Puppy ownership, week 1

Last Monday, we drove out to our wonderful breeder's house and picked up Bira, a black Hovawart with brown markings, who was 10 weeks old at the time.

After reading numerous books about Hovawarts, puppies and dogs, we had expected Bira to cry or whine in the car on the way home, but she was perfectly quiet -- almost as if she was just listening to the babble of three happy kids in the car. They were thrilled about the new addition to the family.

After arriving home, one of us took Bira for a short, investigative tour of her new "outside world" while the rest of us went inside and made sure everything was ready for her. After she'd had a chance to sniff out her new world, we invited her into her new home for the first time.

I have to say that I've never owned a dog before and I was a bit apprehensive with regard to what to expect. But I've now spent a week with Bira and I think we've come to understand each other, respect each other and maybe... just maybe... fall a bit in love. After all, who can look into her sweet brown eyes without falling a bit in love?

This past week we've set up a schedule for her. She's learned to sit patiently while she gets her leash on before walks. She's already learned to walk quite well with us on the leash but we also allow her to indulge in her natural curiosity about the world -- chasing blowing leaves, digging in the snow and sniffing another dog's trail. It's been a fun and amazing experience so far, and I'm looking to many, many years in Bira's company.

And it's been beautiful to watch the boys care for another being as they care for Bira. Bira had been her just one day when Lucas turned to me and said "Mommy, I'm already in love with her." That just about sums it up...

Enjoying some playtime with Matthew.

Hey! You want to take a photo? No way, I'd rather chew on some hair!

Snow! Snow! Snow! Oooh, I love snow!!! (I don't quite know what she's going to do when the snow has melted -- assuming it does at some point. Her world has always had snow in it.)

This weekend we also spent some crafty time, with the boys painting their "fastelavn" masks that they received from Gitte and Ole. They're not quite finished, but here are some preliminary pictures.

Matthew....

Lucas....

Ooh, wait... More snow!

And Nico spent some crafty time building barns out of Lincoln Logs. I was first introduced to these logs in the family room of my grandfather's house. I love them then and I'm glad Nico loves them now. He builds pens for all of his animals. No windows, no doors. Just the pen and a roof. We're not allowed to see the animals when they're inside.

A spring visit to Denmark

The title promises you a bit of info about a trip to DK. Don't worry. I'll get to it.

First, however, I want to share a baking adventure Nico and I shared the other day, when we made cinnamon rolls. Yummy, homemade, American style cinnamon rolls. The kind you have to eat with a fork.

Here's Nico really getting into it. See the flour on his face? How do you paint flour on your face like that when it should only be on your hands? He's spreading the cinnamon sugar on the dough.

Here are the first batch of rolls before I pop them into the oven. We have no photos of the "after"... they must have been eaten too fast.

But we do have a photo of Nico "after". Guess he didn't get the memo about keeping the flour on the table. His pants were originally green... but hey, I'll forgive him with that cute little smile.

OK, so Denmark. We spent two nights with Ulla, Lars-Ole and their beautiful family... two nights on the farm. And I kid you not when I say we ate... we ate often, and we ate well. We'd finish eating and already be planning what to eat next.

After all, what else is would you want to do when you've got the most amazing kitchen and dining room like this?

Oh, maybe you want to go for a ride on a kid-sized motorbike? Tongue hanging out and all?

Or would you prefer to eat? Maybe these homemade breakfast rolls Lars-Ole whipped up. Just like that!

Or maybe you'd like a good game of fussball???? Frederik, Luke and Matt didn't seem to mind.

Or maybe you'd like to wander in Lars-Ole's vineyard? Then again, you can just stay inside and sample his wine. I did....

Or maybe you'd like to hang out with your good buddy, Nicoline? Isn't she a sweetheart?

Personally, I love hanging out in the kitchen with Ulla ... especially when she's making these mouth-watering "Festelavn" buns. A pre-Easter/Mardi Gras tradition in DK.

We also enjoyed hanging out with Ingelise and Philip....

And my good buddy Emil.

On Sunday morning, Ulla and Lars-Ole gave all of the kids a "Festelavnsris" (spelling?). The idea of these colorful, decorated branches is that the children should wake their parents up in the morning by wacking them on the bedcovers and singing a song that goes something like (in Danish, though): "Mardi Gras is my name, buns I do want, if I don't get any, I'll make trouble". Ok, it sounds much cuter and fun in Danish.

In this household, though, there was a clear agreement that no bed-whacking would be allowed... so the kids just enjoyed the candy tied onto the branches instead.

Thank you for a great weekend, Ulla and Lars-Ole! We had a terrific time!

After leaving Ulla and Lars-Ole, we headed out to visit my host family from my Rotary days, Karl-Ove and Anne-Grete. For some reason, we have no photos from that visit, but it was great to see them again, as always. Even though I stayed with them way back in ancient times (I don't dare tell you how long ago), they still feel like my second set of parents.

From their house, we headed out to visit my sister and brother-in-law, Susanne and Jesper. We joined them, their beautiful son Lauritz, and my svigermor and svigerfar for a somewhat belated Christmas lunch.

Here's svigermor looking bubbly as always.

And svigerfar envying Lauritz's cool set of wheels...

Luke and Matt got a bunch of great gifts, including the newest Pokémon DS games they'd been saving up forever to buy themselves. They were over the moon with joy!

It was great to spend the afternoon with our nephew and his amazing parents. It's just a shame we don't get a chance to get together more often.

Of course, we had to eat again! :)

Bira comes home

A quick post to welcome the newest member of our family....

Life on film, a.k.a., let's catch up

For Christmas, mom and dad gave us a new camera -- a Panasonic Lumix. I love it. It takes clear pictures and still manages to fit easily into my pocket or my purse. We picked it up just before Matthew's birthday in late January.

In order to avoid being in catch-up mode forever (i.e., I only posted our Thanksgiving post today, and I still have to post about Christmas and Thailand), I thought today I'd post "for real" about our lives these past few weeks. Then I'm almost back on track.

This post is, therefore, filled with tidbits of our lives over the past five weeks. Starting with Lucas, standing in the kitchen this weekend. I know that he's tall, but in this photo he looks to me like he's already 6 feet!For the past few weeks, Matthew and Lucas have taken turns making Saturday dinner for the family. I have always tried to involve the kids in cooking and now it's time for them to practice on their own. They pick the menu, make the shopping list, go with me to the store and then cook the meal on their own. Steen and I try to stay out of it unless our help is requested.

On Saturday, Lucas made us hotdogs baked in their own breadlike muffins with a veggie plate on the side. Yum!

Here we have Nico and Luke sharing some quality time together working on an "I Spy" puzzle.

Last Saturday was Matthew's turn in the kitchen. He whipped up an Indian-style marinated chicken, naan and this amazing ice-cream pie. Go ahead and drool.

This post is also filled with pictures of snow, which is the essential element in any Swedish winter. We've had snow on the ground now since mid-November and last week we were hit with a nice extra helping of an extra two feet.

We took advantage of it to go sledding. Matthew and Lucas planning their run....

Nicholas patiently waiting for one of us to walk him up the hill, hold the sled while he clambered on, and give him a push.

The front of our house -- you can barely see Steen's car.

We also recently re-found this great pop-up castle that Nico got for his baptism all those years ago. If you ask him, I'm sure he'll tell you that his was the find of the month.

Nicholas has fallen in love with this beauty. We'll call her "J". They're preparing for Hogwarts, as you can see.

We've also had tons of fun just playing around over the past few weeks. Nick loves his time in the bathtub:

Here's Saturday Lucas's dinner creation from three weeks ago (we each got a plate like this). Isn't it pretty?

Some more silliness.

Nicholas helping to clean up the Christmas decorations (yes, I admit that this didn't happen until early February).

In late January, our biggest little boy began yet another chapter in his life when he became a teenager. As I'm only 25, I have a hard time understanding how I can be the mother of a teenager, but there you go. Anyway, we celebrated with presents, cake, breakfast, streamers, songs, dinner, lunch. Whatever his heart desired.

Oh, and hats. How could I forget the hats?

My last little piece of entertainment for you today is this lovely little video. I think it demonstrates who Nico is right now in a nice 30-second nutshell. He's such a charmer, isn't he... until the end, when his Mr. Hyde side starts to show.

So much to be thankful for!

Thanksgiving. My personal favorite in terms of holidays.

Living so far away from "home" at times like these can be difficult. I miss the traditions, my extended family the cozy times, the memory making. And, of course, the day-after shopping spree.

But I am so very lucky to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with a bunch of great people... my beautiful family, and a group of close American or "almost" American friends who understand not only what it's like to be an expat but also understand what Thanksgiving means. People who can, for example, eat sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows without wrinkling their nose. And pumpkin pie! And cranberry sauce!

We have a tradition (now in it's third year) of celebrating Thanksgiving with Steve and Eva and their kids. For the past two years we've been joined by Camille and Klas, and this year we added Merrick and Ling and their daughter to the mix. We had a terrific, memorable time. Eva and Steve were our hosts this year.

Here's Steve carving the first turkey (we had two -- this is Sweden, after all -- the turkeys are similar in size to a large hen....)

Cam and Klas -- Cam's expecting their first child in just a few weeks!!!!

Steen's plate.... just looking at it makes me hungry. :)

Merrick digs in.

We usually follow Thanksgiving with a day of baking gingerbread... Here you see Matthew rolling out the dough in preparation for the arrival of the cookie cutters.

And Luke, who has found the aforementioned cutters.

Steen and the boys are in charge of making a gingerbread house every year.... and every year they get just a bit more crazy and creative. So I present to you the gingerbread house of 2010:

As we'll be away over Christmas and New Year's, we decided to put our tree up extra early. It was exciting this year because it was the first year when Nico could really be involved. He was thrilled. Every ornament was a discovery for him.

Some of my boys having a bit of fun.