Old-time Fall Festival

During Fall Break, Frilandsmuseet had a sort of Autumn Festival for kids and families. Part of the event was an old-time market where they had fishmongers, bakers, and various craftsmen selling their wares. One of the more amusing/odd booths was this one where kids could take a turn konking out a cow with a huge hammer. If they were sucessful in killing the cow it would reel back and give a rather sickening last "moo!". It was pretty loud and very popular with a long line of kids waiting for their turn to "whack a cow" the whole time we were there!

In another area there were a lot of hay bales and some stilts for kids and adults to try. I really thought that Jared might give it a whirl, but since Ruby wasn't too interested I guess he decided against it. The kids were also takign turns jumping off the hay bales into a pile of hay--big fun that even Ruby was able to enjoy!

Here's Ruby lining up for a jump!

One of the other events was the Cirkus Zirkus--a two man show that kept young and old laughing the whole show...that is, if you understand Danish! Jared said that it really was pretty funny, but I'll just have to trust him as I didn't catch ANY of the jokes!

I don't have a picture of it, but we also saw some HUGE apples. I've never seen anything like these giants--they were about the size of a pomelo (which looks a bit like a grapefruit on steroids). It was really strange and we were wishing that they had samples, but alas they did not.

Here's Ruby "touching down" after her big jump. I think she must have jumped a dozen times, but then the big boys started jumping a bit crazily and throwing hay everywhere, so we decided to move on.

The most popular activity of the day was pony rides. I swear that line must have had 50 kids in it at all times! Jared wanted to wait and see if Ruby would be able to ride, but I vetoed that idea... I'd rather wait until next year when she actually has some interest in it! Not to mention I don't think that she would be able to or want to hang on for the whole ride around the paddock. She just doesn't have that kind of patience!

I'll leave you with a photo of an OLD farm house. I'm not even sure if it's a thatched roof or a sod on, but it is definitely in need of a serious trim!

Hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving and enjoys every moment with their family and friends! We are missing you all today!

Fall Fun...

This year Tivoli was open for Halloween so several of us Moms'N'Tots went over to see the decorations and enjoy the playground. Ruby loves going on this big trampoline! It's filled with air and the big kids can really get a lot of air when they jump. Ruby just "space-walks" about two steps, then falls down--she has a ball though and the kids are really sweet to help each other up (as best they can!).

I have no idea what this ogre was made out of, but he was very gross (and impressive)! He was for sale, but I think you'd have to be a millionaire to buy him (and a bit odd)! There was steam coming out of him and he was generally just really creepy. They also had lots of highschool kids and a few adults dressed up in costumes--witches, fairies, etc. None of the costumes were scary though and there wasn't even a haunted house, so it really was a family friendly event.

One of the most amazing things to me were all the pumpkins! Last year there were really no pumpkins to be found anywhere in Copenhagen in October. This year, every grocery store had them (complete with instructions on how to carve a jack'o'lantern). Apparently somebody figured out that they were missing out on a big marketing ploy to get people to buy, buy, buy. Those pumpkins got bought like crazy and we really saw a lot of jack'o'lanterns around. The bad thing is that so many people live in apartments that the pumpkins didn't last too long sitting next to their radiators! Ours lastest a few weeks on the front step, until the frost came and then ours too hit the compost heap.

We also hosted a Pumpkin Carving Party for a few of Jared's co-workers. I was REALLY impressed with their carving skills. All of them did heaps better than I ever do. I guess it takes patience to really do a nice job... Ruby didn't get to try carving this year, but she did really enjoy all the roasted pumpkin seeds! I used a recipe off of allrecipes.com with salt and butter and Worcestershire sauce. We'll never make them again any other way! That Worcestershire sauce really rocks! I also finally tried preparing my own pumpkin from real pumpkins. I was surprised how easy it was and it really is quite tasty. All of the instructions I read online cautioned against using the big carving pumpkins for baking, but since that's all we had, I tried it and we have really enjoyed it. I've still got about 4-6 cups in the freezer, so we'll be able to have a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving without paying $5/can at the American Store--yum!

Well, I guess that's about all for now. Ruby is letting me know, in no uncertain terms, that she is ready for Mommy to be off the computer. Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving if I don't post again before then!

Our Little Cowgirl

We couldn't resist snapping a few shots of our little cowgirl a few weeks ago...this was BEFORE all the leaves fell and the flowers shriveled up from the frosty weather!

Nana and Bobo found this cute ensemble for Ruby a while ago. The boots are an ebay find--like mother, like son! I'm not sure where Kay picked up the dress, but it's so cute. She has worn this outfit on two occasions now and both times gets SO MANY compliments. She isn't so sure on her feet with the slippery boots on though, so it does keep the running off without Mommy and Daddy down to a minimum! (An extra bonus in my opinion!)

Yesterday, Ruby wore this dress to church and apparently her friend, Carter, thought she looked pretty cute because he ran right up to her and gave her a big kiss on the lips! It was so cute! He did that a few more times, so every time Carter came anywhere close to Ruby after that she was all puckered up just waiting for him to lay one on her! Kids really do do the darndest things! Ruby and Carter are still good pals and seem to get along very well because they aren't really interested in the same toys, so there's no competition. Ruby is BIG into dolls and stuffed animals, whereas Carter is definitely a "car guy".

We have been keeping really busy the last few weeks with card parties with friends (mostly Nerts) and practicing for our Christmas program at church. Claire has been sweet enough to keep all the kids whose parents are singing, so Ruby has been enjoying some extra playtime while Mom and Dad have been enjoying the choir. We have about 35 members in the choir, which is just fantastic for a church our size. Now, we just have to invite all our friends to fill up the audience. Our pastor made up some classy invitations, so I'll be busy passing those out this week to our neighbors, etc. Hopefully we'll have a good crowd because I think that the music is really going to turn out well.

Jared has been busy with the Fellowship Team at church and organized an event for the men and older boys in the church this last Saturday, "Mens Escape". They went out to Dyrehaven for a picnic lunch, mountain biking, American football, Frisbee, and some great times bonding. It sounded like everyone really had a blast--though there were a lot of guys limping around a bit at church the next day! I think that everyone overdid it a bit, but apparently it was worth it! I'm so thankful that Jared joined the Fellowship Team, especially since it's generally just women. They really do need his muscles and height many times and it's great to have someone organizing events for the guys. Sounds like the next event will be a sledding trip in January. Anyhow, I'll have to have him post a few shots up when he has time, or else check out our church website: www.fibc.dk (which Jared is the webmaster for!). What a guy!

100% Girl!

Ruby is 100% little girl, and we love it! She is always amazing me with the things that she was born "just knowing". One of those things is how to be a Mommy. Ruby loves to practice being a Mommy with her dolls and stuffed animals. A few weeks ago, Ruby was helping Jared set the table. When he cam back into the dining room, he found Ruby had set Trixie up on him chair and was "feeding" her from her plate with her fork!

Another necessary evil of being a girl are those daily "beauty shop" experiences. While Ruby doesn't necessarily look forward to sitting patiently while Mommy battles her mane, she does do very well and rarely puts up a fuss once I've caught her. Her favorite thing to do while getting her hair fixed is sort her ribbons, bows, and hair ties. It does make a bit of a mess, but I'll take a mess over a screaming kid any day! Ruby also loves lotion, perfume, and lipstick (chapstick!) and is constantly begging for them. One of our new routines has been that Ruby rubs tummy butter on my belly--trying to tone down all those stretch marks SHE gave me!

We borrowed this stroller a while back for an outing and it has since become Ruby's favorite. I think that the reason she likes it is that it is the same style as her mini doll stroller. Whenever we have gone on walks with this one, Ruby quickly starts begging to get out--she wants to push! Pushing isn't so easy as it is with her doll stroller as she can't even begin to see where she's going. Oh! And just in case you were wondering, we did not put her in the stroller. She climbed in there on her own with Trixie and her beanie bear tagging along for the ride!

One of our best purchases since moving to Denmark has been our bike trailer. I have started using it several times a week for trips to the grocery store. This trip, however, was all Jared's doing. He likes to press the limits of the trailers capacity. Surprisingly enough, Ruby was perfectly content sharing her chariot with pumpkins, diapers and several bags of groceries--what a sport!

And now an interruption of our normal programming...

Although this page is mostly dedicated to our sweet Ruby, we finally got our first glimpse last week of the little kiddo that is soon going to be sharing a bit of the limelight with her!

We were so excited to see our perfectly formed little baby. Right at the beginning of the scan we told the midwife that we did want to know the sex of the baby. For whatever reason, she made us wait until the VERY END of the appointment to find out. First we were able to see a nice profile. Jared commented on the chubby lips and cheeks (a bit of a joke from when we had Ruby's ultrasound).

As the somewhat blurry picture shows... this litle bugger was just rolling and kicking all over the place. The level of activity actually made it somewhat difficult for the midwife to get all of the necessary measurements, but in the end she did and we were given our original due date: April 1st, 2007.

Here's the baby taking a big drink. I think that this picture looks a bit strange really, but the midwife thought that we'd really want a copy, so I'm letting you see it, in case YOU think it's cool!

And here's the news that you've all been waiting for: Ruby's going to have a BABY BROTHER!! I sure hope he doesn't kill me when he's older and finds out I've posted this picture on the internet!

We are all so excited! We were surprised that it's a boy--I guess we just felt like this would be a "girl family", but we're so happy to be wrong. This little guy has been putting me through the paces, first with plenty of morning sickness (much worse than with Ruby) and now with his constant "bouncing off the walls". I love it though and can't wait until Jared and Ruby are able to feel him kicking too.