Little Erik is growing so fast and is walking backwards in his walker and is rolling around on the floor drooling on everything! Leah is simply the BEST! She is so helpful and loves her brother, don't know what I would do without her, or if she was like so many other older siblings who would hurt the little ones. She is quite an artist too- makes portraits and adds touches like necklaces and lots of circles (don't know what they are but don't want to ask in case I offend her)
Have to go now, making pepparkakor!!! Leah said 'I wanna help you make pepparkakor- can I, can I?' so off I go!

Snow!

Had so much fun today- me and Leah we're playing in the snow, making snow angels and a snowman and had a snowball fight! Loved it!!

caramel and chocolate tart

Was going to make a chocolate tart the other day and decided to add caramel to it, and it was such a success that there was no left to take pictures of it :) Any way here is the recipe

Basic sweet pastry
200g flour
100g chilled butter
1 tbsp icing sugar
1/2-1 egg

Caramel layer
60g butter
55g brown sugar
1 can condensed milk

Chocolate layer
100g sugar
2 eggs+2 egg yolks
250g chocolate (i used half milk and half dark)
150 g butter

For the Pastry
If you don't have a food processor, pinch butter into flour and sugar until evenly mixed then add the egg slowly until it all comes together nicely and not too sticky. Put into clingfilm and chill for about 30 minutes., then roll out and put into a 23 cm pan and blind bake for 15-20 minutes, then take out beans or whatever you used for blind baking and brush with egg or milk and in again for another few minutes until dry and golden.

For the caramel layer
Add all ingredients in pan and let it bubble for a few minutes, the longer you let it boil the chewier, I just left it for say 5-7 minutes. Let it cool.

For the chocolate layer
Melt the chocolate with the butter in microwave for about 2 minutes and set aside to cool. Whisk eggs with the sugar until thickened and add the melted chocolate and butter and blend until it's glossy.

Add the cooled caramel to the pie crust and add the chocolate mixture and bake for just under 20 minutes in a preheated oven to 180C fan. Serve with a dollop of cream or vanilla ice-cream- ENJOY!!

happy, happy kids!