Valentine's Day (late post)

For Valentine's Day, I made us all big heart cookies- as per my almost 100 year old family tradition on my mom's side. It is the best tradition!

I think most civilized people would break a piece off and eat it. Neither kid even considered that. Just pick up the whole thing and go for it!

                                    

VIDEO of the cookies

After they had eaten a bunch of cookie, Olivia had a sugar-fueled dance party.

Graham joined in dancing here and there. Let me just warn you about the video below. The first minute is pretty funny. After that, if these are not your kids, it starts to become the longest video ever made. So, maybe shut it down after the first minute or so.... I warned you.

At the end of her sugar high dance party, I found Olivia tucked in to go to sleep in the kitchen. Why not!?

Fastelavn

For Fastelavn this year, Olivia wanted to be a butterfly. Fastelavn is similar to Halloween in that the kids dress up and the roots of the tradition are hundreds of years old and have to do with witches and religion and etc. Read more here... or not....

I made Olivia's wings and she helped me paint them and add sparkly things and butterflies. It turned out good!

Donald Comes to Visit

My cousin, Donald, came to visit in January. It was so fun! He was only here just over 48 hours so we did not have a lot of time, but it was enough to see the best of Copenhagen and just relax together too. I have not seen Donald in 5 years or so. It was so fun to have him and I hope he comes back soon!

Amalienborg Palace

Art Museum

I did not take many pictures as my camera was being fixed and I was just using Matthew's Iphone. I wish I had taken more! Come back soon, Donald!

Sledding

We are sledding at a park area right next to Olivia's school.

This is my pathetic attempt to go down the hill- not sure why I get stuck this time

Matthew and Olivia

Birthday - part II

As I mentioned in my post last year for Olivia's birthday, we have adopted the Danish tradition of making a kagemand on birthday mornings. This yummy pastry is shaped like a little man and decorated with candy. Matthew surprised Olivia with it first thing on her birthday morning. 

Olivia went to school after that and he school had a little party for her. She had a few candles and all the kids sang happy birthday to her. I made some snickerdoodles for everyone. It was very cute and sweet and I could tell Olivia loved it! Olivia has a favorite teacher at her school, Marie, and Marie always makes Olivia feel special and loved there. She is great! I did not take any pictures at the party- oops!

After the party, we took Olivia and Graham to eat at our favorite kebab place- Kosk Kebab in Nørrebro. It was so good, as always! We get some combination of chicken kebabs with hummus and pita bread and rice. It is Olivia's favorite place to go. Here she is enjoying her hummus.

Graham eating some chicken

Then we went home....

and Olivia got her SECOND birthday cake. The first she had at her friend party so I decided to make one for her actual birthday. She wanted a butterfly cake.

I think she likes it!

Then she opened presents.

Graham threw a fit  because he did not get to open any presents.

Graham's fits are so minor compared to what Olivia did when she was that age and I have a little more of an idea of what I am doing now, so his little fits are still more funny than anything to me. Of course, I don't let him know that! 

Happy Birthday O!

4!

Olivia turned 4 yesterday! 

We had a friend party for her on Saturday. I decorated for the party on Thursday and Friday last week and her actual birthday was not until Wednesday of this week so Olivia has been in full birthday mode for about a week. Yesterday on her birthday, her school did a little party after lunch and then our family went out to dinner and had cake and presents at home. This morning it was a little rough for her to come down from the birthday cloud (she wanted cake for breakfast) but I think once I get all the decorations from her party down and all cake and cookies out of the house, it will help!

When I asked Olivia what kind of party she wanted, her immediate response was "princess party". My immediate response (in my head) was PLEASE NO!! I asked her if she had any other interests and she said "Hello Kitty"! Then she said it about 9 more times so I knew we were good to go. I was very relieved- I can work with Hello Kitty. 

Hello Kitty cake

 I made this awesome tasting citrus cake as I have a few times before. I like to use lemon buttercream frosting though from this recipe. 

Our friends Lene and her kids came, Emma and her daughter Nora, Helene and Rune and their kids and 2 girls from Olivia's class, Rania and Kira, and their moms. There were 9 kids in all. It was a really fun party. Olivia had the best time! Sadly, our friends Lars and Ulrika and family could not make it. 

Matthew tried out some new camera tricks on his iPhone- some of the people are a little messed up but it is fun!

Getting a little shy before blowing the candles out on her cake...

Olivia and I made all the decorations. She colored almost all the Hello Kitty bows.

Hello Kitty mobile

It was so nice to have good friends over to celebrate. 

The next day, after church...

leftover birthday cake!!

I can't believe she is 4 already! Next, some pictures on her actual birthday...