Christmas

Christmas for us this year was in someways a quite quiet one. With most of Tom's family away, it was just us & Pia, plus an elderly couple who are old friends of the family. This also meant that I had my first experience of being the host this Christmas. We still upheld the tradition of going out after breakfast to cut the Christmas tree, then home for lunch, followed by decorating the tree, cake & coffee, dinner & presents.

Dinner was a traditional Danish Christmas dinner with a few little "aussie" twists. We had roast duck with stuffing (not prunes like is tradional), brown sauce, red cabbage, boiled potatoes & brown (caramel) potatoes. There was also the traditional ris a'lamanda with cherry sauce.

Late Summer

The past 3 days we have had summer weather. Shorts & singlet tops have been dug out of the bottom of the drawer (where they have sat all summer) & as much time as possible was spent outside enjoying the warmth & sunshine. Saturday was the hottest with the thermometer topping 26.7C

Choo Choo...I'm 2

Yesterday was Joshua's 2nd Birthday. The theme for the party was Trains (due to his absolute obsession with them at the moment). I started planning the party about a month ago & have just been doing a little bit at a time since then. Everyone had a good time at the party & loved the food & decorations. Josh also had a great time. He was much more aware & interested in the presents this year. The favourite being the John Deer ride on tractor from his Farmor, Farfar & Family Sivertsen, followed very closely by anyone that contributed to his woodern train set collection.

For those interested in the details of the party here they are:
(I got most of my ideas from On My Side of The Room)

Invitation: A train ticket

 
Decorations: Railway signs made out of cardboard, Danish & Australian flags (these are just a danish tradition no matter what the theme)





Food: Coal Cluster - Chocolate crackles
               Stationhouse Sandwiches - Egg sandwiches & Ham & cheese
                                                             sandwiches
               Carriage Cookies - Iced cookies in the shape of train
Food Train: This was 4 "carriages" made out of cardboard boxes cover with patterned paper & lined with foil. There was a "coal carriage" filled with raisins, a "log carriage" filled with pretzel sticks, a "produce carriage" with vege sticks & a "hopper carriage" which had dip in it.
Diesel fuel: Apple juice. This was served in some cool dispensers with a tap on the bottom.
               Water Tower: Water

               There was also tea & coffee for the adults.

Cake: A 2 carriage train from The Australian Woman's Weekly Cake Book

             

Josh Vocab

Joshua's vocabulary is progressing in leaps & bounds. As is normal, some words he says with no trouble, while others come out a bit wrong. Here are some of his "joshua isms"

Muddy/money = Mummy

Nice = Snail

Foosa = Pølse (Sausage)

Copta = Helicopter (also used for planes)
kopa = Sko på (Shoes)

Medical Mystery

For a week now I've had a pain that goes from my jaw up through my ear to the top of my head. On Wednesday it was so bad I decided to get it checked by my dr. Unfortunately there were no appointments til Friday, but they suggested checking with my dentist. I was able to get an appointment the next day. However she was at a loss as to what might be causing it & suggested it was maybe a muscle strain. Friday I still had the pain so I went to the dr. He also had no idea as to what it could be, although he did say my nerve may be slightly irritated. In any case both of their treatments was to just take pain killers & wait to see what happened.

Sometimes to wait

This is a song I really like & I felt like sharing it.

Sometimes to Wait on You

Sometimes to wait on you
is so very hard to do.
I know I can trust You Lord,
You will see me through.
Those things so important that
are hardly worth the time.
Your eyes they're all seeing Lord,
and you love me all the time.

Lord, let my heart trust you now
You know I wait on you
I've found you to never fail
I'll always look to you.
Lord, you're my salvation now
You know I wait on you

I've found you to never fail

I'll always look to you.

So many things I think I want,

but you Lord always knew

The things that make for happiness

are always found in You.

Who knows my heart any better Lord,

any better than You.

Because You know all things Lord,

You know my real needs too.

Knowing how You love me Lord,

should make my heart stay true.

It seems I always think of me,

before I think of You.

Your ways they are so high,

your thoughts are nobel & true.

Because you're all loving Lord,

let me always trust in You.

Ash + Compost = Fire

As of Sunday night we no longer have a compost bin. This is thanks to our resident fire bug (aka Tom) emptying the remaining ashes from our BBQ into the plastic compost bin filled with dead branches, dries grass etc.
This is the 3rd time we have had an incident involving ashes & plastic & smoke. In reply to the question will he ever learn his lesson, his defense was "This is the first time I've actually created a fire". Luckily the only victims of this incident were the compost bin, 3 panes of glass in the greenhouse & my beloved cucumber plant.

One does wonder though how he manages in his job as a Process & SAFETY engineer!

Better Late Than Never

Yesterday we held our first ladies craft morning. It was a great morning of chatting, getting to know each other & catching up on craft projects that have been sitting neglected. My project was to start our wedding scrapbook. Yes it's only 5yrs behind, but now I've started I'm determined to keep going & get it finished. It's going a bit slow at the moment as this is my first proper attempt at scrapbooking, but I'm hoping as I get going it will become easier.

If it's not one thing...

it's another.

Last week Joshua was not going to sleep at night without a 2hr or more long protest. We put it down to the upset in routine over the Easter (though I did notice his next 2 top teeth peeping through on Thursday). Well that settled down by the weekend, but now he won't have a bath. He simply refuses to come to the bathroom or get in the bath. This is very unusual for him as normally he comes running the moment he hears the water running & tried to jump in clothes and all.

On the plus side it's an absolute joy & pleasure to watch him growing & developing at the moment. Many laughs & entertainment. He is able to entertain himself more & more now, though also enjoying when Mum or Dad joins in the action. He's becoming very independent, wanting to do things by himself, including helping mummy water the plants, unlocking the door & putting lids on jars. He is also becoming a lot more aware/interested in things around when we're out walking or driving. His favourite things at the moment are, trucks/buses/vans/cranes/tractors etc (which elicit a loud exclamation of awe), trains (which are heralded by an enthusiastic "fooot fooot") & Bob the Builder (which he tries to say). All animals also attract a great deal of interest & appropriate noises made.

Easter Holidays

Well the holidays are over now & it's back to the normal routine, so I have time to tell you what we did on our holidays. Tom took 2 weeks holidays (the week before Easter & Easter week). The first week we spent 5 days at Lalandia, a holiday resort on the south east side of Denmark. There are many activities to do at the resort itself, however only the aquatic centre & kids playland are included in the inital price. This suited us fine as they were the only activites that Josh could really do. Though he was very interested in the bowling, high jump trampolins & arcade hall. Being an absolute water baby he absolutely enjoyed the aquatic centre including going down the big waterslides with Mum & Dad. In the playland his favourite areas were the fire engine in the ball pit (he wasn't took enthused crawling or rolling in all the balls) & the Lego area. There was also a goat area where you could go in & feed & pat the goats. Josh also loved this.

One day we ventured out in the surounding area to do some sight seeing, but unfortunately most things hadn't opened again after winter & so the only thing open was a small crocodile farm that took us maybe 30mins to look around.

The second week was spent at home doing some work around the yard & helping Tom's dad remove 2 chimneys & repair the roof.

How time flies

Last Friday Tom & I celebrated 5 years of marriage. It was a quiet day spent enjoying the beautiful warm sunny weather we've been having at the moment & relaxing. In the evening with had a BBQ with a couple of family & friends.

Oh Poo!!!

Last night at Bible Study it wasn't just Joshua that needed a change of clothes. He hadn't done a poo for 2 days & it finally came last night...with a bang. Result? He had it from head to toe & I had it all over my pants. Just glad it was me & not someone else.

Watch out for the upper-cut

Tom should really be writing this, but seeing as he's not really into blogging & is super stressed at the moment I'll do it.

We finished our garden projects last weekend too late to make a trip to the dump, so Saturday morning we loaded all the garden waste, cardboard boxes etc into the trailer & headed to the dump. We had heard that it might be possible to pick up free compost there to fill our planter boxes with, but unfortunately our dump doesn't offer this service. It was possible however to take just normal soil that others had dumped there. So we did that, with the idea of getting some sheep manure from Tom's parents to mix with it.
On arriving home Tom backed into the drive-way & hopped out to disconnect the trailer. Unfortunately he misjudged the weight of the soil & the towbar flew up giving him a powerful upper-cut in the middle of the chest. While it momentarily winded him & most likely caused some brusing & straining, it thankfully didn't cause any broken ribs or serious injury.

Garden Prep

Saturday was a beautiful day with sunshine & not much wind, so we spent most of the day outside in the garden. What did we achieve?
     * Hedge trimmed
     * Planter boxes contructed & positioned
     * Vege garden planned
     * Dafodils & crocus transplanted from the soon to be vege patch to other parts of the garden

Now I'm all excited & can't wait to start planting. Unfortunately we are still getting frosts over night so I'll have to wait a little bit yet.

A tumbling down

To keep the excitement going in the trend of the week before (see "Only eyes for Mum"), last week I fell down the stairs. Again no serious injury occurred, just a few jarred joints & a well bruised upper arm.

Eyes only for mum

The other week at playgroup Joshua came running straight towards me...the only problem was he didn't see the table & ran full speed into the corner of it creating an impressive "table corner size" hole in his head! Fortunately it wasn't deep enough to require a trip to the dr (though if I wasn't a nurse I think I would have been rushing out the door to the A&E). He did have a sizeable size goose egg on his head for about a week & there is still a noticeable sore.

Life goes on

Finally I've managed to catch a few moments peace to update you on what has been happening recently. Let's hope I manage to get finished before being interupted.
Life seems to be slowly falling back into a routine after the Christmas/New Year period. We continue to go to playgroup once a week, which Joshua still enjoys imencely & I'm enjoying more as I finally make a few friends. Our monthly Bible study continues with more attending which makes for a bit more lively discussion. I have also just found out about & started attending an expat womens group.

Joshua is growing & developing at an unbelievable rate. It's a real pleasure & delight to see him gaining new skills. It is also a challenge to try & keep one step ahead of him (literally, he can just about out run me now & has learnt to dodge & change directions). He can climb up & down of all sorts of things & has learnt to use it to his advantage when wanting to reach something out of his reach. We have also definately hit the toddler years with a bang. It's seems almost overnight he developed a real stubborn determination to see just how far he can push the boundaries & testing what methods will & won't work. Language development is also going ahead in leaps & bounds with him trying to copy a lot of what he hears & acquiring new sounds & "words" almost daily. He loves making all the animal sounds, & just this week has also started saying "VROOM" when riding his trike or playing with his cars & trucks. One of the really delightful things to see developing is his eagerness to help with things. He loves helping to unload the dishwasher & even knows which cupboards & drawers things go in without being told. He is also a good helper with the washing & one day even collected a pile of towels I had left lying on the floor & put them in the machine!!
Well it seems my time is up for now. Will try & get back soon to tell a bit more.

Gertie

Today was the day my little "Gertie" should have been born, but it wasn't to be. 

When it first happened I wrote this poem, & I'd like to share it now.

                                GERTIE

Though we never knew or saw you, we loved you just the same.

The day we heard you’d gone to heaven, I can’t describe the pain.

Bucket loads of tears flowed out, nothing could stop the tide.

And oh how my arms they ached, to hold you just one time.

I do not understand the reason, why God took you now.

But I know His ways are best, & that’s my solid ground.

He told me not to be afraid, for with me He would be.

Safe in the arms of Jesus now, one day we’ll get to meet.

Now you’re dancing with the angels, down the streets of gold.

Singing with the angels, and laughing at the sound.

Sitting at the feet of Jesus, who loves you so much more,

Than Mummy ever thinks she could, I’ll say farewell for now.

So it's my turn

Unfortunately I could run from it no longer & it caught up with me. I have now also had a dose of the vomiting bug. Spent all last night unable to keep even the smallest amount of water down. Feeling slightly better this evening, but still not able to eat much.

Imitation

This evening I got a clear lesson in just how much our kids observe & then imitate us. Josh & I were sitting in his room playing when suddenly he grabbed a vinyl bag that was there and ran out the room waving bye bye. Half a minute later he came back through the door, said hi & kissed me. It took me a minute or so (& a few repeats) for me to realise he was acting out Daddy going to work & coming home. (The first thing Tom does when he comes home is come & give me a hug & kiss).

Kiss progression

Joshua has now started saying "mwah" when he gives someone a kiss...still working on the lip pucker though.

Zumba

This is the latest addition to my exercise program. They have just started a class at our local Activity Centre. Last week was the first class. It was fun, though not sure if it's exactly for me. Due to it being based on Latin dancing there is a lot of movement with the hips which I can't do too much of due to my back problems. But there were a few elderly ladies there that had to take it carefully too. So I think I'll give it a go & see how it goes.

Happy Spew Year

We welcomed in the new year with me holding Josh over the bath & Tom with his head over the toilet, both losing the content of their last meal of 2010. Both had got the rather severe tummy bug that is going around at the moment. Needless to say not much sleep was had (1/2hrly visits to the toilet & 3 cot & PJ changes), & they were both pretty washed out for the next couple of days. Both seem to be almost back to normal now & as yet I seem to have managed to avoid it.

Christmas 2010

Running a bit behind as usual, but thought I would still give a little comment on how we celebrated Christmas this year.

It was the big Nygaard family Christmas this year, so with a few extra ring ins we were 20 gathered at Tom's parents. As usual the day started with us all gathering for breakfast. Then in anticipation of everyone having HUGE appetites, Bo had ordered a 16kg turkey, which due to the extreme cold weather over night was still as frozen as when he had put it in the garage the night before to thaw. So it was prepared & put in the oven straight after breakfast so it would be ready by dinner.




Our usual Christmas tree hunt was almost a disaster this year as they were very popular & by the time we got there, there weren't very many left. But eventually we found one & were able to hop back into our cars & head back home to thaw out.

To go with the turkey for dinner we had Ris alamanda (in which Tom found the almond for the second year running), followed by turkey, brown potatos,salad, boiled potatoes & gravy. Then it was time to work off all the Christmas eating by dancing round the Christmas tree, before opening our presents & off to bed.