Thursday, February 26, 2009

Some time outside...finally

This week started out good. After school on tuesday, I picked Broderick up from dagpleje and we went home and there was a big box waiting inside our door. We had gotten a package from Grandma and Grandpa Schmidgall. Broderick was so excited to get a "pesent"!!!
So of course we had to rush to get our coats and shoes off and then we opened it up. Broderick was so excited for the Valentine's care package.
Here he is holding the box of candy. Him and Brad were basically fighting over it when Brad got home. I had let Broderick have a couple pieces and then told him he had to wait until after supper for some more. As soon as Brad came home, he wouldn't stop eating it. Ok Brad, you're not helping the situation. How can I tell Broderick he can't have any when Daddy's eating it?
Here's Broderick with everything. Thank you so much Grandpa and Grandma! We loved everything!
Here's just some random pictures of Broderick the other morning. He loves his batman hat and wears it all the time lately. Tonight he insisted that he wear it to bed.
He especially likes to wear it "batwarz" (backwards).
Its been getting a little warmer lately. Today it was in the high 40's and the sun was shining. Unfortunately most of the day was extremely windy and there was some rain, but this afternoon, the wind died down and it was beautiful so we spent a couple of hours outside playing.

I think I'm starting to turn the corner on this cold. And I finally got some antacids, so that is helping the heartburn situation. I've altered my diet quite a bit too. Tomorrow we go to Cologne, Germany to visit some friends of ours from Italy who are living there. They had lived in Burlington for a couple years and then had moved back to Europe. They have 2 little girls and we're so excited to see them. This is my last weekend to travel, as I'm being induced 3 weeks from tomorrow. I'm uncomfortable and tired enough now that tavel isn't sounding nearly as tempting as it once was. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Fastelaven

Last night, we went to Brian and Janne's house for dinner. It was good to spend time with them and Broderick and Krister had fun playing together. Here they are together on a scooter. Every child over here has one of these scooters and they can really move on them.
Today is Fastelaven. Their holiday similar to Halloween as where kids dress up and then they go door to door tomorrow and have to sing a song - but they usually get money at the houses they go to, not candy. We went to church today with our friends Heine and Tina. They were having a special Fastelaven service. Broderick was excited to see his friends, but was scared to death of Jeppe (the lion). He wouldn't have anything to do with him for a long time. It was quite funny.
Here's Broderick and Jeppe, Broderick is actually standing somewhat close to him and not screaming. =D
Then this afternoon we took Broderick to a Fastelaven party in our town that was organized through his gym class.
Its tradition on this holiday to put a black cat in a wooden barrel and beat it. This is supposed to scare away any evil spirits. I don't know about the evil spirits, but I wouldn't want to be around that cat when it came out. Now, they still have a wooden barrel, but its filled with candy - basically a really tough pinata. Broderick wanted nothing to do with it the first time through the line, but then loved hitting it his next turn. Here's Broderick and Krister. Krister has a crown on his head because he (and his dad) are the ones who broke the barrel.
These are traditional Fastelaven boller, a roll filled with cream and has some frosting on top. You can only buy them around this holiday and they are very good.
After the wooden barrels and the snack, then they filled up a big inflatable jumping mat and Broderick loved it, as you can see from his smile.
Today was a very fun day. And it was warm, about 7 degrees celsius. All the snow we've had all week was about gone when we woke up this morning. After supper Brad and Broderick went on a bike ride and we've just been relaxing ever since.
I've been having horrible heartburn at night, so I'm not sleeping well at all. Last night Brad moved to the guest room. I guess he doesn't sleep well either when I'm up all night. =) I go back to the doctor on wednesday and I'll see what she wants me to take. Less than 4 weeks now, so time is running out.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Baby's Room

Here's Broderick getting ready for Fastelaven - a holiday similar to our Halloween. He really wanted to be a tiger and had been telling me that, but when he put on the costume and looked in the mirror, he got scared and wanted to take it off. Hopefully he'll get over that before his party this weekend.

















We've been working on the baby's room. I've had this week off of school, so I've had some extra time. I'm nesting bad. That's great because I'm getting a lot done, but bad because I keep buying things. =)

















Broderick likes to take a little step stool and get into the baby's bed. Today I asked him if I should take a picture of him being the baby. Of course he wanted a picture. I get my camera and said, "Say cheese." He said, "No mommy, I want to say hi. " So I guess he says hi now when we take a picture. Not cheese.
















































A few pictures of the baby's room. Its small, but cozy.














Last Saturday we had lunch with Torben Morch and his wife, Maiken. They have 2 kids. A little boy Broderick's age and a little girl who is 4 1/2. They served us a really great lunch and we of course ate too much.













Broderick riding their trike. He's getting better.













Philip, Celina, and Broderick doing art work.

Its been snowing a lot lately. The last 3 days in fact. Amazing though, even with 3 days of snow, there has only been a total of about 2 inches. Its crazy. The sun has been shining though which is so nice. We're getting ready for spring to come!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Weekend in Belgium

This past weekend we fly into Brussels and spent the weekend with Darren and Krystin Schambach and their two children. Broderick of course loved having a little boy who spoke English to play with and we loved hanging out with fellow Americans and friends/family. They live about a half hour from Brussels. We are so sad because they will be moving back to the US in a couple of months.

We got their friday night and then took the train to the town of Brugge, Belgium. It was a really quaint, old beautiful city. Then we had great Mexican food Saturday night - something we don't have in Denmark (we need to find a Jose, Krystin). On Sunday we went to church with them and then headed to Brussels for the afternoon. It was a great time.













Different pics
of Brussels!

















Brugge






Madonna and Child
by Michelangelo









An old bridge over a
canal in Brugge





It was really
a beautiful city.







Markt, the town
square in Brugge.




Brad and Broderick hanging out at the airport. Broderick kept announcing, "Airplane Ready!" in hopes that meant we got to get on the plane.
Broderick and Tobin wasted no time and started playin together instantly.
On the train to Brugge.
Tobin and Broderick loved looking out the window of the train.
Darren, Krystin and Castalie
Markt, the old town square in Brugge.
Enjoying lunch in Brugge.
Darren and Krystin in Brugge.
Darren, Krystin, Tobin and Castalie
All of us, we were trying to get Broderick to take a nap. He was SO overtired. He was up a lot the previous night.
Along a canal in Brugge
Krystin and Megan hanging out in Brugge, it was really beautiful.
They were doing construction near one of the churches we visited. Brad saw concrete pipe and of course had to check it out!!!
Eating frites. We were told that french fries originated from Belgium. They have stands set up selling frites and they double fry them. Then the have a ton of different sauces you can choose from.
The town square in Brugge again.
Broderick and Tobin playing dinosaurs.
Tobin hanging out at home.
Playing together on the stairs.
Darren, Krystin and family in front of their house.
Grote Markt, the square in the old town center of Brussels
Grote Markt
In front of the Mannequin Pis
The Mannequin Pis - a very well known statue in Brussels. It was so small in person. I was kind of surprised. I guess he is often dressed up in various customes.
Eating Belgium Waffles. OK, these were my favorite Belgium specialty. They were so good.
Broderick thought so too.
In front of a chocolate shop in Brussels. This chocolatier was once considered the best in the world. Yum!
Tobin and Broderick thought this care was pretty neat. It was in front of a restaurant we ate at near Darren and Krystin's house.

We had a great time with them and so glad we got to see them before they move back. In a couple weeks we are going to visit friends of ours from Italy who are living pretty close to us in Germany and that will be the end of our traveling pre-baby. They say no flying in the last month, which is ok with me since I'm sure I would be quite uncomfortable. We're trying to take advantage of traveling with one kid though since I'm sure it will complicate things a little to throw #2 in the mix. Broderick has been a trooper, but requests Amsterdam everytime we go somewhere - not sure why.

I had to give a small speech in Danish this week for my language class. It went better than expected. The speech wasn't the bad part because I was able to practice that, but after the speech they were supposed to ask me questions. Eeek! That's when it gets tough. We're celebrating Valentines tonight because we couldn't get a babysitter this weekend. They do celebrate it over here, but its not a big holiday. So we're trying out the "nicest" restaurant in Aalborg. We'll see if it lives up to its reputation.