Lots of rain

There was lots of rain today. Oliver and I took advantage of the weather and sat outside to watch the storm come in. It got really dark, really fast but we had fun watching the rain and- excitement- thunder/lightning! This was, according to Oliver, so cool. The big boys preferred to play video games ;) According to Nicka and Alexander, video games are WAY cooler....

Oliver's photographic work ;)

Dark sky coming in

Mission: Rainy day = play with Lego. Apparently this is me ;) Cool!

Murphy's Law

When I go to the pool with the boys, I have to drag them kicking and screaming out of there in order to leave. This afternoon, Andreas took the boys to the pool so that I could have some uninterrupted work time. Perfect...ahhhhhh! Reality strikes: Alexander hurt his foot and wanted to come home early. Nicka and Oliver were also fed up with the pool and fine with coming home early :P Of course!

I had just opened a can of the beer that Andreas had bought for me, when they all walked through the door. Since we can't visit Denmark this summer, he brought a bit of Denmark home for me ;) So much for my relaxing beer and catching up on work reading!

Happy Wednesday evening to all!

Fire hydrant fun

In a town, just near mine, a lot of the fire hydrants have been painted. Some look like little people and others are decorated with patterns and bright colours. I think this is fantastic... a little bit of fun :) Here is a sample of the Mexican fire hydrant.... olé!

I'll be back later... I owe a post for last night... bad me ;)

Non-toys are the best toys...

The boys have tons of playthings... more than we would like to have in our house. Frustrating is that they are all fighting over my shopping bin! Apparently it is the best toy ever :P Wonder how they will feel if all there is under the Christmas tree are more shopping bins ;)

Best toy ever.... you can even be a turtle ;)

Time out...

Time out... not for the boys but for the adults ;) It has been raining/not raining all day so we cancelled all evening plans. Happiness is a relaxing beer with the husband while listening to mini kid playing. Sure, we sat through some drizzles but, heck, we play soccer through WAY worse...

Happy evening to all :)

New shelves

For my birthday, I asked Andreas for some new shelves in the kitchen. I was really missing the large window sills that I used to have in Copenhagen where I used to keep my plants! Lucky me! He put them in yesterday and I love them!

I took these pictures last night because I meant to post them right away. By the time I managed a few minutes to sit down, I was more inclined to go to bed ;) Here are the pics- better late than never:

Any time is a good time for coffee....

I don't know what it is but I feel really tired today! It is definitely coffee o'clock because I have to pull it together enough to play soccer at 9pm. To be honest, bed time would be more appropriate!

Happy Friday night to you all :)

Good day with small things

It was a good day: productive meeting at work, a bit of time for some awesome thift shop finds (I will share that on another post), fantastic weather and finding some good deals on back to school clothes for the boys.... (yes, that time is sneaking up again!). Hope you all had a good day too :)

A little hello on my way to work...

Someone had made a sculpture on the side of the road... nice find!

A beautiful day...

Hunger Games, watch out for Oliver ;)

Cool music....

This is Linnea Henriksson - Lyckligare nu- cool Swedish tune.... :)

Thundershowers = no swimming lessons

When we woke up this morning, the skies were rumbling! It wasn't even a question of finding out if the swimmng lessons would be cancelled... we all knew for sure that it would be a home day. I took Oliver into daycare so he could hang with his posse and he actually seemed to be happy to go ;) It is "car show and tell day" so he was excited for the trip in this morning, with all 3 fave cars in hand.
It never ceases to amaze me how much I can get done at home when I get a good home day in- even managed to bake some bread and cut Alexander's hair (NOT THE BANGS- his specific instructions)! I know that the boys are totally bored (yes, I am making them read again today) but, at least, they can appreciate that not going to the pool is the fault of Mother Nature, instead of Mother Boring at Home ;) Maybe they will be lucky and the storm will clear up for this afternoon...

Have a great day!

My life this summer....

If I could put my life this summer in a picture, this would be it! OK, this and all the soccer pictures that I have also been posting... especially the ones with the Starbuck's cups it them ;)
I have to say that it is a bit schizophrenic, trying to combine being a stay at home mother and a working mother at the same time. It requires a lot of discipline to bring the boys home so that I can do some extra work because it is so much easier just to plan another outing with them. At the present moment they are mad at me because I am making them read a book for 30 minutes. OH MY GOD! THIRTY WHOLE MINUTES OF READING!! WORST MOTHER IN THE UNIVERSE!!! I am sure all of you parents know exactly what I am talking about.... Alexander, while mad, appreciates my point (well, at least to some degree). Nicka, on the other hand, is acting like I have asked him to eat herring while wearing a princess dress and tiara... yes, that dramatic... Oliver is at daycare so he is easy today ;)

Good day to you all.... please wish me luck ;)

My soccer team

This evening, Andreas took the boys to a nearby soccer field in order to "improve their moves". Actually, he is giving me a half hour break to get some work done (ie: my real work-work and, of course, a bit of blog writing). Before they left, they gave me some of their cool looks and let me take some team shots ;) Glad I didn't go and practice with them because, surely, I wouldn't be able to keep up with their coolness. Andreas is lucky that they let him tag along ;)

Good night to you all! Have to get back to work now ;)

Where did the weekend go? ;)

I remember, before kids, that the weekend represented relaxation, chill out time... like late breakfasts, long walks and lots of reading. Now, I associate going to work with relaxation. Funny how that happens ;)
Anyway, the weekend raced by, as usual. Now I am enjoying a beer and spending a few moments with you all :) Wishing you all a good week ahead!

A few glimpses of our weekend:

Party boy

Today, Oliver had a busy day: first, he had a soccer game at 9am and, later in the afternoon, he went to his friend's birthday party. His very first big boy birthday party! Quote from Oliver: Devin's birthday was really cool because we went swimming in his pool and he had a Spider Man birthday cake. Oh yeah, AND there was a loot bag with little toys in it.  He chatted about the party ALL THE WAY HOME.... Seriously, and then about 5 minutes after we got home and sat on the couch, he absolutely passed out! Must be another sign of a good party ;)

Hope everyone had a good Saturday! Oliver did!

One of my best buys ever!

Before I go on about this favourite buy of mine, I just want to say that this is not a sponsored post. I am writing about it because I really like it!

When I signed my contract for my present job, I bought myself a Tivoli Audio Internet Radio as a "congrats" present (link to Canadian site but Tivoli is international). I had been eyeing it for a long time because, honestly, I am fascinated with travel and different cultures. Since I can't afford to just take off on an airplane, in my head, this is the next best thing ;) Want a bit of Italian opera? Just search in the Italian stations.... Want some German groove music? Voila.... you got it! How about some UK talk radio.... there it is! Swedish radio? Let's visit Gothenburg.... Denmark? Copenhagen P4! Tivoli has a great search list from stations across all continents and I love to visit them all :) Nothing like hearing REAL tango music from Argentina or African beats from Kenya!

The radio is small, minimal looking and comes in a variety of colours. I have had mine now for almost 3 years and it has been a constant companion in my kitchen :) I got the basic internet radio and have not been disappointed in the least. It is seriously one of the best purchases that I have ever made!

Dinner by Oliver

I have been told by Oliver that I don't need to worry about making dinner this evening. He will take care of it! So he has been sitting and cutting little pieces of paper and carefully collecting them in his bowl. Maybe it will be some sort of paper pasta dish? If I don't have to make dinner, it looks good to me ;)

Happy Thursday!

City under construction

Every summer, Montreal ends up being a construction zone. There are literally orange cones EVERY WHERE! Getting to any place by road, or by sidewalk, ends up being a slow moving maze. Then, suddenly, for the last 2 weeks of July the craziness pauses as all the construction workers have their holiday time. The chaos starts again at the beginning of August and remains a mad rush until September rolls around, in hopes that it is finished before the "back to school" rush.
I thought the construction was bad near where we live but, heading downtown to work today, reminded me that it could be much worse ;) There were orange signs and cones, and more orange signs and cones. Sometimes, it was obvious what was going on. Other times, it just looked like an arbitrary placement of signs and cones.... See what I mean? Welcome to Montreal ;)

Action here

Another detour

Some people couldn't resist fresh cement...

Not sure what this cone is doing...

Can't walk here...

Ummm... not wanting to walk here!

Drive slowly here....

Things I appreciated today...

Today, I appreciated rain on plants, a good cup of coffee in a cup that I got when I was 5 years old, a quiet kid who ate and did not complain and fresh cinammon bread....

What did you appreciate today? Hope you had a good one :)

A real night out

I decided today that Andreas and I need a real night out :) One that involves dinner without interruption, a nice glass of wine and, heck, maybe even coffee/desert! Maybe I will even dress up a little bit.... Live on the wild side ;)

In the mean time, we went to the local park to watch Alexander's "extra" soccer practice. Night out, yes. Not exactly what I had in mind, though ;)
Good night to all!

Super moon

Last night I had a really hard time sleeping so I got up to sit outside for a while. Three awesome things awaited me: calm silence, a lovely breeze and an absolutely beautiful moon. It was being referred to as a "Super Moon" and I can absolutely understand why...

(By the way, an update from today: Deutschland, Deutschland, Deutschland.... woo hoo!)

Have a great evening!

Rediscovering my closet

I wrote a few posts back that the boys rediscovered old toys that were "hiding" in our basement. They got so excited about finding them that it was a bit like Christmas. The same applies for me and my closet! I did some cleaning up today/rearranging and- tada!- I rediscovered a whole load of clothes that I almost forgot that I had :) Don't you love when that happens? It was like going shopping without spending any money! There were items that I had bought years ago that I can now pair up with more recent purchases and come up with a totally new look. I also found a few things that I can upcycle and create something new with. I guess that sometimes it is worth not being able to get rid of things... then they are there for rediscovery ;)

Happy Saturday evening to all!