Tips for travelling with children

Here are my best tips for travelling with children (well... at least with mine):

1) Make sure you have Goldfish crackers in your bag... always....

2) Bribe them with some reasonably priced toy that they have been asking for that you have always said no... but only when you get back home... and only if they have been REALLY good ;)

3) Pray to the god of good games and/or good movies on the plane.

4) Bring fully charged tablets (plus means to re-charge them) on the airplane with you.

5) Develop a good system of direct but silent means of communication with your children during the week or so before you leave. I like the point-to-my-eyes-with-a-mean-expression-on-my-face to communicate my subtle point of "I see you and for bleep sake stop touching your brother or else!" ;)

6) Pretend that you don't know them and you were assigned the worst seat on the plane, beside some random boys ;)

7) Ask the nice flight attendant for wine ;)

8) Sit near a family who have as many kids as you... but around 10 years younger... and screaming. Yours will look great by comparison ;) Disclosure: this part was not planned. I did throw the woman the look that says "I was there once and I promise that it gets better. Sending you strength, sister!"

8) Repeat #7 ;)

Love the random guy at the end... he was not with us ;)

We arrived!

Yesterday, we arrived in Sweden... and today we are trying to get over the jet lag!

Sorry for the crappy blog post... I promise to write a better one tomorrow xox

47?!?

Today, I turned 47. When the heck did that happen? ;)

It was a quiet day by choice... and exactly what I needed :)

xox to you all!

Last day of school!

Today, hallelujah, was the last time for this school year that I had to fill up lunch boxes :) No joke... I did a happy dance ;) Today was also the last time for this school year that I had to pull out school clothes (or, for today, a reasonable facsimilie). The boys have school colours that they have to wear (red, blue and white) but they still try to argue with me ;) As I pulled the clothes out of the laundry pile, I also did a little happy dance... :)
The boys have an early dismissal today so we are going out for brunch to celebrate (heck, who doesn't like pancakes at random times of the day?). Tomorrow, we are all officially on holidays. I am doing a happy dance... all day long!

Have a good one! xox

Show off ;)

Yesterday, Andreas sent me a picture... a picture of a calm and beautiful table. A table with crayfish (Swedes are nuts for those things) and wine. A table in the garden, with proper glasses and a WHITE table cloth (real cloth)....

To put things into perspective: We had meatballs. I think that Fanny the dog stole some of Oliver's. The boys had ketchup (the 2 big ones... not Oliver because he is like me and does not like the stuff). I think the conversation included who farted the loudest and where their high score was on the BEST video game ever. The table cloth is plastic... and definitely not white. Dishes were plastic and courtesy of Ikea.... Water was spilled and someone stormed off in a huff....

To my beloved husband: Show off! ;)

(For those of you who didn't know about it, Andreas is on sabbatical in Denmark and is now hanging out with his parents in Sweden. We are leaving to meet up with him in a week... a very long week) ;)

xox

Quiet on the blog front

Hello all! It has been pretty quiet on the blog front lately... but not at the home front ;) The past 5 days or so have been a crazy blend of work/boys' activities/soccer/home maintenance and getting ready for our upcoming trip. Last night was the first in a while that I could sit out on our front steps and enjoy a glass of wine... boy, did that feel good... especially since the boys were in bed already :)

Suddenly, it is back to Monday and the last week of school for Nicklas and Oliver. I will be glad not to make another school lunch until September ;)

Wishing you all a happy Monday xox

I need this shirt ;)

Things that I have learned from boys....

I have learned that boys are really noisy... like punching each other.... like to make farting noises..... and fight about really dumb things. Really. Dumb. Things.

So, I am sitting in front of my computer, drinking an iced coffee and writing my blog post... and learning that the happy place in my head is a good place to be ;)

Love to you all xox

Grade 7 is done!

After all the excitement of yesterday morning (see here if you have no idea what I am talking about), Alexander finished his last 2 exams! Grade 7 is... DONE! Woo hoo! This morning, to celebrate, he got to sleep in. I am working from home today so, after I dropped off Oliver and Nicka at school, I asked him how he felt. He said FREE... at least, until I got back home again ;) Haha! Mother revenge ;)

I have to say that I am very proud of how he handled himself over the past year. Despite a few blips, Alexander was very mature and responsible for his work. He actually got frustrated when his group project colleagues fooled around (Really? Who is this kid??) and disappointed when his grades weren't where he wanted them to be (Seriously?? Who IS this kid?? And what did you do with the old Alexander???). He went from being a 70%-average-student-who-didn't-really-care in elementary school to one who managed 80%+ in most classes (we're still working on the French and History) as well as playing on his school soccer and rugby teams.

Good work, dude! We are proud of you! Summer freedom well earned ;) xox

How to stress your mother out before she even leaves the house in the morning.....

Kids, listen up, you send her a text. One that clearly indicates that you FORGOT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR YOUR MATH EXAM (besides your head, but that is another story). Oh yeah, a math exam that is at 8:30am... when she still has to drop off your brothers at their school... and she has NO idea where your damn calculator is... and then, listen up- this is the best part, YOU DON'T ANSWER TEXTS OR CALLS FROM HER TO YOU. Guaranteed, she will love it... and you ;)

Spoil alert: I actually went to the damn Walmart that opens at 8am... to buy him a calculator... and drove it to his school.... where he was conveniently walking by the front door... with a borrowed calculator in his hand :P

Disclaimer: if this had not been his final exam, I would have pretended that I did not see the original text to begin with.... and burned inside... all day long!!!!!

Wishing you all a happy and stress free day ;)

xox

This does not include the 5 million times that I tried to call him ;)

Mother of boys

We mothers of boys have a kind of club. I am sure that mothers of girls have their own club but, obviously, I am not a member ;) Anyway, when mothers of boys see each other, we make eye contact with a glance that says "I know what it is like, sister! When is it wine o'clock at your house? Keep sane!". We do. Seriously ;)
On Saturday, after one of many soccer games, I took the boys to the local big grocery store. The woman in line ahead of us- she had two little boys in her shopping cart who were trying to open half her groceries- looked at me, with my 3 boys trying to punch and push each other. She gave me the mother-of-boys look and said that she was pregnant with boy #3. I told her that it does get better... I just don't know when ;) Haha! Hang in there, sister!

Wishing you all a great start to the week! xox

Things I learned today

These are some things that I learned today:

1) If you leave your eldest son at home with a pomegranate, there is no doubt that your white kitchen will be covered with red streaks upon your return.

2) Ice cream hidden in the bottom of the freezer will not be there when you really want it.

3) If you have to go to the soccer field for a practice, the mosquitos will have been given steroids and multiplied exponentially in preparation for your arrival.

4) You will always need groceries.

5) You will never manage to have all the laundry done.

6) If your youngest son becomes very quiet... in another room... it is always a good idea to check what he is up to ;)

7) Boys like to fight... a lot!

8) If you find dirty socks on the living room floor, it is most likely that they got there on their own because none of the boys in the house will ever be responsible for having left them there.

9) The kitchen floor only remains clean for about 15 seconds after you finish mopping it.

10) When you are in a rush to leave in the morning, someone always has to go for an extended toilet visit at the last minute.


xox to you all!

Cheater

Today, I had this killer schedule in mind: work from home, run a million errands, try to arrange a pick up from an after school event for Alexander, rush dinner, rush the dog walk, get all 3 boys ready and rush to Oliver's soccer practice, take all 3 boys from Oliver's practice to Alexander's practice, take all 3 boys and rush to the field where one of my teams is playing so I can deliver jerseys for them (I took the night off from playing because it would have been way to late for the boys to stay up- school tomorrow!). Anyway, it rained today. It rained A LOT! It rained so much that all the soccer fields were closed. As much as I enjoy the boys' practices, I also hate rushing around like a chicken with its head cut off ;) So I got to cheat and my schedule looked more like: pick up the boys from their school and take them along to get Alexander from his school event, go home and make dinner, take out the dogs for a walk while the spaghetti sauce was simmering, take the boys out to the now-closed soccer field so they could play with some friends at the park, come directly home, get everyone cleaned up and in bed. I am now enjoying a glass of wine and writing this blog post and...guess what... my head is right where it should be ;)

Wishing you all a peaceful evening xox

Let the craziness begin ;)

Today, Andreas left for a few week's sabbatical in Copenhagen. He will be there for over 3 weeks before he heads to his parents' home in Sweden and we will join him there. I an really looking forward to that but, in the mean time, I will most likely lose all of my marbles ;) It is the most chaotic time of the year (end of school, soccer, soccer, soccer, exams, meetings, more soccer, dog duties, catching up on work before the holidays, packing, getting organized for our trip... on top of the regular family craziness) and- guess what?- I get to do it all by myself ;) Yes, I love my husband... and if he ever doubts it, I will show him all the additional grey hairs that I will earn over the next 3 weeks ;)

Wish me luck... and bring me some wine ;) xox

My turn ;)

A few weeks back, we ordered a new chair for our living room. Andreas has always wanted a cosy reading corner, one with a reclining chair, so we finally decided to buy one. Anyway, after taking a few weeks for the company to make the chair (we got to pick the fabric and style), it finally arrived! Needless to say, it has been a big hit with all the boys (you have to love the reclining feature) so I only got a chance to sit in it for about 2 minutes... and only to show Oliver how to push the chair back.
Today, though, was another thing: I worked from home... by myself... so that chair was ALL MINE! I got my turn and, boy, I can say that it is one of the best (and cosiest) pieces of furniture that we ever bought ;) All the reading that I had to get done today was a pleasure almost a pleasure.... Not a bad way to spend a Friday at the "office" ;)

Happy Friday evening to all! xox

Definitely improves the "working from home" ;)