A gift of memories

Another birthday present that I received was a big package that I found in my mailbox. The box was big and heavy and had traveled all the way from the Netherlands. My lovely friend Ageeth had sent me a birthday box of memories!

Ageeth and I had become blog friends a few years back and, in 2018, we spent a fantastic weekend exploring Amsterdam together (see here). It is always a funny situation, to spend a weekend with someone that you have never met in person before, but I hit the jackpot with Ageeth! She was exactly who I thought she would be! We both loved to wander around, explore flea markets, enter every cool looking shop, drink rosé wine in cafés and spend some slow time enjoying the city. She treated me to a craft afternoon in a ceramic shop, making our very own works of "art" (hers was much more talented than mine!). Ageeth also patiently hung out while I bought way too many candies for the trip home 😉

Opening this big box from Ageeth brought me right back to our time in Amsterdam: the candies, the beautiful wrapping and details that always reminds me of Ageeth and the vase I had made during our ceramic adventure!

Thank you, Ageeth, for the beautiful gift of memories! Although I cannot physically travel at this time, your box brought me right back. A mini trip to Amsterdam! Let's do it again sometime xox

The vase I made during our ceramic class. OK, I know it is crooked but it takes me right back.... xox

YUM!

All works of art!

#900!

This is my #900 blog post! Wow! When I first started my blog on January 20, 2014 (see here), I honestly had my doubts about being able to keep it going. Actually, I had started another blog about a year before but it had fizzled out after about 8 posts so my track record was not very encouraging ;) Looking back through my blog, I am especially impressed that I had actually tried to do a post every single day in 2014. Now, I am lucky if I can put enough brain cells together to manage a post every week (but who is counting?) ;) Seeing my boys grow up in my posts, I am very happy that I was able to capture a bit of our family's history and revisit a bit of our "day to day" along the way <3

Thank you for coming to visit! I have made some great friends through these pages. Hope to see you around at the end of the next 900 :)

Have a great day! PS: I will post an update to our Hallowe'en tomorrow... ha! Let's see how this one goes ;)

xox

One of the best things about blogging....

... is having real life meetings with other bloggers that you have known on the internet for years but never met in person before. I know that it sounds a bit funny but, after communicating online for years, you get to know the person, their families, their home countries, their traditions and their day to day life. You end up developing a relationship that is similar to a pen pal... but online.

I have been extremely lucky. Over the years, there are 3 lovely women from all over the world that I communicate regularly with via blogs: Catarina, Karin and Ageeth. Last year, while I was in Denmark, I was lucky enough to meet Catarina in person. It was so much fun meeting with her that it felt like seeing an old friend. Recently, while I was in the Netherlands, I was able to finally meet Ageeth and spent the weekend exploring Amsterdam with her. Despite never having met her in person before, we have very similar interests and ended up doing things our respective 3 boys and husbands would not have had the patience to do: she treated me to a fantastic ceramics workshop... we people-watched while having awesome coffee (and wine) just outside cute cafés... we explored the small shops along the canals... we took a lot of pictures.... and we went to Europe's largest flea market (all 7 hours of stalls)! Could I ever do this with Andreas and the boys? A BIG nope... after about 10 minutes of flea market or trendy shops, all of my boys (big and small) would have been close to throwing me into a canal 😉 Again, like with Catarina, it was like meeting an old friend... and one that I look forward to seeing again! Ageeth was so sweet that she even tolerated watching the Denmark/Croatia football match with me... 😉 Thanks, Ageeth! It was a lovely... and much appreciated... weekend! Next time: Montreal!

xox to you all!

Ageeth and I

A moment of "boy-free" quiet ;)

Yes, Amsterdam, I love you too! ;)

Where did they go?

Yes, I still have kids. Three of them... boys.... do you remember them? Probably not ;) There is not so much about them on my blog lately. I have put it down to 3 main reasons:
1) They hate it when I take pictures of them. Actually, the only one who tolerates it sometimes is Oliver and that only happens when I bribe him ;) With the others, they make faces or turn their backs so I just pretend to give up... but one day I will get even ;)
2) The activities that they are doing now don't really involve me so much. At birthday parties, I drop them off. They arrange to meet friends on their own. They go to throw around a ball at the park... and I am not invited ;) Even when I am involved (like coaching), I get dirty looks when I pull out my phone to take pictures. That is why I have lots of far away shots ;) Otherwise, I just feel like creepy mother ;)
3) The big recent obsession/pass time is a game called Fortnite, which, I swear, turns them into zombies... so they live in the basement.... and stare at the screen. Trust me, not a very interesting picture ;)

I am still outnumbered by boys... it is just harder to document it lately ;)

Happy Wednesday evening xox

When the boys still took pictures ;)

Why I blog...

I get asked why I blog fairly regularly and wish that I had a good answer. Actually, it was a combination of lots of factors. Over the years, I see my blog as both a way of connecting with others and therapy ;) Giving it some thought, here are my reasons:

1) I used to post a ton of stuff on Facebook... well, I still do... but I used to post a TON. Anyway, one year when I was in Sweden, a friend of mine commented (joked, I hope!) that I was clogging up his thread with my photo spam. I figured that I could put all my spam into a blog and you could choose whether you wanted to see my pictures or not. Yes, without clogging your thread. PS: I don't know if you will read this but it is you, Peter ;)

2) I like to take pictures but I never knew what to do with them so... here they are ;)

3) I never kept journals. I am lousy with photo albums. OK... I am REALLY lousy with photo albums. I also sucked at keeping the baby books up to date- sorry to Oliver because I think I never even started yours ;) This blog is my attempt to document our family, in real time, so that they can go back and see what we did, what our life was like, what our day to day consisted of. I wanted them to read my thoughts and be able to read about themselves... the good, the bad and the ugly ;)

4) We have family and friends that we don't get to talk to every day. Sadly, it is not only people that live across the ocean but some of them are also just a few kilometers away. This is a way that they get to see what we are up to... and maybe remember what we look like ;)

5) One day, shortly after Oliver was born, I googled some random search terms so that I could find a store that I liked in Copenhagen (funky baby clothes) and found myself on an awesome blog (Brinja). Compared to a lot of the blogs that I had previously visited, she was so unpretentious and real. Brinja offered a cool way of seeing her world, almost like you were there. It was so cosy... kind of like having coffee with a good friend. I have since had the opportunity to "talk" to her via email and Instagram and she continues to inspire me with her pictures and creativity. I have even met other people from visiting her blog (like the wonderful Ageeth, see here).

6) Bribery! If I ever need to threaten to show baby pictures to future girlfriends, all I have to do is give them the link to this blog ;)


Happy Thursday to you all! xox


Here is some photo spam from the time I first started this blog... 849 posts ago!!!

Add caption

Why I blog...

People sometimes ask me why I blog (yes, because I actually know some of the real live people that read my blog... why they read it is another story ;) ) so I had to give it some thought. I think mostly because my friends on Facebook were sick of my long winded posts ;) I also thought that it could be fun for the boys to read when they got older... sort of like a family diary.... or a way to keep up with my friends in Denmark.... or family in Sweden.... or my mother group friends in the US who I met online when I was pregnant with Alexander... or my own family who lives nearby and that I don't see often enough.... or the lovely women who I know through my boys' schools...  or an odd way to entertain my friend Kerri.... ;)  I was also inspired by two bloggers named Brinja and Sandra, who I ended up connecting with, even though we live an ocean apart. I also met people like Catarina and Ageeth, who I met online and now consider my friends...  More recently, I feel that I visit with people like Karin, Maude  and my own beautiful Gabrielle. It is a little bit like going out for coffee...without really going out for coffee. I also enjoy that I don't have to write in any sort of coherent and scientific way... It makes the world a little smaller... and a whole lot cosier....

Thanks for coming along for the ride ;) Happy Friday evening xox

The mystery of the missing middle child

I have a middle son. Sometimes, on this blog, it is not so obvious... but he does exist... and I love him very much... yes, just as much as the other two....so there! Lately, Nicklas is not appearing on this blog as much as he used to and I feel a bit guilty. The thing is that, recently, he just doesn't want me to take his picture... much less post it on the blog. You know what? I feel bad for not having including him as much as the other two but I totally respect his wishes. Nicka- you are temporarily off the hook ;)
When I post pictures of the boys (and I include Andreas in this), I always get their OK- or, at least, a grunt- on what I include. When no one wants their pictures taken, you- the lovely people who actually read my gibberish- get stuck with Montreal... or leaves... or food... or a bad selfie... or coffee.... or a wine glass (full, I hope) or the pets (and sometimes they say no too) ;) One of the main reasons why I started this blog (and there are a few others which I will save for another day) is a type of day-to-day chronicling of our family life.. something to share with them for now... and for later. It is kind of like a diary of us... right now... as we are and, if they are not a willing part of it, I am sensitive to that. OK... I like to harass my kids... but even I have a fine line ;)
Nicka, in the mean time, assures me that- one day- he would like me to take his picture again... and I will be happy to do it :)

Happy Monday evening to you all xox

This old picture is ok.... he said yes ;)

Ten random facts

Ten random facts about me:

1) I clearly remember, when I was about 9 or 10 years old, getting a fortune cookie that said: It's a boy! Being a 9 or 10 year old girl, I cried. Little did that fortune cookie writer know how right they would be! Times 3!

2) We do some of our grocery shopping at IKEA. Actually, we leave with big bags full. Really.

3) I hate the sound of people chewing. OK... I don't hate it.... I REALLY hate it. Makes me nuts.

4) I don't like to go to movie theatres (reason: see fact #3).

5) I have a PhD from the Sundhedsvidenskablige Fakultet from the University of Copenhagen. I just graduated from there. Don't ask me to pronounce it.

6) I met Andreas while on a PhD course in Lund, Sweden. He was too serious. I told someone to buy him a beer. Three years later, we had Alexander ;)

7) I am a shopaholic... but only when there is a sale/bargain involved. Otherwise, it is not so much fun.

8) In my head, I am only a few years older than my students. Reality hits when I realize that a) my tattoos are older than they are; 2) they were born in the year that I went back to university and 3) I am older than some of their parents :(

9) Before going back to university, I used to work in the arts. I did my college degree in Theatre Studies (technical option). For 7 years, I worked as a stage manager/company manager for a few theatre and ballet companies before "retiring".

10) I am an insomniac and sleep with my radio on. It can only be "talk" radio, otherwise the music keeps me awake. Funny thing is that, when I wake up, I retain odd facts or pieces of news that I am not sure come from my dream or from the radio.


Ok... maybe this was all too much information ;) Wishing you all a great day! xox

Here are 10 random pictures to go with the 10 random facts:

At our belated wedding party in August 2005

The boys in Sweden

Standing with Andreas at his PhD grad (Lund 2004)

The boys

A Canadian version of the stroller ;)

Life is good

Outside our DK apartment

Pre-Oliver

Celebrating my PhD defense (the wine glass was for show... I was 6 weeks pregnant with Oliver)

View from my fave Copenhagen cafe

My 500th post!

I can hardly believe that this is post #500. It took me a few days to post because I kept trying to put together the "perfect" post. Who the heck am I kidding? That is not going to happen.... not on this blog ;) So, I will celebrate post #500 with a few pictures of my boys.... the reasons why this blog exists <3

Happy weekend to you all! xox

Yes, Oliver was jumping around = blurry

Two years....

Today, my blog is 2 years old!!! Wow!!!!

I have to admit that I wasn't sure that it would last beyond 2 weeks ;) I had a previous blog and I think that I got in about 10 posts before it fizzled out. Although my initial idea was to do one blog post per day, I realized at about the 3 month mark that that was nuts. Kudos to all of you who can manage that! Respect!

Thanks for these 2 years... your visits are so appreciated :) Sending you all virtual champagne to celebrate xox

Missing my own blog birthday!

I can't believe I missed it! On January 20, Outnumbered by Boys turned 1 year old!! Guess time flies when you are having fun :)

Thanks for being a part of the journey XOX

Cosy..... and 300 posts!

This weekend has been all about being cosy! I really needed a day or so in order to recharge my batteries..... This next week will be filled with corrections, other day-to-day craziness and other stresses. I am really looking forward to having 2 weeks off with Andreas and the kids... until they start their fighting and then I will be writing something else ;)

By the way, this is my 300th blog post!!!!!! Thanks for bearing with me.... it has been fun :)