Oh, so many presents and a dancing Santa!!!

He was not real though but still shook his belly! He lives (only in December though) in Nana and Papa's pub where we were having Christmas lunch. The princess and little man mesmerised for a moment there.... Oh, you're wondering why the little man's wearing a cape on top of his nice clothes? Well, he got a Darth Vader mask and cape, did manage to convince him to not wear the mask though!
We enjoyed our fantastic Christmas lunch, played games and got even more presents! You wouldn't think there would be more presents though, not after you've seen the lot in front of the tree!

We woke up to this sight in Nana and Papa's house Christmas morning.... Just magic!!

Hope you all have had a great Christmas?

Christmas holiday!

Monday the princess started her Christmas holiday a bit earlier having to stay home from school with a temperature. Tuesday the daddy followed and Wednesday the little man.... I seemed to not be following them so I got the packing done and Thursday we piled everything and everyone in the car and off we went!
We're now in England relaxing trying to beat a nasty cold that seems to have got to us all. Yes, I woke up Friday morning not feeling well.....
Luckily I didn't get too bad before we actually got here so driving through 4 countries before we got to Calais went fine, and we had a nice rest on the ferry to Dover, drove the last couple of hours before arriving at nana and papa's.

Despite feeling unwell the children were very excited and so happy to see everyone. Their little cousin had been waiting and it was lots of laughs and cuddles when they all three saw each other!

The Skateboard....

The little man had wished for a skateboard and the lucky little man got one!! He's moster (aunty) had heard his wish and decided to grant him it... He was more than over the moon! A while back he had tried his friend's skateboard and ever since been saying he wished for one for Christmas. I was a bit sceptical as at only 5 years old, thought he might be a bit too young. He's not... he's brilliant on it and look so cool!

So happy the snow has nearly gone so he could get to try it. He's a born skater....

His other big wish for Christmas was granted too. Mormor (grandma) bought him a basketball net. That though, he will have to wait to after Christmas to try out. 3 more days and we're on our way to England!

The daddy has just descovered our kitchen.....

.... and also an app on his phone called reciepes! It's mainly the cake recipes he looks up! He has so far made banana bread, fudge (which was a flop and couldn't be eaten) and today he has just made chocolate chip cookies! They look yummy, don't they??

We had friends around yesterday and they liked his banana bread (phew... I don't think he would have let them leave if they'd said otherwise), the daddy was praised for his effort and was one very happy man!!

Today morfar (grandad) and his wife came to give the princess and the little man their Christmas presents. We're spending Christmas in England this year so we have pre Christmas before we leave. I really like that as we don't have to take the presents from the Danish lot back and forward plus the princess and little man get to enjoy their presents a bit more, having them spread out like that! This way the Danish lot get to enjoy the children excitedly opening their presents. Also no doubt there'll still be lots of presents in England under Nana & Papa's tree. Thanks to online shopping, all our presents for everyone are already safely waiting for us at Nana & Papa's house, ready to get wrapped. It's a win win situation, isn't it??

Do you bring the presents back and forward if you travel to see family for Christmas??

Please take me with you....

She looks as to say "I'm coming with you guys" doesn't she??

Thank you, Papa!

For the amazing advent calenders you sent us. We love them....

Love from your grandchildren xxx

Papa found these lovely advent calenders here !
They are fantastic with amazing pictures, music and little stories.

An end to all the Christmas parties.....

Thursday night was the last of the many Christmas shenanigans we've been running to all week. For some reason all the Christmas parties etc. land in one week but on a positive note, then it's done and we can relax!
Anyway, Thursday the princess and 2 other girls from her class were singing, something she'd really been looking forward to! Sorry the quality is not great on the pictures, we were too far away.

She was so cool and all three of them were very sweet singing their hearts out! There were lots of other perfomances and the little man got a bit fidgety and decided to overlook it all form the top......

Friday morning it was two tired children who were woken by an equally tired mummy..... But now we can relax and enjoy the weekend. Today with playdates, tomorrow in the house as the weatherman has promised a big snowstorm will hit us!! I don't mind so much as long as it's calmed down on monday and the snow is cleared off the roads.

What are you up to this weekend??

You could join the blog hop over here...

Snow!

One more advent calender, snow, Elves, Fairies and a little Christmas train.

Yesterday a big packet came in the post.... It was advent calenders from Nana to add to the two the princess and little man already had been given. Both mormor (grandma) and moster (aunty) had also had the same thought....

 Today we woke up to find snow outside....

 ....and that the Fairy had delivered the Christmas tree. Every year it's so exciting to see when it will be delivered. The Fairy sits on top and she has put the lights on. The rest is for us to decorate!

That was not all.... The Elves had also been sometime in the night because the little man and princess' stockings had things in them. Magazines and treats which lead to more screams of joy.
The Christmas market was today too, so we popped down for a while but it was very cold. The princess and little man did get a ride on the little train before we called it a day.

Back home again hot chocolate and tea got us warmed up again.

What have you been up to on this 2nd day of December??

The tree is now lit....

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..... "Wow" the crowd went!

Before that happened this special visitor, yes you guessed right, Father Christmas arrived by boat to do the honours.... Can you see him waving to all the excited children (and excited parents) ??

The princess and little man got to shake his hand before we all followed him and the band (yes, there's a Christmas band why wouldn't there be.....) to see the Christmas tree get lit!

That you can call a Christmas band, eh....??

And so it begins.....

All the Christmas shenanigans! No no, don't get me wrong, I do like Christmas but it's a busy time! Today was the first of many things happening the next 4 weeks. The princess' school had their 'Make Christmas decoration for your classroom' day and parents were welcome to come and help. So I did.....
The classroom looks fantastic now, the children are happy and I'm soooo tired!! They do have a lot to tell you this lovely bunch of 7 year olds....

Tomorrow afternoon there's a Christmas party at the after school club. Then we're off to the harbour to see Father Christmas arrive on the boat to turn the lights on, on our town's Christmas tree. Like he does every year so it's ready for the Christmas fair on Sunday. Next week is soooo busy too with more parties at nursery, school but I'll come back to that another day.

Are you ready for all the Christmas shenanigans??

Dripping wax....

Well, that's a direct translation from Danish 'dryppe lys' whether it's right I do not know. It does say what I mean though, literally!
Light a candle and let the wax drip into a small bowl of cold water. That's what the princess, little man and I were doing yesterday. They were very proud to be allowed to hold the candle and use it to light a new colour, then blow out the candle just used. They were very careful and no hair was burnt... Might be because I was constantly reminding them not to lean over!

Pretty aren't they...??
It's a nice little easy thing to make for the grandparents for Christmas.

Something goes away and a new idea arises....

We've (until a week ago) had 2 cars, a little dinky one for me and a family car which the daddy drove. My car had it's MOT 2 weeks ago and failed and I mean failed to the extent that it was only to be driven to my mechanics. What to do now???
Well, luckily my mum lives close and happily helps in times of need! The daddy works a good 8 miles away so 16 all together and we have never thought of him not driving.
"Why don't I ride my bike?" Hmmmm, yeah why not!!
The more he thought about it, the more keen he got so we fixed his bike so it had everything in order. He left excitedly half an hour earlier the first morning and I would be lying if I said I wasn't just a tad nervous. But 55 minutes later a text ticked in, he had safe and sound made it to work in time.... Woo hoo!!!
Ever since he has never looked back and 2 cars is in the past, no need for that. He's happily cycling to work and back, feels less tired and just plain loves it!!
I'm very proud of him and yes of course I've told him.... At dinner today he mentioned again how he loves it and I said as a joke "next stop Tour de France then..."
"I could do that!!"
I'm sorry, what?? But he insisted it couldn't be that tough and 5 days a week he was cycling 16 miles so really, how hard could it be??

But really, Tour de France or not, I'm proud of him for cycling every day to work and so happy to be the one left with the car!!

I'm scared, I'm so scared, mummy!

That's what the little man screamed whilst shaking yesterday when he got, not just one but 2 splinters, for the first time in his life. How's he's managed not to get any at all for 5 years, I do not know. The princess has had several since she was little. So she's a bit of an expert on the subject so she shared her experience about splinters with the little man. Made a big effort to assure him it wasn't too bad, there would be no blood but a needle would be requried.
The little man was crying but brave and the first splinter was removed..... Big cheers and woo hoo's!! Then on to the next splinter. This time the little man had stopped shaking and crying and demanded to see to make sure I did it properly. He even giggled.... What a change in just 2 minutes but two splinters were removed and the little man was so proud.

This morning he needed to just go through the splinter story a few times to make sure we all remembered how scared and brave he was!! I of course told him what a big brave boy he was and that he eagerly agreed with.
Not to forget the princess and her part in the big splinter drama last night, I did remember to tell her what a big help she was sharing her experience with her little brother.

Here they are, the brave little man and his helpful big sister.

The Tooth Fairy!

The little man has lost his first tooth!

Football fan but not your team, daddy!!

The little man has an interest in football, helped by the daddy who's the biggest football fan I know. As the little man has gotten older (now 5) his understanding of the game has increased and he sits with the daddy and watches the games. He loses interest after a while but not before he knows what team the daddy wants to win and more often than not then chooses the opposite team!! That's all fine when it's randomish games but when it's the daddy's team it hurts when the little man chooses the reds not the blues.....
When we went away with our friends the other weekend the men were discussing this as our friends little boy does the same!!! My friend and I said nothing, it was not a discussion for us to interact in!! None of us suprised that our little boys are winding up their daddy!!

Look how proud she is....

Today she got her diploma.... 7 years old and a 1000 pages are read!! The daddy, the little man and I proudly watched. Yes, I shed a tear (or 2, 3, 4....) wouldn't you..?

Have a great weekend!

1000 pages read....

Actually a bit more but who's counting.... Oh, yeah we are!!! At school tomorrow the princess will receive a diploma at morning assembly given to her by the Headmaster. The daddy, the little man and I will proudly be there, taking lots of photos...
When the princess started first grade we were told she had to read at least 10 pages a day out loud to us (Read) She loves it and often reads more than 10 pages which now have resulted in reaching the first goal... 1000 pages!!
She's very excited, proud and a bit nervous about tomorrow. I will defo show you pictures when we're back.
I'm very excited too and very very proud.

A night away....

Saturday to Sunday the daddy and I were in a very nice hotel in Copenhagen which is a couple of hours from where we live. It was a wedding present from our lovely friends. We very much enjoyed our adult time, ate lovely dinner and a fantastic brunch the next morning. The daddy has not often been to our capital Copenhagen so a bit of sightseeing was to be done. The little Mermaid seemed a good choice. We made it just before dark after we've been enjoying coffee and hot chocolate.

The hotel we stayed in was very nice and we slept more than 8 hours without being woken. no children calling for mummy or daddy. I even had a shower in peace, no child chatting away whilst on the toilet. The princess or little man always seem to need the toilet when I have a shower.... I guess that's the beauty of motherhood!! Anyway, we relaxed and enjoyed our 1½ days away.
The little man and the princess had had a great time at home with mormor (grandma) so much they thought it was appropriate to wake at 5am!! Poor mormor... She was tired when we got back!

This is the hotel we stayed in, in the heart of Copenhagen!

"When I'm older I will live in another house"

Stated the little man last night. Okay, where will you live??

"In no 66"

We live in no 77 and as no street name was mentioned, we must assume the little man meant not too far from here... In no 66!!!

The princess and the daddy was playing Guess Who before bedtime.

The daddy: "does yours have hair on the face?"

The princess: "No! Only eyeBROWNS"

She's always said it and we can't bear to correct her.... As we live in Denmark I guess it can take a while before she realizes it's wrong!!

Happy Halloween!

"It's Bond, James Bond"

The daddy and I went to the cinema on Saturday. We watched Skyfall, the new James Bond movie. It was good, I very much enjoyed it.

The daddy however felt he had to enlighten his children on the whole James Bond shenanigans so Sunday the walkie talkies were found and he instructed his 2 agents. A very important thing in the agent world apparently is to remember to say 'roger' when you're finished talking. The 2 agents in training tried really hard and did remember the 'roger' thing nearly everytime. The princess was undercover as Rapunzel, the little man as a fan of spiderman!

Ups... I just blew their cover didn't I !!!

We've all done it.... haven't we??

Sung loudly with headphones on?? I know you've done it so no denying it!!! Anyhow, it's not me this time but the princess. Every night she can play, read, draw or something for half an hour before bedtime after the little man is put to bed. Last night she asked to listen to music which was okay if she put headphones on. She did but that didn't stop her from singing loudly! So Patience (Take That) Boyfriend (Alphabeat) and Call me maybe (Carly Rae Jepsen) was what she heard but all we heard was her..... And her version of the songs! Brilliant, it is defo a star we have here..... So Simon Cowell will be calling any day now with a contract, I'm sure!!

Don't you think....??

The story about a mobile phone....

I stumbled across a box today. I was not prepared for what I found in there..... It was massive and fake metallic light grey. I could not stop laughing and I'm still giggling writing this. It belonged to the daddy many years ago and back then I remember it causing quite a few laughs when showed to people. You want to know what it is??
I'll show you a picture....

It's the daddy's old mobile phone from 2005. Look at it.... Anyhow, he did not quite understand my amusement.
"Look at my phone, it's nearly as big today as it was then"
Hmmm, is it!!?? Well, there's a reason for the bigger phones today. They have touch screens. He then claimed everyone laughing at him back then were the ones to laugh at now cos he knew already in 2005 that a phone that size would be the future!!

I see a difference though don't you? The screen on his phone today 2012, 7 years down the line, is double the size because everything is on there, nice and compact. The princess and little man were very impressed and the little man straight away took to it pretending to call one of his mates from nursery....

Like father like son.....

But seriously you understand why I'm laughing, don't you??