Party time!!

This past weekend was a weekend focused on just one thing.....a party!!

It was a party for a very special lady - Kristian´s mum Jette. She will turn 80 this year, on the 29th December. When she turned 70 we held a big party for her, however half the guests could not come because there was a huge snow storm in Denmark. 

We thought this year we would do something totally different! We decided that we would give her a summer party and celebrate her turning 80, just half a year earlier! 

The other thing was that she had no idea we were doing all this!!! For the last few months we have had a secret group set up on facebook where all our ideas and thoughts have been going back and forward. We invited 50 guests. All the family was there along with friends she has had for years, yet live in other parts of Denmark, so she doesn´t get to see them so often.

Then there was the lie. We had to make up a story to get her to the place where we were holding the party. Kristian´s brother Anders and his wife Lis had a wedding anniversary so they invited her to lunch with them, saying that their daughter Gitte, husband and baby had come from Jytland (about 5 hours drive) to visit and it would be a great if she turned up at the restaurant with them to surprise Gitte.  The lie worked. Kristian´s mum really believed she was going to a restaurant to surprise Gitte and have a quiet afternoon lunch with those 4, plus the baby.

See what happens when she arrives at the "restaurant".

We had a great afternoon together. We had delicious food, great entertainment and some lovely speeches.

It started with the grandchildren (those that can sing) singing a blessing for their Granny. (They sang "the Lord bless you and keep you, the lord make his face to shine upon you and give you peace.)

 

Then came another song.

After we had eaten there was a song from a Blues Band. It was Jette´s brother-in-law that had written a couple of  funny songs for her and had gotten Kristian, his sister Signe and brother Søren involved in it too.

A little sax solo from Kristian.......

They did a great job. The songs were sooo funny.

Kristian and his 5 siblings had written a song for their mum. It was about different childhood memories that they had. They sang a verse of the song, then one of the kids explained the story behind that verse. There were a lot of good stories of funny things that Kristian´s mum had done when they were small.

There were some lovely speeches from friends too, otherwise the rest of the afternoon was spent catching up with family members and friends.

It was a great afternoon and hopefully one that brings a smile to my mother-in-laws face when she thinks of it. She is a wonderful person and deserved this great afternoon.

I must say I was rather exhausted getting up for work this morning. I really could have done with another weekend!! Ah well, only 4 days to go and then it´s holiday!!

What a day......

It has been one crazy day!! Soooo many things happening in one day - its been fun but as I said, crazy.

 

But before I get into all of that I gave Kristian Silver Envelope 17 last night. It was sitting on his desk for him when he got home from work. It was nothing exciting but something I knew he would love - his favourite cake which comes from the Island of Fyn where he grew up.

 

You can buy the cake from bakeries around here but it never tastes like the ones you can buy over in Fyn. (I like the ones from Fyn .) Then yesterday my colleague bought one of these cakes for us to eat at our tea break. I have never been keen on the ones from over here, but this one looked really good, so I thought I would take a small piece. I was sooo surprised to find out that it tasted like the cake you could buy from the area where Kristian grew up. I got so excited. I knew Kristian would love it so I found out where my colleague had purchased the cake and got one for Kristian.

 

Kristian loved it!!  He ate half of it before we had dinner!! A small gift that brought a lot of joy.

 

 

 

School is now out for summer!! It was the last day for the teachers and kids and lots of fun things had been planned.

 

The day started with a show put on by the different classes. The children sang songs, some played instruments and others danced. We have some talented kids at our school and some great teachers that bring out that talent. A lot of parents had come to see their children preform.

 

To end the show we always sing the Holiday song and the whole school sings along. It is such a great tradition and a lovely way to end the school year.  

 

 

After the song we had a coffee break and then it was time for the staff  to play football against the 6th graders. All the staff members got dressed up to make the game more fun.  My boss dressed up as a ballet dancer and I as an Irish Leprechaun. The rest of the school and the parents that were there came to cheer us on.

 

 All those teachers and staff members that were really good at football had some sort of injury and couldn´t play so we were a bunch of amateurs out on the field. I was to be the goal keeper - HELP!! I got my cleaning trolley and used it to block half the goal. The kids thought it was hilarious.

 In the end I had a bunch of boys from the 7th grade class in helping me - we had sooo much fun.
The 6th graders won but us staff members had a lot of fun.

That was the end of school for this year, the children went home. It was time for us staff members to celebrate the end of the year with some good food. My boss and I had to go and get the drinks, while others were setting tables, organising the food etc. We didn´t have time to get changed and take off our makeup so we decided to go shopping as we were. What fun that was!!

Our local supermarket hadn´t seen anything like this before! haha  People were looking at us and smiling yet not daring to ask why we looked like we did. I decided to just have a bit of fun with it so while we stood in line to pay I tried to get people to sing some songs with me. It was hilarious. People were smiling and laughing and I was wishing them all a great day and that I hoped the luck of the irish would be with them. It was fun to see how something like this could change the atmosphere in a shop. The quiet reserved Danes were suddenly laughing and talking to each other while standing in line! 

When we got outside the shop a man came running after us and asked if he could take our picture. So we posed for that too!!! I think my boss must have some Irish Genes hidden in him as he was just as crazy as I was!!

We got back to the school and had a lovely lunch. We celebrated a few jubilees. One of my colleagues has been at the school for 30 years and the other 25 years. Then we had a teacher that was retiring. Gifts were given and speeches were held for those colleagues and loads of cake was ate!!

I then had to rush away. We had two graduation parties to attend this afternoon and evening.

So it was home to collect some presents and then Andrew and I (Leah had to work so she couldn´t come along) headed down to our neices graduation party. She had gotten her hat this week, finished her exams and passed them all, so today people could visit her and say congratulations. We met Kristian there as he went straight from work. We stayed for a couple of hours and then we had to leave to head to the next graduation party. This time it was for Camilla, Andrew´s girlfriend.

When you graduate here your class gets to ride in the back of a lorry.They visit each persons home, stay for about 20 minutes and go on to the next. There is food and drink for them at each home. So today Camilla was riding the van and she wanted us to be there at her home to see it all.

Camilla´s was one of the last houses. They only had another 4 stops till they were finished with the house visits,  so the young people were not at all hungry. They had been eating food all day! Camilla´s mum had made a pile of food for them but only a few of the girls ate something so there was loads of food left.  Camilla´s mum invited Kristian, Andrew and I to stay and help her and the rest of the family eat it all. We spent a lovely evening together with them and arrived home around 9pm soooo stuffed from all we ate.

Next year it will be our turn as Andrew and Leah graduate!! I hope it´s not on the same day, then again it might be good to get it all over in the one day!

Big day for Camilla.....

Monday was a big day for Andrew´s girlfriend Camilla. She graduated from college. When you graduate here you get a hat like the one she is wearing. Now all you see around Denmark are young people wearing these hats. They wear them for about 2 weeks everywhere they go.

 

Andrew was in to see her get her hat, along with her Mum and sister. After she graduated her family and Andrew headed out to a famous bakery for treats. They had a lovely afternoon together. Usually the family go out for dinner too but Camilla´s mum needed to work so Camila came home with Andrew and we made a celebration here at home for her. I made her favourite meal, we had flowers, champagne and balloons all waiting for her and we had a lovely evening celebrating the end of a chapter in her life and the start of something new.

 

 

 

When Camilla went home I went on line to hunt around for some bargins. I want to decorate our dining room and I have a few ideas.   We have a second hand website were people sell the stuff they don´t want anymore. I am forever on there looking for things that I can use.

 

 Well on Monday I found a couple of the items that I wanted, some old barn windows. I want to use them to hang on the wall and do some creative stuff with them and I had been looking for some for ages. I was over the moon to find these. The only problem was the fact that they were on the other side of Denmark! But as the old saying goes, "where there is a will, there is a way!"

 

I contacted Kristian´s cousin Jacob who just happened to live in the same town as the man selling the windows. Jacob was kind enough to go and get them for me. So now I have 3 barn windows waiting on me at Kristian´s cousins house, 1 big one and 2 smaller ones!! I love them!! 

 

 

Tuesday evening and it was date night with hubby. We met each other after work at our favourite cafe for a quick bite to eat. Then we headed over to the cinema to see Jurassic World in 3D. We soooo enjoyed it. It was such a fun night out. 

 

 

Meanwhile the rest of Denmark were celebrating Mid Summers night. Bonfires are lit all around Denmark and people gather around to sing. We didn´t get to see any fires this year, as we were at the cinema and after the film we were feeling too tired to go and see any, so we just headed home. 

 

 

It´s been a really great start to the week. Only a couple more days and schools stops for the summer holidays!!  I have still one more week left and then I stop for 4½ weeks!! I can´t wait!

I´m blessed.....

This evening we went for a bike ride. For once, the sun was out, so we decided to make the most of it and we headed out into the nature that is on our doorstep.

 We enjoyed the views.....

 We enjoyed the forest.....

 

 

We enjoyed the lake. It was sooo beautiful and we talked about how blessed we were to live where we do. We really do love living in this area.

 

This week has been another good but busy week. Monday evening and I was out with my colleagues at a seminar by a guy called Chris MacDonald. He is an American that lives here in Denmark and gives talks about good health, a strong body and mind. We were all looking forward to going.

When I finished work I had an hour before we all had to meet up to drive into Copenhagen for the seminar. I couldn´t make it home in that time, so I went up to my favourite cafe and ordered my favourite salad and I spent the time relaxing and reading my book.

We then headed into the seminar. Standing at the door greeting everyone that arrived was Chris himself. I was so impressed with this. He made us all feel very welcome.

The seminar was soooo good. We laughed so much and came away with a lot of things to talk about. It was a really great evening out.

Tuesday we went to visit some of our old neighbours. We had been invited for dinner. They had moved to another house and wanted to show us where they lived now. We had such a cosy evening with them.

Friday and we had our summer party at work. Once again I was enjoying good food and company! All day long it rained and was only 13 degrees but thankfully that evening the rain stopped and the sun shone between the clouds. We were able to go outside for an hour and play a few games. It was a really good evening.

Yes, I am feeling very blessed.

I´ve been there again.....

Yes, been back to my favourite shop - IKEA!! My colleague was needing a few more pieces of furniture for her new home,  so I offered to take her in. On Tuesday after work we came home here and changed cars. I took Kristian´s car as he has only got the front two seats, so plenty of room in the back for packages.

 

We got what we needed but some of the boxes were soooo heavy we could hardly lift them!!! Someone should have taken a video of us, it was hilarious how we struggled to get the boxes of the shelf and unto the trolley.  We had no idea how we were going to get them from the car up to her apartment. We would have a flight of stairs to climb. We knew we couldn´t do it, so I rang Kristian to hear if he and Andrew would meet us at her apartment and help us by lifting the heavy stuff.  They said they would. 

 

The funny thing was to see Andrew and Kristian´s faces when they lifted the HEAVY boxes, they were shocked at how light they were!!!! They had no trouble lifting and carrying them. It´s so unfair that the boys made it look like such an easy job, while my friend and I had panted, puffed and struggled to get those boxes home to her front door.

Thursday in work was a bit of a different day. The guy that makes food for the children at school was sick. We knew that the children who normally bought food would have no other way of getting something to eat, they would be hungry, so we decided we would cook a huge batch of Pasta Bolognese for them. My boss quickly went to the supermarket and bought what we needed and then we set about making it. It was actually fun, even though I usually hate cooking.

The kids LOVED our food! (I must say, it did taste good.)It went down a treat and we sold out. Everyone went away happy and satisfied. I´m not sure I would like to make food everyday but it was fun to break the normal routine and try something different.

 In the middle of all the cooking Kristian called me. He was all happy. He had gotten a special surprise delivery at work. It was his Silver Envelope number 16!!!

I had ordered 2 bottles of wine to be delivered to his work. The wine had been made from grapes from a 25 year old vine - the same age as our marriage!! Kristian loved the idea and his colleagues loved it even more. They have been following our silver envelopes with great interest and when something turned up at work they all got very excited. :-)

 Kristian has been away this weekend at a go-kart race. I meanwhile have been enjoying myself at home.

Yesterday when I got home from work there was a package for me in the post. It was a CD from one of my old school friends. He just made a CD and I was looking forward to hearing it. So as I was clearing  up around the house I stuck on the CD. It just blessed me soooo much. There were songs like Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, and one of my favourites - My Anchor Holds. I was singing my heart out!! It just took me back to my roots, to my home, to the songs I grew up on. I could imagine dad singing along to them too. I just felt sooo blessed to have had the homelife that I did.

I can totally recommend his CD and if you want to purchase it, then check out his website.

www.alexrobbmusic.com

The proceeds from the sale of the CD will go to the charity Invisible Traffic. Also this Sunday, 14th June there is a free concert in Bangor Elim, more information about that is on the web. 

Friday evening Leah and Lasse were here for dinner and then they headed out to see the new Jurassic park film. Andrew had invited Camilla out to dinner at a wee Italian restaurant, then  they too headed in to see the film, only in Copenhagen. Suddenly I had an evening all to myself. I must say I enjoyed the peace and quiet.

This morning I got my house cleaned (Leah and Andrew were at work so once again there was peace and quiet) When I was finished I popped over to the neighbour to see if she needed help with anything. Our friend Pernille was there so I ended up staying for a chat. Then we went and worked in the garden. Laura wants a vegetable patch and so Pernille, Laura and I started to dig up and organise things for that. It turned into a rather productive day. (Oh and in between all that I got to see some of the Swedish Royal wedding - it was lovely!)

Late afternoon Andrew and Leah arrived home from work and Camilla arrived for dinner. After dinner we decided to drive to the next town for an ice cream. Yummy, it was sooooo good, the rest of this evening has just been spent relaxing.

Tomorrow my hubby comes home!! Yipieeeeee!!

It´s finished!!!

Yes, we achieved what we set out to do at the start of the weekend. We got Laura´s living room painted, Kristian built a divider/wall in the living room too and we got the furniture re-arranged. It felt sooo good to accomplish sooo much. The living room looks so bright now, it is amazing how much lighter the room is after painting the ceiling white!

 

 We were finished yesterday around 3pm, earlier than expected so I decided to do a bit of gardening before making dinner. I often forget about the bit of garden we have at the other side of our house. It is only a small patch of garden under the window were we have a few rose bushed but the weeds were almost growing past the window. I took an hour out there and got the whole thing weeded and organised. Another job to tick off the list!

Before picture above....

After picture below....

 I then made dinner and invited Laura and Mia over. We had such a great evening together hanging out here, then we, once again, headed over to her house. We helped organise the last few pieces of furniture before we all said goodnight and just collapsed into bed. 

It´s been all go......

I can´t believe it´s the weekend already!! We were off work today, the last bank holiday for this season. The next time we have days off are for our summer holidays in 4 weeks time! Soooo looking forward to that!

 

So this week has been a good week. It started with a visit to Ikea with my friend Audry. It was our girls night out. We had a great time as usual. There was only one slight problem, the living room that we love to sit in and have a wee natter had been changed. Before it had been a real girlie room in pastel colours so this was very different. We decided we could live with it even though we weren´t sooo wild about the poka dots!

 

When Ikea closed at 9pm we headed over to McDonalds for our treat. It was past midnight when I got home! I had a great evening!

 

Wednesday after work I decided to have some ME time. All the Family were doing something that evening so I would be the only one at home and the only one for dinner, so I decided to take myself of to my favourite cafe. I was in the mood for Big Tiger Prawns cooked in Garlic sauce and served with a salad and bread. I really didn´t want to cook dinner for just myself.

I had a great time! I ordered my meal and then settled down with my Kindle. I spent the next 1½ hours relaxing in a corner of the cafe. Just me, my food, my Kindle, my Bible and God!! It was just what I needed. I was then able to head home without having to think about dinner. I love not having to cook!!!

Thursday afternoon, after work found me out with my colleague Inge. She has just moved house and still needs a few bits and pieces for her new place. Since she doesn´t have a car I volunteered to be her taxi driver. We visited every furniture shop in the town so she could see what the different shops had. Furniture shopping just gives me soooo much energy. I love it. We had a great day out together.

So today we have been busy helping our neighbour Laura. As I said, we have been off work today and it has been wonderful. We slept long, I then got the house cleaned while Kristian went to his sister´s house to get some tools that we needed to help Laura with her project. At 2pm we went next door to help her paint the ceiling in her living room.

Kristian was in the garage cutting up wood to make a wall/divider for the room. It is going to look soooo good when we are finished. For years I have been telling Laura to paint her ceiling as it would really brighten up the room. She has never been ready to take the step, until now.

So today it was all go in her house.

We got the primer/base coat on. Kristian got the wall/divider ready and it also got its first coat of paint. Tomorrow we will continue with the project. At 9am will be ready to put the second coat on the ceiling. Then we have the walls to paint. I can´t wait to see the finished result!