Saturday, December 19, 2009

Visiting Julemand

Friday night, we went to Aalborg to visit a small Christmas village they have set up near the shopping district. There is a skating rink, some small rides, and small huts set up that are selling various things. Santa Claus is usually walking around visiting too. It was cold, but I think maybe we are forgetting how bad winters can be. Its about -5 degrees celsius, which is about 23 degrees fahrenheit. That's a typical winter day back in Iowa, but that is really cold for here.
We bundled the kids up, but Brad and I were wishing we had warmer clothers on. We were freezing, but Broderick didn't want to leave.
Broderick was very excited to see Julemand (Santa). When we saw him, we told Broderick to go say hi to him. So Broderick, although 30 feet away, whispers hi. Sudden shyness. Ummm ... you may need to get a little closer and talk just a little louder. He got over his shyness quickly and was more than happy to have Santa hold him and talk to him.
We stopped at one of the little huts to get some fresh waffles, aebleskiver, and some warm drinks. Broderick ran back to Santa to show him he was eating a waffle.

A nisse is like an elf in English and they are an important part of Christmas tradition here. Broderick is shaking hands with a nisse puppet.
Anika was perfect while we were there. Not sure if that's because she liked all the lights and people or she was too cold to even make a sound. =)
Mommy and Broderick on a train ride.
Even though it was cold, it was fun to take the kids there and enjoy the Christmas atmosphere. Very hyggelig.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Fun in the Snow

We actually got a little snow here this past week and Broderick LOVES it. Everyday at school he gets to play in it and when he's home he likes to play too. Its not a lot, only a couple of inches, but its enough to have some fun. We got snow tires put on our car this week too. Everyone does that over here, even though their winters are very mild. It seems crazy to us that no one does this in the US, where we have horrible winters.

Making a snow angel.
Today was Broderick's last day of børnehave before Christmas break. He had a great time playing games, listening to Christmas stories, and dancing around the Christmas tree. They also fed them a delicious food called risengrød. Its kindof like a rice pudding with butter, cinnamon, and sugar on top. Mmmmm .... and then they had some christmas cookies. too.

After I picked him up and was asking him about his day, he told me that he ate risengrød and put kanin (rabbit) on top. I asked him if he meant kanel (cinnamon). We kindof got in an argument about what he meant and he finally told me, "Mom, its danish ... you don't understand it."

Ok, he's right, I'm not that great with my danish. BUT ... I think I was right this time. I really do think he was putting kanel on his risengrød and not kanin.

He wasn't very happy to leave today, he was having SO much fun.
Here he is with a few of his buddies in his class.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Anika is (almost) 9 months

Next week Anika will be 9 months old. I can't believe it. We had her appointment with the home nurse (sundhedsplejerske) this week and got to see how big she is. She is now 9300 grams and 74 cm long.

Hey - if I have to deal with the metric system then you do too. Ok, ok, I'll convert it for you. She is almost 20 1/2 lbs and is just over 29 inches.

This was her last visit from the nurse. She checked her hearing and vision too, and everything looked great. This is one area that Denmark has better than the US. It has been so great to have Else-Marie come to our house and check on Anika. This was great, especially when she was a newborn and there are so many questions and you aren't up to leaving the house quite yet. I mean, I know it is fun to bundle up your kid in the car seat and go to the doctor office ... ok, maybe not so much. It was so nice to have someone to call with questions, other than the doctor, who knew my child and was always willing to help. Plus, she has been doing this for years, so you just felt safe having her check out your baby. She was really great and I'm so thankful for the good care she took of Anika.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Getting Ready for Christmas

Friday afternoon we decided to make cut out sugar cookies. I wasn't planning on doing this since we don't have quite as many Christmas activities to go to and I didn't think we needed them (not so healthy). But then they started sounding so good and I was feeling like a bad mom not doing this traditional activity with my kids, so I borrowed my neighbors rolling pin (I didn't bring mine over here) and we made some cookies. Broderick actually loves helping in the kitchen and almost every time I'm making a meal, he scoots his chair over and is there to help me.Here he is cutting out the shapes. I bought a Christmas collection of cookie cutters. It included the usual shapes .... a star, angel, tree, heart, and ..... a pig. What ??????
Given Broderick's age, I didn't mess with the different color frostings, and got sprinkles instead. Can you see how Broderick put them on? Basically, a mountain of them all in one area.
Oh well, at least he had fun with it, right? And they tasted yummy.

Anika wasn't into the baking yet, but she wanted to show how she's pulling herself up on furniture. She will go all the way to her feet everynow and then, but most of the time she is on her knees.
Saturday morning, Brad took Broderick out to pick our a Christmas tree and cut it down. We couldn't all go because all of us and the tree wouldn't have fit in the car. This is the first year either of us have had a real tree, so we don't really know what we are doing and are hoping we can keep it alive .... at least until Christmas. The top is a little sparse. We need to get something to put up there, I think. Unfortunately, I hear one of the best things about having a real tree is the smell, but I'm congested right now, so I'm anxiously waiting until I can actually enjoy it. Broderick helping mommy put on the decorations. He took this job seriously and didn't really let me do to much. I asked him to put some tinsel on the tree. Well, he did .... all in one spot. Here are the kiddos in front of the tree. Amazingly neither of them mess with the presents too much. He'll point and ask who each present is for, but I figured he would have attempted to open at least a few of them. Good job Broderick and good job Anika for not pulling the tree over or breaking all the ornaments.

I love doing these kind of things. It makes me excited for the holidays. I cannot believe its less than 2 weeks until Christmas. Wow, where has this year gone?????



Thursday, December 10, 2009

Julefrokosts and Visitors

Have you ever seen such a precious picture? Love these guys!


We have been staying busy here getting ready for the holidays. Its a bit different this year since we're not coming home. Last year I was busy shopping for everyone before we left and trying to pack it all in suitcases. This year, although sad we're not going home, is definitely more relaxing. I'm pretty well done shopping, just a couple more things to look for. I realize kids are easy, I know they'll like anything and this this year all my husband has on his list is socks .... and he wants a new car, but I think we'll wait on the latter.
Poor Anika took a tumble off the couch right onto the coffee table. Brad was actually holding her, but she's a fast little thing. She got a big bruise on her cheek -poor girl.

She's fun right now and usually in pretty good spirits. Getting around everywhere in a multitude of different ways. Sometimes she scoots .... sometimes she rolls .... and sometimes she actually crawls.

The first of December we gave Broderick the coolest Advent calender I have ever seen. Its playmobil and everyday he gets part of a police collection. He's not a big fan of chocolate, so we thought he would enjoy this calender better. The hard part is keeping track of all the parts. On the first day, he got a robber. A few days later we couldn't find the robber anywhere and we searched everywhere. We kept asking Broderick if he could remember where he put it. Nope. He had no clue. Well, two days later I was putting on my boot and there was the robber ... in the bottom of it. I told Broderick that I had found his robber in the bottome of my shoe and he says, "No Mommy, I put it in your boot, not your shoe." hmmmm.... that bit of information would have been helpful ..... 2 days ago!!!!!!!!!!!! Silly kid.




We went to a Christas Party (Julefrokost) at Broderick's school a couple weeks ago. We all brought food and had a buffet. It was fun to watch Broderick in his element with all his buddies and it was good to meet some of the other parents.

Here's some pictures of Broderick playing with his buddies.



Here he is in front of the Christmas tree. All the kids made ornaments. Brdoerick made the tree hanging right behind him.



I had a Julefrokost with the ladies in my mother's group too. Anika playing with her little friend.

They made many of the traditional foods of a Danish Julefrokost. Sorry to my Danish friends, but a few of the things they eat, well ... they're not my favorite foods ..... especially the sild (pickled herring).
Here it is: Karry dressing on the left and pickled herring with onions on the right. You eat it on their traditional rugbrød (rye bread).
Here's my ladies.

The last couple of weeks we've had visitors from the US. The first week Brad's brother Aaron stayed with us. The day he left Brad's brother Curt arrived and stayed with us for part of that next week.
Brad hanging out with Paul and Iggy. (They came with Aaron).
Eating out with Aaron and Paul.
Uncle Curt with the kiddos.

They were both here for work, and we were so excited to have them. They also provided great carriers for Christmas gifts both ways. Some coming to us from the USA and some going back to the USA from us. That worked out good. Saved us a lot of postage.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Thanksgiving & Another Nephew

In the same week, I got two I got two new nephews. I showed you the pictures of little William and this is Nicolas Todd. He is my brother Todd and Paula's 2nd child.
He was born 5 weeks early and weighed only 4lbs 7 oz. I wish I could hold the little guy. He is so tiny.

We had a great Thanksgiving over here. We had our friends Jørgen and Kirstine over. I always get nervous cooking an entire meal for other people, but I think it went much better this year than last. I had things a little more under control. It is great experience for me learning to make everything from scratch and not relying on the conveniences back home. Although I did bring pumpkin back with me my last trip home for the pie. =) But I still used the hokkaidos here to substitute for sweet potatoes and they were really good. Unfortunately when I got my turkey .... my $70 turkey .... it still had some of the feathers in it.

All I can say is YUCK! I don't like to pluck feathers. I don't like to think of the animal being so recently alive. But, it did end up tasting quite good.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. Its a great time with loved ones. Great food. And not the stress of gift buying and so many things to be at and running around. And I love the focus .... to focus on how we are blessed and how fortunate we are. It puts things in perspective and helps to minimize the unimportant things in life.
Jørgen was helping Brad carve the turkey.
Here they are enjoying the meal.
And Anika loved it too. Her first taste of turkey was a successful one. She ate a lot of it ... well, a lot for an 8 month old.

This past week, we had Brad's brother Aaron here for work. He left today and tonight Brad's brother Curt arrived and will be here most of the week for work. Its so nice to have family here for a little while. We just wish the rest of their families could have joined them.