Jonas' birthday

Last Tuesday my baby turned 4... I can't believe how fast time flies. Both Frank and I had taken the day off, because Jonas' wanted to invite all his friends from Early Years to his birthday party. I guess because some of the other kids had celebrated their birthday by inviting everyone, and then of course so did he. We live so close to the school, so why not...

I e-mailed his teacher, and we made the arrangements, in one of the last e-mails I asked how many kids there were, and the answer was 27... I don't know what I expected, I see most of the kids everyday, I see all their "cubbys" everyday, I could just have counted them, but I was slightly surprised that there were 27 of them, and I got a bit nervous about it....

I had seen online someone made a "hungry caterpillar" cake out of cupcakes with green icing. I loved the idea for several reasons, one it would be easy to make, it would look fun and the kids prefer a cupcake to some fancy cake... at least Jonas and some of his friend does. So I made a "hungry caterpillar" cake, and all the kids knew the caterpillar, because they have read the book at school.

 

I decided to look online for some party ideas with the hungry caterpillar theme. I saw someone had decorated with balloons that looked like the caterpillar... it's funny that everytime you see things like that online it's always perfect... well I couldn't exactly get the balloons to do like I wanted them, so I will be the first to post pictures of failed hungry caterpillar decorations...

 I asked Jonas if he wanted to play some games with his friends... he suggested "musical chairs"!!!! We don't have 27 chairs so that wasn't possible. We did a "Pin the nose on the caterpillar" game instead.

 The party went SO great. The kids were very well behaved, and as soon as the got a bit loud the teachers told them to quiet down, and use their indoor voices. I would love to show you pictures from the party, but I don't want to post pictures of other peoples kids without their permission, so you will have to use your imagination.

 Just before they left, the teachers told them "Tidy up time" and in a matter of minutes all the toys were back in boxes, on shelves etc. Jonas' room was almost more tidy than then they came.

 In the afternoon we build the Lego he got for his birthday. We then again celebrated his birthday on Saturday with our Family, where he got even more Lego, so all of Sunday was spent building and playing with Lego again.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Party planning

I can't believe that on Tuesday my little baby will be turning 4.... Yes four!

When some of the other kids had their birthdays the kindergarten had been invited for their birthday, so of course Jonas should have them over too... So I e-mailed his teacher and invited them. In one of the last e-mails I asked how many would come, the answer 27 kids and 3 teachers.... 27! But now they had been invited and I couldn't take it back. I was just really happy that we had decided to do it on his birthday and take the day off work, instead of a Saturday which we also had discussed... Because this way they come with 3 teachers.

So tonight I have been doing the party favours for all the kids. Instead of giving them a lot of sugar I have made a small "hungry caterpillar" activity book, which I found online, a pencil, an eraser, some stickers, a balloon and a lollipop.

The theme for his birthday will be "the very hungry caterpillar", mainly because I saw a really cool cake online, where the caterpillar was made of cupcakes with green icing.

Now I'll have to wrap his presents and relax for the rest of the night, and tomorrow I will be baking... And maybe panicking....

Cooking with Connie

It's time for another cooking with Connie post. My vacation is over, and yet I have today off. I know it sounds a bit crazy, but I'm working this coming weekend, so that gives me a day off today, and again on Monday. 

During our vacation, we visited my brother. Jonas and I went down there on Friday, and Frank came on Saturday to celebrate my brothers birthday (his birthday isn't until November 14th, but my parents couldn't make it then, and since Jonas and I were all ready there it seemed easier).  In his backyard is a HUGE apple tree, and there were hundreds of apples on the ground. Since my brother isn't a big apple eater, he told Jonas he would get 1 kr (nearly 20 US cents) for every 10 apples he picked up and through in the garbage. When we were collecting and ended up getting a bag of the nice ones to make apple sauce. I think we picked 100 apples and there were still loads on the ground, but Jonas earned 10 kr for his piggy bank. 

With all those apples I made apple sauce. I found a super easy recipe online, just boiling the apples with water, adding sugar and vanilla and boiling a bit more. I ended up putting a blender through it, since I'm not a big fan of pieces of apples in my apple sauce.

And just because the recipe suggested to eat it with vanilla ice cream I did. I just had a small amount of vanilla icecream left in the freezer, so I had a little snack. 

 I always thought it was so difficult making apple sauce, but that was super easy, the worst thing was peeling the apples... so how hard can it really be:) Enjoy!

A summer update

Yes I'm still here, I guess July wasn't the month for me to blog. It's been crazy hot here for so long, I can't remember a summer this hot, and at times really humid, though hardly ever any rain. 

The great weather combined with 2 weeks off from work, well that just kept me off the computer, not like totally isolated, still checked my mail, facebook and instagram, and read blogs, but I didn't have the energy to blog.

I still haven't bothered to move the pictures from our camera to the computer, so you will have to do with cell phone pictures. On Thursday before our vacation my parents picked up Jonas, and took him home, so he could go on vacation by himself. He loved it, and was really excited to go. He was riding his bike in the driveway, when my dad opened the trunk of their car. That was his clue to run inside get his suitcase and jump in the car... my dad only opened the trunk to put something in there, then weren't about to leave. So for next 20 minutes Jonas sat in the car calling my mum and dad:)

There were no pool at my parents, but this seemed to work just as well:)

We also went camping for a few days. Well we rented a small cabin on a camp site, and our neighbours had their caravan at the same place. We had a couple of really nice days, but honestly camping is not on my top list of vacation types. We had a toilet in the cabin, but no shower, which almost freaked me out, well mostly because of my broken foot, and showering with a broken foot isn't easy. Though by the time we went camping my foot was a lot better, and I could remove the dressing so I could shower.

The Canoe ride with my brother

We had a few BBQ, Frank's sister and boyfriend came over, we went for a BBQ at Franks parents. And we went to Legoland with my parents, Franks parents and my brother. It was a really nice day, but way too hot, but Jonas loved showing everything of to them all. 

He was a fast learner, my brother told him where to put his hand and he thought it was so funny.

Saying goodbye in the parking lot

I went back to work last weekend, and this last week has been busy. Though yesterday we did have a chance to visit the harbour, where the Tall Ship Races 2014 were visiting. I must say there were some really impressive ships there.

A small view of the harbour

So all in all a busy summer, I will try to get back in the rhythm of things, and blog a bit more regular.

Life just got busy...

I don't know where the last 2 weeks went, life just got busy I guess....

Almost 2 weeks ago we attended Jonas' end of year concert, which was really fun. Unfortunately our pictures didn't turn out that well, so you will have to do without.

When he got home from his concert his pacifiers tasted bad. We had been telling him that then you get too big the pacifiers will taste bad. So before going to his concert I had brush all his pacifiers with a kind of nail polish that helps nail biters quit nail biting. He first looked at it, tried it again and the took it out looking it again... I asked what was wrong, and he told me it tasted bad. I told him he must have gotten too big, which he accepted, well almost just before falling asleep for a nap he said "mummy I want to be little again".

Handing over the pacifiers to the pirates in Legoland

Since then he only asked for it once the same evening, and tried it again, and it still tasted bad. So since then there has been no problem. So last Tuesday we went to Legoland with a colleague of mine and her 2 daughters. Jonas handed over all his pacifiers to the Pirates, and in return got a box of Lego.

¨

A ride in the canoe with my colleagues daughter

Otherwise I have pretty much just been working... well until Saturday, we decided to have a impulsive BBQ in the street with the neighbours. We told people to bring their own food, and started a BBQ. We had a really nice evening, and at some point I had to race one of the neighbours on stilts... it went okay, but I lost, so later on, after a bit more wine I figured it was time for a rematch... That wasn't a good idea. I ended up falling, my foot hurt, but I figured a good nights sleep would do it good.

My foot after a trip to the emergency room

Well Sunday morning it wasn't better, so I ended up going to the emergency room. It turned out one of the bones in my foot was broken! So now I'm on crutches for a few weeks. I was on work today because we are really not many people this week since its vacation time, so I felt bad if I had to call in sick, though I did office work all day. Now the next 4 days just need to be over, then it will be my turn to have a vacation.

I'm back...

We actually got back from Turkey on Saturday evening. We had a great vacation, but one thing is for sure, we are never going to an all-inclusive again... well at least not in Turkey. The food was the same everyday, and after a few days that just gets boring. We thought it would be easier having all inclusive with Jonas, so that we didn't have to go out every night looking for a place to eat. But let's face it, there are restaurants and bazaars everywhere in Alanya. We ended up eating out 3 evenings out the 7, just because we needed something different. I'm not saying every all inclusive is bad, because the first and only time I had been to at all inclusive before was back in 2010, when we went to a wedding in Punta Cana, and that was amazing, but then again it had 7 ala carte restaurants and a big buffet, so it wasn't the same everyday.

Nonetheless we had a good vacation, we spent a lot of time by the pool, which is a bit boring, but Jonas loved it. We usually started in the morning, and had chairs in the shade, and around 11 am the sun came to those chairs, well then Jonas would like to have break, so him and Frank usually took a break and I got to tan a bit. 

We didn't get to see much, but we got to relax. I also got to try the Hamam (Turkish bath), which I really enjoyed, but since I haven't got my pictures from the camera yet, you will have to do with just the one of Jonas in the pool doing a handstand.... well I didn't a handstand, and came up, he told me I looked like a whale... honestly a WHALE, couldn't he have said a mermaid or a dolphin, but a WHALE come on! I guess you should hear the truth from kids... but Jonas said he also could do a handstand... look at the that and he has the nerve to call me a whale:)

He loved being in the pool, and as the days went by he got more and more brave, which meant having to keep an eye on him at all times! The first few days he would happily stay in the baby pool and only go in the big pool with us... but oh boy in the end he would try to sneak over into the big pool if we were looking away for a second....

You will get more pictures later, now I have to fold the last laundry, I got a bit of a setback yesterday then the dryer suddenly broke down, of course it will do that when you got 3 suitcases full of dirty clothes! So we had to go get a new one, but it delayed my laundry! Though now it's only folding left!

How time flies...

I can't believe how time just flies, Jonas is growing up way too fast. He is so much fun, and learning new things all the time...

On Saturday he had a haircut, it's not like it was the first haircut, more like the 10th or 12th haircut, so that wasn't a big deal. But the hairdresser asked him if he wanted wax in his hair, and he said yes... suddenly my little boy seemed so big!

I can't believe how naughty he looks:)

This weekend there was a sale on bicycles, and since we had been talking about getting him a bike, well we might just take advantage of the sale. So we got him his first bike, a spiderman bike. He had a bit of trouble figuring out how to use the pedals, but he is starting to get the hang of it.

After starting the Early Years programme, he has also started saying a few English words, which is quite fun. The first sentence he learned was "May I be excused", though Jonas doesn't quite know how to pronounce excused, so it sounds like "May I be a juice". He is also starting to know the colours in English, and sometimes he will be asking me "mum what is x called in Early Years?" to him it's not English it's Early Years. 

And soon we will be going on vacation, in 26 short days we will be flying to Turkey. We tried explaining it to Jonas on Friday, we told him we would fly to Turkey and go in the swimming pool. We showed him pictures on the computer etc. So when we arrived at his swimming class on Saturday morning he told me it was the wrong swimming pool. So I tried to explain that we have to sleep a lot of nights before we are going. When I asked him if he remember what we were doing on Sunday when he woke up, well he answered "Fly to Turkey"... so it might only be days, but I'm not sure he quite gets that:)

Have a great week everyone:)

A little update...

I can't believe I haven't been blogging for almost 2 weeks. I guess I have been a bit busy, I have been working nights for a few days in the beginning of this week, but that just messes up everything for a few days afterwards. I have today off, it was very much needed, because working during the night doesn't give you as much sleep during the day....I guess I'm not cut out for it, but I do still enjoy it, but after a few days I guess I need some time to catch up on my sleep.

So what have I been up to... on Saturday Legoland opened again for a new season, and Jonas and I went. It was raining a little, a bit cold etc. but we dressed for the occasion and had fun.

 Jonas in front of a little Lego city, he loves seeing the trains go by, and the little cars driving around. I actually think he would be satisfied if that was all we got to do there...

 Taking a picture of the dangerous lion Jonas, though by the time I got to take the photo he was leaving again.

 In the small boats, he kept telling me if we were turning left or right... he is actually quite good a know what is left and what is right.

 Jonas and me sailing in the small boats.

 On Friday it was our 5th wedding anniversary, but since Frank had a company party to attend, we waited a celebrated a little Saturday night. One of the presents at our wedding was 3 bottles of wine, one for our first anniversary, one for our 3rd anniversary and one for our 5th anniversary. Though I can't believe it's been 5 years all ready....

Yesterday before leaving work one of the guys got cinnamon. It's tradition in Denmark that when you turn 25 and aren't married you get cinnamon, and if you aren't married by 30 you get pepper. He was expecting it, but he thought we would do it in the morning, so he had put his old clothes on... but we waited till he was off work, and took him outside... For some reason they always over do it at our company, usually you would only get a small bag, but he we have plenty of cinnamon in stock at our baker, so he got a whole lot more than I ever got.

Well that will be it for now, hope I will get around to blogging a bit more often...

Jonas' first days at Early Years...

So Jonas started the Early Years programme on Monday, and have now been there for 4 days. Monday I stayed with him until we went home. Then on Tuesday he was going to stay there by himself, so he only stayed for a few hours. He gave me a hug and a few kisses when I left, and was okay with me leaving... I think it was harder for me leaving him.

He is suddenly so big and independent... well all the other kids go to the bathroom themselves, put on the jackets etc. all by themselves. I know Jonas are able to do this too, but when he is at home we probably help him a bit too much. And since the potty training was pretty new to him, I was pretty sure he would have had a changed of clothes when I picked him up... but no, and he had fun. He had got a bit upset at one point on the playground, not crying or anything, but he seemed a little lost. But after talking a bit to one of the teachers there were no problem.

My big boy on he way home from "school" on Wednesday 

Wednesday he stayed a bit longer, and again no accidents! When I dropped him off on Wednesday morning when were headed to the Gym for their P.E. class. He had really enjoyed P.E., I guess mainly because this time they had brought out everything for them just to run around and play. On Wednesday he had also been a little upset at one point, but not crying or anything, he just got a hug and talked to one of the teachers and then he was okay.

Yesterday I dropped him off and he had to show me a few things before I could leave. He kept holding my hand and wouldn't really let go. So I thought he would be really upset when I left. One of the teachers came with us so he could wave at me, he gave me a kiss and a hug, and when I was almost out the door he wanted to give me another kiss. I gave him another kiss, and then he ran off, and didn't care to wave at me!

Since he is used to having a nap on both Wednesday and Thursday I picked him up around noon. Yesterday they were about to eat their lunch when I came, and Jonas wanted to stay and eat, so we did. Again he had no accidents, I'm so proud of him, but he did have a little accident on Wednesday afternoon and we were outside playing in the neighbours backyard, but ohh well he had so much fun he forgot.

Jonas relaxing, NOT napping:)

I guess all the problems we had when he started daycare was all the trouble we needed. On Wednesday he didn't want to nap just relax on the couch with TV, which meant a very tired Jonas and early dinner and early bedtime. When we got home yesterday he again said he didn't want to nap, but he ended up falling asleep on the couch.

My baby turned 3!

Well again more than a week passed between blogposts, but this time with good reason. I was preparing for Jonas' 3rd birthday... I can't believe he is all ready 3 years old. We celebrated his birthday on Sunday, though it wasn't until yesterday it was his birthday. But yesterday he was starting the Early Years programme at the International School, so it seemed like celebrating on Sunday was the best way to go.

Opening his first present, a radio controlled Jake on Skateboard. Jonas is quite into everything Jake and everything Cars.

Since he loves Jake so much we had paper plates and napkins with Jake, and the table was all ready for the guests to arrive.

Sunday was also shrovetide, and since Jonas didn't get to attend any parties this year he put on his Jake costume, though not for long, he wasn't too fond of it. I guess polyester isn't the way to go:)

Opening more presents. And yes he isn't wearing pants, he just like running around in his boxers, and it's just so much easier when potty training, so we let him.

Blowing out candles on his rainbow cake.

 Blowing out candles on his cakeman which my mum baked. It's tradition for her to bake one for everyone of us on our birthday.

  

And a close up of the rainbow cake, I'm quite proud of how it turned out.

So my baby is now quite and has started the Early Years programme, but that is a whole other story!

A finished project... again:)

I finished another project, a pair of felted slippers for Jonas. 

That was probably one of the easiest and fastest project I have ever made. You knit a "long" piece, sew it together.

They look huge, actually they fit me before throwing them in the washer.

You wash them at 60 degrees Celsius, and they come out several sizes smaller.

And here you have the finished project on Jonas. What a great look, boxers and slippers! We are potty training and not wearing pants makes it easier reaching the toilet in time:)

And last a picture of the slippers without Jonas, he found it hard to stand still for me to take a picture.

But hey wasn't that a super easy project, I think I will make some for myself as well.

The sweet challenges of motherhood

One of the sweet challenges of being a mother is potty training... and we are in the middle of it.

The thing is, we have enrolled Jonas in the Early Years programme at the international school instead of regular kindergarten. But a few things are different there from regular kindergarten, one is that they have to be diaper free. Jonas was really good at telling us he had to go potty when he needed to do number 2, but hey I had to go ruin that last summer. I figured we had a week off without any plans, so I will take the diaper off him, and ohh did that backfire! He was crying that he wanted to put a diaper on, what a great mum I was. That also made him not tell us when he had to go.

Since he is starting the Early Years programme on March 1st we figured we needed to start training, and this weekend we did! Saturday morning went fine, without accidents, but after his nap... well it went downhill from there, and we had to put clean underwear on him what felt like a million times.

Sunday went a lot better, only one half accident, he had gone into the bathroom, but was a bit too slow getting his underpants off, but hey he was trying. He is still wearing a diaper in daycare but we take it off him when he gets home, and since Sunday no accidents, hurrah! 

Today I took him grocery shopping without a diaper, our first trip out of the house diaper free. We did a fast shopping trip, because he still isn't too good a telling us when to go, we keep asking him and he says yes or no, so a fast shopping trip without accidents was a success. So I still got hope that he will be diaper free before March 1st., I must admit I wasn't too sure Saturday afternoon!

Back to normal

Well we seem to be getting back to our normal routine now. Jonas is over the chicken pox, and will be back in daycare tomorrow.

My mum came here on Monday afternoon and stayed till Friday, so we could still go to work and she would watch Jonas. The thing is when my mum is here she doesn't only take care of Jonas... she cleans, she cooks and she does the laundry... it's like having an Au pair.

On Thursday I think Jonas would have been ready for daycare, but since my mum was here he stayed home. On Friday my dad came as well, because they were attending grandparents day in the daycare. They had a really nice time, and Jonas had been really excited to see all his friends again.

While my mum was here it was snowing, and when I arrived home late on Tuesday night after working till 10.00 pm this was the sight I saw.

They had been building snowmen, all of five snowmen. Jonas really had enjoyed himself, and didn't want to go inside. On Wednesday the had gone out to decorate them with carrot noses and pebble buttons and eyes.

 

My mum tried to get a picture of him and all 5 snowmen, but he kept moving around, so she got one without telling him she was photographing him.

Now there isn't much left of the snowmen, hopefully that means that spring is here, or is here very soon anyways. Though Jonas is a bit upset that his snowmen is gone.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. 

A few finished projects

So last week during my vacation I had a few projects. I have now finished some of them, and here are some pictures to show for it.

I used my new sewing machine and made a pair of pants for Jonas. I didn't get a picture of him in them, but I'm quite satisfied with the result. They are a bit long, but since there is elastic in the legs it doesn't really matter. It got me hooked, and I ordered more fabric, for another pair of pants for Jonas, which will be with pockets, he was missing his pockets. And I also got some fabric for a dress/tunic for myself. Though at the moment there isn't enough hours in the day to get the sewing machine out due to other projects.

I also finished my scarf, it was really easy to make, and I am now working on one for my mum as well. I guess she need something for babysitting Jonas this next week. On Thursday he got sick with chickenpox, on Friday I was working late, which also meant I didn't have to go into work as early as usual, and Frank is usually off early on Fridays, so he went home a bit earlier than usual, and the few hours from me leaving to him getting home our sweet neighbour babysat for us. She was also hoping that her daughter would catch the chickenpox. In Denmark you don't get a vaccination for the chickenpox, but once you had it you are immune, and the earlier you get it the easier it will be getting over it.

I need to get back to the other scarf. My mum will come here on Monday afternoon and stay till Friday, and then hopefully he will be better and be ready to go to daycare next week.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Christmas gifts from Jonas

I promised in another post that I would take pictures of the gifts Jonas made for us in daycare, so here we go. 

2 paintings, first they had put masking tape on the canvas, and then let the kids paint their own pictures. I love the look the masking tape gave the paintings.

 My favourite gift was this little plaster cast of his hand. I just love how you can see all the details of his nails, the little lines in his hand etc. When we unwrapped it Jonas first said "it's Eske's hand" Eske is one of the other boys in his daycare, his best friend, but it wasn't his hand we had got:)

 And last we also got 2 coasters for hot pots and pans. When we opened them Jonas carefully touched them and looked at his finger to see if the paint had come of. I guess they had been told not to touch it until it was dry.

I love how he made all these gifts for us, they were the best Christmas gifts we got this year.