thursday on our way to the airport

roskilde dressed up for the holidays... 

wednesday

whatever pictures i took from my 8:30 (a.m.) twighlity bike trip to the grocery store turned out blurry (which is giving me misgivings about my ability to take photos or my new phone's camera's ability) so what i have is what william made this afternoon out of citi blocks...

and this one that i just took... (albeit, a little blurry)

tomorrow really starts the holidays as greg's parents fly in to celebrate with us.  and friday, we are all off to visit rome!

first comes magic, then comes science

as we were riding home from school in the dark (because i tutored later than normal today and anyway, it's not that hard to do in these darkest days of the year) henry asked me...

"can a person fly up and sit on the moon at nighttime?"

and

"if you put a piece of the moon in a broken flashlight, what would happen?  would it work again?"

i very happily refrained from taking the magic out of his questions.

sankta lucia

just before eight this morning... there is frost this morning, which is unusual so far this year.  the boys and greg took the forest path... here, they're walking up to the bike path after getting out of the forest.  henry and greg will go to henry's school.  william and i head to his school so i can watch a santa lucia performance with him...

and later in the afternoon, we all head to henry's school to watch him perform in the traditional sankta lucia procession... you can look for him acting silly (and then pausing to hug his dad) at around 35 seconds. later, he's the one who runs into the tree and loses the crown from his head.  the boy who loves being the actor, but hates to follow his lines.  ah, but we love him so!

and just a couple more pictures from the outdoor fest after the performance... 

the traditional buns made on this day

lights of course, today

and if you don't know about this santa lucia day, you can read about it here (though this focuses on the ways it is celebrated in sweden, where it was adopted from by denmark).  (oh, and i should probably mention that the actual day was yesterday, but because it is commonly celebrated in schools and preschools here, it's happening today.)

saturday

at the art exhibition... 

fuzzy photo of a rendition of the artist's little brother...

"fra william til far" (from william to dad)...

"do you like that apple, dad?"  

"yeah, that's really good."  

"it's got spikes coming out of it!"  

 and on the way home from the art exhibition... "red houses, white barn, 2 p.m., get your shoes muddy."

december 12, 2015

yesterday's picture: superhero, by henry... for a friend's birthday party... 

today's picture: christmas at the mall... to get a gift to supplement the above gift for today's birthday party...

now, go watch the nearly 200 countries affirm their commitment to dealing with climate change.

thursday

tonight... 

i didn't even notice what henry was doing in this photo until i uploaded it.

 risengrød (rice pudding) for the nisser, per william's request....

greg: 'how big are they?  about my size?'

henry: 'no, they're smaller!'

the cows are still awake

today's advent gift (and william's snowman from the 4th).  they are practical elves... 

today, this was the one decent shot i got on my way to the train... 

after that, i was in a rush, and after i was in a rush, my phone died.  and after my phone died i had to run back to where i'd been to send an email to where i was going to say that my phone died but i was on my way.  and after i was back on the above bike path after being on my way, that is, after i was on my way home again, in early evening, the same cow as yesterday was walking down the hill to the same stream to take another drink and i reached for my phone/camera only to remember that my phone was dead, so you will have to believe me when i say i saw her doing it again only this time it was late afternoon-- 4:15-- so the sun has set... there is just a band of orange sky behind me, the bike path lights are turned on, kitchen windows are lit up, the horses are dozing off in the field, but the cows are still awake.

in the evening, henry focused on his tricky track... 

and this guy got his first german lesson from a german-danish neighbor...

so he can probably say it better than me, but gute nacht!  

brief glimpse at a cloudless sky

yesterday's weather... 

a sky as blue as they come... 

i walked my bike to the grocery store so i could stretch my legs, enjoy the sun (and yet not have to carry my groceries home by hand).  

this little lady was heading down to the creek for a drink... 

and this little one was watching her (though in this shot she's (he's?) moved on to a new viewing spot)...

all the kitties were out yesterday.

later in the afternoon... w...

and even later... we take the forest path home...

and the boys stop to play (i.e. hit a dead tree with dead sticks)...

and i look up...

today the clouds returned from their short excursion, but the temperatures were not bad and town is dressed up for the holidays...

now for some yoga.

remembering back

this was william four years ago, playing around with the computer.  he loved taking pictures of himself.  the boys and i were at my mom's house for thanksgiving and greg was in denmark interviewing for a job.  so this was william when he was still 100% midwestern and not any parts danish which, i would say, has changed since then.  i can still remember how i felt during that thanksgiving trip, with the possibility of this big move in front of us, how i felt when i learned he got the job and we decided (via skype and in the span of a minute's conversation) to say yes.  'denmark' was only an amorphous, exciting opportunity.  we would be laying down a new and unexpected chapter in our lives and in our children's lives.  that was all i knew that thanksgiving...

it's been both easy and hard, depending on the day.  there's been an entirely unexpected and unwelcome chapter thrown into the middle of it all that has perhaps changed our lives even more. but from both experiences we have learned so much and grown, inevitably, and not just in that a three year old's round little face has thinned out as he's turned into a boy of nearly eight.

i am thankful we were willing to make the trip.

sunday brunch and christmas tree birds

such a very nice sunday.  at least one-half of us was up before the sun (well... these days, we're all always up before the sun) putting together a quiche, making bagels and granola, then later we added a fennel salad, coffee, juice, and our friends who helped make up the small but thriving (for at least a year and a half) "little america" in our old neighborhood came over, fruit salad in tow, and we had a nice, long brunch.  

and of course i forgot to take out the camera for any of it.  so you can see the christmas tree birds (that would be 'juletræfuglerne' in danish-- see, i just made up a new word!) instead... 

happy sunday!

christmas tree

let's see if i can put these pictures in somewhat chronological order and then i'm going to call it a day. 

last night's book club... 

the boys, sometime this morning... 

today was our planned day to get out the christmas decorations.  and buy a tree in the wind and rain...

getting it set up...

no doubt in henry's mind, the train is first things first... 

and in the middle of decorations, some perler beads...

 a mostly decorated, charlie brownish christmas tree...

with some window lighting to go along... 

december 3's offering

looks like the nisser (the elves) are leaving two pencils for tomorrow morning.  i like that they're keeping the bar low.

william made this at school.  it's really sweet and we are going to watch it very closely when it gets near the bottom...

i'm tired.  going to take advantage of a quiet house and relax.

1. december

december first's offering... 

today greg went off to switzerland for a conference and the boys and i rode home through the woods...

and at bedtime i somewhat brusquely told them i was not as lenient as their dad is when it comes to getting them their precisely requested temperature of water and just generally allowing for a long, drawn-out bedtime.  i feel badly that in my own worn-outness i didn't try to get my point across in a different way but i must admit that i am not disliking that i got my point across and the house is quiet. here's hoping for a good day tomorrow.

julemorgenkaffe

just two pictures.  i'm still tired.  every day i'm a little less tired but by 8:00 at night, i'm still ready to be done.  so are most of you, i'm guessing!  we went to our first christmas market of the season yesterday.  it was fun to indulge in a little christmas craft shopping.  

yesterday was a preview of the month ahead.  next weekend we'll plan to buy our christmas tree.  but tomorrow the countdown of the month really begins.  we'll light our christmas candle each day, begin the advent calendar, and go have 'christmas morning-coffee' at henry's school... and danish is so tricky, 'christmas' 'morning' and 'coffee' can all be combined into one new, original, long word (see post title).

sunday

hello again.  sorry for being incommunicado for so many days.  it was combination flu, recovering from flu, and neighborhood christmas party that kept me from blogging until now.  i'm just going to post some pictures from last week because i'm still a little extra tired from all the aforementioned goings-on.  

greg stayed home on the day i was most sick and picked the boys up from school and took them sledding before all the snow melted (which it has done by now).  

when they got home, henry came right over and snuggled with me on the couch.  i couldn't decide which of these next two pictures was cuter of him so i'm posting them both...

there he is the next morning getting ready for preschool...

which was also thanksgiving day.  greg made a pumpkin pie the night before and then a thanksgiving-esque chicken dinner after work (!)

and we took this self-portrait... which many of you already saw on fb...

happy sunday!