We started the decorating

What a job it is decorating the house for christmas! I, every year, regret that I never packed things away properly. It takes hours to unwind all the lights, decorations etc. (This year I am going to take time and pack things away properly, but then again I said that last year at this time too!)


So we started the decorating - we found snowflakes for the window (forgot we had them!)
We found the good old Christmas cushion covers. Funny the memories they bring back! The kids all love these cushion covers, especially one of them were there is a bear family, the baby bears are all opening their presents. There is one boy and two girls, a mum and dad, and when the kids were younger we pretended the bears were Sara, Andrew and Leah.

I was thinking of not putting those cushion covers on this year, I am a bit tired of them, but the kids put their foot down and said that the covers had to go on, it was our tradition. So once again they are on the cushions!

Leah decorated her room. She has her own wee tree and a few ornaments for around the room.

We didnt get all the decorating done today. We discovered some of the lights didnt work, and we want to buy a few more decorations. (Now that we have had a look through what we have and dont have!) But we got the kitchen finished today. Well nearly finished - we just have a few things to put up at the window.

The Danes love to eat something called Risengrod (Rice Pudding). They eat it with cinnamon sugar and a knob of butter. So it being the 1st Sunday in Advent I decided to make it for dinner. You cook it slowly but it can very easily burn, so my mother-in-law taught me a way to make it so it doesnt burn. Once you have warmed up the milk and rice - you take it off the heat and wrap it in newspapers and then in a duvet for at least 2 hours. The longer the better.

So that´s what I did. For 3 hours the rice pudding was cooking away in our bed, wrapped up in our duvet. We then ate it with cinnamon sugar, and a knob of butter by candle light. Cosy!

We wont put our tree up for a few weeks yet. Over here there is no plastic trees, everyone goes out and buys real trees. It´s really nice - the smell of the tree is wonderful.

So in a few weeks time we will go out to my bosses place - he sells Christmas trees. We get to pick one and cut it down ourselves. Then we have to wait a few days before we can take it indoors to decorate. I love that.

We have a tradition that we decorate the Christmas tree in the afternoon and that evening we sit and watch "The Griswalds Christmas Vacation". It is soooo hilarious. So all that´s left to say is . " Let the Christmas traditions begin!!! Hope you and your family will enjoy the whole of December month!!"

I really am spoilt....

.....its true, I really am spoilt.

I have been away all day today. When I left the house this morning it needed a good cleaning, when I came home it was spotless!!

What was I doing? Well my friend Audry and I went to Copenhagen Christmas shopping. There were a few things we needed and they could only be got in there. So we left at 10.30am this morning and took the train in.

It rained all day. It was typical Northern Ireland weather, only in Denmark! I was feeling very much at home!!

While in Copenhagen I just had to make a visit to the English shop to get my Bisto gravy granules for Christmas dinner. (which, by the way, cost me about £3.20 for a small box of 170grms!! Daylight robbery!!) After that we headed out to one of the big shopping centres just to get out of the rain. What a good idea that was!

We spent the day walking around shopping - in the dry - and we picked up a few bargins for some people (who will remain nameless, just in case they are reading the blog!!)

Finally at 7pm I was home. It was such a brilliant day and the time went by sooo fast. I cant believe I have been out shopping all day!!

On the way home I was sitting in the train thinking about what I should do when I got home. I was starting to feel discouraged cause I knew the house needed cleaning and I really didnt feel like going home to do it. Yet, I wanted it clean for the start of a new week and also because I wanted to start decorating tomorrow with Christmas lights etc. I wanted everything clean and ready tonight.

But as you have worked out, when I got home everything was done. (Well nearly everything - I just need to change the cat tray - Kristian literally throws up if he has to do that!! hahaha What a whimp!)

I was so pleased! I really thought Kristian was going to have a day at home relaxing and just enjoy racing cars without his wife around to annoy him, but instead he cleaned the house. Now I know I really am spoiled - thanks Kris for all your hard work.

Tomorrow is the 1st Sunday in Advent. The Danes put lights in the window, decorate the house with Christmas decorations and some even give Advent gifts to one another. They also have an advents wreath with 4 candles. Only the first candle on the wreath will be lit tomorrow, then next Sunday two will be lit etc. By the 4th Sunday before Christmas all the lights are lit on the wreath. It´s a really nice tradition. Must admit I am so looking forward to decorating tomorrow!!

Sms in the night...

bleep...bleep....bleep I thought it was my alarm, I reached for my phone and turned it off. It was then I realised that it wasnt my alarm ringing but my phone telling me that I had got an SMS. It was 3.13 am! - who on earth would be SMSing me at that time?

I soon found out, the sms read..." Mummy, are you awake? I have sooo many cramps in my legs and I can´t get any air and I am coughing so much. Sara"

Must confess I was very tempted to sms back. "Yes I am asleep ZZZZzzzzz" I even considered ignoring it, pretend I was asleep - but a mothers love won in the end!

I dragged myself out of my warm bed and stumbled out into the hall, through the livingroom and into Sara´s room where I had a distraught daughter. (Sara is a bit of a Drama queen!) But she was in a bad way. So at 3.13am I started to make her a hot drink to help ease the soreness in her throat, I found an extra duvet, rolled it up and put it at her back, - along with the 3 pillows she already had. Then I spent an hour rubbing her legs to ease the cramps/growing pains that she had in her legs.

Somewhere between 3.13am and 4.20am this morning, my 17 year old independent daughter (who is not very huggie) became a wee girl of 7 who wanted her mummy and was seeking a kiss and a cuddle. It was, in a strange kinda way, rather wonderful!!

When I was finally able to go back to bed I wasnt tired - I was wide away and lying beside me was Kristian snorring his head off. Totally unaware of the strange happenings that had just taken place.

As I lay in bed I considered going into work for 5am (then I could leave work around 11am) but I am such a chicken! The thought of arrriving at a dark, locked up school on my own, and being there for 2 hours before anyone else arrived, made me just pull the duvet covers up over my head and wait patiently for sleep to come.

It did eventually come. Sometime between 4.30am and 5am I fell of into the land of make believe. I was no sooner there till I was back in the land of reality again. This time it was my alarm ringing. The time was 5.40am and I was experiencing a type of dejavue. Once again I dragged myself out of my warm bed and through the house, and eventually, somehow, I ended up at work. (on time!)

Sara slept most of the day today and I am glad to say she is feeling alot better this evening. Warm drinks, sleep, strepsiles and lots of TLC seem to be doing the trick. (and I know something that will do the trick for me and the way I am feeling at the moment. It´s something called BED! I am on my way there in two seconds. Goodnight all!)

Whew what a week...

A little update from the Rasmussen household.

We had a busy but very enjoyable weekend. It started Friday evening with us going to visit my crazy friend Anne and her family. Sara had told her cousin about the fun we have at their house and so Christine wanted to come along with us. We had a brilliant night as always, playing Wii, playstation, dance mats and having singing competitions. (We were singing Abba all night - hilarious!!) The time just flew by. (Christine enjoyed it sooo much that she has asked to be allowed to come everytime we have family night - off course you can Christine!!)

In the wee early hours of Saturday morning we headed home. We got a surprise when we came out to the car to drive home - it was covered in snow. Denmark had it´s first fall of snow for this winter!

Saturday we had a long lie in and the rest of the day was spent food shopping and cleaning. Saturday evening Krisitans sister Hanne and her husband Flemming came to dinner. They were coming up to collect their daughter Christine so we thought we could just as well make a night of it. So we had another cosy evening with them.

Sunday we went to church. Leah was singing a solo and did really well.

Sara got sick on Sunday afternoon. She threw up all over her bedroom floor (yeah - lovely I know!!) then she got this really high fever. She was feeling really awful - the fever has now gone and she just has a really bad cold and sore throat and thankfully the throwing up has also stopped.

Leah was also sick with sore throat and fever. So Monday morning we had two sick children at home.

Leah is all better now and was back at school today, Sara is still recovering and to help keep her company Andrew went and got himself a really bad cold too - sore throat, running nose, the works!! So he and Sara have been keeping each other company today.


Just thought this was such a cute picture of Sara and the cat. She was feeling so rotten and the cat jumped up and fell asleep with her.

Then last night Kristian surprised me with the new Mamma Mia film!! Isnt he just the best!

It came out on DVD on Monday. Then yesterday Kristian came home from work, said hello, we chatted a bit, he hung his coat up etc....It didnt look like he had been out shopping, he had no bags or anything home with him. So I didnt suspect a thing.

Then I started to make dinner. While the food was cooking I decided I would just check some emails. When I walked around from the kitchen to my wee table with my computer, there lying on my computer was the Mamma Mia dvd. I was so shocked I screamed. Kristian wondered what was wrong...(he forgot he had put it there a little while before!) Needless to say, I was totally over the moon!! (Now he can race cars for the next month - 24 hours a day! haha)

Now I am about to go and get ready to go out for dinner. My colleagues and I are going to the mexican for a wee treat. We have been collecting bottle money for months. (Any empty bottles we find we collect them and take them to the shop were we get money for them - then we put the money to the side and go out for a treat when we have saved up enough.) So we have enough saved to go out for a meal and then on to see a new Danish film that has just come out. It´s great getting a night out without it costing me anything!!

One month to go!!!

It´s offical! From today I can play Christmas music and get all wild about Christmas cause there is only 1 month to go!!

I have been in a Christmas mood all day. (They have a radio station over here, that plays Christmas music 24 hours a day - and it started today. So all day long I have been listening to Christmas music. WONDERFUL!) I drive Kristian mad....

Anyway, when I got home today I was still in a Christmas mood so I got my family all dressed up in our elf costumes. We thought we would kick off the season with a dance. So sit back and enjoy us, the Rasmussen Family, dancing in the Christmas season!!

The Rasmussen Family

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I´ve been at it again!

I have been at it again! Yes -I decided to paint again! This time I tried something different than the usual seaside painting. I decided to do a forest scene in winter. It was hard to do - I think I need to practise this a bit more. Not the best,but I thought I would let you see it anyway....


Then Sara got her trophies for go-kart racing. She was meant to go and receive them last weekend but unfortunately had to work. Her friend collected them for her and she just got them from him.The season is finished and she did so well. She came overall 5th place in Rotex Junior Sjaellands Championship and overall 2nd place in Ladys Cup. Congratulations Sara!!!

(The big trophy is for 2nd place and the smaller for 5th place - just in case you couldn´t work that out yourself!!haha )

Here you can see her collection! (We are very proud of our wee girl!)

Do you remember that I taught our wee cat Shadow to sit. Well she is really good at doing that now, so I have been trying to teach her to dance. (We call it dance - but it is more like she jumps up or puts her paws in the air.) She´s been doing rather well - see for yourself in the video clip below.

To-morrow I am going to see Mamma Mia!! It´s sing-a-long night!! Should be a real laugh!! Soooo looking forward to it.

A great weekend

It´s been a great weekend. Saturday morning started with a long lie-in. (something we are very good at in our family!) Then I went off food shopping while Kristian cleaned the house. (I didnt mind doing the shopping over cleaning!) When I came home we were ready to head out on our "date!"

We decided to go to a shopping centre that we had never been to before. We had no stress, we could just go around and look at things and get ideas for Christmas. We had a lovely afternoon there.

We actually bumped into an "old" friend. She was the daughter of the lady who looked after Sara and Andrew when they were small and I had to go to the office a few times a week. Sara and Andrew just loved her and her mum. So we met her with her husband and her own wee daughter. It was great seeing her again.

Then we popped by Kristians sisters (Hanne) house. Her husband (Flemming) was 50 a couple of weeks ago. He was holding an open house today (Sunday). People could pop by between 2pm - 5pm and say hello and have some cake. Unfortunately we had a meeting in church and couldnt make it, so we went by late yesterday afternoon and gave him his present. We then stuffed our faces with cake!. We had a really lovely couple of hours there. Kristian mum and dad live next door so they were also there for cake and coffee, along with Flemmings parents. We love hanging out there, and it gave our legs and feet a bit of a rest.

When we were finished there Kristian took me out to a really lovely chinese restaurant in the outskirts of Copenhagen. We had a delicious meal - ate too much as usual. But it was just so great to have time to sit and talk together.

We got home around 8pm and ended the evening by watching Bridget Jones Diary. Sara and Andrew were home so Sara joined us to see the film. It was a really cosy evening.

Around 11pm my mobile telephone rang. It was Leah. When I took it there was this wee voice that said "Mummy, I am really homesick!" (Oh NOOOO! I thought!) then a second later came this big laugh - "I´m only joking I am having such a great time, I just wanted to say goodnight!"

She had a fantastic time at the camp so now she is counting the days until the whole church goes away together on a weekend! (that is first around April - so she has a while to wait!)

Lost and found

Tonight Leah was going away with the church on a kids weekend and I was going over to one of my friends from church. She was having a few girls over for her 40th birthday.

The plan was that Leah should be at the camp by 5.40pm then I would have time to drive out to Karin´s house for 6pm. (I have never been to Karins house before, or to the place where they were holding the camp.)

Leah and I set off in good time. We had printed out the directions to both places. But when I am driving if something can go wrong it will go wrong.

The first part of the journey went well. Then we got to the part were we had to start turning off roads and on to other roads. I blew it!! Firstly because it was pitch black - we were in the middle of the country side with no street lights. Secondly, none of the roads we had to turn unto had road names, so I couldnt check if it was the right road we were on. So we drove up one road, turned around, down another road, no, didnt look right so we went up another. Finally at 6.05pm we arrived at the camp!!! Just 25 minutes later than planned.

Then I had to find my way home to Karin. What a laugh that was - I didnt know were I was! Up and down more country roads. I ended up in a little town - I parked the car and rang Kristian to tell him my situation....He was no great help! "What do we want me to do?" he asked. Right enough, what did I expect him to do? I got him to ring Karin and tell her I would be a bit late but I would eventually turn up!!

Eventually I did turn up...6.30pm - 30 minutes late! But as they say - better late than never! At least I had made it and what an achievement that was for me. We had a great evening together with Karin and some of her family along with some of the other girls from church.

Thankfully on the way home I had company in the car. I was leaving one of the girls home and so she could direct me to her town. I honestly would never have found my way to her town alone. (We used to live in her town so from there I could find home to us!)

I think I now know what I should wish for Christmas - one of those navagation systems for the car! Or maybe next time I should just take Krisitan along - he is always sooooo good at finding his way. (really annoying it is!haha)

Tomorrow Kristian and I are heading out. I dont know what we are doing. He is organising a date day. (Leah is gone, Sara is at work and Andrew is with his friends.) Sooooo looking forward to that. So I will keep you posted. Goodnight all

I started Christmas shopping

...yes, I have finally started. Leah and I went to Copenhagen on Saturday and had a great day window shopping, just getting lots of ideas for presents. Then yesterday after work, I went shopping and picked up a few bargins. How I love a bargin and I got some good ones. Today I did a bit more bargin hunting and got a few more small presents. So I am happy to say that I am on the way to getting orgainised for Christmas.

Sunday afternoon I relaxed by painting a few pictures...You can see the results below.

(Next time I must try something other than seascapes.)

Well I am just about to head out to Ikea. It´s girls night out, so I am meeting my friend Audry for a looooong walk around Ikea! Not planning on getting anything, just so enjoy being in there. Then at 9pm when Ikea closes, we head to McDonalds!

Who`s a clever cat?

Can you train a cat to sit? Well I thought I would at least give it a try. So for about 2 weeks now I have been saying "SIT" to the cat and when it did I would feed it something good. It seems to work...have a look at the video!

Maybe I wil try "Roll over" next!!

He´s back again

...yep, the love of my life, the man of my dreams, Prince charming himself has come back!! In other words - Kristian!! haha Yes he´s back in the Rasmussen household.


He had a really tough but good, 3 day course. Next time he goes away for a week with an exam at the end....Yikes - he´s not looking forward to that one.


Anway, it is soooo good to have him back again. I actually really missed him this time.

So whats been happening. Well alot of things, yet nothing really exciting. Like yesterday Leah met me from work and we went shopping to find a few Christmas gifts. (She bought Sara, Andrew and her dads presents out of her own pocket money which she had saved. So she is pretty much on the way to having her Christmas shopping done.)


We finally got home at 5.40pm. That´s a long day when you have been out of the house since 6.30am....so that was that day gone. Just time to make dinner, clean up, bake a cake for Sara to take to school (I cheated, used a packet were you just add water - and it turned out delicious!) and then make the wonderful packed lunches, that I do soooo love to make.



Today has also been busy. I had to pick Sara up from school, then get Kristian from his course and take Andrew over to his friends. He and his 2 friends were going to one of the local churches to play computer games, - all night long!! Thankfully my friend Rhona was driving them to the church otherwise Kristian, Leah and I would never have made it on time for dinner with our good friends Jette and Philip. Thanks Rhona - I owe you one!

As always we had a brilliant night. We always have sooo much fun with them and even though we were all pretty exhausted - it was so cosy and fun. (We can just be ourselves - so even falling asleep on the sofa is acceptable!!) Their wee son Jonatan was the centre of attention - he is just sooo cute, especially when he boggies to the music! Thanks for a lovely night Jette and Philip. (Sara had a friend visiting so she stayed at home with her friend and ordered some pizza.)

I think it´s pretty safe to say that it´s been a good Friday!

All by myself....

....well, that´s not totally true. I still have 3 kids at home. But I do miss my other half. Kristian isnt home. He went off today on a course with work and he will first be home, late Friday afternoon. Strange him not being around....but at least there is one good thing that comes out of him being away...I GET THE CAR!! (and therefore get to sleep an extra ½ hour!!)

The week so far has been pretty uneventful. Been to work. There I had a couple of school assemblies to teach. Then home to housework, cooking, washing, shopping for food, helping the kids with homework...you know, all the usual things us women do!

On Monday we had a sick boy - Andrew nearly threw up all over the cat!! Honestly - it was a lucky escape for Shadow (and for me!- who do you think would have got the job of cleaning up a cat that is covered in sick! - can you just imagine it!?) But, thankfully he is all better now.

So that is life so far this week....nothing exciting to report, but that´s how it is sometimes.

Below is a short video clip of Leah playing with the cat. Amazing how a cardboard box can amuse a cat for soooo long. It played with this all evening....

Concert

Last night my friend Laura, her daughter Mia, Leah and me went to a concert with Kristians sister Signe and her choir - Wave of Gospel. Kristian was also there playing his sax. It was a great concert - Kristian played soooo well and the choir sang fantastic.

Check out the video above. It is Kristian playing a solo with his sister Signe on piano. It is a song he wrote himself for his nephews baptism, it´s called "Notes for Nephew". I think it´s really beautiful.

After the concert we headed home to Laura for hot cider and pumkin pie! Delicious!!

Then today we headed down to church. Then after church Kristian and I went to visit the art gallery in the village close to were we live. An new artist was starting her exhibition today, so we thought we would head over just to check it out. It was amazing!!! It was protraits of different Danish women. The artist is a very talented lady - the paintings actually looked like photo´s!! We had a nice ½ hour there looking around before heading home again. Check out her website if you want to see some of her work (unfortunately the protraits are not on her web) www.barart.dk and go in under Galleri.

Then it was off to collect Leah from Laura´s again. She had stayed the night with her friend Mia.

Now another weekend has gone, just a little too fast this time!! I could do with one more day off work. After seeing the art work today I am inspired to paint, but just dont have the time...so one more day at home would just be great!! Ah well there is always next weekend!!