When you look at my blog, it does indeed look like nothing much is happening. However, going through my recent calendar, and my recent pictures you would be getting an entirely different impression. I was just checking to see what should be included in a much needed update, and from that, I can totally see why I haven’t had time for blogging.

I miss my blog, my blog reading, and all of you guys out there (if anyone’s left), let me just say that first. However, these past few months work has been terribly busy and quite energy comsuming, which is good because I love what I’m doing – it just takes a few sacrifices. And as if business at work wasn’t enough, we also took on a project in our family – more about that further down.

I’ll give you a picture wrap up – so let’s see what we’ve been doing the last few months.

So – briefly:

Mallorca in July

Canoe trip to lake Immeln in Sweden in July

Ronja starting school in August

Ronja’s 6 years birthday in August

I made these adorable goodie bags from Minimega’s printable pdf for the occasion when the class was visiting – just had to show you!

And now in this look-back we’re approaching September, and of course, in our family we just always need 2-300 things keeping us busy, so we started looking for a sail boat (this is the project I mentioned at the beginning). Our new love will be a separate post (or several, of course), now that I hope I will keep up the posts just a little more than I have the past 3-4 months.

We spent all of our spare time for a month driving around the country (and southern Sweden as well), dragging the children onto all kinds of sail boats that were more or less fit for a family of 4 – in all kinds of weather. Which is a lie, actually, ’cause it was raining almost all the time. We finally found the boat model Shipman 28, which is a good Swedish design by Olle Enderlein from 1969. It seems to live up to the things we were looking for in a sail boat, that is meant to host future summer vacations, and numerous sails during the sailing season – within the price limit we were willing to spend. So check this out:

We named the boat ANNA after my amazing grandmother who died 4 years ago. She was a woman who radiated warmth, wit, interest, and just a presence that anyone around her felt and was struck by – she always had a strong ability to gather the family. So those are the qualities we humbly want our new love to possess – or perhaps rather the name stands for a lot of positive things that we want to carry with us when we are sailing and spending time on the boat.

We have spent quite a few weekends with her by now, and we all love it. The girls are getting used to saling step-by-step, and we cannot wait to spend a summer vacation with Anna.

On to the next thing:

Frida’s 3 years birthday in September

All these things have put quite a strain on the calendar, and remember, this is without the stuff that has been going on in our work lives, which at least in my case has been quite a bit. And did I mention we started renovating the bedroom?

This post reflects very much my need to do a wrap-up before I can move on to the next blogpost. It may seem like nothing, but this is just not really what you want to be doing when you have a blog – you want to write whatever enters your mind at the moment, right? Not much crafty stuff here, and the time-issue is in part an explanation for that, but I have been doing minor things. I’ll let you know more soon.

The picture is from a minicriuse Mads and I took to Oslo in Norway, without kids. DFDS Seaways have a route from Copenhagen to Oslo, and we booked a cruise for our 10 years boyfriend-girlfriend anniversary. It was a wonderful trip. The girls had their grandmother looking after them, and Mads and I could enjoy a few days of total relaxation in each others company. The first evening, we had dinner in a restaurant aboard the boat with a panoramic view of the sea and the setting sun, and Mads totally topped it off by taking me to the deck later on and breaking out that question, you know…!

Even though we were limited to 7 hours in Oslo, we enjoyed every minute of them. Walking across Oslo to Bogstadveien, taking the bus up to Holmenkollen (the ski jumping hill) with the amazing view of the Oslo bay, admiring the sculptures of the Vigeland Park, and drinking latte in the sun every chance we got. We had sunshine and high temperatures, and we really had nothing to complain about – as dull as it may seem.

Today it is Mads’ birthday and he is not even here – he is working in Hull, England.

So Mads – lots of kisses from your girls – HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

By the way, Mads got his ‘yes’ without too much trouble.

That’s the weather we have been having today. Mads and the girls woke me up with a birthday song – they had flowers for me, and they had prepared breakfast. Ronja gave me a beautiful drawing of me wearing a gorgeous, and very colourful dress.

34… wow.

Mads took the day off in order to work on the kitchen, and he had come a long way when I returned home from work. I love seeing the progress he’s making at the moment!

This evening we all walked to a nearby restaurant – the girls were a bit tired, but we still had a very nice time. Now I just finished a sewing project, and before long it’ll be bedtime.

What a wonderful day!

Monday was Frida’s birthday – she is 2 years old now. It’s incredible how quickly time passes.

This cheeky, headstrong, won’t-take-no-for-an-answer, yet completely charming little girl with the sun in her eyes has been with us now for 2 years. She is one of a kind.

Here she is with some of her presents – Mads and I gave her the sweet little kitchen from IKEA, for which she also received several other things. She loved it – and now at least she has a kitchen!

We also made her a little book from Fidipus.dk with pictures of our family, house, garden, and the things that mean something to her – including a few pages about the cleft palate. It’s a huge hit, and I will say that I can warmly recommend the site to anyone wanting to make a personal, yet cool book for their child. Also I received great customer service during my work with the book, which is something I’m always impressed with.

We celebrated Frida’s birthday Sunday, and she was celebrated again at the nursery Monday. I think she enjoyed her birthday for sure – she talks so much now, and she has been talking a lot about presents, birthday and so on.

On a different note, we have been really busy around here, which is why the blog has been kind of quiet. Quite honestly, I just haven’t had the surplus energy to write. For several weekends, we have had plans, and I have had a work development, which is keeping me on my toes, and at the same time, we have all been having sore throats and runny noses. I’m still not rid of it, but I sure hope I will be soon!

The kitchen-situation is improving, but not having been home during the weekends, time spent there has been limited. What you see below is the wall towards the living room.

I hope I will be able to show you more shortly. This coming weekend the calendar is clear – and I’m really looking forward to spending some relaxed time with the girls, while Mads is doing his thing in the kitchen-to-be.

We’re back home! Moved back Sunday after two weeks in the Bed & Breakfast, and let me tell you: Two weeks of four people living in a one-room B&B can work if it needs to, but it’s not something I would do for fun. Even though we have nothing but a raw concrete floor in the kitchen area of our house at the moment, I just love being back home!

So what did you miss? Let me see – oh yes, Ronja had a wonderful birthday, and thank you so much for all your sweet birthday wishes!

We celebrated her birthday morning as usual, waking her up with a birthday song, presents, and breakfast. After breakfast we had to hurry outside, because Ronja got roller skates as well as a big trampoline (together with Frida who will be 2 in a month) – it all had to be tried, of course. Mads had set up the trampoline in our garden the day before, and even though it was still wet from dew, it was a huge hit with both Ronja and Frida. She caught on to the roller skating easier than what I would have thought, but it was still a bigger challenge than what it appears below…

Back in our house, Mads has been working hard. We now have a concrete floor in the kitchen, and yesterday after work we went to choose some tiles for the floor. We’re already pretty much decided on what kitchen we want, and finding the domestic appliances is coming along slowly – we don’t want the kitchen to get too expensive, so we’re trying to get us some good bargains, as we would rather not compromise too much on quality or design. For those of you who are dealing with similar projects, there are so many people out there who bought something for their house, and then realized they made a mistake for some reason. That way, you can get new stuff relatively cheap (25-50 % off compared to the price in the shops) at places like eBay or the like – in Denmark we have DBA.dk. Mads and I use that a lot.

I have added a few pictures from the process below, but if you’d like to see more – go here. It seems that you guys have as much faith in Mads as I do, so let’s see how quickly our kitchen will take shape.

]]> http://www.connectingthedots.dk/2009/09/02/no-place-like/feed/ 10 55.411485 12.141007 http://www.connectingthedots.dk/2009/08/22/its-been-5-years/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=its-been-5-years http://www.connectingthedots.dk/2009/08/22/its-been-5-years/#comments Sat, 22 Aug 2009 22:28:54 +0000 Astrid http://www.connectingthedots.dk/?p=956 This little girl is 5 today!

Where did time go? Seems this was just yesterday…

But then it also feels a bit like she’s been around forever – and at the moment, we wonder if she has arrived early at her teenage-years…

But I really just wanted to say this:

♥ Happy Birthday, Ronja – we hope you have a wonderful day! ♥

35 today – you would never have guessed from his youthful figure, right? 

♥  Happy Birthday, Mads!  ♥

Hugs and kisses from all your girls

I had a wonderful birthday! Did I mention that this past week has been our autumn holiday? It has, so we have all been at home with time to relax – also on my birthday.

Mads and the girls woke me up early (Ronja just couldn’t wait any longer, I think she was more excited than I was) with a birthday song, candles, hot coffee, and presents. One of my presents was a new heart rate monitor for my running - the Polar RS200. It’s so much better than my last one, and of course I had to try it out before lunch – didn’t do my best run ever, though, I guess three cups of coffee is not the best foundation for a good run. But a wonderful new toy!

We didn’t have any plans in particular (or at least that’s what I thought), but I needed some things from “Stof og Stil” (fabric store) for a project I ‘m planning, so we all went, and we had a really nice trip. When we got home, Mads sent Ronja and me to the small train station, which is almost next to our house, to pick up someone. I didn’t know who it was, and frankly I was totally puzzled, because we hadn’t been preparing for guests or anything. So when the train arrived, and my mother appeared, I was totally surprised – she lives at the other end of the country, so she doesn’t just stop by any day, you know. While we were all drinking tea, Mads revealed the great plan; he and I were going out for dinner, while my mother was to be babysitting the girls.

 And we went out. We had a wonderful dinner at Restaurant Elverhøi, followed by a trip to the cinema to see Burn After Reading - the new movie by the Coen-brothers. The movie was really good, brought some great laughs, and it is definitely worth seeing, though I do think it lacked some kind of peak. Anyway, just having a night out alone with Mads was perfect and everything worked out fine with my mother babysitting the girls!

Candlelight dinner, confidential conversation, and Coen at the cinema – what a birthday!

It’s the month I was born in, and everything about October just kind of speaks to me in a certain way. The way it gets darker every day on its way towards winter, how we start to light candles in the house, cuddle up underneath blankets with a hot cup of tea in the evening, the strong autumn wind that turns your cheeks red and makes you appreciate returning to your house so much – coming home.

And then, of course – October’s colours! The colours of withering leaves on the trees, that make them look like they are on fire. October brings us an abundance of colour which I love! The picture above was taken a year ago, when we went to Vallø Castle while my brother and his wife were visiting.

Today, in the very midst of October, it’s my day as well. 33. Just imagine that!

On this day last year, Frida was born. She was 1 month early, and just so tiny and fragile. She was born with a cleft palate which meant that I was unable to breastfeed her, and basically, she gave us a few surprises when she made her entrance.

Today we celebrated her one year birthday, and I’m telling you, many words come to mind when you see her, but tiny and fragile are not among them.

She’s the happiest little girl, with a contagious smile and a wonderful curiosity, and honestly, she doesn’t give us much trouble. She has been sleeping through the night since she was about 2-3 months old, she eats well, and she rarely complains about anything. When she’s a year and a half, she will have to undergo surgery to have her cleft palate closed, but until then we’re glad that it’s not bothering her.

This afternoon, we have had family visiting, and we have had such a nice day. Happy children, good company, birthday cake, wonderful presents, and beautiful weather! What more can you ask for?

So Frida -

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY!!!