Finished!

The house 

Well except for the fact that we still need to paint the footings of the house and install the new downpipe at the front and the new front door. And except for the fact, that we would really like a new roof, and, and, and…. No truly, we’re so happy with the way it looks now, it’s excactly the way we wanted it from the beginning. But we won’t be finished for a while – there are still lots of projects – big and small – to throw ourselves at. It just looks a lot more finished. Check out the little bathing nymph by the picket fence.  :)

Celebrating Mads' birthday in the garden 

Yesterday was a great day! We had Mads’ grandmother, mother, and sister down for celebrating his birthday, and the weather was just awesome. We brought out Ronja’s pool, and she spent very close to the entire day in there… I also think Frida enjoyed watching her! (By the way, Frida is wearing this little apron – I just love it!) The first thing Ronja said this morning when getting up was “Where’s my swim suit?” – and right now she’s jumping around in the water.

Ronja in the pool with Frida watching 

The rest of us were benefitting from the good company with drinks, fruit, rolls, and cake. After the guests were gone, Mads and I sat in the garden, just relaxing and enjoying! Ronja was singing and splashing in the pool, Frida was taking a nap, the house was white washed all over, and the garden was just a perfect little oasis with no sounds except for the singing Ronja. Total bliss!

Right now Mads is out biking with the cycling club, but he will be back a bit later, and we’re going to have a quiet day together doing nothing except what we feel like. MMmmmmmm…….

The house 


Happy Birthday  

♥ Happy Birthday, Mads! ♥

The girls and I woke up Mads at around 6:30 singing birthday song and bringing his present. He has gone off to work now, but we had breakfast together and we’ll continue celebrating him, when he gets home. He has been a really good boy – there’s not a single cloud in the sky, and the weather forecast for today says dry and sunny.

This evening we’re just going to relax together, barbecueing in the garden – no reason to go anywhere when our garden is the best place to be!

An evening of summer in the garden 

Peony 

So happy birthday Mads – hugs and kisses from your girls!  :)


Tomorrow we’re really moving on to summer. And what a way to do it – May has officially been the sun-richest month in Denmark since DMI (the Danish Meteorological Institute) started measuring in 1920. The last record is from 1947 – back then it was followed by a warm, sun-rich and fairly dry summer according to DMI - so let’s hope we’ll repeat that pattern!

Today Mads left for a bachelor party early, and the girls and I had a nice, slow morning. I had made an appointment with my good friend Karen to meet up at the Open Air Museum in Kongens Lyngby with the kids, so I spent some time packing food, beverages, diapers, bottles for Frida, and all the other stuff that you need, when you’re going on an outing with two small children. The pram was in the back of the car, so the rest had to fit in elsewhere – it totally looked like we were going on vacation for a week… ;)

  The Open Air Museum - mosaic

We met with Karen and her 6 year old daughter Rosa (her older son had made different appointments) early in the afternoon and started by finding a nice spot for having lunch. The Open Air Museum is part of the National Museum in Denmark, showing old houses, farms, and mills from the period 1650-1950. These old buildings come from all parts of Denmark and the Faroe Islands, and they’re spread out on 86 acres of land, leaving many walks to be walked in that area. It’s a place with great scenic beauty, so it’s a pleasure to go there anytime, and with weather like today, it just tops it off! It is possible to enter the houses and see how everything was arranged and furnished, and it’s great to have the children show an interest in how people lived in “the old days”. Basically it’s just great fun for children as well as adults!

Around 6:30 p.m. I arrived at home with two sleeping girls in the back. It didn’t take long before they were both sound asleep in their beds, and even if Ronja did get up a few times, I’ve been having a nice evening to myself.

After unpacking, I took a walk in the garden, and I just have to show you what I found:

First peony - in bloom! 

My first blooming peony! This morning it was still just a bud, but I’m sure the sun helped it well on the way!

Tomorrow Mads will be home sometime in the afternoon. The weather is supposed to be just as good as it has been today, so another day in the garden coming up!  :)


The weekend gave us fantastic warm weather in a way you don’t usually see it in the middle of May. But yesterday, it was rather chilly again, Frida decided to take a few naps, and I finally got around to do some sewing.

I made the “China grass” dress from the latest issue of Ottobre for Ronja. I wanted it to be a bit more relaxed than the version in the magazine which is very dressy. I used plain linen combined with Amy Butler’s “Lotus Wall Flower” in the apricot colour. The dress came together nicely and the only thing that did give me some trouble was the zipper. This is the first time I apply a zipper, and it’s a hidden one. I found it a bit hard to align it, but after undoing the stiches and trying again it ended up looking just fine.

I’m quite happy with the dress – if there’s something to notice about this pattern, it would be the fact that the bodice is rather wide and I should probably have gone down a size in the bodice for Ronja, even though she is usually a size 104. I’ll post a modeled picture when I get around to it – then you can see for yourself. :)

Our family as portraited by Ronja The sun

Ronja did a drawing this weekend portraying our family. I love the fact that the sun wouldn’t fit on the drawing, so it had to go on the back – what an observation! The weather has been so amazing that we have been barbecueing each evening this weekend, and the garden has been the extension to the house that we love during summer.


Our house is finally starting to look the way we imagined it some 4 years ago. It isn’t finished yet, but this past weekend it has definitely been taking shape. Sometimes it feels like we have been waiting way too long for this to happen, but then again… During those 4 years, we have had our 2 girls, rebuilt the entire 2nd floor, installed new windows all over the house, and quite a few things more than that. So you see, we haven’t been “waiting” – we have just been busy doing other things.

The house so far

While the girls and I have been on a nice long weekend at my Mother’s, Mads has been working hard helping and preparing for the masons. It’s amazing to see the difference it makes – and we haven’t even added colour yet. As always, the entire process of our renovating can be seen here. The pictures are sorted with the newest first, and seeing them all does require a bit of patience with all the work that has been done.

Sunday afternoon we had time to drop by some friends of ours who live just a street away. With the weather we’re having we decided to play croquet, and afterwards barbecue in their garden – I just LOVE the fact that it’s almost summer! I think Ronja does too – she ran around barefooted with her croquet mallet and had the best time!

Playing croquet in the garden at Rikke and Martin's


 

Nice view at dinner time

Two days ago we came back from our vacation in Side, Turkey. We had a wonderful time there with lots of warmth, relaxation, and bathing. I have posted new photographs here.

Now we’re busy tearing down the 2nd floor of the house – or actually that means that Mads is busy. My task for now is to take care of Ronja, so she and I take it easy and go to look at Mads’ doing once in a while. ;)

But that’s all for now – the weather is way too good to be in here!


Bathing in the garden

A lot of things have happened since I last wrote.

Summer has arrived, which is a great thing. The house is expanded into the garden, and much of our time is spent outdoors – working, relaxing, playing, etc. Mads’ birthday was the 3rd of June, and among other things he received a Weber fireplace, which has already given us several cosy evenings in the garden around the fire. On the evening of his birthday we celebrated by going to a nice restaurant without Ronja – and we had the best time. House of Souls as the restaurant is called is always good for a guaranteed positive food experience in a wonderful and friendly atmosphere. We rounded off the evening with “The Da Vinci Code” – my personal opinion of the movie is that it’s better than its reputation – though not a masterpiece. We definitely had a really nice evening!

Mads finished his education as a technical designer with a fine result two weeks ago, and he’s now permanently employed, modelling 3D in the plant space design department in DONG Energy where he also worked as an intern. So that’s the end of fulltime education for this couple – at least for a little while… ;o)

Now we’re going to concentrate on our house. The plan is to rebuild the entire second floor on the inside, and that is actually what Mads’ final project on his education was about. Good thing he got a good grade – now we dare use the drawings… ;o) Take a look here (pdf) if you want to see a 3D drawing of the house the way it will look – when we’re done! Notice that you can rotate the drawing, look inside and other cool stuff (if you have Adobe Reader 7.0 that is – otherwise you can get it for free here)! We ordered the new doors and windows yesterday, which is a big thing. The choice fell on Outline Vinduer after researching the market thoroughly, and now we’re looking forward to seeing the windows arrive in approximately 10 weeks.

Ronja is learning new words all the time, and she has also started combining them, which makes way for a good laugh once in a while. She enjoys the good weather as much as anyone – running around in the garden finding snails, picking flowers and making sand cakes.

Everything’s fine – though at the moment Ronja and I are both spending a few days at home with severe sore throats, which is less amusing. Well, well – it’ll pass, and I do believe the summer is still there when it does.