New in the family

As a consequence of our unexpected shopping trip (see here), we are now the proud owners of a 2014 Nissan Versa. I think it is cute. Andreas would prefer to think of it as practical ;) Yes, all five of us can actually fit in it at the same time... Bring on the conflicting soccer games! ;)

Wishing you all a happy Friday! xox

New shoes... for me!

*** Andreas, you do not have to read any further ;) ***

Last week, I ordered a new pair of shoes from Zara. Actually, I first fell in love with them on Ebay but the seller was being super greedy. After I realized that I had a Zara store credit because of a dumb purchase that I did in the early autumn (I usually wear medium... did not try it on... and looked 9 months pregnant wearing it), I went on the website to see if my beloved shoes were there... and... voila! They were ;) I will also add that the Ebay seller was asking 2 x the store price- super, super greedy! So, after using the credit, I only had to spend about $27 (= not feeling TOO guilty) and click... the shoes were on their way... to me... ;)

Today, they arrived and I love them. Perfect timing because the weather is very cold and these shoes remind me of spring... which I need reminding of :)

By the way, this is not advertising... just my own shopping weakness... and that I love shoes.... especially these ones ;)

Happy day to you all xox

Ooo... sorry about the dirty mirror... just realized what I have to do next ;)

Thank you, internet shopping gods!

I have been eyeing a certain skirt on ASOS for about 3 weeks now but don't really have the money to buy it. So, while trying to be responsible and well-behaved in internet shopping land, this skirt has been calling my name....  It is now out of stock so it is also now out of mind ;) Bye-bye, temptation! ;)

Happy Thursday xox

Evil internet site ;)

Grad outfit

Alexander is not a dress-up kind of guy. He is most happy in sport or sweat pants, a t-shirt and his usual crappy running shoes (even if I just bought them 10 minutes ago, they will already be crappy). Shopping for grad clothes, I thought, would be the MOST PAINFUL EXPERIENCE EVER. I even booked 2 sessions this week, just in case it was so painful that we had to use another day. I had the scenario in my head: he would HATE everything; he would complain about everything; he would hate my choices; he would have no choices of his own. Repeat vicious circle ;)
So, yesterday, after his school track and field day (another terrible confounding factor... he would be tired... ugh!), I took him to the mall. Very calmly, I told him that I would take him to what *I* had in mind for him... JUST as a starting point. You know, to give him some ideas, because he had told me that he had no idea what he wanted. We went to a department store that had some nice stuff... kind of sporty, versatile clothes that could be worn for different occasions (and, hopefully, for more than 10 minutes before he grew out of them). Honestly, I thought that he would hate it, just because I had suggested it. Funny thing was that he actually really liked it. Within 10 minutes, HE chose his own pants, shirt and belt. I helped him find a tie, which he absolutely agreed with. Bang! We were out of there.... He got an ice cream cone and I regained some sanity ;)
Next came his shoes... again, no issue. First time "Hey, Alexander, what about these?" was received with a "Yeah, I like them". Seriously. We were at the mall for 1 hour and 10 minutes. DONE!
He was really excited about his grad outfit! So excited that he tried it on to show his father and brothers! So handsome that I had to share ;) Please ignore the tags on the last photo as it was just Alexander showing Andreas but I had to take a picture. He looked so darn grown up and happy. I was so proud! We love you, (not so) baby boy!

We survived the shopping experience!

We even bought something.... besides ice cream ;)

My grown up boy! I wish there was a weepy mother icon ;)

Shopping with boys

This week is Spring Break, at least for me and the boys. Andreas works at a different university and, I am certain, has paid some serious money to have his break the week before ours ;) So, today, to get the boys off their electronic games, I ended up taking them to the mall.... to spend their birthday/Christmas money to buy.... guess what..... more electronic games... ugh! It is our philosophy that it is their money = their decision but maybe we need to revisit that one ;) Anyway, don't let the pictures fool you! They were having a blast at the mall. Since we are just in between an ice storm and snow storm, there weren't many people around (seriously, this is one of the first times I have ever seen the place so quiet).  We went into the stores that THEY like. They got to speak geek with teenage geeks, which was beyond cool. We went up the escalator and down the elevator. We visited the big fish tank in the mall. We played with Legos at the Lego store. We spied on people from the floor above. We ran into their school principal, who was also shopping in the mall.... wait, that last one was a little freaky. The principal actually leaves the school? Strange concept ;)
Anyway, *I* was the one who was begging to get out of the store. I was the one with the eye rolls.... Absolute role reversal ;)

We are now back at home. The boys are happily putting together their Lego sets. The snow has started falling and I am enjoying some quiet time and a glass of wine. Happy Spring Break!

Tease!

One of my pet peeves is seeing spring time clothes displays in shop windows when it is super cold outside. Hey mannequins! If you had to be outside right now, you surely wouldn't be wearing those clothes so effortlessly ;) You would be freezing your plastic butts off! What a tease! ;)

Wishing you all a happy Friday! xox

Fish, food and family

Happy Boxing Day!

I went out shopping today... for a new fish tank ;) Actually, we got a great one (it even came with fish) from my sister. Her new kitten was obsessed over the fish so, to preserve their sanity- and my sister's, we adopted Larry and Moe (Curly had already met the big toilet in the sky). She knows that, after 2 dogs and 2 cats, I am crazy and will take any new animal in ;) Thing is that the filter needed replacing and it actually cost more to replace it than to buy a whole new tank.... SO I bought a whole new tank... with another fish ;) Most people left the stores with clothes, shoes and electronics for Boxing Day. I left with a tank and a fish.... 'tis the season ;)

Yesterday (the 25th), the family brunch was at our house so we had lots of food and still have lots of food. I have to give credit to my friend, Catarina, for having posted a recipe on her blog for homemade Bounty Bites (English translation). I saw them ages ago and always kept them in the back of my mind. Finally, I had the chance (and the energy) to make them and they were a BIG hit!!!  To make up for all the eating, and to enjoy the weather, I went out for a nice run... It keeps my wine and chocolate relatively guilt free ;)

My in laws (Farmor and Farfar) will be arriving later this evening from Sweden so the boys are all excited. It will be a nice visit... maybe Andreas and I will even get a chance to go out on a date ;)

Wishing you all a nice evening xox

Part 1 of Christmas brunch ;)

Tak Catarina!!!

It is really hard to take pictures of fish. They don't stay still for very long ;)

Happy boys!

Enjoying the holidays in my new Christmas hoodie ;)

New shoes

Sometimes, I do really dumb things... like taking all 3 boys to go back-to-school shoe shopping. Yups- what the heck was I thinking? ;) It started off fine enough... Nicklas, who is usually the slowest at making up his mind, easily found 2 pairs of shoes that he was happy with. Oliver's choices were even easier because I had taken him shoe shopping the week before (to make up for the trip to the dentist). Alexander, however, has definitely started being a pre-teen teenager :P First, he ONLY liked the most expensive darn shoes in the whole store (Umm... $330 for a pair of shoes- nopes). Then, his preferences were all the shoes that didn't come in his size (of course!). By the time he had finally found one pair that didn't cause him to pretend to throw up, Oliver was bouncing off the walls and Nicka was doing his best to take every pair of shoes off the wall to show Alexander. It was OK- the promised ice cream cone was still holding them in the zone where we were not quite yet a circus ;)
Three stores later and no shoes that Alexander liked, we had the ice cream and all attempt at good behaviour went out the window... Needless to say, that was the point of the day that I called it a day and quit before I totally lost my marbles... :) Thank you to the very patient, sweet young salesman at the first shoe store. I am sure that you must have been very relieved when we left your store, with bags in hand ;)

Later in the afternoon, I took Alexander- and only Alexander- to another shoe store and SUCCESS! We are all done.... :)

Wishing you all a great rest of the day xox

Me

Shopping success!