You know how it feels...

When you have one of those head colds that renders your brain pretty much useless, you have this (above) reappearing 3 times a day with avengence, and you have so many small things to do that it feels an uphill struggle to attempt any of it.
So I blog.


Hz helping with the watering of my chives, and for those of you who have Pakistan connections the the lota is clean, and I've seen 101 watering cans used as a lota.


and Biryani guards the chives from overwatering

Let me out of this madhouse!

We got out.

Small, baby steps

Before...

After...

This was last Sunday's efforts on our new allotment. Rome wasn't built in a day, and this is one out of about 10 rectangles of similar size that will need to be tackled at some point.
We were actually restricted on staying too long as I'd somehow forgotten the water bottle and it was thirsty work and also Hz was home with DH- Once we've got the fence up maybe I'll be able to bring him along to play with the worms and weeds!
It was a nice feeling to see the boys getting hands in the dirt rather than on the keyboard, finding the ladybirds and wiggly worms, running up and down with the weeds to the container and generally getting some fresh air.

Daffodils and new shoots

I ended up buying some daffodils in pots, as I was feeling a bit low on the gardening front. My first batch of tomato seedlings had withered and died when I had tried to plant them in to bigger pots. I suspect it was because they'd been brought up without enough light, they were in my bedroom where there is generally someone sleeping at some point throughout the day. But it was there or risk being plundered by little hands. Alhamdulillah hadn't planted all the seeds so my second lot are thriving as I make sure they get enough rays.
Anyhow my tiny attempts at horticulture are inshaAllah to be scaled up, although whether it'll be this year is another question. On Thursday I got my allotment contract so now I have at least got a 'garden' , and have to be patientand wait for a few more bedrooms. M and H seem quite keen to help me and really I just want some space for us to potter. I am just a bit wary of the rabbits and will have to sort out some fencing I think. Just have to put up with DH calling me 'Arthur' (EastEnders) but then I can always call him 'Pauline' back if he does!
We're on the last stretch of the school year before the holidays. It does feel like a kind of penance of being able to live in Sweden, all this early morning rushing, and tired grumpy kids in the evening. M is plodding a long at school without having to do much homework. H is pretty good at reading and his writing has dramatically improved. We always seem to be behind with his workbooks as he's missed so much school with various illnesses, but I'm sure he's OK with all the concepts, just colouring in the lines is still a chore, although it may be useful as he wants to be an eye surgeon and they do have medical colouring books when you study anatomy....
S has got his place in the bilingual class and also was offered a place in the international school. We went to the latter for a morning and I could sense S was impressed as in the first lesson each student was on their individual laptops doing various projects, and then a boy gave a presentation using powerpoint. We the went to the French lesson which was, ironically the only time the international students speak Swedish. I slinked out after a while as my eyelids were drooping as familiar memories were coming back from my secondary education. In the end we have decided on the bilingual class so that S can keep his Swedish up, although they have let us have the option to change to the international school if later we think it would be more suitable. The students in the international school did seem more mature and commited to their work, but we will see inshaAllah how the bilingual class works out.
Biryani has been going regularly to the childminder, which at the moment is the ideal situation. There are 2 childminders who are also friends of mine and they are in one of their spacious house with a garden. The children are of different ages and they cook nutritious food, do educational activities, go outside a lot. I would like to have her round myself more as this age is very nice (mostly) , but it's also a good age to pick up the Swedish. However it feels like the best place she could be apart from home. I'm hoping it can continue as one of the childminders may start to work at her home instead.
Hz, well they don't have a place for him in the near future (!) . His langage is slowly coming on although I have to translate most words.
'Boo' - boots
'boo boo' lollipop, dog/ animals
'ayn'- orange
'up' - juice(cup?)
'bo' - ball

He also wants to start potty training and is always undressing himself down to nothing. Of course this was not appreciated when we were in the midst of a sickness bug last week. Yesterday it was a vest with lower buttons, dungarees and a jumper on top to stop him taking off his nappy. He knows to take it off just after or maybe just before doing something but the connection between potty and sitting on it to pee etc is nowhere near. It feels like I'd only just put away the potty after Biryani was needing it.
The 2 middle boys have not come back yet from running. We decided that DH should take them running regularly with some friends rather than paying £50 a term for some teenagers to tell them to run up and down at the running club. I expect they have gone for a browse around the toy shop afterwards.

Forgive me if some of the photos are a little blurred...

but my mobile phone camera is a little limited, and life does seem to pass by in a bit of a blur at the moment.
Here is an example of Hz using a game as, well, it almost was intended, and not just as a floor covering.


and a large scale lego battle took up most of the living room the other day.

and I've been noticing in many blogs for a while the beautiful pictures of the emergence of Spring. So here is our Swedish, relatively late, contribution. In fact looking out for the 'Signs of Spring' is quite a national hobby. M plucked these snowdrops from our park outside, and I'm hoping he left enough for the rest of the residents to admire.




and Hz has a little bit of spring in his step (groooan, pun intended) as he heads off in the direction of the lollipop storehouse (corner shop).

This photo got deleted somehow..

but it says it all itself

I almost forgot to blog!

Again life has been keeping us busy, and we are trying to look forward to Spring as it edges it's way out of the grey snow. The greyish, brown grass may have a chance of becoming green if the temperatures decide to rise and the sun comes out for longer periods.
So here are some rather random pics from the last month or so.


Unfortunately this wasn't made by us, but by some creative neighbours tired of the usual snowmen and snowball fights.

Biryani however decided to get creative with the Stickle Bricks.


A trip to another nearby park which I only discovered recently (and have been living here 7 years!!) I was coming back from a bus stop after Hz's dentist appointment. I so rarely use the bus that it was a new route home. It's always worth taking a detour from the quickest route home and you may find things nearby you never knew were there.


The baking we did while the boys were in Legoworld...

And the thaw began (and then it snowed again) and now it's almost all melted. I thought I'd be v north European and fling a duvet out the window in the fresh air.





and with the thaw came the mud, much to the kids' delight!


Milkshake instructions that M made for himself.

A little bit about Hz

My memory is so bad, short-term as well as long. So if I don't write it down it'll most likely be forgotten. Although this time is quite testing at the moment, I still want to remember it and reflect if I get time! I do remember, though, a dear friend advising me when it was a similar time of chaos having been wreaked by young hands in the form of Biryani, to have patience. To expect that by they reach the age of three, some degree of sense emerges.
He will now play with toys in the way for which they were designed (puzzle pieces inserted into their correct holes, stacking the hoops, building towers with bricks). This is quite satisfying to see and we are moving on from the chewing, discarding, emptying, flinging, stages. Moving, not quite left.
Yesterday the boys were at LegoWorld again and as both littlies have got bad colds we did not go out. So it was a game of climbing up S's bunkbed to find his mobile and laser pen, switching on and off the computer which Biryani was trying to use, climbing up M's bunk bed and dangling his legs perilously over the edge, and emptying jugs of water all over himself and the bathroom floor. Not his fault of course, and now and again I will find him surreptitiously leafing through ladybird books. I also find later on, ripped pages scattered about, aah!
I have been sucked in to the Swedish system, I am at the limit now, it's daycare for you in August!!!!!!!
But seriously, it may be on the cards as we have to start some sort of business up soon to make ends meet. We shall see..........
So as the doctor put it, Hz is very 'motoric' and this is way ahead of the language skills. He says quite a few 'words' now, and some signs. He cutely pats his head if he wants to play the chasing game 'duck, duck, goose' that the kids found on the sesame street website. This morning I was woken by: 'Doo Doo (milk) more' in a very insistent voice.
And about the feeding/ sleep thing, which I feel cannot not be disentwined: At about 4 months he was sleeping well at night due to his thumb. The teeth came and I was the dummy. I thought, ok, let's wait until 6 months to do something about this night waking. Then it was wait until 8 months, then 1 year old, and for the last 5 or 6 months at least I have just accepted he won't sleep in a cot and it's going to be when he stops feeding (2 years old, islamically) that there's a chance of unbroken sleep. Of course it's not unbearable tiredness and he doesn't feed so much now, and there are nights where he sleeps through. But it's never the 7am to 7 pm that some children do and the others did (more like 9-7) , well that's according to my memory so this may, and quite likely, is innaccurate. This summer looks like being the end of having a baby in the house, which is, in a way, quite sad.

No excuses now?

Kind DH has got me a new laptop, mashaAllah. So no more waiting for the rest of them to get off the computer. I use the computer nowadays, like probably many others, for so many things: communication, paying bills, finding directions, recipes, even the kid's school has it's menu on their website (although usually not up to date). Nowadays whatever I think of to cook they seem to have had for lunch already.
Anyway, the photo software isn't installed yet so can't put any pictures, but to be honest, I think the snow pictures would be a bit tedious now.
Had a letter home about M's national tests which should start in March. These are not really anything to worry about, just a shame they have to spend so much time on them.
H's handwriting has dramatically improved, mashaAllah, as I could compare his writing in his school diary to this week's.
S's school for next academic year is still in the pipeline, having done a test for the bilingual class last week. The Swedish was pretty hard and the English v easy, so I'm wondering if it would be the right choice (if we get one), and maybe the international school would be more appropriate. Anyhow I hope to meet the teachers to help with the decision.
Biryani is still attending the childminder's and picking up a little Swedish, although as usual the ability to speak English ends up being a hindrance, as the other children like to try out their smattering of it with her. She continues to enjoy spelling and writing. She enthusiastically explained to her father that one of the Peter and Jane books had words (letters) missing so she had filled them in! These were the c level which are for filling in, but she thought they were books with misprints!
Hz, well life is indeed a lot easier now we have the kitchen safety gate, but we are still having difficulty figuring out how to prevent him from turning the computer on and off. Even though we can turn off the power supply from a distant source he has figured this out and now it is only the large cushion from the back of the sofa that stands between him and the red button. The problem is our phone relies on the router being on so to avoid the compter ending up in 'safe mode' from being switched rapidly on and off we end up with no phone line.
The slow journey of finding somewhere larger to live also seems to be getting gridlocked, with increasing restrictions on the number of people allowed to live in the possible flats we could be interested in being introduced.
Anyway! The last few days I've been moving things around the house in the vain hope that it will create more space (of course it doesn't really, unless you get rid of stuff).
And so not much of excitement has happened recently, but we have the half-term coming up, known as 'sportlov' where the children can try out various activities, We have LegoUniverse or is it World, LaserDome, swimming, squash, table tennis and origami mm ('med mera' means 'and more) to look forward to inshaAllah. I just look forward to the disappearance of the early morning rush, and really feel a bit overwhelmed over the amount and scope of things to do!!

We're not quite frogs...

but we can a get a feeling of how this popular character feels about the snow. I am still quite happy for the world around to be white, but from the local media, I sense people are tiring of the flaky white stuff. The children still build snowmen, throw snowballs and toboggan down the slopes, but you can sense the enthusiasm is waning. It will be nice to see some green grass and sense the different light that this produces, as does frog. However I still find white better than the usual grey/ brown of a south Swedish Winter.




and there is some variety, snow with cloud, or as above, snow with sunlight. Hz is a little unsure with his new boots and is actually wearing his gloves (that are normally cast aside). Not surprising as it's about -8C.


and it has also been snow plus wind, so some very deep drifts to, er, jump in. Face down.


and the boys made a large snowman with DH, and snowballed it down afterwards.


And some indoor fun, with clementine peel, DH producing these letters at the request of Biryani. Very Montessori, pat on back DH.

and having been ill, but still unwilling to just mope in bed, I got to work on the colouring pencils. I heard a story about a scholar who didn't like to waste time even when he had guests so would sharpen pencils while listening to them! The urge to draw and colour is always enhanced by freshly sharpened pencils, how frustrating to find the colour you want is blunt. I am now on the hunt for a posh sharpener automatic/ or crank the wheel-type as oh my fingers!

Busy doing I don't know what....

but that's how it is sometimes, and that's when you get more photos than text.

Biryani doing her Matilda impression at the local library, which we frequented more than often this past holiday as we had no internet!


and finally DH came home, after lots of delays due to the snow, so we made some 'Welcome home' decorations.

I'm still baking bread, these looking a bit too rustic but tasted quite nice all the same

S and M started their papier mache, destined inshaAllah to become a money box, well sometime this year I hope...

M, H and Biryani play schools, with of course M as the teacher.


The recent weather has been very cold, often minus 6 or even less, but from these pictures you can probably get the gist of how things are getting ready in the morning, or getting out the car to go home from the childminders. I just do not try to think about onlookers silently 'tsking' or that she'll catch a cold. In fact, like M who rarely gets ill and who also had a thing for going out in the snow with little more than boots on, she has not had one day off sick from the childminder's since she started.


It is COLD! You can almost see the trees shivering..

My Mum's card webshop

My Mum has always enjoyed art and has now got some of her designs available as cards, including Eid and ones left blank for your own message. I have a promo code for the first 5 people who order!:

Get your first card for FREE by using this promo code during checkout: MARY150209

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/judyscardstore

Keep in mind that this offer expires on February 02, 2010 (in 15 days).

Here is her website too, and also her blog which has some useful art tips

we have transport, we have internet..

of a sort. The poor old computer has a suspected virus as well as too much dust in its fans so is not working too well. So I write this in the hope that the virus does not suddenly become deadly.
Here is the recipe for the cocosbullar, the measurements are in volume rather than weight for the most part which could be confusing, but is actually easier once you get used to it:

100g butter or margarine, at room temperature
1 1/2 dl (150 ml) of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar (a few drops of vanilla flavouring I would expect be OK and if you miss it out altogether I expect they would still taste nice)
3 desertspoons of cocoa (maybe a little more,test the mixture is chocolatey enough once all ingredients are mixed)
5 dl (500ml) porridge oats
2-3 desertspoons of cold black coffee
Dessicated coconut for coating.

Mix all the ingredients except the coconut. Form into balls (as in pic here , scroll down a bit) about the size of a large grape or however large you like really.
Then roll them in dessicated cocunut.
Put them in the fridge until needed (usually not for very long, half an hour would be just about manageable before they have to be devoured)

Will this still be Hz's main occuaption in 2010?

I'm talking about his lightning ability to get his hands in everything, mashAllah! I still have the heart-rate raising experience on a daily basis of him about to grab something dangerous and while I´m sorting that out he's already moved on to another item doomed for destruction.
I have purchased a baby gate accompanied by those dubious words 'easy assembly'.
OK could be easy if a) all the parts were included, b)I did not have 2 young ones very curious about this new piece of apparatus, and c) (controversial but true), I was male.

So the kitchen is still accessible, and awaiting a male who can trudge back to the Baby shop to get a gate that functions, and then put the thing up while I escort small children away from the construction zone. I am along way away from Swedish nationality staus, I hate anything involving spanners/ hammers.




The snow has melted, but now it's minus 6, in the daytime. We just popped out to the corner shop for some Jummah goodies and a quick walk, and my hands hurt when I came back.


So also having both cars out of action, and being home a lot, have been doing a bit of baking. First pretzels, which S had read about and wanted to try..

In the bicarb solution which apparently gives them the distinctive taste, well I'm not sure it's my favourite, but maybe it's an aquired taste.

As you can see the we all made their own interpretations of a pretzel shape!

'Shall I help with the baking?'

I've always had an admiration for those who bake bread on a regular basis. It is an aspiration of mine too, but somehow the ensuing mess, and general scarcity of time, outweigh the benefits. However as I was perusing DH's Union magazine (I try to keep up with some Swedish) there was an article about not wasting food, and generally reducing food bills. It said you could save about £800 a year if you made your own bread, £800??? well it could be possible as decent bread is about £2 a loaf and lasts about a day or maybe 2 if they're at school. Now maybe I can keep the baking up I could afford a lap top, and then maybe blog more than twice a month (as seems to be happening nowadays). We'll see...

'Well, I will help, whether you like it or not!'

Well, it turned out pretty bread-like but yet to taste it.

Winter is truly upon us..

The sun just rises as we reach school...


and the snow arrived in time for the holidays! mashaAllah.
I was surprised to read that even the Swedish public transport system has been caught out with the snow, and then the usual moans from commentators that it is Winter after all, what do you expect?!
Warnings today not to drive due to weather conditions, so put a stop to sledging as the nearest, walkable slope is not so great. Neighbours built a small 'hill' out of snow for the kids to have a go on. Also meant I had a go at making roti for MIL as shop for these is also a car journey away.