Secret Santa / Julklappsbyte! NEW Deadline / Nytt sista datum!

På svenska längre ner

Emma has organised a Christmas gift exchange among bloggers and others for a few years in a row now but this year she's a bit swamped and I have promised to substitute for her!

So how does it work?

All participants will receive and give a Christmas gift to someone still unknown person!

Email me at komheden (at) hotmail.com by 8 December and provide your name, address, blog url (if you have one), three things on your wish list / you like and three things that is not your cup of tea.

I will send you an email with a name and address of a person as well as the information about what s/he wishes / likes / don't like. You will then send a wrapped gift worth maximum 100 SEK and Christmas card to your designated person by 15 December.

Spread the word!

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Emma har organiserat ett julklappsbyte bland bloggare och andra några år i rad nu men i år har hon lite fullt upp och jag har lovat att vikariera för henne!

Så hur fungerar det?

Alla deltagare kommer få och ge en julklapp till någon ännu okänd person!

Maila mig på komheden (at) hotmail.com senast  den 1 december och ange din adress, eventuell bloggadress, tre saker du önskar / gillar och tre saker som inte är du.

Du kommer sedan få tillbaka ett mail med en adress till en person samt information om vad hen önskar sig / gillar / inte gillar. Du skickar sedan en inslagen julklapp värd max 100 SEK samt ett julkort till din utvalda person senast den 10 december.

Sprid ordet!

10 Years!!

No, it's not my anniversary with Peter. We've "only" been together for 9 years in November (and married for four). It's my blogoversary!! Yesterday on 29 September - and I forgot about it then even though I thought about last week - it was exactly ten years ago since I posted my first ever post. I only blogged two or three times that autumn and the blog really got going in the spring of 2005, but still, I think it counts. I will need to make some sort of post about what the blog has "lived through" in this decade, both in my life and the world at large. Just think of the people I have met through the blogging community, such as Petchie whom I now consider a very close friend, not just here in Brussels but in general.

I hope for at least another decade of fun and new encounters through Anna, Fair and True!

Thursday in September

Almost a month since I last wrote. What have we been up to?

• Isolde started school again. She's in the same class as little friendbours V. and E., which is very nice and convenient for drop-offs and pick-ups but also has its disadvantage, e.g if one or two of the others get picked up early but not Isolde, but that's part of learning how to deal with life I guess. Isolde likes school and has fun there but it is certainly not the super-positive attitude that we had last autumn (guess the novelty has wore off). In the morning she says she doesn't want to go but once we're on the way she's usually excited...until we reach the classroom and she doesn't want to let go and is sometimes upset (though sometimes "crocodile tears") but usually accepts to go to her teacher's arms, albeit a bit reluctantly. If E. is upset, Isolde will also start crying, or vice versa, as they trigger each other. As I said she seems to have fun and be content once there but in the morning I think that she in that moment prefers to stay on the comfy couch and watching telly. And not having to get dressed. Our little lazy girl :)

Isolde's classroom. To the left of this picture they have a playhouse and some more toys.

• It took Harald about three weeks or so to get used to his new daily routine at the Pas à pas crèche. After about three weeks he caught a cold and was home for little over a week. The last two days before he got sick was the first days that he didn't cry when we dropped him off, but after that week away I thought we would be back to square one. But it seems that he has actually missed them and he wanted to go to one of the teachers right away and he put his head on her shoulder and cuddled for a long time. So this was really a sign that he's really happy there and also a good "grade" for them. There's such a good atmosphere there. When I dropped Harald off Wednesday this week they were playing the guitar and singing and I just wanted to stay there instead of going to work!
• We have done some gardening, even though most weekends and evenings we have priorised other things. We have tried to get rid of some persistent weed (dandellion type) in the grass, the environmentally-friendly way, and sown new grass, but now we'll have to buy some chemicals. I have also continued the weeding of the flower beds that my mum started when she was here, and we have also evened out some parts of the grass both on the front and back of the house by putting new soil and sown grass.
• I started studying French - two hours twice per week during work hours, one of the perks of working for the European Commission.
• We tried online food shopping from Colruyt and we will probably continue this habit, if not every week but every other, with the usual complimentary shopping from the smaller supermarkets in the neighbourhood. Colruyt is a discount supermarket that is not really a great shopping experience if you actually go there - reminded me of Ö&B/Överskottsbolaget in Sweden - but in terms of the produce and products it sells it is very good. It has a very large range of organic products and Colruyt also has another supermarket, BioPlanet, that only sells bioproducts.

• We bought a new table for the living room. You may remember that our old one broke... We tried to find another table we liked but in the end we bought one almost exactly the same as our old glass table, only slightly smaller. We also bought a new carpet for the kids' room. As always, Ikea is the place to go. Well, not the table as that is from Habitat.

• We had a crayfish party together with the extended friendbour circle, including also the family we rented the flat from our first year in Brussels, who are now back in town. We ate crayfish for lunch and then had a barbeque in the evening. We actually got a babysitter to entertain the kids in the evening so we could actually have a sit-down dinner. Worked pretty well even though you are not completely off duty since they are still in the house.

• What else? We celebrated V's third birthday and Ellna's first, and their dad turned 40. We tried to take advantage of the mild September evenings before it starts getting dark too early (though most of the time, September has been chillier than last year, but better than August) by taking walks in our lovely neighbourhood. We also visited one of those indoor playgrounds for children for the first time. We were there early so we had the place almost to ourselves. Only bad thing was that we got some sort of stomach bug but it could also have been the lunch at Pizza Hut afterwards... We made a visit to the Natural History Museum. Last week we went to three different playgrounds in the same day. You have to make the most of the weekends, especially when the weather is nice!

Pajama walk

Little palaeontologists in action

• Peter has gone climbing twice with the husband of a colleague of mine (they came to our drink in March) and the plan is that they will go regularly. After the first session Peter's climbing shoes got mysteriously missing - we think we must have thrown them out with the rubbish, possibly with Harald's help... but luckily they were too tight and he needed new ones anyway. By funny coincidence my colleague's husband, whose name is also Peter, also went to Essex university like my Peter (he did a one-year Master's there) and it was there both of them tried climbing for the first time (and my Peter hasn't really climbed since then). Both Peters have also spent a long time at home with their children (their daughter is around the same age as Isolde) and the other Peter works 80% and is also the one who usually picks from crèche/school. We're also going to try to get the whole families together soon.
• Oh, and there was the Swedish election of course. There is so much I would like to write about it but I haven't had time to really sit down and have a serious think. For now, I will only write that despite the disappointment of the success of the Sweden Democrats that of course bedimmed the evening, Petra and I had a good time at the election coverage event organised by the group Svenskar i Bryssel.

To Do List on a Thursday*

• Buy school supplies Isolde should bring with her on her first day of (pre)school on Monday and take ID photos of her that she also needs to bring (we have already checked off two things on the list - markers as well as a book to the class library). Tissues and wipes we'll get at the supermarket at the weekend.
  
• Fold up and bast the curtains in the living room, dining room and guest bedrooms (I don't want to actually shorten them since we may need them to be longer in the future). In our bedroom I will however adjust them properly because they are currently at least a metre too long! 
• Prepare for the crayfish party (crayfish lunch followed by barbeque in the evening) we're having on Saturday. Peter got the crayfish today (from IKEA) and we bought some decorations already in Sweden, but we'll need to sort out how to seat 11 adults and 9 children, especially since it looks to chilly to sit outside, and prepare some food and drink (though it's a potluck dinner so everyone is bringing something. 
• Plan and book a holiday for October or November. We think we would like to go somewhere sunny and warm, but they are not as many charter options from Belgium as from Sweden, so we'll see where we end up. 
• Book tickets to Sweden for the Christmas period.
• And also very important, invite family and friends to occupy our guest rooms during the autumn! So far we only know that Peter's parents are coming for a weekend in October. 
• Buy birthday presents for the neighbour kids V. and E.
• Organise my wardrobe and my drawers in the bathroom. 
• And probably lots of other things but I'll start with this...

* Not all to do this particular Thursday but the list was compiled today :)

Summer in Sweden in Bullets

• one tic (Harald)
• two wasp stings (Isolde)
• many, many mosquito bites (Peter, Isolde)
• temperature in the lake: 26
• sleeping temperature: 27
• 40 mm rain in one night during one of the many thunder storms of the hot summer
• one child-free evening (well, Peter had two more with friends, but I also had the ten days in Brussels on my own before coming to Sweden plus one evening in Stockholm)
• 2 pair of shoes purchased, otherwise no shopping unfortunately (but Peter bought some running shoes and I had made some online shopping for the children that was delivered as we arrived and also bought a few further items for the kids, including books)
• 25+ friends plus family and relatives seen
• one art exhibition
• one climber in the family (Harald) and one talker (Isolde - no stop to it sometimes!)
• so many, many laughs when reading old "letter books" between my childhood friends (still my friends) and me after I had cleaned out the my part of the attic at my parents (so many funny memorabilia discovered!)
• one doll and one doll bed as well as lots of doll clothes and other little toys moved from my old attic to Brussels
• one wedding - they sort of eloped but we were able to surprise them with a little "honeymoon package" in their hotel and we continued the celebrations when they arrived home!
• tons of fruit and berries in Harald's tummy
• one work badge returned (goodbyes saved for later), as I resigned from job in Sweden
• flat in Sweden sublet, so don't have to worry about that for a while
• two vaccination shots (Harald both)
• one visit to the child health centre for 18-month check-up (Harald) and doctor's appointments (ear problem for Peter and routine check-up for me)
• three babies on the way among friends in the next few months
• three haircuts (all except Isolde - though Harald's was a homemade, improvised one)
• 20+ swims from the jetty to the raft (Isolde with one or two parents)
• two new Marabou chocolate flavours tried (Bisquit and Oreos)
• one batch of new potatoes harvested in grandpa's greenhouse (Isolde)
• some not so good karaoke singing (me)
• swimming in three lakes and the sea
• one day of work, as I was called in for some meetings
• one visit to Tom Tits science museum with grandma (Isolde)
• two big bags of random stuff we cannot find in Brussels purchased, ranging from minipacks of raisins to dishcloths
• zero episodes of Midsumer Murders watched and not a single movie either
• four summer knees and many bruises and scratches (the kids), just the way it should be! And summer feet!
• hours and hours of play with the neighbour girl at mormor and morfar's (Isolde)
• and much, much more!

Long Time No See!

A lot has happened since I last wrote three months ago. Will take it in bullets. It's Thursday after all!

• In May our dear friends Maria and Daniel visited for a short weekend to celebrate Daniel's 40th birthday. Of course that required proper celebration at a two-star restaurant! Thanks P & O for babysitting!

Cheese!

• Later in May we flew back to Sweden for a long weekend to celebrate my mother's 60th birthday (and my parents also celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary). The weather was perfect, sunny and 28 degrees! My mother was very happy for her gift from me - a visit to Chelsea Flower Show next year (that reminds me, should probably book the tickets already now), something she has wanted to do for a very long time! My mum is also, despite her age (ha ha, though these days 60 is still very young) finally getting a driving license, so she's busy studying theory and taking lessons. Good for her!

• A few days after Sweden we packed up the car (you can never travel light with kids!) and drove to Münich together with our friendbours P & O to visit O's brother and wife over the Ascension Day weekend. On the way there we stopped in Frankfurt (partly because we left after work on the Wednesday and partly to split the long drive - 7+ hours - for the sake of the kids) to spend the night, but on Sunday we drove home in one go. We were a bit unlucky with the weather but otherwise I really liked Münich and we had a very nice time. Unfortunately Isolde caught a fever so on Saturday she and I spent the afternoon in the hotel as well as in a local playground while the rest of the group continued their sightseeing (this meant I sadly missed the visit to the Englischer Garten, but we'll probably be back some day).

I didn't take that many pictures with the iPhone but this is what Münich is all about, right :)

• The following weekend Peter went to Sweden again, this time for the wedding of a friend of his. We didn't feel like travelling with the children again for the third time in just two weeks, so he went by himself. Nice for him to get some child-free time as well. While he was in Sweden, the kids and I hung out with the neighbours - of course - and I packed a bit. Friday was 6 June and the Swedish National Day so P, T and I took the kids to the Swedish church for the celebrations in the evening. Sunday it was Princess Leonore's christening so we used the occasion to have a brunch with the friendbours, or at least the females of the families and the children, while the christening was on TV in the background. I also had the Monday off for Pentecoast and since Peter came back Sunday evening, we had a family day as well. 

Emily, Harald and Isolde at the National Day celebrations!

• The following week and weekend was the big move! I took half of Thursday and all of Friday off - work gives a leave entitlement for up to two days for removal purposes. Thursday afternoon we set out to Ikea with quite a long list - wardrobes for our bedroom, for Harald (Isolde had one already coming with the lorry from Sweden) and for the entrance/downstairs hallway, crib for Harald, bookcase for the kids' room, a double bed for the large/main guest room and other bits and pieces. The movers were supposed to arrive Friday with our furniture from the Stockholm flat, but they called and said that they were arriving early and asked whether it was possible to unload already Thursday afternoon. So they arrived around the time we returned from Ikea with lots of flatpacks (we used this excellent Ikea taxi service that only costs 30 euros irrespective of how much stuff you have and they help load and unload the van and there's no waiting time). We had reserved to block the street from other parked cars for the Friday to allow room for the lorry, but since it was Thursday still they had to just park in the road. Luckily it is not a very trafficated road so it worked out fine. We had booked a window lift - very exciting for the kids - for Friday afternoon to get some of the bulky furniture upstairs, as the staircase is a bit narrow, so we still made use of our cleared street part. On Sunday the "friendbours took the kids for most of the day so we could get some unpacking done and assemble Ikea furniture. After that it started to look like a home, or at least the start of one, and from that Sunday night (15 June) we slept in the house.  

Some order but mostly disorder!

Exciting!

• Isolde made her first school trip ever in mid-June. They went by bus to a horse farm near Leuven where they were able to ride and feed the horses, look at sheep and bake some bread (very tasty actually!). She had a really great time and asked several days in a row if she was going on an excursion that day again.  

Isolde's farm-baked bread
 

Isolde reenacts her school photo :)

• We had guests at the new house from the start. Even before we moved in Peter had assembled the grill and the trampoline so we were ready to receive guests, big and small! The first dinner was with P & O and kids and the first BBQ with our other neighbours T & M and another friend A with her boyfriend J, without the kids as we had organised a babysitter for the evening. We had meant to watch Belgium's first match in the World Cup on big screen in the local square but there were so many people that we decided to go home instead.

First BBQ at the house!

• The following weekend was Midsummer's and we had the celebrations at the house on the Saturday (Friday being a regular work day here) with 9 adults and 8 kids even though our house was in a bit of a state still. The weather was perfect and we were mostly outside anyway. We even had a proper Maypole and wreaths for the kids, thanks to T. There was so much food over so the next day almost the same crowd came over (minus 2 adults and 2 kids) for the leftovers and stayed all day. We didn't get much unpacking and organising done that weekend, but there would be time for that. Life is too short not to enjoy it fully with good friends!

• Peter managed to trip and fall on top of our glass table in the living room in the middle of our Midsummer fun, which broke in a thousand pieces, but luckily he wasn't injured except for some minor cuts (very fortunate, it could be much worse). It was funny in a tragicomical way because P, when seeing the table for the first time the day before, had asked "is that really safe with kids?" and Peter had responded "I've had this table for almost 18 years, several grown men have fallen on it, it's very sturdy..", etc. I guess the years and all those "bumps" had taken its toll and perhaps travelling 1,500 km in a lorry from Stockholm to Brussels was the final straw. Now we're on the lookout for a new table and possibly we're going for an almost exact table from Habitat (if we dare...).  

The table that no longer is...

• After that it was school's out for Isolde and we drove to Sweden on Friday 27 June. The trip went surprisingly well, much better than the trip to Münich a few weeks earlier. We started around 9 in the morning and took our time to Travemünde where we were going to take the ferry to Sweden. Actual driving time was just over 6 hours but we took two breaks and arrived in Lübeck around 6pm for dinner and a walk around. The ferry wasn't leaving until 22:00 and check-in was at 20:00 so we had plenty of time to kill. Once on the ferry the kids were able to play in the playroom for a while before bedtime. We had chosen one of the largest cabins so that we had proper beds (well, sort of, but at least avoid top bunks) and more space.

Great time in the ball pool!

• The ferry arrived to Trelleborg already at 07:30 so we had to set the alarm pretty early. We had some breakfast on the boat but saved some room for a second breakfast at an old school friend who lives in the Skåne countryside. So our first stop on the Swedish side was a visit to C. in little village Stora Beddinge for some just-out-of-the-oven scones and fresh coffee. Last time I saw C. was three years ago and before then...15 years?? It was very nice meeting her sambo and children and I'm very glad that we stopped by. Around 10am we headed north and only stopped once for lunch after almost 3½ hours as the kids slept for most of the first leg. After the lunch stop we only had another two hours or so before we reached my parents' house in Södertälje in time for dinner.  
• That weekend I had the chance to see Saltistjejen from New York who was in Sweden for the summer and meet the latest addition to the family. So glad we were able to meet up, even if only for a short fika!

• Sunday evening I flew back to Brussels to work while Peter drove to his parents' summer house. I had to work for another two weeks, however, I flew to Sweden for the weekend, and Peter and the kids joined me in Stockholm where we stayed in his parents' apartment. That weekend I also had the opportunity to join a farewell get-together for a colleague from my old (or Swedish) job (and did karaoke for the first time in ages and "better than good" as the saying goes...). While I was on my own in Brussels for two weeks (or ten working days) I did a little unpacking and fixing but also took the opportunity to go out with colleagues and friends, for example girls' night to celebrate P's birthday. The first few days alone felt rather lonely but then got used to it and the second week I started longing for the kids (and Peter too of course) again, even though I had seen them at the weekend :) And great weather had come to Sweden while I was shivering in 14'C Brussels and had to turn the heating on as I was all alone in a big house!
• Then on 11 July I flew to Sweden again, but this time for four weeks holiday! But more about that in a separate post!

Harald 18 Months!

Already one and a half years old, our little rascal!

This marks the return of the blog! I have a few posts planned: a recap of our life over the last few months, our summer holiday in Sweden and a "Harald report" that is well overdue. Please check back here in a few days!

Royal Greenhouses of Laeken

One of the first days of May we made an excursion to the royal greenhouses at the Palace of Laeken, Serres Royales de Laeken. The greenhouses are only open to the public for a couple of weeks every year (this year 18 April - 9 May) so it is a very popular destination. We first went there on May Day and arrived around 10:30, one hour after opening. The queue of cars to get to the parking lot was so long we gave up right away. Instead we returned two days later and made sure to get there even before it opened. In retrospect it was very good to be even some of the very first visitors, since we had the pushchair with us in the greenhouse and they can get pretty cramped when they fill up with people. Here comes a cavalcade of photos from these beautiful place (it's a shame not even the park is open all year or at least parts of the year).

The Palace, on our way to the greenhouses

I think the greenhouses as buildings are really beautiful. Design by architect Alphonse Balat.

At a distance I thought the greenhouses were made of copper that was covered by verdigris but it is actually green paint that has flaked off and worn down by wind and rain.

The devil is in the detail?

Cool tree

It seems like all royal parks has an Asian garden.

Inside the green houses

No access to this one except a peak in the window.

More plants than flowers in this section.

Entrance to the secret garden

Chasing a curious one-year-old.



No caption necessary

You can't see it in the photos but many flowers had begun to wither. I think the best time to go is the first week.

The only thing that was perhaps missing were signs with names of plants and flowers.

I like these flowers on both sides of a staircase.

The path ended in the big greenhouse.

House

As I mentioned in my previous post we are moving to new accommodation here in Brussels next month. Since we arrived last autumn we have been renting a flat - and it is a very nice flat which we like a lot - but now we would like to see what it is like to live in a house with more space and a garden (and the family who normally lives in the flat is returning at the end of the summer anyway). We only looked at three houses (I viewed two and Peter a third house on his own) before deciding to go for this house, but having looked at quite a lot of properties online we knew this one was a good "catch"*. It ticked several of the boxes: location (same neighbourhood, not more than 10 minute-walk to school/crêche/metro), good condition (especially the bathrooms and to some extent the kitchen), three or four bedrooms (it has four), around the rent we were willing to pay, and immediate or near availability. On our wishlist were also a free-standing/detached house and not too many (steep) stairs (compared to the very common Belgian townhouses) and a laundry room on one of the main floors rather than in the basement (especially if there are steep stone steps to the basement, which it often is). A bonus is that this house also has a working fireplace.

On the negative side the garden is perhaps a bit small but it will be sufficient for our young children (we can fit a trampoline and still play a game of badminton) and that there is no evening sun in the garden. There is a possibility to put up a plank to make a sitting area on the front of the house (in order to get some privacy from the road) though I think we will make do with the back veranda to start with. There is an awning (markis) and if we buy an infraheater we can probably sit there many evenings.

Here are some pictures! They are the realtor's so not the most exciting photos (but these are quite good compared to most Belgian real estate ads!) and they are not complete as we don't have photos of all rooms and spaces.

The house from the street. The kitchen is the bottom right and upstairs is the main guestroom to the left and the second guestroom to the right (the two other bedrooms are at the back). The extension to the right of the kitchen is the laundry room (the old laundry room was in the basement where there is still a stone sink) with an exit to the garden. In addition to the garage the basement has three (I think) rooms as well as a pantry but none of the rooms are furbished so will mainly be used for storage.

Garden view of the house. To the left it is the laundry room as mentioned with an entrance to the basement underneath. Downstairs the living room is to the left and the dining room to the right with doors to the veranda both from living room and the dining room. Upstairs, our bedroom is on the left side with an ensuite bathroom behind the small window, and to the right is the children's room.

The veranda/porch is not very big but will fit the furniture we had in our balcony in Stockholm at least.

View of the garden from the porch. We will put the trampoline in that corner.

And the garden from the other side.

The living room with windows to the garden (and a door to the porch to the left of the picture). Behind the camera is the dining room and to the right the door to the hallway. There are wooden floors (parquet) in the living room and the dining room and tiles in the kitchen and hallways. Upstairs are also wooden floors but not parquet.

The dining room with doors to the porch to the right and I think there is also a door to the hallway to the left. I like the shaped window.

The kitchen has not been renovated now (looks like it is from the 90s?) but at least it is white and in good condition, and the cooker, fridge/freezer and dishwasher is completely new, as well as the washing machine and dryer next to the kitchen. I think the kitchen will look nicer with a table, perhaps a rug underneath and a few gadgets such as my red KitchenAid! The fridge is very small so we will probably end up buying a freezer box and put in the basement.

Before we move upstairs, downstairs is also the entrance and hallway as well as a toilet with a sink as well as some space for wardrobes. Underneath the stairs is the door to the basement, which I don't currently have any pictures of either.

Our bedroom with garden view. There is a little bit of a niche so we are a bit unsure how to place our bed but I think it will fit in that space and still allow us to put a bedside table on the left side of the bed and also be able walk between the bed and the window. There is also space to the right of the picture but I would prefer to put the bed in the alcove if possible. To the left of the windows is the ensuite bathroom, however the toilet is in the hallway (very common in Belgium).

The ensuite bathroom. I like that there are two sinks, much needed!

The main guestroom with a small balcony. This room may be somewhat bigger than our bedroom and has a better layout, but the main bedroom has the ensuite and is also facing the garden, and is probably quieter than the rooms towards the street (though all windows are double-glacing).

The second guest room (which is likely to double as playroom for the children) which is facing the street. I think this room, or it might be the main guestroom, has a fireplace, not a working one but a place to put some candles for some atmosphere.

For some reason there was no picture of the fourth bedroom, the children's bedroom, but it is very similar to the other rooms: white walls, wooden floors, same type of windows.

The shower room in the hallway upstairs is also brand new like the bathroom with the same type and colour tiles. The separare loo is also very similar in style.

So this will be our home for the next few years! I will post new pictures once we we have moved in and made ourselves at home. We look forward to having guests occupy the guest rooms and jump on the trampoline with Isolde!

* If we were buying I am certain we would look at many more houses and taken our time but now when we are "only" renting it's easier to take a quick decision.