One lantern and 1000 strawberries

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Ronja made this little lantern at kindergarten last week, and I love it like that with a lit candle hanging from a tree. It’s really nice when the stuff she brings home from the kindergarten is actually something that you like to use and look at. This is certainly one of those things!

Ronja's lantern 

Sunday we had one of my old friends Fie and her boyfriend Kevin down for a visit. Mads made a wonderful dinner, and to top it off we had picked the ripe strawberries from the garden – or Mads had, that is, while Ronja and I went to pick up Fie and Kevin at the station in Køge. He actually picked an entire bowl full of strawberries from our tiny strawberry bed – and there are many to come. So we had strawberries with cream. And milk too, just to freshen the cream a bit. The strawberries are fantastic this year, they are not very big and they taste so sweet!

Strawberries 

Yesterday, I went to visit my workplace and say hi to my colleagues. It’s in the centre of Copenhagen, and getting Frida and myself ready to go, packing the pram and all the babystuff, food for her and what ever else we need, makes it quite a hike to go there. We did have a really nice time there, and it was nice to see everybody. However, it takes 45 minutes each way by car, and yesterday it took a bit longer because there had been an accident on the motorway when we were going home, so the short visit basically took most of the day. I picked up Ronja on the way home, and a bit later Rikke from my mothers group came by to borrow the computer and have a chat and a cup of tea! They’re having a problem with their internet, so to make sure she doesn’t drop out of the internet society completely, I’m happy to have her use mine! :)

Last night Ronja slept terribly, and complained about having a very sore throat. I have it too, so I know what she’s talking about. I wanted to keep her home from kindergarten today, but when she got up, she said her throat wasn’t sore anymore, and she really wanted to go. And because it actually seemed to be true, I finally gave in. Frida has a cold and is dreadfully snotty. We should have been to psalm singing for mothers and babies at Køge Church today for the first time – I have had it recommended, and I thought I’d give it a go. But with Frida the way she is, we’ll have to wait till next week. (Sorry – the links are in Danish. To have the psalm singing elaborated a bit, go to the comments and see my answer to Sarah.)

Blowing soap bubbles

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Ronja was blowing soap bubbles earlier in the garden. She likes it when there are many, and she can follow them to see where they go. I loved the expressions that went over her face, so even though I was weeding the garden, I went inside to get my camera.

Blowing soap bubbles - mosaic 

Earlier in the day we had all spent some time at Ronja’s kindergarten. They had arranged this afternoon when all the parents were invited to give a hand in restoring the playground. The playhouses needed some fixing and paint, and the bikes also needed a bit of maintenance. Not that many people had signed up beforehand, so it was a wonderful surprise to find the kindergarten packed with happy parents and children throughout the afternoon. Everyone was working and socializing and it was a great success! ;)

Ready - set - eat! 

Our first strawberries are ripe – early this year, due to the very warm and sunny weather we’re having. Mmmmmm, can’t wait until we’re having strawberries and cream for dessert!

Finally, Mads finished white washing the house tonight. Completely! But I’ll have to tell you more about that tomorrow, because it is sooooo past my bedtime. XOXO!  :)

The written word

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So! Yesterday was the day when Ronja started to write!

It began at lunch when Ronja was looking at the different wrappings on the table and suddenly going: “That’s the same letter as in my name”. I was impressed and asked her if she knew what the letter was called, and to my great surprise, she did! So we went on finding the letters for her name on all the different wrappings and cartons on the table. Lots of fun!
Then at dinner, we had a bottle of wine on the table (after all it was Saturday), and she went on to do the same thing finding the letters for her name. When we had finished our dinner, we were talking about it, and Ronja wanted to try writing something. Mads and I showed her how to write our names, and she just did! I was amazed – what a proud mom! Here are the results: (“mor” = mom and “far” = dad).

Today Ronja started writing

She has a funny technique which I think kind of shows an overview. When she doesn’t really know where to start with a letter, she turns it into a dot-to-dot drawing by marking the dots first, and then connecting them. You see this very clearly in the ‘M’ for MOR. Very appropriate in this “Connecting the dots”-blog.

I have taken a walk in the garden, armed with my camera. Inspired by many other blogs at the moment, I wanted to show you what is “going on” in our garden at the moment. I ended up taking so many pictures, that it turned into a garden mosaic. So here you are – isn’t a garden a wonderful place?

The garden right now

Starting from the middle and continuing from the top, left to right, this is: 1. Blue cornflower, 2. Giant poppy, 3. Lilac, 4. Frida’s Katsura tree, 5. Globe-flower, 6. Red tulip, 7. Apple flower on the old apple tree, 8. Rhubarb, 9. Strawberry flowers, 10. Dandelion, 11. A snail found it’s way to one of the new apple trees, 12. Peony, 13. Pink tulips
Mind you, I didn’t forget the dandelions – we have more than plenty! :)

Finally, I promised you a modeled pic of the “China grass” dress, so here it is.

January – and progress upstairs

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Winter in the garden

 

No, you’re right – the picture is almost cheating. We’ve had one day like that this past Saturday, and I just had to post a real winter picture. The rest of January has been all about beating records on high temperatures and rain. Saturday we got out the sled, and Sunday the snow was gone, leaving the sled a sad sight, the way it stood there in the rainy yard, filled with water.

As opposed to December when we took a break from working on the 2nd floor, Mads has been making some great progress upstairs these past weeks, finishing the insulation and mounting the first layer of wallboards – the last part with much appreciated help from our friend Martin.

It now looks like a room, the insulation keeps the place fairly warm, even though it’s not heated yet – and it’s definitely getting easier to see the end of it. We have a long way to go before it’s finished, but it’s a great feeling to be this far ahead in the process. As always, pictures can be seen here

Mads and Martin are mounting the wallboards

Ronja is getting so big – you’ll find a video of her singing “Bro Bro Brille” here. Have patience – it takes a few minutes for it to load, and the quality is not that great – however, the important thing is what’s on it.