Clearing out

J is on the third week of his holidays and we haven't been away. But we have been making good use of the time to have a good clear out - neither of us like clutter. J's pet peeve is when his garage (note I say "his" - it is very much his part of the house - just like the kitchen is mine!) is in a mess. We are very lucky to have a double garage with lots of extra room but with two cars that we always park in there each night, the sit on mower, six bikes, several lots of shelving and all the old baby paraphalnilia something had to give!

By chance we discovered a shop that buys your unwanted errrr treasures! So we managed to offload the bulky old baby stuff (highchair, travel cot, rucksack, etc) and actually get money from it! Not that much but as we would have been happy enough to give it away if we actually knew anyone who was pregnant and didn't already have all the gear we were quite happy! We were planning to go out and have lunch with the proceeds as O is at daycamp and F is at my ILs for the day - but I seem to have got a stomach virus (or I have eaten something dodgy) and so didn't feel up to it (I do now after a good clearout!!!)

Party Bags

I HATE party bags! I really really hate them. However I also love my son far more and party bags were an essential party of his birthday celebrations today! Me being me though decided that I could not possibly give them in those horrible plastic bags that are the only option here (and believe me I have searched for an alternative!) So I made them - sixteen green paper bags with a very furry handle. It took me about 4 hours and a lot of swearing! Then the next dilemma - what to put in them. I hate the high E numbered sweets that seem to be compulsory and all those little bits of plastic junk and instead ended up with some chocolate and a playdoh dome (on special offer!)

Were they appreciated - oh yes! Would they still have been equally appreciated if they had been plastic bags full of E numbers and junk - sadly probably!

Chickpeas!

This has to be one of both my children's favourite foods - it is just such a shame that they both don't like them "cooked" the same way - indeed both refuse to eat the other "form"! O is a felafal boy - just loves them stuffed in a pitta with ketchup! F, on the other hand, will have the pitta but with "houhou" - or houmous to the rest of us! I have tried to get them both to accept that they are just the same but they look different but so far I am having no luck!

I see a joint cookery lesson coming up but knowing my two even that won't encourage them to eat the other!!

Preening!

O doesn't really care what he wears - as long as it is comfy then he is set. The only time he probably does care is when he is off to a party and then he absolutely MUST wear one of his shirts.

F, on the other hand, is a completely different kettle of fish! I don't know if it is a girl thing or just her but she has set ideas already at the age of two and three quarters of what looks good - and what doesn't! Of course, that doesn't always meet with Mummy's view of fashion! Today we went shopping and she insisted on picking out her own choice of clothes for going back to school - this included a bikini! Ever since she discovered one in her drawer last week she has been insistent on wearing it all the time (we, on the other hand, insist that she can only wear it when we are going in the pool - this has led to her wanting to go in the pool a lot more!) The funniest thing though is that each times she puts it on (and now she is so happy that she has a choice!!) she runs to the mirror and stands preening - it is so cute to see! Having said that, I dread to think what she will be like when she becomes a teenager!

Back ...

wow - that was a bit of a break wasn't it! But as I read more blogs I figured that I ought to be better at keeping it up - and actually reading it back was very interesting (well for me anyway!)

So little has changed except that O is now 6 and F is almost three! I am still a SAHM but I am hoping that once F starts school full time in September I will be able to find some part time work. I have a few fingers ina few pies so we will see if anything comes from any of them!

This post is just a "well I am back" one - I hope that somehow people do start to read it (I guess that one I get more regular about it I should start linking to it on my many online forums that I participate in!)

Thanks for reading and do check in again!!!

O's new speech therapist

O's speech therapist left last week on maternity leave so today was his first appointment with Ann-Sophie. It was her first appointment in the job too - poor love. She had a child whose name she had never seen before and to boot he was of British origin! Anyway - it must have gone OK as O gave her a kiss at the end of it!

I am not yet sure what I think of her - I don't stay for the appointments as the dual language makes it hard on O (he always speaks english with me). Time will tell!

She can...

walk I am sure but Little Miss finds it much quicker to crawl. F has taken upto 5 steps on her own and behind her pushchair or holding onto her cow or one hand she will happily walk. But she doesn't want to do so regularly. I admit it is driving me mad. O walked in two days at the age of ten months - whereas F has been like this for over 3months. I am eager mainly because when we go pick O up from school I end up carrying F for over 30minutes - and she is getting heavier and heavier!

One day soon........................................

Beans beans beans

I am terrible at buying in dried beans and never using them (too much pfaff to soak them overnight) but I saw a bean and pasta soup recipe that looked tasty so last night I put some aduki beans into soak and the soup is now cooking on the hob. I have to keep remembering to go stir it. I just hope O eats it. I have sold him to it as a pasta stew rather than a soup - not sure if that will work when he actually sees it!

Wow - that was quick!

January that is. It only seems like two minutes since it was Christmas day!

The last few days we have had snow (well it has actually melted now). O was delighted - he was dressed and out as soon as he realised that there was that white stuff outisde. He built a great snowman! The snow lasted over 2 days - which is unheard of for here. On the rare occasions we do get it it is gone by midday. It was good it was the weekend as that meant that O got the most out of it!

The snow pretty much dominated the weekend - we just went out to the local shops on Saturday and walked to the Sunday market the day after. Though O did go to a birthday party. J took him so that he could nip into the office for a while! He is working way too hard at the minute - but he is enjoying himself which is great!

Down!

I don't know why - I just feel deflated tonight. I was sick (literally) over the weekend so maybe that has taken more out of me than I thought??? I don't know. I feel really unmotivated generally. I know I need to work out - do some exercise. Just not sure how. I can't join a gym as they don't have creches, and doing anything is the evening just doesn't appeal (especially as I don't like driving in the dark).

I guess once summer comes, and we have the pool it will be easier to exercise and hopefully I can start toning that spare tyre round my middle! I could go walking with F in her stroller but it just doesn't appeal.

I know I know - excuses escuses!

Done it again...

Not posted that it! Perhaps as I feel that I do so little that my life is pretty boring! Whereas it isn't really! I NEED to make more effort!

New job!

No - not me (don't be silly!!) but J! He still works for the same company but has today officilaly started in his roel as Quality and Risk Manager on a new project! He is so very excited by the job and what it all entails. he is going to be busy with that and doing his last course for his MBA - roll on April when it will have all finished!

Christmas!

We managed to get the children in bed at a reasonable hour and my parents went about 9pm. J and I waited until about 11pm until we put the gifts out - I was worried about O coming out as he was so excited and I didn't want to spoil the Christmas dream for him.

In the morning he woke up at 7.10am. All we could hear was him say "Wow, Mummy daddy, Father Christmas has come!" In our family we do the gifts one at a time - and what was cute was that F soon worked out that the pink gifts were for her. While theer seemed to be a lot of gifts there actually was a reasonable number and I feel we didn't go OTT. The star gifts included a cheap plastic pretend camera for O, a box of wooden blocks for F which we have all played with, a new camera for me and J's cordless headphones. My parents were thrilled with the DVD player we got for them.

Dinner was an onion tart - not very traditional but as we don't do meat it was perfect! We all ate way too much! O loved the crackers but I don't think f was too impressed!

My parents went home the next day and we all just vegged out and played with the toys.

Tuesday we went to IKEA - and as often happens saw someone there we hadn't seen for 6 years! Good to exchange numbers!

Wednesday our old neighbours came round. O had a paddy because they hadn't wrapped his present. I had words with him about being grateful and he soon came round.

Friday we went to my parents to set the DVD played up for them. Mum made us proper British fish, chips and mushy peas - wonderful!

New Year's Eve was a bit of a non-event as usual!

Sunday we had more friends round for lunch - that was as nice as it always is with them!

And that brings us to today - last day of the holidays before O goes back to school tomorrow!

Update

As promised not one minute ago!

O finished school on the 16th - seemed really early but I guess that is what you get for Christmas being on the weekend. His school had a party which was fun - way too much food as usual though all my brownies went!!!

On the Sunday O, F and I went up to my parents while J studied for an assignment for his MBA. As usual it was lovely to see them. O stayed with them (heck as soon as lunch was over he kept asking when F and I were going to leave!) and only returned on Wednesday. It was nice to have some time with just F and not have to have our day dictated to by the school run! Friday O and I went to his best friend's 5th birthday party. It was bitterly cold but didn't stop them playing outside! O loves parties!

Christmas Eve we went to a local forest. it was a glorious day - blue skies and warmish. We collected pinecones which poor old me had to then lug around. Then again J was carried F in the Bjorn!! In the late afternoon my parents came over for Christmas. Will start a new post for Christmas!

I must make more effort!

I really do suck at keeping this updated - hopeless! I think about writing in it a lot but never seem to actually get to do it. So I guess I need a big update post going!

St Lucia

Tomorrow O's school is celebrating St Lucia - a Swedish holiday as one of his teacher's is half Swedish. This is what one website had to say about the holiday:


Throughout Sweden the feast day of Lucia, or Lucy, is celebrated as a festival of lights. In the early hours of the morning of December 13 a young woman, dressed in a white gown, and wearing a red sash and a crown of lingonberry twigs and blazing candles, would go from one farm to the next carrying a torch to light her way, bringing baked goods, stopping to visit at each house and returning home by break of day. Every village had its own Lucia. The custom is thought to have begun in some of the richer farming districts of Sweden and still persists although the crowns are now electric lights.
In Norway and Sweden it is still a custom on December 13 for a girl in a white dress (representing the Saint), to bring a tray of saffron buns and steaming coffee to wake the family. She is called the Lussibrud (Lucy bride) and her pastry (saffron buns) is Lussekattor (recipe and photo). Today many families have a Lucia-Queen in their own home, often the youngest daughter, who wakes the rest of the family with song.
Lucia symbolizes light and growth for human and beast as she emerges out of the darkness. She is said to have been beheaded by the sword during the persecutions of Diocletian at Catania in Sicily. Her body was later brought to Constantinople and finally to Venice, where she is now resting in the church of Santa Lucia. Because her name means "light" she very early became the great patron saint for the "light of the body"--the eyes. Many of the ancient light and fire customs of the Yuletide became associated with her day. Thus we find "Lucy candles" lighted in the homes and "Lucy fires" burned in the outdoors. Before the Reformation Saint Lucy's Day was one of unusual celebration and festivity because, for the people of Sweden and Norway, she was the great "light saint" who turned the tides of their long winter and brought the light of the day to renewed victory.
Before the calendar reform, her original feast day (the day of her martyrdom) happened to fall on the shortest day of the year. The winter solstice was December 13 by the Julian calendar rather than December 21, which it became with the change to the Gregorian calendar in the 1300s, linking it with the far older Yule and Winter festivals of pre-Christian times. Lucy's lore survived the Reformation and calendar reform, which brought the solstice to December 23.
Another Scandianavian custom was for children, on the eve of December 13, to write the word "Lussi" on doors, fences, and walls. In ancient times the purpose of this practice was to announce to the demons of winter that their reign was broken on Saint Lucy's Day, that the sun would return again and the days become longer. "Lucy fires" used to be burned in many parts of northern Europe on December 13. Into the bonfires people would throw incense, and while the flames rose, trumpets and flutes were playing to celebrate the changing of the suns's course.

I have made O a point hat with gold stars and a gold starred wand. He will also wear one of my white t-shirts. It is a shame because the parents don't get to see what they do - and O being O won't tell us much!!!

An update

Of sorts!

It has been busy (well as busy as life ever gets for me as a SAHM!) I am gearing up for Christmas - presents are all bought! Now they just need wrapping - which will be a job in itself! I have no idea about Christmas dinner - we don't eat meat so I need to decide if we will have fish or a veggie option. Thinking about doing an onion tart! Different!

The children are great! O and I went to see "Chicken Little" at the cinema. O was a little scared in places (didn't like the aliens) but he wanted to stay and was happy to sit on my lap and cuddle up to me! He loved the Mummy time - bit of a Mummy's boy!

F is also doing well. Still not walking but she can climb anything! She is now standing hands free but not for too long! I don't worry about it - she will do it when she is good and ready! She is such a happy little camper - always smiling and giggling!

I am doing pretty well too. Get a bit overwhelmed at times but overall feeling fairly good.

It has been too long!

I always keep meaning to update but don't! I know I should - what is the point in having a blog if I never write in it (not that i think anybody actually reads it - my life is much too dull!)

It has been a while!

Bad me!! I come online every day but as not a lot happens I don't think to post!

This week we have had a friend's 14 year old son stay with us as he is doing work experience at the company J works for. So before he came I did an enormous bake - chocolate chip muffins, ginger cookies and maple syrup cookies so that there was enough for him to munch on. Fortunately he eats a good meal at the office so he hasn't eaten us out of house and home as yet!

F and I went to her first ever playgroup this morning. She loved it - especially the little mini trampoline they had in there. the downside is is that it is on the otherside of the city - so a good 30min drive. So whether we go again depends on F's wake up time! We had to rush home (she fell asleep in the car) and then I gave her an early lunch and then she went back to bed. She has fallen asleep again thankfully - or else she would be so grumpy!

O is so very excited - the advent calendars have arrived! This year he seems to understand the concept much much better! And it is doing wonders for his number recognition!! He also get's to open F's (she only has one because I bought one and my mum bought one!!) but he does hers in the evening whereas he opens his in the morning!

So now it is December better get working on Christmas!!

The weekend rolls round again

It seems to have flown by this week. I guess hardly seeing J has helped in that respect! Even O complained last night that I was doing the bath again (usually it is J) so J decided to go pick O up from school today. This is great as it means I can take F out and not have to watch the clock all the time. Still undecided where to go - need to go to the grocery store at the very least. I have made a list which does help enormously for me to actually get what I need!

It is miserable here today. It seems to have snowed in a lot of places in Europe but not so here. That is a shame as O would love to make a "bon homme de neige" as he calls snowmen!!! I do miss the snow - when we lived in Munich we had so much of it. Loved it!