Day to day life...

After posting several of my baking failures over the past months, I thought it fitting to post a success story! Jared is part of a "cake club" at work. As the name suggests, they take turns bringing desserts in to work once a week. Well, last week it was Jared's turn and everyone had requested that he bring "American Apple Pie". Well, I am NOT a pie expert, especially when it comes to making the crusts, but I did my best and it actually turned out quite good. Everyone was impressed with the look and taste, so that was a relief!

One of Ruby's favorite activities these days is playing in the backyard. We have had a lot of rain this spring, but anytime that it dries out a little bit we put on her blue jeans and let her go to town. The nice thing about kids is that they're very washable! Anyhow, our yard is outfitted with a swing hanging from one of the trees, a small pond LOADED with frog eggs, and a large garden packed with huge snails. Her favorite thing to do is just to play in the grass pulling out all the weeds, grass, and flowers she can get her hands on. Thankfully she hasn't eaten too many things that she shouldn't yet, but I'm sure that will change soon as we will be weaning her from her pacifier sometime in the next month or so. She is still nursing once a day (when she first gets up in the morning) and that will be the first thing to go the day after her birthday. Then we'll gradually get rid of the pacifier, which I'm sure will be more difficult.

But anyhow, back to the snails. There are small snails here as well, but some of them are real monsters with shells at least as big around as a half dollar, if not larger. The largest Danish coin is a 5 kroner piece, and I'd say it's at least that big. Anyhow, it seems like I'm always nearly stomping on them as I walk to the laundry room or the garage (where our freezer is). They slowly make their way across our patio on a regular basis... migrating to the garden I guess. They also seem to like to climb up the house. Very odd little buggers...

We have been on the go a lot these past few weeks, so muc so that Ruby has managed to sack out in her stroller more than a few times. This was a picture taken over Easter weekend when we were walking by one of the palaces (now used for government offices).

Hope you all are enjoying spring as much as we are. Now I can't wait for summer!

Pretty Easter Girl

I couldn't resist adding a few more pictures of our pretty girl! These pictures were taken after church on Easter Sunday. It was a really nice day, though not terribly warm--Ruby's jacket went on again once Daddy's photo session was over! As you can tell by the pictures, Ruby loves all of the spring flowers that are sprouting up everywhere. She's constantly trying to pull them all up along with grass, dirt, and small animals...just kidding!

We were invited to Easter dinner by the Danfords, so we all traveled back to their house after church on the Metro and then walked the rest of the way. They live in Frederiksberg, which is a really nice area. They live a few blocks from the Copenhagen Zoo and very close to one of the city's most beautiful parks. Their house is a duplex and is still a "work in progress" with a half assembled lawn and ramshackle garden (this is entirely the landlord's fault--not theirs!). Anyhow, it is really beautiful inside and they have all the comforts of home since Danny works for a shipping company and they got to bring everything with them when they moved.

One of the more stressful parts of the dinner (and this is minor) was that Claire asked me to bring the rolls. I'm quite sure that I had never made yeast rolls before, except for in the bread maker, so that was my first challenge. The second challenge is that most of the yeast that is sold is fresh yeast, so I had a bit of a hard time (at first) trying to figure out how much to use and how to deal with it. The good news is that the rolls turned out alright, though I don't think that I'll be using the same recipe again. I thought that they got quite dry if you got them even remotely brown and the dough was SOOOO sticky. Oh well, live and learn! Since then I also made cinnamon rolls from scratch, which turned out a bit odd looking but were absolutely delicious. As you can see, I've been making plenty of desserts and haven't lost any more weight! Jared on the other hand just keeps getting skinnier. I think he must give his lunch to the street people... or maybe a bully is stealing it! Really, I think it's just all the exercise and stress. He burns calories like crazy and doesn't eat near enough to keep up.

Easter Monday was cold and rainy, but we managed to get out of the house anyway to attend Ruby's first Easter Egg Hunt, hosted by a family from our church. It was over in a flash and the transportation there and back was a real headache, so I must admit, we regretted going, but Ruby did seem to enjoy it and she has definitely enjoyed playing with the eggs now that they're at home. She loves to take them apart and piece them back together. Also, I made some of them into "matching" shakers with various objects inside. She doesn't try to match them, but she does like to shake them to the music... maybe she'll be a little drummer! Well, it's past 11pm which means I need to hit the sack. I'll try to write again soon as I've already picked out pictures for the next two posts!!

Dyrehaven og Bakken

On Easter Saturday we were able to go up to Klampenborg to visit Dyrehaven (Deer Park) and Bakken, Denmark's first amusement park. Several of Jared's co-workers met us at the train station for the short walk to the park and to have brunch. We all agreed on a buffet lunch (right up Jared's ally) and quickly found that there were dozens of choices within Bakken. Finally we were all seated and one-by-one went to get our food. This was a Danish-style buffet complete with lots of frickadeller (meatballs) and potatoes, a salad bar (which has quite a few different choices than we are used to), and all of the fixins for the Danish style open-faced sandwiches (smørrebrod). There was also something that looked exactly like onion rings... imagine my surprise when it was instead calimari!

One of the girls brought her daughter, Anna, along and she had a ball watching and feeding Ruby. I would guess that Anna is about 3 and kept trying to feed Ruby dozens of french fries. Ruby didn't mind a bit, but I was starting to get a bit concerned at the amount of grease her little belly was recieving, so we had to put a stop to it. Then, Anna decided that she was bored and started running all over the restaurant, which oddly her mother allowed (at least for a while). So, since Anna was totally losing it, we were forced to move along with our day.

Anna's mom, Jane, apparently spends a lot of time at Bakken and Dyrehaven, so she was our unofficial tourguide showing us the sights and telling us various little antecdotes. At one end of the park there is a small castle which was used as a hunting lodge for the royal family. The whole park was originally established as a hunting park for the deer to multiple like crazy and provide a fun hangout for the princes, kings, etc. Interestingly enough, the area was already of some import to the people becuase of the springs scattered throughout the forest. The water in Copenhagen was so poor at the time that the fresh spring water was considered to have magical healing powers and of course was sold to the highest bidder along with "special" drinking pots that were only to be used once and then smashed.

There was also a battle or two that played out on the shores between the Swedes and Danes. Apparently some fellow is said to have buried a treasure in the forest and so it has been the goal of many fortune seeker to find the treasure. Jane said that she and Anna had hunted for it a bit using some peculiar stones marked with crosses that they had found throughout the park... It's probably just a legend, but it is a pretty exciting story for kids to get their imaginations going at full throttle!

I'll leave you with a few pictures of Ruby in her Easter dress. I was finally able to find this one that only set me back about $35. I couldn't believe the prices when I started looking last month only to find that I could easily spend $100 for a simple dress for Ruby. I can't believe the prices that people pay for clothes around here. We also discovered some baby mousse, so we were able to play up her curls for church.

Well, I better end there. I have a million preparations to make for Ruby's 1st birthday party tomorrow!! I'll try to catch up in the next few days with all the intervening pictures and get Ruby's birthday pictures up on her actual birthday (May 2). Farvel!

It's been a LOOOONG time!

Well, here we are again with a looong gap in between posts. It seems that we have been very busy around here and I just haven't had the time to write it all up. To make matters worse, Ruby seems to go ballistic every time I sit down at the computer. She doesn't want Mommy "surfing" on her watch!

Since Jared last wrote, we have had several fun happenings. First, I was able to go out for a "Girls Night" with Claire several weeks ago. We went to a mexican restaurant in Kongens Nytorv (a ritzy part of Copenhagen) and talked for hours. So long, in fact, that our husbands started worrying and called to see if we were alright. I'm very thankful for the friendships that God has provided for us, especially the Danfords, as Claire and I are basically going through the same things, raising our babies in Denmark and the challenges of being a SAHM.

One of the really wonderful things that we've enjoyed this spring was the long Easter vacation. Denmark has a national Easter holiday Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. It wasn't a paid break (this year anyway), but it was great to have Jared home and we even got to get out and do some more sight-seeing. All of the pictures in this post are taken at the Nationalmuseet (National Museum). Denmark has recently changed the laws so that a lot of the museums are free. They say that attendance is way up--it certainly was busy the day we visited. Anyhow, they were having a special exhibit, called "Curfew", about the German occupation of Denmark from 1941-1945. There were a lot of older folks there who likely remember the time from their childhood. People were forced to be very inventive to survive and make a meager living. It was really a neat exhibit.

As you can see from the pictures, they also had a Children's Museum section with various scenes that you could investigate, complete with costumes. Ruby and Carter really enjoyed being freed from their constraints (the strollers) to crawl around and explore. Their personalities are really starting to come out more and more and it's fun to see them interact. For the most part they totally ignore each other, but they do seem to get excited when they first see each other.


My next post will have more pictures from our Easter weekend, but I thought I'd also give you an update on our day-to-day life... I'm sad to announce that our playgroup isn't exactly booming. So far, our largest showing was three moms'n'tots and the rest of the time it has just been Claire and I. I am thankful that I didn't try to get MOPS started because I think that I'd be incredibly sad and frustrated by now if that was the case. As it is, we still have hope that a few more moms will join us, but it is hard. So few moms stay at home, especially after their child is 1yr, that there aren't many "customers". Anyhow, keep praying that we'll find the moms that need Christian fellowship and support.

On the Ruby front... she's still not walking. We're not really sure what's holding her up as she cruises everywhere and is constantly "rearranging" the furniture to get to her destinations. I'm not going to complain though, since I will be pulling my hair out when she can run all over the house at top speed. We also will have to be careful of the doors (going outside) as she loves to play in the backyard and I'm afraid that she might topple into the pond if we don't keep a very tight rein on her.

Ruby is getting slightly better with her sign-language, but will only really do it when you ask her to, not on her own, which isn't terribly helpful on the communication front. Again, I won't complain since I can already tell that she's the type of girl that once she starts talking we won't be able to get her to clam up!

Well, that's enough for this one. I'll see if I can get one more batch of pictures in before dinner. If not... I'll try to do it soon!

Spring is in the air . . .

Bethany's taking a mulligan, and having me post this week . . . so, I'll just apologize in advance!

I surprised Bethany Friday before last with a babysitter, and a night out. Unfortunately, the babysitter showed up before I made it home (beat me by 2 minutes!), so B was a bit confused at first. We've both been missing the scrumptous crust and tasty toppings (not to mention REAL cheese!) of a good ol' American pizza . . . so when I heard there was a Pizza Hut not too far down the road, I knew we'd have to cave in. Would you believe we spent 6 bucks on a soda!? All said and done, we blew $50 on dinner . . . at Pizza Hut! Oh well, it certainly was cheaper than a flight back to the States, and it quenched our longing for icons from home.

We later on went to see "The Hills Have Eyes." I've got nothing good to say about it. It was a disgusting attempt at provocation, full of cheap scare tactics and gore. We left early, and only wished we had left earlier. "Be careful what you put into that head of yours, cause you will never, ever get it out." (I think it was Harlan Ellison).

Anyhoo . . .
I got a call from Bethany one day last week saying that we need to go ahead and get spares made of our house keys and give them to our neighbor . . . she'd been locked out of the house! And more than that, Ruby was still inside!!!! Fortunately, Ruby had just gone down for a nap (whew!). So, even after Bethany got a neighbor to call a locksmith and got back into the house (still wearing pajamas), Ruby was still snoozing, oblivious to the panic attack her mother had just been through.

You'd think that one trip to greasy 'merican fast food would be enough for one week, having not had it for months . . . but, no, we decided to have family night out to McDonald's just days later. After all, we couldn't let Ruby miss out on her share of the fun! Her eagerness to devour a Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal helped us confirm that she is 1) A kid; and 2) Full-blooded American.

We also managed to get out and do some sight-seeing . . . went to see "The Round Tower." Sounds ominous, doesn't it. And redundant. But anyway, it was a fun little jaunt. It's got a spiral "ramp" that goes all the way up to the top (not stairs), where there's a lookout area to see out over Copenhagen. It was kinda chilly, but we ended up staying out for a little while to watch a group sing out from the tower and be echoed back by another group on a building out a half-mile or so away from us. It turns out it was some kind of promotional stunt for a music/voice school in the city, but it added a little spice to an otherwise fairly ordinary hike.

Last, but certainly not least, Bethany and Ruby managed to get out and enjoy the changing weather. We have a little park for kids about 15 min walk from our house that is made of all wood, and has always looked to me like playground items that might spring forth from the floor of an old-growth forest. But more than the toys, that little angel playing in them is what really makes these pictures! Enjoy!