life of seven

Thanksgiving 2015

Hello, Blog. Wow, what a journey this last week has been. It began very shortly after my last post on here, when one by one my kids began getting sick, literally hours before our epic traveling home adventure was to begin. Let me quickly relive that crazy day that involved a car getting stuck in the mud (for real!); a bag check at security; a delayed flight that shortened our layover at the next stop to give us less than an hour to hop on a bus, go through customs, and run at full speed to the opposite end of the airport with sick kids in tow- without our stroller, because did I mention that we had to check our stroller back at the gate this time, because it was determined to be oversized? 

When we arrived at DIA at long last, filled out our paperwork, stood in line, and found all of our bags- except that stroller! It didn't make the flight!- and got to our car I was relieved that the epic traveling journey had come to an end. Not so fast. As we headed north from Denver, it began to snow. And snow. And snow. The conditions were awful, visibility was terrible, traffic was crawling at a snail's pace, and I just prayed that we wouldn't get stuck or die right on the highway after traveling thousands of miles from Europe to here, while on the very last leg of our journey.

Well, we didn't die, or get stuck. Here I am, I won't say none the worse for wear, but here nonetheless. The children's colds turned into an ear infection for one of them, possible bronchitis for another, and the worst coughs my children have experienced. I got sick for a day, too, and I dreaded coming down with whatever sickness had hit my family so hard, but I managed to stave off anything worse than a slight sore throat. Due to being sick, the jet lag has been pretty ridiculous coming home. I'm still waking up at four, several of the children with me. Don't get me wrong; I love the early mornings, I just don't love feeling like it's the middle of the night the moment dinner's done.

Wow, for a post that was supposed to be about our Thanksgiving, this is starting to sound pretty depressing! Forgive me! Life is wonderful. Our day with family we hadn't seen in so long was cozy and wonderful. It snowed again, and it was the loveliest snowfall on Thanksgiving that I can ever remember. It seems the last five years or so we've always been able to go outside to take a Christmas picture with the cousins, but that was not going to happen yesterday. Instead we stayed inside and watched the snow fall. I made two apple pies, something I don't think I've made before, and Gideon and I got creative on the second one, browsing google images for pictures of spectacular looking pie crust. We compromised and went with something a little simpler, cutting out hearts with a cookie cutter, but we think it came out looking pretty good for a couple of novices.

And my two little boys! Those bow ties, Jude's vest...I decided Truman looked like a little boy from a fifties sit-com, and Jude was sort of channeling the British royalty/HRH Prince George look with his vest and button down shirt.

The event of the day that will stand out for me if I remember it in years to come (And now that I'm writing about it on here, it will) had to be Jude and Truman becoming obsessed with the Nutcracker ballet, particularly the dance with the Nutcracker and his soldiers fighting the Rat King and his army. After they had a discussion with my sister about the Nutcracker, something they were unfamiliar with before, she pulled up youtube videos from the ballet for them to watch. Specifically the Rat King battle. All day they begged for her to show them another video. Finally, that evening when we discussed watching Christmas movie, we decided that it must be The Nutcracker. My two tough acting little boys were so excited. They were on the edge of their seats, waiting for the the part with the Rat King. When the mice finally came out (or are they rats too? I can't remember if it is an interspecies army) Truman began to shriek and he grabbed me with all his might and buried his face in my lap. I think he's reacted that strongly when he watched Star Wars, but I didn't know the Nutcracker ballet would have an equally gripping hold on him. With fascination the boys watched the battle transpire, and when all was well because Clara throws that shoe at the Rat King, they boys sat back and relaxed again. They didn't make it to the end of the movie because, jet lag. All that classical music and dancing did them in and they were out for the night. At least they made it to, like, six o'clock.

IT was a lovely day, and I hope yours was as well.

Good bye, Denmark

A final visit to Tivoli, decorated for Christmas, was where we symbolically said our good-byes. This time tomorrow I will be on a plane headed for home, and while I couldn't be happier, naturally a part of me is sad to leave the interesting and unique life we got to experience in Europe. In my wildest dreams I would have never guessed that our family would be fortunate enough to spend three months living and experiencing another country.

When we get back, I have lots and lots and lots of hugs planned for family and friends. I can't wait for that. Thanksgiving preparations will need to get immediately underway, and after that, planning for the Christmas holidays. I'm going to visit Chipotle and eat a burrito as soon as is humanly possible. And I really, really, really miss my bed. Unspeakably.

These things make life wonderful, the little and the big. The day to day ordinariness and the epic events. The joy, the fear, the love, the loneliness, the excitement, the boredom, the busy-ness, the stillness. 

After the horrendous attacks last week in Paris, Ben and I were talking about the emotion and fear that follows something as devastating as that. It doesn't have to be a terrorist attack; there are all too many things in this life that can consume every moment we live with fear or regret. Cancer, aging, disease, sickness, bills, worry about what the future holds for your children, years passing all too quickly with your children, an overseas job that keeps you from loved ones.

Jesus said to take no thought for tomorrow, for sufficient is the evil of the day. Wise words from the wisest Man who ever lived. Many things about tomorrow I don't seem to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand. If I keep the words to this song to heart, I have nothing to fear, even if the eventuality of the worst case scenario should ever take place in my life.

Knitting a hat

I knit this hat up quick as a wink. One, maybe two nights of knitting, with a row squeezed in here and there throughout the day. It was so fun, too. I love knitting cables, and this hat, Quadri, was full of interesting, non annoying ones. You have to have that non annoying aspect when knitting cables. I knit this in sport weight yarn for Clementine, though in truth it fits Truman and Jude really well. Actually, it even works for me, fitting very snug and therefore warmly, yet still covers my ears. But I'm sure it's a million times cuter on Clementine than it is on me, and that's before I've even added the pom pom! How ridiculous. Babies. I can't make her not look cute, even when she's covered from head to two in chili, after trying to feed herself with a spoon.

I hope to make another hat with this pattern in worsted weight yarn for those in our family with bigger heads, like the pattern calls for. This will do in the meantime.

 

The Best Way to Go

Here it is, the sweater I just finished. The pattern is called Transmute and it came out just how I wanted it to. Basically, I saw a picture of Kate Middleton- I know, I know, the Duchess of Cambridge, but everyone seems to want to continue to call her Kate Middleton- anyway, Kate Middleton wearing this blue and white striped top and it was so stylish (of course) and looked so great that I couldn't get the top out of her head. I must say that this pattern in these colors came pretty close to what I was wanting. I would need to grow another, what, eight inches or so, and have really great hair, and a little clutch and wedge shoes to really get the look, but hey, this sweater got me halfway there! Or one fourth of the way; whatever. 

The pattern is pretty straightforward, and once I separated the sleeves and the body, which happened quite quickly, and gave a cursory glance at the rest of the pattern, I just finished it up on my own. I made the sleeves full length, in fact, just slightly beyond my fingertips. I love it. Sometimes simple really is the best way to go.

 

Scarf on the beach

As you may be able to tell from these photos, I have just finished the Magdalen scarf. If, by finished, you understand that means knitted and blocked. Weaving in those ends? Well, I didn't do that yet, and they're sort of hidden in these photos. I beg you to not look too close. Of course, now all that did was made you want to look for them!

This is like wearing a blanket around my neck, as my husband so eloquently put it when we went down to the beach together to take pictures of my knitwear a walk together. You may be able to glimpse a sweater I just finished, also. Seriously, the knitting is flying off the needles out here. I think it's because there's nothing you feel more like doing out in Denmark when its foggy and cold and gloomy and the days are so short, than knitting with a cup of tea nearby. I've found that to be true, at any rate. 

Ben and I headed off to the grocery store together- that's the way our dates sometimes go; super romantic, huh?- and on the way we decided to drive down to the beach on one of the few opportunities we have remaining to us to do that. It was a flurried in and out look around and take some pictures type of trip, because it was windy and quite cold. But you can't argue with the view, or the light, or the picturesque rusted out old boat sitting by the shore. So much fun.

At the store we bought ingredients to make gumbo, my husband's absolute favorite food on the face of the earth. I'm not as crazy about it, possibly because it takes so long to cook and makes a humungous mess of the kitchen. However, he told me that all during the week he remembered the plan to make gumbo on Sunday and it brought a smile to his face. Pretty sweet. He and the kids did most of the work, with my just stepping in to make the roux, a task that makes or breaks a pot of gumbo. No one's cleaned up yet, though. I'm not sure on whose shoulders that task will fall to. 

I'll show you the sweater I knit later this week. I don't know when I knit it. It just flew, without my even paying attention to what  I was doing, and before you know it, the sweater was done. 

Beautiful Denmark, and LIFE

Oh, Denmark, we have had such a wonderful time visiting your beautiful spots and enjoying your scenery and culture. I can't believe it, but we will be going home in two weeks. To say that all of us are excited is an understatement. Home. Such a home-y word, and such a home-y place. So much comfort being in the place you are used to. I'm sure with time other locations could end up feeling like home, too, including Denmark. I'm thankful we got to have this experience of making Denmark our home for these past months. I won't say that I know a word of Danish, even still, after all this time, though I can read it better. But much of Denmark will stay with me.

I'm starting to mourn the bakery down the road from us already. I need to give the sweet lady who works there a word of warning when we go. Because I'm sure she must have increased their daily order to accommodate our family out here. Same thing with the grocery stores.

Last night I bought about twenty packaged salami snacks for the kids, one of their favorite snacks out here. Laughing, I told the girl at the check out not to worry, I left some in the store. Then I went back to the store last night and I almost bought another twenty salami snacks, since we had made short work of the ones I'd bought last night, believe it or not. But the very same girl was at the check out stand as had been here the night before, and I just could not do it. Some people have no shame, but I at least have a little.

On a totally unrelated note, this has been a great semester of homeschooling for us. Since my oldest is in tenth grade, it seems that it's taken me eleven years, but I think I finally have figured out what I like and what works best for our family. It's the first year I've felt comfortable with the curriculum I am or am not using. This year there's less panic (I said less, not none) and more confidence in what I'm doing with the children, as well as more faith in the entire homeschooling system. It took a while, but I'm starting to get it figured out. Isn't that the way with everything, though? Now that Ben and I have been married for seventeen years, we totally know what would make the first year of marriage awesome, how to survive the stress and trauma of a brand new baby, how to make it through those early arguments and disagreements. Too bad this wisdom has come to us a dozen or more years too late. Life. It's tricky to navigate, impossible to figure out. The moment you feel like you're finally in your comfort zone, everything changes and you find yourself in an entirely new scenario to have to navigate. Thank God for the Captain of our Salvation, Jesus Christ.  Not to sound too corny here, but I will gladly place Him at the helm of the ship of my life. No one better than Jesus to navigate those stormy seas.

Best Halloween in Oslo, Norway

I know I said I'd be here on Monday, and here it is Wednesday, nearly Thursday, actually, in Denmark. We had such an amazing experience over the weekend. Yes, you are seeing this correctly: the children are sitting in a hot tub while sailing through the fjord to Norway. Though it began to get more and more foggy as we progressed, and though the hot tub was really not quite warm enough, we had to jump into our suits as swim, just to say we did it. I'm so glad we did.

The weather in Norway was surprisingly warm, or maybe I should say, not too terribly cold, for Halloween, the day we were there. I decided this was our best Halloween ever.  Our family doesn't celebrate Halloween, so we normally don't do anything very significant that day. This was an easy claim to make. Truman and Jude, however, were very bothered that I said it was the best Halloween. "But we don't like Halloween, Mom!" I hear you, boys, but nevertheless, we sure liked this Halloween.