Another trip to Vejen

Like a typical Monday, we were in sort of a hurry to get out the door. The boys are each supposed to have their rain suits, boots, and extra clothes in their cubby each Monday, and take everything home each Friday. At least this weekend I remembered to just leave their extra clean clothes in their backpacks so I didn't have to go searching for those before we left the house! Somehow, though, we got to school and realized Torben had his rain pants, but no jacket. He had a fleece coat that he'd worn (it's about 10 degrees in the morning now, low 50s) but that wouldn't help at all with the rain when they were playing outside. So, as soon as we got home, I walked back -in the rain this time!- to bring his coat. Before 9am I'd made two treks to the school. It's a good thing it's close.

The main government building for this kommune (municipality) is in Vejen, which is a short ways away. We went there again so I could get my NEM-ID, which allows me to access appointments and scheduling for the doctors, and is used to create a digital post box for any official messages I might receive. Jeff got his a couple of weeks ago, because he needed that in order to set up our bank account online, and we needed to have it online because our bank branch doesn't have cash -you can only get it from the ATM. After we took the boys to school, Jeff and Svea and I got in the car to head over (it's quite a bit quicker than taking the bus like we did the first time!). It was a very quick process and now I think we've all got everything registered that we need to have. We have our yellow cards, and our residence permits, and Jeff and I got our Dankort set up so we can use a card at the store instead of only using cash. Some places don't even accept cash-though none of those places are here in this town, I don't think.

By the time we got back, it was almost time for lunch. Svea didn't get a morning nap, which could have made for a very long day. She was a trooper, though, and made it through lunch and all the way until 12:30pm, and then took a nap until 4! I decided it was a good time to read a bit of a book ("A Year in the World" -by Frances Mayes) and then took a nap myself. It was nice. I don't remember the last time I took an afternoon nap. I was thoroughly asleep when the alarm went off to go pick up the boys from school. My phone has lots of alarms set -it's the only way I can make sure we get where we need to be on time. It helps the kids to get out the door, too, since they know that the alarms mean a transition to something new. Sometimes in the morning they even hear it and wake up! Sometimes.

I love this picture. She was looking out the window at the boys playing on the swing set, and for a very brief moment she wasn't talking or pointing at them. I love how the sun is shining in on her from the opposite windows.

Torben must be getting ready to grow about a foot. He is always hungry! We get home from a meal and he's already looking for more to eat. On Sunday after brunch, he took some of it with him -at least here "to go" meals are pancakes and bread! That's good sustenance right there.

 Anders just wanted to be goofy for the camera.

 Each day when we walk past this tree, the boys ask about the pattern of branches/roots that are attached to it. They really do look kind of neat.

We got a post card this week from the visiting school nurse. It's addressed to the family, and mentions who she is, and says she will plan to make a visit to see Svea when she is 2yrs and 7months old. It also includes the nurse's cell phone number, in case we need anything. We won't be here still when Svea's that old, but I imagine that is a visit when they look at language development. It seemed like kind of an arbitrary age. It's kind of a cute post card.

Torben was enjoying eating an orange the other day, and I think I could turn it into a little flip-book like a comic strip. He didn't peel the orange, but instead poked a hole in it with his finger and managed to eat out all of the insides.

 As he got to the end, he pulled the peel apart to get the rest of the fruit. It was a totally clean peel when he was finished!

By the time school was over, there were plenty of puddles for jumping in from the rain during the day. It was good I'd brought his rain coat back to school! Typically they leave their rain pants there during the week, but today Torben thought he should wear them home. I told him he didn't need to, and he said "yes, I do! I want to jump in the puddles!" Well, ok, then, I can't argue with that. The kid wants to dress appropriately to jump in puddles on the way home. Absolutely.

 Anders got a bit wetter, as he left the rain pants at school and only managed to get the cuff of one pant leg tucked into his boots, but they had fun.

 I like this one. I think they were having a race to the next big puddle. They really are a good team (sometimes a team of rivals).