Glimpses of the last week...

Last weekend, we ended up having another blizzard... followed by nice, above 0C weather... now being followed with another blizzard :( This past week was filled with typical family chaos, lots of sporting events (the boys), starting the end of semster wrap up (Andreas and me), getting to finally wear spring shoes (even if it was only for 2 days), a fabulous art gala at Nicka and Oliver's school and lots of little things in between. I am happy that it is Friday! I plan on taking it easy... before the weekend chaos begins... Happy Friday! xox

Now.... here is some photo spam ;)

Ninja school

Lately, Oliver is obsessed with Ninjas. So are most of his school friends... They, collectively, have decided that it would make much more sense to focus their energies on Ninja school as opposed to grade 1. Seriously, when Oliver gets home, he shows me the Ninja moves that he has practised during the day with his famous friend W. Homework? What homework? It is all about Ninja moves ;) Listening to my teacher? No way! Ninja moves ;) He has even asked me to put a platform on our staircase so that he can practise jumping between the floors of our house. Guess what? I said no... ;) I know... terrible mother ;)

Anyway, I have to put on my very serious face when I watch his Ninja moves. It is very important that I don't smile (although the Ninja moves are very cute) because, mamma, this is very serious. His brothers are a little less respectful than I am.. although, when they were his age, Ninja moves were also part of the daily routine. Alexander thinks he looks like a hamster when he does the moves... I kind of agree ;) But, please, don't tell the Ninja ;)

Happy Ninja Tuesday to you all! ;)

Random internet Ninja hamster picture because, of course, we all need to have access to it ;)

Les cactus

Hello all! :)

This week has been a rough one. Not a terrible, catastrophic one but a sneaky-creep-up-on-you crappy kind of week. It started with a bad listening morning courtesy of the boys, a rejected paper, a frustrating colleague, Oliver being sick, a bigger-than-expected bill, Oliver not listening to his teacher and, then- thankfully- Friday (although, we had another blizzard! Please, someone tell Mother Nature that it is Spring!). You know those kinds of weeks ;)
Anyway, all week long, I had this song stuck in my head. Actually, the more that I think about it, the more appropriate it was. A little bit like my soundtrack.. Here is is... Thank you to Jacques Dutronc ;)

A shout out to my friend, Gabrielle: yes, I actually had a Jacques Dutronc song stuck in my head.... haha!

Happy Friday to you all and may it be a non-cactus weekend ;)

My teaching assistant ;)

Today, Oliver was not feeling well. He had one of those illnesses where he was not quite well but not quite sick, either. Parents, you know what I am talking about. Sick enough to qualify not going to school but well enough to drive you a little crazy ;) Anyway, both Andreas and I had to teach today so I ended up taking Oliver in to work with me. He quietly sat through my class (I LOVE tablets!) and then he came back to my office to help me arrange my paperclips on my desk. BIG help ;) I have to say that it was kind of nice to have my little "teaching assistant" with me. The other boys have been with me in the past but I think that they are past the time of actually enjoying it ;) Oliver even decided that he wants to be in my class because the chairs are fun (they are on wheels) and I let the students be on their computers ;) Haha! If only my real students were as easy to please ;)

xox to you all!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our Canadian-Swedish-not-Irish family to yours ;)

According to Oliver, this is the best day ever... after Christmas... and maybe his birthday. He has been practising being a leprauchan since the beginning of March so he was ready to go... pimp hat and all ;) He didn't forget his own heritage because he got to be leprauchan-y wearing a fan shirt from Andreas' hometown soccer team (Ljungskile SK) ;) This is one happy kid ;)

xox

So excited!!

Whatever...

Sometimes, you just have to smile and say "whatever"...

Yes, I am totally jealous of all the beautiful spring shots on Instagram. Yes, I actually had to put studs on the bottom of my boots this morning so that I could walk to work. Yes, I was far from being the only one wearing boot studs... the train was FULL of us! Yes, you can easily dodge getting a parking ticket in Montreal by camouflaging your car in a snowbank... with NO effort at all! Yes, you can actually fall in love with your neighbourhood because of how many snowplows that are out on your streets. Yes, you will still lose your breath when you step out in one of the city's famous "wind tunnel" streets and have hard icy snow pelt your face. Yes, I think that yesterday was the first full city "snow day" that we have had since the famous ice storm of 1998 (maybe I am wrong on that but it seems like it).

Despite this, there comes a time in the winter when all Montrealers just have to say "whatever"... ;)

Wishing you all a happy Thursday! Now here is a snow photo spam... so you can be jealous ;)  xox

My "studded" boots! You know what? I am NOT the only one ;)

The view from my office ;)

Here we go again....

Just as I started to enjoy wearing shoes to work (= not boots), it started to snow again. Actually, it started around 11am today and it is still snowing... and snowing... and snowing at 9:30pm. I didn't tell the boys before bed but they have an official snow day tomorrow, our first... on March 15!!???!!!! And-yes- I still have to go to work :(

Wish me luck...and a quick melt ;)

Happiness is... ;)

Today is the first-day-back-at-school-after-spring-break for the boys. Since Andreas and I had to seriously juggle our work schedule (= we were NOT on spring break), last week was stressful and not very productive for us. Also, I am pretty fed up of all the fighting, punching, yelling and wrestling...  In light of this, we were very happy to be back to our regular routines this morning... ;)

Wishing you all a good week xox

Crap!

Remember how we went skating the other day? It was fun... I skated around with the boys... no falling, no drama. I walked home. I went out to do groceries. I walked around the store. I drove home. I put the groceries away. I worked for a bit. I stayed up to watch our new guilty pleasure show (saving that for another post) and then I went to bed. At around 2am, I woke up to a painful foot. I thought that, maybe, I had a cramp. No problem- I went back to sleep. When I got up in the morning, I could barely walk. Needless to say, I had to drive in and hobble around work. It ended up being so bad that I went to the emergency room at the local hospital last night.

Good news = no broken bones.

Bad news = bad sprain.

Even worse news = I don't even know how I got the sprain.

Even worse news = I don't even have a good story on how I got the sprain. No amazing soccer move. No action filled brush against danger. No dazzling wipe out. No cool sports injury. Nothing. The ER doctor asked me what happened. I had to answer "I have no idea". Sounds super lame. He just nodded. Boring, I bet he thought! Not only did I have NO GOOD REASON TO HAVE A STUPID SPRAIN but- to add salt to the wound- when you cannot walk, the hospital always requires you to report to the room at the absolute END of the hallway... far, far away. No offer of a crutch. No look of empathy for having to do some strange hop down the hallway. Nothing.

Anyway, after a few hours at the hospital, I came home with a prescription for some strong anti-inflammatories and instructions to put my feet up for the next few days. Maybe I need to invent a good sprain story.... any ideas?  ;)

Happy Friday! xox

Burning off some energy

Today, I took a few hours off from work and took the on-spring-break-and-starting-to-get-bored boys skating. Of course, as always, Oliver is in a new place for about 15 seconds and he has a new friend. He met a sweet boy named Hugo... with tons of patience. All he did was follow Oliver and help him up every time he fell... which was quite a bit ;) Anyway, despite the fact that Hugo didn't speak a word of English and Oliver's French is pretty basic, they had a great time. Alexander and Nicka just chased each other around... and around... and around... ;)

Best 90 minutes spent... burning off energy... ;)

Merci, Hugo ;)

Another 10 random facts... again.... again.... ;)

Yes, I have been bad at blogging lately. Every time I start, it seems like I will complain either about the weather, the rotating cold going around our family, the fact that it is not spring yet or how much I did NOT get done lately ;) So, in light of this, I decided to spare you all the repetitive posts... So what did I do instead? ANOTHER post about random facts... hahaha!

1. I am really into pink lately... especially for shoes. Maybe it is my attempt at putting some pink into our very non pink home ;)

2. I bought some Lindt dark chocolate... with chili in it. Not bad ;)

3. Did I ever tell you how much the sound of someone else eating bugs me? It does ;) Especially the man on the train today who ate his apple with his mouth open... and while talking loudly on his phone... in the quiet zone... a double whammy ;)

4. I am already dreaming of Scandinavian summer evenings :)

5. We just had our midterm break... and I thought that I was busy... but did absolutely nothing. Ugh!

6. I have an urge to renovate our house... but, after looking into our bank account, I decided to buy a new welcome mat instead ;)

7. As per the boys in my house, I am starting to believe that getting older = becoming more bratty. Yes, this includes Andreas... he is the king ;)

8. On Monday, Oliver wanted to change his name to Tom. We had to call him Tom all day long. When I finally got the hang of it, he decided that he didn't like the name anymore. Typical ;) I was, however, relieved that he didn't really mean it ;)

9. It is the boys' midterm break.... which, this year, does not coincide with either mine (last week) or Andreas' (the week before). Figures....

10. I found a place in our local mall that sells a wicked bubble tea... now I cannot get it out of my head. Maybe the tapioca "bubbles" are addictive? ;)

Since I have been bad at blogging lately, you get 15 pictures instead of the usual 10 ;) How is that for spam? xox

<3

Brotherly love ;)

Nicka

The school ice wall....

.... that only lasted for about 1 day before it melted away.... :(

Rainy day

Oliver's (I mean, Tom's) obsession with bubbles continues ;)

Awesome graffiti :)

Great sky!

Andreas made Semlor

They were good!

In agreement ;)

Welcome back!

C'mon... springtime! You can do it! ;)