life of seven

Packing for the North

I'm sort of pinching myself to believe it's true, but this weekend our family is going to cross the North Sea to visit Oslo, Norway. We are jumping on a ferry and will be spending the night on the ship, to wake up in the morning when the ship sails through the fjord to Oslo, where we will spend Saturday, then sail back through Saturday night to return Sunday morning. It sounds like something that would happen in a fantasy novel like The Hobbit. I mean, did you even know ferry trips like this were possible? It is not fun to have a husband who works a hugs amount of time in Europe while I stay home with the children in Colorado, and although we're having a great time visiting Denmark, it's hard to be away from friends and family and home for this long while he needs to be out here for an extended period of time. However, without question, there are some amazing things we've gotten to experience because of his job, this trip being one of them.

We are packing all our warm things and I hope it will be sufficient, since its supposed to rain on Saturday. I will not let that rob me of the joy of exploring Oslo. No, my camera is ready, our bags are packed, and I'll report back to you on Monday with hopefully lots of amazing pictures. Sailing to Norway. Had you asked me five years ago if I thought that would ever happen, of course my answer would be, "No way!" Well, you never know what turn life will take. There's always a bend in the road that you can't see beyond till you get there.

To the bitter end

Magdalen is growing...not quite like a weed, but there's some real progress being made. I love those gorgeous, thick cables, and the pattern, though not quite memorized yet, is actually fairly intuitive and I only need to glance at it from time to time. The funny thing is I don't have a printer, and really didn't want to be looking on my phone all the timer the pattern, so I wrote it out, line by line. Yes, for real, all 28 rows. Crazy. My little crumpled up sheet of notebook paper gets more and more crumpled with each day I knit this. I have so far done eleven or so pattern repeats, and I'm supposed to do seventeen. And when I say eleven pattern repeats, I'm being optimistic in that this morning I was at about nine, so surely I must be at eleven now, right? In all honesty it's probably more like ten. But sometimes you need to just lie to yourself about where things are really at. It can be good for the knitting morale. And, please don't misquote or misunderstand me- I don't condone actual lying, of course! Just a little exaggeration to the knitting hands and brain that are ready to call it quits. Sometimes they just need that little bit of extra encouragement to keep them from discarding the current project and casting it aside for a new, better knitting project.

Sometimes you need to lie to those little knitting hands and tell them that no, they've actually knit 14 inches, not 12, on that sweater sleeve, and really only another inch or two remains, because they're attached to short arms! Then, after a couple of inches more, and the sleeve measures four inches, you should just tell your hands, "Oh come on, it wasn't that bad! Those couple inches flew by! Now it really is 14 inches long, and that's not far from a 16 inch sleeve!" Then, after those couple inches, you just say, "See! it's long enough! But you know how much you love extra long sleeves...what's another inch or three after knitting 16?" This is how a knitter has to think to boost the morale on some of those never ending projects.

On this scarf, I started out saying, "At least knit until it's long enough to become a hat. Okay, now it's long enough to be a doll blanket! Now it's long enough to be a strange sort of cowl! Now it's almost seven repeats long. Remember at first you thought the pattern actually said seven repeats, and then when you realized it actually said seventeen, you thought maybe seven would do? Just get to seven and you can be done!" 

And, so it goes...I'm sticking to this one, to the bitter end. 

Visiting with Pippi

You may be able to tell from these pictures that Clementine had the absolute best morning of her life at this children's museum in Stockholm, called the Junibacken. I believe it was the idea of Astrid Lindgren, the author of Pippi Longstocking, but it seems to feature many famous Swedish children's book authors, most of whom I was quite unfamiliar with. The museum consists of a huge, darling play area that is sort of like a miniature town, just about the right size for a toddler, though all our children loved it, even the older ones, who took Clemmie and Truman around to show them all the things to play on. Each little section of the town featured a different children's author or illustrator, with buildings and sculptures presumably featured in that author's book. I've never seen Clementine so excited. She has recently entered that darling stage where she longs to copy what she sees all the older people around her doing, such as brush her hair, try on shoes, hold a phone up to her ear, brush her teeth. So when she set her eyes on the little town that was built for someone just her size, she squealed in delight and ran through the room as fast as her chubby little legs could carry her, which actually isn't very fast, and there were many falls as she went. I'm sure you can see by the expressions on her face what a fabulous time she was having. After riding in the train and being pushed around Stockholm in the stroller, she was more than ready to get out and explore, and this place couldn't have been better.

After playing in the little village for quite some time, we visited the next sections, which was a children's ride through scenes from several of Astrid Lindgren's books, though none of them were from  Pippi Longstocking. I was familiar with several of the stories, like scenes from an Emil book and Ronia, the Robbers Daughter, and the final section told the story of The Brother's Lionhearted, a book I hadn't heard of, but one that we bought at the gift shop when we were finished at the museum. The English version, naturally. The ride was actually rather impressive, and kept Truman and Clementine in rapt attention. The older kids all enjoyed it too. When we got off the ride we came to another room, this time a house that was supposed to be Villeville Kula, The house Pippi lives in. Every little detail was thought of, including showing the scene where Pippi makes gingerbread cookies on her kitchen floor. It was just like the wacky house described in the book, and was so much fun to walk through, and then watch the kids play in. As before, Clementine was in her element, being fully aware that the house was just fro little kids. She loved it and shrieked and squealed as she explored it.

There was one final room in the museum that was decorated with characters from Moomin, which is a book? TV show? something else? that I'm not very familiar with but seems to be quite popular in Denmark and Sweden, and  maybe other countries as well. Anyway, we didn't need to know who the characters were to have fun in this area, and the kids all played some more, until we ended our visit in the gift shop and bought several books and some Pippi memorabilia. Can't wait to go home and drink coffee out of my Pippi mug! Or was I supposed to gift that to someone? Friends and family reading this, act surprised if you end up being the recipient of a Pippi Longstocking mug, okay?

Stockholm, Sweden

 

Please forgive my rather erratic posts over the last few weeks. It seems there's either no posting for several days, or else its a post with a million pictures. This is a post with a million pictures.

Anyway, these are all pictures from our trip to Stockholm. What a beautiful city it is; we enjoyed every minute there. The weather was absolutely glorious the weekend we were there. The sun shone the entire time, with not even a cloud in the sky. It reminded me a lot of fall in Colorado, actually, though it was bit cooler. Nevertheless, we were able to shed some of our coats and hats as we explored the city. 

Our favorite thing we did on the trip was visit the Vasa Museum, right downtown along the water's edge. Probably one of the best museums our family has ever visited, the museum is a huge building built around a warship from the 1600's that sank, get this, 500 meters into its maiden voyage. It then rested in its watery grave for over three hundred years until in the 1950's it was discovered buried in the sea, brought to the surface and restored. The restoration process itself is mind boggling, and has been called "the world's largest jigsaw puzzle", with 98% of the re-built ship being original. Furthermore, the museum was put together in such an interesting way, with many levels to be able to see the ship from all angles and many displays and videos made to illustrate ship life in the 1600's. We were there so long I began to fear ever getting to eat lunch, and then I began to fear ever being able to drag my husband out at all. I do believe we came closer to exploring every inch of that museum than any we've visited before. Anyway, definitely worth the visit should you ever have the chance in your lifetime. I'm grateful we got the chance. And, I'm grateful we walked straight to a hot dog stand afterward. 

I know there must be plenty of American foods that don't sound good to other people, such as, perhaps, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Or dipping cookies and graham crackers in milk, till they're soggy. That probably sounds gross to people who haven't grown up eating it. So, in that note, I must admit that when I read the option at the hot dog stand for a hot dog with two scoops of mashed potatoes on top, I was a bit taken aback. I wasn't quite hungry enough to go with the hot dog with mashed potatoes. Now I kind of regret it. Maybe I am missing out on something amazing. Maybe when I get home and feel homesick for Scandinavia, I will cook up some mashed potatoes and scoop them on a hot dog, just to see.

We were able to ride on a ferry along the water through downtown Stockholm, got pictures of tourists taking pictures of Clemmie, came across some swans- fantastic- ate some great food, but, regrettably, were not at any restaurants that served Swedish pancakes. Jude was so sad about this. When he heard there were no pancakes at the restaurants, his eyes squinted up and he blinked away tears and said, "But why? Why are there no pancakes? Can't they get pancakes?" He was crushed. Well, add that to the list of foods I will make at home when I'm feeling homesick for the Nordic countries.

The weekend was fantastic, and felt like something out of a dream, with the amazing weather, some great sight seeing, and Clemmie having the absolute best morning of her life at the Junibacken, Stockholm's children's museum which I will write about in an upcoming post. The only part of the trip that wasn't perfect was the coming home, when our train to Copenhagen got delayed by over two hours, causing us to miss subsequent trains to our home. It was late in the night and kids were either extremely hyper or sound asleep, and getting us all home by two in the morning was one of the most exhausting things I've done in my life. I was never so glad as to get in bed as I did when I crawled in when we finally got home. I could have cried. Sometimes, though, just as many memories are made from less than ideal circumstances as from perfect ones. And I know I'll never forget how good my bed felt at two in the morning after our long journey home from Sweden.

Some of the Things I Love About Scandinavia

These days keep getting away from me- school being taught, places being visited, pictures taken, and the blog begs me to be updated. So, here I am!

The pictures you see above are from our visit to Kronberg Slot, the castle that is the setting for Shakespeare's play, "Hamlet." You know, the one where Hamlet holds a skull and says dramatically, "To be, or not to be. That is the question!" Apparently that play is frequently reenacted at the castle, by an extremely renowned cast of characters, actors such as Laurence Olivier, Jude Law, Vivian Leigh, Christopher Plummer, Michael Caine. Naturally, we didn't see any of those people on our visit. 

Last weekend we visited Stockholm, taking the train from Copenhagen. It was a great adventure and I'll hopefully write a post about it, with lots of pictures, but they have not been uploaded yet so I am only going to briefly mention it for now. Having a Swedish heritage, Sweden, and Stockholm, has a special place in my heart. I'm sort of falling more and more in with Scandinavia general on this trip. It's true that the language is really difficult for me, and I'm not crazy about some of the food, and the weather is too cold for me most of the year. But there is so much that is really special.

I may not be very good at describing it, but it is more of a feel or an atmosphere that I just love.

It's cozy. So much knitted warmth: hats, scarves, mittens, sweaters (you know I love that part), hot chocolate, down blankets covering babies (who are wearing the most darling wool baby bonnets)  in buggies being pushed down the streets, lots and lots of candles.

It's beautiful. Beautiful lighting, clean, simple design and furniture, absolutely breathtaking landscape, so much water everywhere, and swans! Actual swans swimming in the water! Darling little houses all designed with seemingly the same look, and did I mention the cathedrals and castles? Amazing.

Furthermore, there is a really sweet attitude toward children, where there seems to be a sense of preserving innocence much longer than there seems to be in much of the US. There are so many little spots thoughtfully set up just for children, whether a little play area next to a grocery store, a basket of toys at a coffee shop, a room just for children to play on a ferry, or an entire museum just for them. I'll write more about this museum when I post about on our visit to the extremely well done and interesting Junibacken, the Astrid Lindgren (author of Pippi Longstocking plus so much more) museum. Last week, we needed to make a late night trip to the Danish emergency room to get stitches for poor Jude, who smacked his head into a door knob. He received such sweet treatment there from the nurse. She asked him many questions about the stuffed fox he had brought along, including asking him if he wanted her to treat it with a band aid, and demonstrated the laughing gas mask (yes, they gave him laughing gas while stitching him up!) on the toy fox before having him try. For being quite a traumatic experience, Jude was quite calm, thanks in large part to the thoughtful nurse. At the end, Jude was allowed to pick a toy from the pirate treasure chest, though the nurse weren't certain if Jude knew who Jack Sparrow was yet. I wonder what five year old boy in the US has not heard of Jack Sparrow, but I appreciated the sentiment. (By the way, Jude's stitches got taken out yesterday, again, by a very kind nurse, and while he will definitely have a scar to show off his battle wound, it was stitched up quite nicely and healed very well. Please God, no more moments of cradling my boys head in my lap with blood gushing down his face, into his eyes, all over my hands and clothing so that I fear to look at how bad the damage actually is. And thank you that behind all that blood was "only" a centimeter long wound, rather than what my mind pictured it must be based on all the blood.)

One thing I really did not expect to find in Scandinavia was so many Asian tourists, who are so interested in our family. It's becoming a rather run-of-the-mill circumstance now for me to look up and find several with cameras out, aiming them at Clemmie in the buggy, and one of them asking Jude  to move closer in toward her and smile for them. Then the funny thing is I then take my camera out and take a picture of them taking a picture of my kids. Then we exchange smiles and move on.

I do really love so much about the lifestyle here. And thinking about the good parts leaves me feeling slightly less homesick. One more month until we come home again.

Food in Denmark

At least every other day, if not every day, I make my way to the bakery a few miles down the road from us. Europe is the winner when it comes to baked goods. No question about it. I love good bread. I love to make it, and I go out of my way to buy it when back home. Here, it's always easily within reach, no matter where I am shopping. But the bakeries on every corner, the way Starbucks is found on every corner back home, are just the best. I'm going to be pretty spoiled when we get back. 

This particular bakery near our house is conveniently the closest one to our house, and I do really love it. Their best selling item is their chocolate chip bun. I was surprised to hear this, because I had not really been tempted to try it. When there are freshly made chocolate croissants to be had, why on earth would you ever get what is essentially bread dough with chocolate chips mixed in, baked into the shape of a roll? How very strange. But they seem to hold the same appeal to my kids as they do to the Danish kids, because my kids are wild about them. They beg me every day to go back and buy more. Let me tell you, a family of nine, seven of them children, goes through a lot of baked goods. So I often come pretty close to cleaning the bakery out when I stop in.

"Twenty chocolate chip rolls, please," I said one morning. "And, five chocolate croissants, and two loaves of Midsommer brød." The lady who is normally there seems to be used to my strange orders. I occasionally bring one of the children with me when I go, but I don't think she knows how many children I actually have. Maybe she thinks I work at a school. Or maybe she thinks I'm even greedier than I actually am. After leaving that day, I wondered if 20 buns for two days was excessive, but they were gone by the end of the second day. Nevertheless, I went back the next time and asked for just a dozen. And the sweet lady asked me kindly to remind her how much a dozen was.

I'm so impressed with how well English is spoken by almost everyone I have met over here. I am so appreciative of it, too, because even though I am getting pretty good at deciphering written Danish, I have yet to correctly guess at the pronunciation of any word or phrase. It sounds so different to my ear than what it looks written. When someone greets me with "Hej!" which sounds and means exactly like "Hi," and I return the greeting, it feels like I'm off to a good start, but immediately my feeble attempt at "Taler du Englesk?" which means "Do you speak English?" is not understood very well. So then I ask it in English and they immediately switch to my language without a moment's pause. How amazing to be able to speak another language so well. 

I will miss this bakery when I leave. I think I will have try to make the chocolate chip buns when I get home. There are some other food items I will really miss. Bacon, already diced. Even the smallest of the small grocery stores carries this item, as far as I have been able to see. Why? Because it's the most logical item for a convenience store to carry. Pre-diced bacon, America. Please find a way to put this on your grocery store shelves, ASAP. Thanks. Also, the chicken. I don't know what type of chicken it is they sell here, and what it is that makes it taste so different, but it's great. I have spent way too much money before at home buying organic or free range chicken and it just doesn't even come close to this. What else? Smoked Salmon. Crepes/Swedish pancakes, already cooked, in the package, just needing to be reheated. Brilliant! Butter, cheese, and of course, I already mentioned the bread and baked items. So easy to access good bread here. Artichokes, lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, mushrooms, so much of the produce here is great. These are some of the foods I will really miss when I get back home. Especially that diced bacon. 

I can't believe that we only have a little over a month left to our trip. In some ways the time has gone quickly; at other times, I miss home so much my heart aches a little. In years to come, I'll be grateful for our memories of living for an extended period of time in another country. I can't wait to thumb through that photo album of our trip someday in the future on our couch...in Colorado.

New Cables to Knit

Of course you are wondering what I'm making right now. Why, that would be Magdalen, a beautiful and fun scarf design by Joji Locatelli. I'm not sure if you're keeping track or not, but this is another of many patterns I have knit designed by her. She is up there among my favorite knitting designers, for sure. Often when I purchase a pattern I get frustrated if it seems to be a basic, formula type of pattern I could have figured out on my own. I feel Joji really goes beyond that with very interesting shaping, cable and lace patterns, and pulling it all together to make a well fitting garment or accessory. That's why I think I have knit so many of her patterns. They are fun, they are interesting, and they are beautiful. I really like her.

I need this almost six foot long cabled scarf, and I sort of needed it last week. It is pretty chilly out. In Colorado you can really sort of get away all winter with just a winter coat thrown on, maybe a pair of boots. Here the cold seems to really necessitate gloves, hats, scarves, cowls, mittens, shawls. I've worn every shawl and hat I've brought, really getting a lot of use out of it. And it's only getting colder. So I want to hurry and make this scarf so I can wear it out here. Because I really don't know how much use I'll get out of it back home. I may have to just use it then as a long, skinny blanket.

***By the way, don't you love it when your knitting project just happens to match the little baby toys you have set out so beautifully? And don't you just love these little mini classic board books they're making now for babies? Clementine and I just love them. She's turning out to be such a book lover.

Les Miserables, West End, London

One of the funnest things we did on our trip to London was going out to dinner with our four older kids (we traded nights babysitting the little ones with our friends) and going to see "Les Miserables" at West End. It was an experience I couldn't believe I was sharing with my children. Since the age of thirteen, I had desperately wanted a chance to see "Les Mis" live, ever since I became familiar with the play and the music. Since then I have listened to the songs many, many times, and eventually took my older girls to see the movie in the theater when it came out. I know many people loved the movie version, and while it was a great experience to watch the movie version and hear all the songs, I had such a hard time hearing Hugh Jackman singing Val Jean instead of Colm Wilkinson. Colm Wilkinson sings like an angel. A male angel. The female angel vocal award goes to Julie Andrews. Second place goes to Lea Salonga, who was made famous in part to her performance of Eponine, a performance that I really believe is second to none. So yes, she sings like an angel, too. I just love her.

But where was I? Yes, the movie was okay, but to me the play is more about the music than huge scenes and putting more into emoting rather than singing. And, you know, I do believe Russell Crowe really tried with Javert, and I've gotta tell him, good effort, and I'll stop now before I say something cruel.

Finally, a couple of years ago, when my husband took a business trip to London and was kind enough to take me along, and I must also add, our friends were kind enough to take turns watching the six children while we were both gone, we went together to see the stage production of Les Mis. It was a dream come true. I had desperately wanted to see it for about 20 years at that point. And true to my suspicions, it did make a much better play than a movie. What they did with the sets and the stage, the lighting, and best of all, the singing, just could not be topped. 

When I got back from that trip to London, I just couldn't stop raving about it to the kids, even though they felt quite envious. So we just continued to listen to the songs, arguing with each other about which was our favorite, debating about who sang the best Fantine, having the (non) debate about whether "Les Mis" is better than "Phantom of the Opera" (of course it is!),  searching for a Val Jean who came close to Colm Wilkinson, and occasionally listening once again to Russell Crowe attempt to sing the part of Javert, all thanks to youtube.. 

When I discovered we would be able to take the kids to London, I realized they would get a chance to see our very favorite musical. It was just the best night ever. There's just nothing better than sharing your very favorite life experiences with your kids. It just feels too good to be true.

The cast, like when Ben and I had seen the play in London two years ago, was just amazing. I have to give extra props to the man who played the role of Javert. Usually I don't feel like that role is done justice, not even when sung by Mr. Crowe (snort). When we saw it in London, though all the actors were amazing, I really felt Javert was the standout in the cast. In my opinion, one of the best songs in Les Mis is "The Stars," due to it's complexity both musically and lyrically, and at the play we saw, I felt it was the best song of the night. Though that's a hard call. The scene at the end, where Val Jean dies and Fantine and Eponine come into the room singing in beautiful harmony is still kind of haunting me. So it's hard to say for sure. Anyway, it was just an amazing night spent together as a family, one we will remember for the rest of our lives. I love live music, and there's certainly been some great music heard on this trip.

Beauty in the Every Day

 

School work is what's been happening around here. And knitting squeezed in while I'm helping Jude find "P-P-P" sounds. Despite feeling like my busiest homeschool year yet, with five kids to teach, and a baby and a VERY busy three year old to entertain, it also feels like my most productive year yet. It's fun how the busier and the more work I have to do, the more productive I am. I have no idea why that is. We watched an Andy Griffith episode the other night where Andy tries to free Aunt Bea of her duties by hiring an English butler for a short time. Aunt Bea begins to feel sad and depressed and Opie eventually tells the butler that Aunt Bea used to always sing, when she was going about the house working, but that she hasn't sung for a while. And then the sweet butler puts two and two together and  realizes that he's worked Aunt Bea out of a job and left her feeling useless, so he finds an opportunity to get himself fired, and Aunt Bea gets straight to work cleaning up and cooking and she's happy again.

I couldn't help but understand poor Aunt Bea during the show. I'm pretty sure I'm the same way. Not when it comes to housework, really, because honestly I'm not a great housekeeper, but I just don't care to have huge chunks of leisure time with nothing productive to do. I get pretty antsy and then I just can't wait to get back to daily life and find some outlet for work, and with it, creativity. I probably get it from my mom, who has absolute boundless energy and hasn't sit still for more than an hour in her life. For me it's not necessarily physical activity I crave, but I hate the feeling of not being in the middle of some big, interesting project. A business; a blog; a fairisle sweater; a group of friends over for dinner; figuring out the settings on my camera; sourdough bread; teaching a five year old to read; remembering what sine, cosine and tangent mean and trying to do quick refresher on husing a scientific calculator for the tenth grader; and if all those things aren't enough, dreaming of another, bigger project to tackle in the future. 

Don't mistake me and think that all the projects around the house always get done, haha, far from it. I often have to bring myself back to reality when my husband asks where the clean towels are. Or any towels, for that matter, would do just now... For instance, in the middle of packing for our trip, rather than let my mind put all it's energy into making sure to stay organized and not forget anything for our three months out of the country, I suddenly got sidetracked in the middle of it and began unravelling a sweater I'd knit years ago but wasn't get much wear anymore. This kind of thing tends to drive the rest of my family crazy, and I have to work hard to not float off on a tangent (HAH!) that often.

I think there is joy to be found in all sorts of daily tasks, and plenty of engagement for the mind if you really try. It's something I remind my kids of when they get weary of what can be the daily monotony of their lives. However, it's hard for me to preach to them, "Stick to you scales on the piano everyday and have a good attitude about it, and you'll discover that it's actually fun and you'll be glad you did years down the road from now," when mid cleaning I become distracted and leave to do something else more stimulating.

Oh, the lessons we learn from our kids; so often it's just like looking in a mirror. I guess that's why the Bible talks about striving to make our lives a reflection of Jesus. The closer we get toward living life like the perfect Man, the greater the fruits from it will be reflected in those around us. I say this not to make myself feel more condemned about my failings, but rather as an inspiration and a reminder of God's grace in me, working in me, to enable me to do the task He's set forth for me to do. 

And in the meantime I'm going to pull out my scientific calculator and try to show Cate the joy there is to be found in algebra. I know it's there if she looks for it.

Catching up a bit

October. My very favorite month of the year. I hope Denmark's October promises to be as beautiful and cozy and wonderful as Colorado's. Sunday we went for the most glorious walk. The sun was out and shining, the weather was warm enough to discard our jackets, and it felt just like the perfect fall day. Our walk brought in Roskilde brought us in close proximity to the North Sea, where Vikings used to sail their ships, and where jellyfish, hundreds and thousands of them, swim. I could have stood there all day, observing them floating around hypnotically. I'm pleased my camera was able to get a decent picture of them.

I have a couple more days of our London/Paris trip to show you, but I'm eager to get back to my normal daily life blog posting. It's my favorite type to do. I have trouble describing big events without feeling like a journalist of some kind. I much prefer writing about our little life adventures, in homeschooling, in knitting (of course), in raising a large family. I hope to post about our trip over the weekend perhaps. And anyway, that's all I'm going to say about that.

This week I am striving to have more patience as a mother and as a teacher. It's too easy to freak out about any little thing that comes up, or get upset or angry when someone isn't doing what they should be doing. I am praying that I would use a sweeter, kinder tone with everyone. Sometimes just being aware of something that is an issue gets you halfway toward fixing it. A peaceful home is a happy place to be, and I want to set the example for everyone else. Since it's no longer Monday, let me wish you all a happy Tuesday!