Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

I've had a day off today!
Halloween in Norway isn't as Halloween in the US. Most people here aren't very happy about all the kids begging for candies.
We used to be like that our selves!
But this year we invited 6 girls and 5 boys over for a Halloween party.
We started decorating the house on Friday. But Saturday morning we left for a scout trip (I'll tell you about that part later) and then, Sunday right after we came home our girlie and her choir had a concert. (That's going to be a blog post too.)
So I spent the whole day picking up the house, doing the laundry and cooking for these 14 kids - a girl party and a boy party.
On the menu:

Starter: Candy...
Main dish: Mummies
Drink: Dragon snot and Witch blood

Dessert: Spiders, ghosts, soil and worms, fingers (still warm) and more candy.

Spiderweb was everywhere inside the house and also on the porch. Bats, cats and spiders were our best friends tonight.

We all had a great time!



Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Happy birthday, hubby!

This afternoon I was teaching until 4.30 pm. That means hubby picked up our youngest and her little friend from the after-school-program.

When I came home I seized the kids, pulled them into our bedroom, showed them the presents I just bought for their dad and shoved them out of the room again.
The boys got changed for soccer practice and they all left the house only minutes after I came home.

The kids and I had planned the menu for the celebration, and our daughter and I started wrapping gifts and cooking once the boys were out of sight.

Well, everyone who knows me just a little bit, know I only do basic cooking, as do my kids :)
They ordered tacos with ice-cream for dessert. Thank God for understanding kids!
So the two of us did the frying and the chopping, set the table and lit the candles (only two).

Once she heard the key in the lock our daughter leap off her chair in excitement. As soon as they were all back in the living room, the "happy birthday" song echoed off the walls.

It's just amazing to see how excited the little ones can be about a birthday!

We ate enjoyed dinner and dessert before dad ran off to his job dinner...

Happy birthday, hubby! I just can't recall if there was time to say that before you left ;-)




Saturday, October 22, 2011

Today we haven't been to far from home, but most of the area I haven't seen until today. There were tons of grey alder. I think I haven't seen that many in one place before.

Here is a picture of some of the cones we found.
The kids are checking out the view at what they call the meeting point.


Thursday, October 13, 2011

More hiking

Trying out new places dashing around in the beautifully colored nature is actually a good treat for body and soul.
Here are some photos from our last trips.
Three different hikes:
To the top of Geitfjellet  - a nice little mountain for a view of the city.





Around Stavsjøen (a lake)




In the area of Saksvikvollen.


Splashy wet hikes but good anyway! Did you see the rainbow, by the way?


Sunday, October 2, 2011

Canoeing? No. Camping? No. Hiking? Yes!

It is true! The soccer game wasn't until 5 pm, and we had time to go hiking this morning.
The morning was sunny and deciding to go hiking wasn't hard.
This time we mostly stuck to the trail and that wasn't half as wet as last time when we walked through the marsh.

It was a great hike. It was a bit cold but good though. I'm so pleased that we finally had time for a hike. Will there be canoeing and camping next time?







Saturday, October 1, 2011

I can't help it

I'm longing for canoeing, camping, hiking and just a whole lot more of the outdoor life for the party of five.
But either hubby is traveling abroad or we have to spend the entire weekends on the soccer field waiting for another opportunity for my two boys to show off. No time for stellar nights stargazing, no time for harmonic dipping of paddles in calm water at dawn.
I just love this time of the year. The beautifully colored foliage and even the moss changing color into the variety of fall. The cold nights and the sharp mornings... Oh, how I long for it all!
But for now: Back to reality and soccer fields...


Beads on a string

Well, that's probably where they should have been at least.
Last weekend I was walking around the house barefoot like I usually do. Everywhere I go I have the feeling of walking on the sandy blacktop at school. But this isn't sand nor blacktop. It is my adorable pink little princess creatively making necklaces and bracelets in my house. She has these tiniest little beads and not only a few, but thousands and thousands of them. Okey, that isn't true any more, but it used to be true a week ago. But constantly having them under your feet makes you feel like they are penetrating your feet.
No beads on the string, all beads on the floor.
I thought the living room was bad. Then I saw her room... There were beads all over the place. I wisely found the vacuum cleaner and once I turned it on, this funny sound of rattling and jangling started, and it just didn't end! It was like vacuuming on the beach. Amazing!

The lesson to be learned is: Buy bigger beads.

Note to self: Put your socks on.

Why don't we just go outside find some berries and thread them onto straws?