Saturday, January 28, 2012

Gymnastics requires some mommy skills

Princess has been asking for months to start a gymnastic class.  Well, two weeks ago she started.
We bought her a pink "leotard" with a little skirt on it from H&M. In a class 7-10 years old (she is still six) she certainly turned out to be the only one wearing a childish outfit like that.
She told me it was perfectly fine with a t-shirt and a pair of leggings, but her eyes twinkled when she talked about the big girl leotards.
I checked the prices and the conclusion was simple: No fancy leotard bought for $80-100. But the leotard was still her desire. Suddenly I got an idea; I could make her one! Fancy that!
Off I went to buy some suitable fabric and accessories. The sewing pattern was going to be the childish leotard we already had.
I quickly figured I had enough fabric for two different kinds of leotards, so I dove in headfirst, cut the fabric and sew it all together.
Both of them ended up a little bit big, but better big than little.

Now Princess is looking forward to her next lesson! Unfortunately I can't go with her and take her pictures, I have to work instead...
But here are some pics from tonight:




Thursday, January 26, 2012

Hi! I'm still alive!

I haven't been writing much lately. There is a lot going on in my life and it just does not make me feel like writing.
I have no pictures from any occasion except from a few from work.
I'm usually quite active online, writing on a board or on Facebook. But I haven't felt like doing it much for a while.
The good thing is: Instead of surfing online I've been knitting, and trying to finish some of all the thousands of knitting projects I once started. Eventually I put the finishing touches on Princess' dress.
Unfortunately I got this bad idea of putting it in the washer. I should have known better!
Out of the washer came a tiny, felted doll dress, nice and warm.

Well I put it in a sink, added some conditioner, swished the dress in the water and hoping for the fibers to soften and relax. I stretched and reshaped it the best I could. The result isn't as bad as it could have been, but it's still not what I expected the dress to be. More of a tunic somehow.
I'll try to remember a picture one day.

A storm is rushing by. It's rumbling and howling around the house corners. It's all icy outside. The ski tracks are hard and there is nothing to do out there.
And in this funny weather I'll have my much-needed day off from work tomorrow. That wouldn't be a big deal to me if it was only me having a day off. But nope - both school and ASP have their planning day tomorrow. I hope the weather will be better by the morning, because we have to go out there doing something but staring at the wall.




Sunday, January 8, 2012

Downhill skiing

We crossed the boarder to our neighbor country Sweden today. Of course this wasn't for crossing the boarder itself, but for skiing. Yes we go to Sweden because the lift tickets are a lot less expensive there.
The kids have been asking for this a long time, so this morning we finally met their wish and loaded the car. Our car isn't that little, but with 5 pairs of downhill ski boots, four pairs of poles, five helmets, five pairs of ski goggles, three back protectors (shame on the parents), 5 pairs of winter pants, five warm jackets, tons of gloves and mittens, some food and a reindeer skin to sit on, the trunk was brimming.
At last we were all set and headed for abroad :)

Tickets bought, ready to go!

No fear! I'm so impressed to see how well the kids handle their skis, the snow, the hills, the lift and everything. And their skiing looks quite good too ;-)
The boys are 9 years old. They wanted to go everywhere all by themselves. I didn't feel free to do so, but they love jumps and stuff that I pass over. So my attempts to keep them close to me or their dad all the time partly backfired. We had to let them feel a bit free.
The result was they were so happy about it that they kept waiting for us at the top or the bottom of the hills fairly often.
I rode with our 6 year old and she's fast, but yet not as fast as the the boys.
But it's so funny to see how much she loves this! 
At the lift she looks at me, we lock eyes and in an eager voice she says: "I wanna ride until tomorrow morning!"
Well I have to admit I'm glad they close at night because riding with my 6 year old on the T-bar surface lift is some challenge to my thigh muscles...

If there only were some chairlifts!




Family on ice

The boys were invited to a birthday party today. There wasn't much time to do anything before they had to leave, so we decided to go to the ice rink for the very first time this season. It hasn't really been cold enough for the ice to last over there. But now it is! I was a bit worried the skates wouldn't fit the fast growing feet of my kids, but it turned out to be a happy ending. No new skates needed this winter.

Off we went, and despite the thin layer of snow on the ice, we had fun. Our skills hasn't been in use for some months, and we could tell, but after a while we all felt better.

Sister met a friend on the ice rink too, and that was a lot funnier than being chased by her brothers.



Friday, January 6, 2012

Accumulation of financial assets in accordance with the extraordinary efforts to the company, The Family LLC

There are 5 employees all hired, more or less willingly, to provide labor to The Family LLC.
No one receives salary but can accumulate financial compensation for individual services and extraordinary efforts.

This means the three younger employees now have a form on the inside of a kitchen cabinet door, where they check mark each time they've performed a specified task. Each of the tasks has a value, and every now and then they receive their payment in cash.

Do you have any idea of what such a system can cause?

Well, the younger employees have daily fights about who's going to set the table, who's shoveling the snow, who's walking the dog (oh, no we don't have a dog!), who's bringing the laundry to the launrdy room etc.
In other words: A great system!

Late night skiing

I was out there in winter wonderland skiing tonight.
The calm feeling of being the only person in the world was so good where I was skiing between the snow-laden trees in the woods where there barely were ski tracks at all. The powdery snow causes such a good silence and I was hoping to see a hare or a fox, or maybe a moose staring at me from between the trees. That, of course, didn't happen. If they were still awake, they probably were all far gone due to my headlamp.


If this wonderland lasts, I'll bring my camera tomorrow. I have to show you all how stunningly beautiful this is.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

As you all probably know

We went skiing several times last year. Doesn't that sound like it's ages ago?
Well, our last trip was four days ago.
Here are some photos from a couple of the days.






Inspiria Science Center

In Sarpsborg there is a scientific recreation and learning centre of technology, natural sciences and mathematics.
We were lucky to have tickets for this center for Christmas! 
In the science center we were encouraged to learn by experimenting and exploring the interactive exhibits. It was great fun for the whole family.


Here are some photos.
As I said: Fun for everyone



A radio recording :)

Two sisters having fun in front of the heat-seeking camera 
On a windy day



Doing the weather forecast on television. Photo taken of the TV screen.





Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy new year!



I wish you all the best for the new year! Greetings to everyone!



And of course there will be some photos from our latest XCskiings - but not now. That'll be later :)