Perfect Sweden

Olivia, Joar, Love, Lisa

We went to Sweden this weekend to visit Lars and Ulrika and family. The weather was amazing! We have, of course, been to their house many, many times, but this was the first time we have gone when the weather was so perfect for being outside. All of the flowers and trees were blooming and it was just a wonderful time to eat some food and hang out with their family. Ulrika made Flying Jacob for dinner which is this awesomely unexpected Swedish dish of chicken, whipped cream, ketchup, bananas and sunflower seeds or nuts. It was so tasty! Then she made a rhubarb pie/crumble that was so tasty. Ulrika used rhubarb from her garden. She is definetly one of the funnest cooks I know! We always love going to their house. Olivia had a great time with Lisa. They are really close in age and make a cute and funny pair!

Olivia, Lisa

You can see my 9 month pregnant body in the background- note the tent-like drape of my dress!

Below: video of the kids jumping on the trampoline with a very quick scan of the backyard.

Happy Mother's Day to Me

Last weekend I called my wise sister, Marie, to get some motherly advice from her. I was ready to try potty training Olivia and knew Marie was the person to call and ask about it. Marie has three kids and potty trained them all at or around 2 years old. Olivia turned 2 just over a month ago and my baby is due in 3 weeks, so I think now is a good time to give it a go.

I won't give any real details because those of you who have been through it, I am sure, are happy to never relive it and those who have not been through it should remain blissfully ignorant of the whole ordeal.

I talked to Marie last weekend and then decided I would potty train her starting the next Friday. I usually don't work on Fridays, but I ended up having to work so I pushed it off until Saturday. Saturday went okay, but we did not make a whole lot of progress. We continued Sunday morning. As I was on my knees cleaning up the third pool of pee for the day, I realized it was Mother's Day and thought to myself- why the freak did I plan this for this weekend!? Oh well. It made me feel more like a mother I guess, and I little like a maid. It was all worth it though when we went to church and I picked Olivia up from her Nursery class and she has made me this bookmark that she had glued hearts on and punched holes in. I am not going to lie, I got all teary eyed! The first handmade gift my child has ever made for me! Next Mother's Day I will have an almost one year old. Freaky!

Matthew also took me out to lunch a few days ago, made me dinner tonight, got me some candy and Danish pastries and is going to watch any stupid movie I want to! I am one lucky mother.

Happy Mother's Day to me- and to you!

Picnic in Sweden

We Live Here

Spring is peeking it's head out today! I am slowly coming out of hibernating for the winter and it feels so good! Today I took Olivia out with me to go downtown and drop off some tax paperwork. I did not take the stroller; Olivia and I just walked. I am 32 weeks pregnant now so I get nervous when I do not take the stroller. Carrying Olivia for any distance is somewhat painful and totally exhausting. She has been doing very well with walking on her own and listening to me and holding my hand as we walk, so I went for it!

We walked down to the bus and I put her in the window seat and sat down next to her while we traveled through the streets of Copenhagen. It was so nice outside- about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I am so thankful that it is finally warming up! We both had light jackets on and tights with skirts. It felt so good!

Olivia and I talked about the people, bikes, birds, cars and buses that we saw out the window and especially concentrated on what colors we saw. Olivia is starting to get good at recognizing and identifying different colors. As we were riding past the water I realized that Olivia had been silently looking out the window for at least 2 or 3 minutes and just looking at the swans in the water and the green trees and grass and all the amazing buildings everywhere. Behind us a young kid was listening to his earphones VERY LOUD and we could hear a Rihanna song playing and Olivia started humming along. I just looked at her and was loving her profile and I couldn't believe how old she is and how much personality she has now. Mostly I was struck by how beautiful Copenhagen is and how unbelievable it is that Olivia will grow up here (maybe?). (I am not going to lie, I also thought about how beautiful Olivia is, but you can't say too much of that type of thing or you start looking like a weirdo. ) I did not see this kind of architecture and greenery until I went to London for the first time when I was about 25. Olivia sees it every day and she just turned 2. I am just so happy for her to have this opportunity to be living here in Copenhagen with us!

It was a really good day walking around downtown for a bit. We stopped at H&M and got Olivia a birthday present (a little belated) and she wanted to carry the bag the whole way home. I no longer have a baby, I have a little girl.


Picture from Copenhagen Cycle Chic - didn't have my camera on me today but the view was similar to this...

Olivia and Santa

Copenhagen Christmas

Olivia loves to look at Santa. She opens her own advent calendar and gets a piece of chocolate everyday, so she really likes Santa. It is funny though because she has no idea that he is going to be bringing her presents. We are spending Christmas at Lars and Ulrika's house in Sweden. I am so excited!! Below are pictures we have taken around Copenhagen- mainly on the walking street.

Matthew's favorite store, Royal Copenhagen, is located on the walking street and every year they decorate Christmas tables with different themes that are very elaborate. Here are a few of those tables:

Below are pictures of the lights around the walking street:

Julekalender

It is Christmas time! In Denmark starting December first, the main television stations begin playing Julekalenders. Similar to an advent calendar where you open one door a day and eat the candy, you watch one episode of a series a day. The episodes are maybe 15 or 20 minutes long. One of my favorites that Matthew, Olivia and I try to watch every evening at 5:30pm (if we are home) is called Sebastian's Jul. It feels so Denmark to me! I love watching it. HERE is the link for the first episode.

To choose from the list of episodes, while you are watching the first video, put your cursor over the picture of the video and a menu will pop up called FLERE PROGRAMMER. Click there and you can choose episodes 1 -15. Epidsode 16 will be up tomorrow. It is such a fun show! There are a lot of animals and Sebastian makes a lot of tradition Danish foods and crafts. Yes, you will not be able to understand any of it, but just like me and Olivia, you will like it all the same!