a moment of melting

i was trying to sort photos and empty the camera. and then i fell over these from a couple of weeks back. i think i just melted there for a moment. and then, after dragging myself up from the floor, i decided to go all mother-ish on you and share.

he went to kindergarten with a sleeveless shirt under a long sleeved blouse. he came home like this.

hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

seven

7 days ago the twins turned 7. wow! seven years ago they were born. it was quite a surprise 6 weeks early. Noam 1.5 kilo and Jonathan 2 kilo. so tiny they were.

i won't say i don't remember life before kids. i do. there was quite a before and after children in our case, starting out with premature twins and adding Daniel to the crowd 19 month later. we had quite an intense beginning.

it's still intense, but in a different way. sometimes it feels easier, other times it feels so much more like a challenge. when they were younger the hard part was - put simple - logistics and the physical hard work. Today it's the back and forth, the long term consequences, the future, the first steps towards letting go, taking a deep breath and hoping they'll be ok out there. in school, with friends, in life.

oh, and then there's that really hard part where you have to accept that their idea of a fun birthday is spending the day in an amusement park. sigh. can you see how much fun i'm having to take that ride with the 5 year old who couldn't do it on his own. double sigh.

positioned for art

looked through old photos because i don't have anything else to do. except maybe i could have cleaned up this mess we call home or done some actual working of the kind that pays bills. but no. why would i do such a thing when i can look at photos, like these from aRos - the art museum in aarhus, denmark.

i then realized the littlest guy had gone through the museum and taken this position every time he stopped to take a closer look. if you didn't know better you'd actually think he was a quiet and silent boy. he's not. he's sweet, but in a loud, clear and fast-moving way.

by the way, the piece in the middle was quite in-your-face. can't remember the artist, but i do remember how the boys were equally intrigued and disgusted. and how i was trying to talk a bit of child sense into it. i am pretty sure i didn't succeed.

colors of fall

september and october. the colors are warm, changing. i love this season. what is it with the sky these days.... the afternoon and sunset tones, the light. it's breathtaking. and we sleep so well too as the night have gotten colder.

we had friends visiting from denmark and ended the last holidays. been to a couple of weddings and soon we'll have some birthday celebration to do.

tomorrow a new week will begin.

the last of summer

we're celebrating one holiday after the other these days. it's that time of the year. yom kippur, rosh hashana and sukkot. the children are off school (didn't we just get started?!) and we're off work half the time too.

this week we went beach camping. it was lovely. the weather has changed, the evenings not so hot as the used to be and on our last day we even had clouds and raindrops. wouldn't call it rain, but still, it's a sign. summer is soon behind us. even if it will never be that autumn i know from back home, it is still autumn - middle eastern style.

life is still busy. i'm beginning to think it might not just be a couple of days, a week or the next month. this is it. probably it was before too. you make time for what's important.

wishing you a lovely october.

and then we came home

we returned home august 20. the next week was crazy! seriously. two kids started first grade at two different schools (long story, another time). this meant shopping for bags, school t-shirts, books and material as well as parent meetings, meeting the teacher, meeting the children. times two. and school start ceremony. times two again. all the thoughts and emotions i imagined would fill me as my firstborns started school drowned in hectic returning home and getting things ready. practicalities took over our life and minds and so, the sentimental emotions, excitement and worries only sneaked into my mind as i put my head down down at night. but even then i was too tired and exhausted to give them a second thought. maybe that was just pure luck. i can get awfully sentimental and emotional.

besides getting two kids ready for school, the third child celebrated his 5th birthday here back home with family. the evening came to an end as he got hot tea over his shoulder and was rushed to the emergency room. luckily it didn't touch his face, but damn! that added a bit of extra excitement to our lives, and i could have done without that. in the week that followed it was pretty nasty to look at and we had to go to a nurse to have it treated, but luckily it wasn't painful and he was so strong and good.

and then one of the new first graders got ear infections on both ears just as school started. no fever, but not much sleep and obviously not much energy for school. i did the crappy parent thing and gave him something for the pain and sent him off anyway. i hated that, but just couldn't have him miss the first days in first grade. but it wasn't cool and certainly not  the best start.

besides all my complaining above i am super happy to say that all three kids are now happy and well off in kindergarten and schools. we have a daily rhythm slowly appearing and after a long vacation without a schedule i must admit i totally enjoy that.

but mostly i am happy that my amazing mom came back with me and helped us through these first weeks of this important chapter in our lives... seriously, my little boys started school!... because without her i'm not really sure how we would have made it through and still being able to remain sane and well.

family is gold, mothers are pure awesome!

denmark love

:: to be or not to be.... a monkey?

:: ipad, iphone, relaxing

:: girl drawings. another world

:: beautiful sjaellands odde

:: oh that light

:: reuniting with old friends at the zoological museum

:: they grew up with this boy back in the tlv days. now they live in hong kong.

:: pretty denmark

:: hello new face

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we've been seeing friends and family, beautiful places, danish summer at it's finest.

returned home, and have relaxed in the garden. tomorrow the man is flying into town and that is good. we miss him. i miss him.

that golden, pastel moment

just around sunset. the sky, the water, the colors. the world turns pastel sweet and soft. from the beach camping.

wonder boy

my wondering wonder boy. him and his brothers... i'm so lucky (well, i am the mother :)

have a wonderful weekend.

passing time

on hot summer days when we're not at the pool or the beach.

making superhero masks. modeling clay birds. enjoying the last glass of elderflower drink and making pizza for dinner. creating dragons for the dungeons. drawing robots.

that elderflower drink was good. my amazing mother had brought flowers from her garden and made a bottle of the best summer drink ever. sweet taste of denmark mixed with lemons from our garden.

just a year ago my boys pretty much never felt like drawing. or anything else that involved sitting down at a table. today they all love drawing and creating. i guess everything comes in it's own time and we just need to be patient and stop worrying.

wishing you a wonderful weekend.

old school angry birds

one day last month, sick and home from kindergarten. at some point even the iphone got boring (or confiscated by the rightful owner to, you know, actually making phone calls).

then good old building blocks got out and mixed with the world of angry birds.

fast forward one month and i have another kid home with fever. meaning we're taking a break from beach and pools this week. but if you're out there, in water world, keep an eye on your little ones and go check out how drowning doesn't look like drowning.

the other day in the pool a little girl almost drowned. right next to where we were sitting. only her dad noticed, and ran from a far to get her out. the rest of us sat rigth there and pretty much managed to overlook that among all the happy, splashing kids a girl was drowning. scary.

sharing a moment

sweet little ones.

yesterday i saw this girl dance down in nevet tsedek. so beautiful and so talented. thank you, sara. the show was very intensive. beautiful, and yet i felt tense all the way through.

my mom is here and tomorrow we're off on an adventure hoping to meet magical creatures.