Pirate in the house

For the past six months or so, we've been talking to Niklas about giving his pacifier to "Kaptein Sabeltann" (a very popular character among kids in Norway; similar to "Captian Hook"). Though he's only used it in the car and to fall asleep, it was still very important to him. So at the end of July, we set course for "Dyreparken in Kristiansand", an amusement park and zoo all in one. Kristiansand is located in the southern most part of Norway, about a 3 1/2 hour drive from our home. At "Dyreparken" they have many different areas and one of them is Kaptain Sabeltann's domain. They have a tower with treasure chests overflowing with pacifiers - it's quite the sight! As Niklas climbed the stairs as so many Norwegian kids have done before him, it was quite sentimental (at least for Marit and I!). He starred for a few moments in awe of all the pacifiers in the chests, with his own collection of pacifiers in a Ziploc bag. Except for the one he had in his mouth. (He'd asked to have it all day, almost as if he knew it was his last moments with it.) He then proceeded to throw his own bag in with the others and stood there for a while. Marit reminded him of the one he had in his mouth, and he took it out and threw it in with the others. It was hard for him to do, we could tell. But he never complained or backed down from his decision. As we walked down the stairs, Marit had to put on her sunglasses to hide a few tears. I tell you, it was hard to see your son give up his most cherished possession (well, other than his blanket)! But my, we were so proud of him!! As we got back to the stroller w/Emma, Niklas got a pirate costume, complete with sword and all. We included a card from "Kaptein Sabletann", telling him he'd now become a real pirate! Pictures to follow:

Congratulations, Lynette and Bob!

Just wanted to say a big congratulations and welcome to the world, little Rayne Christian. My sister and her husband had their second beautiful baby boy in the end of June (26th to be exact).

17th of May

So, in the spirit of catching up, here's a few pictures from our [unseaonably cold, windy & rainy] 17th of May celebration:

Good times

Shortly after we arrived home from Florida, we had another birthday party for Niklas. (We had to do our annual, chaotic, "have all of Niklas' little friends over as well as ours", birthday bash.) Much fun was had by all. And as a HUGE added bonus, a dear old friend from our time at Newbold came on a surprise visit.
Much to Bryan's luck, his arrival coincided with Niklas' birthday bash. Lots of small [loud] kids running around and a house full of our Norwegian friends seems to be the perfect remedy for jet lag. After all, he'd only travelled from Indonesia. And what a great energy boost for his job interview the following day! (We are happy to report that he of course was indeed offered the job.)
Kidding aside, we had a great couple of days together and simply loved getting to spend time with our dear old friend again. We hope it won't be another 3-4 years until next time! (It better not be, Bryan!) And next time, we want to see Catherine and your two adorable boys, too!

Opening presents with aunt Line

Emma with Annette

Birthday cake

Pals

Trying out some of his gifts

With Bryan

Sweetness

Good times!

Catching up - Part 1

I can't believe how long it's been since we last posted anything. Things have been really busy around here, and unfortunately computer time has been rather non-existent lately. We promise we'll do better.

Our trip to the States was wonderful, and we enjoyed every minute of it. A few pictures to follow, and for a gazillion more, click here.

At a beautiful, local park in Florida

Water fun at Daytona Beach

We got to celebrate Niklas' 3rd birthday with Grandma and Grandpa

Two cool dudes at the beach (Niklas and cousin Nikolai)

Emma and daddy

At Disneyworld (Niklas and Emma's 2nd time, already. At this rate, they'll know the park like the back of their hand in no time!)

Mickey Mouse is a favourite in our house

Small, funny things...

...that Niklas has said or done lately:

• Sneeks up on you while he's walking backwards (thinking he cannot be seen) and then turning around and saying "BOO!"
• Says "I don't love that so much" ("Jeg elsker ikke det så mye") when there is something he is not too keen on eating
• When trying to get Niklas to eat just a little bit more, we sometimes say "3 more bites ok?". He'll often respond very seriously: "Ok, but not 1, not 2 and not 5!"
• When asked which icecream he would like in the store the other day, he simply concluded "I love ALL of them!"

Another in the oven!

We are thrilled to let you know that we are expecting another little one. Wow, we will soon be a family of five! Many of you are probably thinking we must be crazy (and the thought has crossed our minds), but for some reason it just feels like it was meant to be (another piece of the puzzle).

Here is a sneak peak at our little banana from a few weeks back: (click on the picture to see it larger)

Coming to America

It's finally time for our next trip to the States to visit Grandma and Grandpa! We'll be staying in Florida (just outside Orlando) for just under 4 weeks (between March 25 and April 19).

We cannot wait to have Niklas and Emma meet Grandma and Grandpa again and also have a few weeks together as a family to relax and recharge our batteries. If any of you happen to be anywhere close to where we are, let us know. We would love to see you!

Niklas, the Lion

A while back, Niklas' school had a carneval day. He chose (he really did choose himself!) to go as a lion and here's what he looked like:

They had lots of fun, including a parade around inside the school, face painting, and a "disco" (LOL - I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall). Funny story; after looking forward to the carneval and getting to wear his lion suit for days, he of course didn't want to put it on the morning of the carneval (we kind of expected that one). So we put it in his back pack, thinking he'd want it on eventually. Not even 10 minutes after leaving him there, a picture of Niklas in his suit, complete with face paint and all, ticked in on Roland's cell phone!

Catching up...

In the spirit of catching up, here's finally pictures from Emma's first birthday. There are too many to post them all here, but if you would like to see more, click on the picture of Emma below.

Emma's first birthday!

Not quite Picasso...

...but in our eyes, pretty close!
















Niklas has always liked drawing and painting, but today was special. He drew his first composition, at least the first that we could decipher. And he did it all on his own, with no interference from us. OK, so he left out the body (the straight lines just below the mouth are legs), but that's not so significant. Maybe one day this piece will be worth $$$$ so get your copy now!

First Marriott Hotel for Norway

I am working on a hotel project that will front the runway at Oslo's Gardermoen airport. It will be the first Marriott hotel in Norway, which is exciting! When all is said and done it will be about 23,000 m2 with almost 300 rooms. I will keep you updated as it proceeds, but for now I thought you might like to see some preliminary pictures.

Let me know what you think...

First snowfall

On Sunday, we finally got our first real snowfall this winter! Of course, Niklas and Emma had to go out and enjoy it. While it was Emma's first time actually playing in snow, Niklas acted like it was an old friend. Lots of fun was had by all! (Well, ok, I was shoveling the driveway, as well. Not so much fun!) It was a good thing, too, because the next day the weather warmed up and it started raining. Pictures below!

Our little snow angels

Building a snowman in the back yard

Emma's sporting her brother's old snowsuit

Who is that?

Niklas sure does love his little sister

Never thought a fork could be so much fun

Emma has obviously been taking notes. Yesterday evening we were sitting at the dinner table eating and wouldn't you know it, Emma just started eating with her fork. She would take great care in using the fork to get the food to her mouth. First stabbing the food and then after a few tries getting it to stick, to then have it fall off half way to her mouth. She then proceeded to start the process all over again. What joy it was to see her accomplish this small task that we all take for granted.

Food in question (pancakes on the menu)

trying

trying again

success!

It's Christmas time

Marit and I have been knocked out by a stomach flu for a few days, so our activity level has been kept to a minimum around here. Luckily (and amazingly!), Niklas and Emma have steered clear from catching it (so far..). It's been no fun, I tell you, but thankfully we're more or less back to normal now!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season and that you had a lovely Christmas! We had a great time getting together with Marit's family in Oslo where we (14 in total, this year) celebrated Christmas Eve. Niklas was a little trooper staying up until midnight (when the last gifts were opened). We loved the gifts and holiday greetings we have received from you all (especially "Made with Love by Grandma"!). Both Niklas and Emma will get great use out of everything. Here are a few pics from our holiday:

Niklas discovers his Santa sock in bed

View from our backyard
(A crisp, white day - just a thin layer of snow/frost and a few degrees below freezing)

"It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...."

With Momo and aunt Line

Niklas' first skis (from Momo)

Santa payed us a visit

On Santa's (or uncle Stig's?) lap

Knitted by Grandma with love

One Year Today

I can't believe it's been a year since Emma was born! Yet at the same time it feels like we've known her forever. It's impossible to even begin to explain how much wonder and joy our little princess brings into our lives.

One year ago today, Roland and I got to hold our baby girl in our arms and kiss her for the first time. We'd been double-blessed. First Niklas, now Emma. It was the most special Christmas gift of all. We brought her home on the day of Christmas Eve, and I'll never forget how amazing that was.

Thank you so much for all your wonderful birthday wishes and presents!

We love you so much, our sweet, precious, Emma-Bemma!
Happy 1st Birthday!!

Of course, we had to put the flag up today

Pepperkaker

Ok, since we're catching up, here's what we did the second Sunday in December:

The end result:

24 days till Christmas...

OK, so we're backtracking a bit. But you see, Niklas got his first advent calender this year. (Well, he's actually got two, since Momo (Grandma) gave him one, too. It's a paper one, with pictures to open and showing scenes of life in a castle from old times.) Every kid in Norway has an advent calendar, and if you've got the time (or not?) you can do a home made one. So, that's what Niklas got. 24 presents (phew!) later, and he was introduced to the tradition.
It's hilarious to watch him all droopy eyed in bed and reluctant to get up in the morning. With a slight mention of the calender - voila!! - he's up and sporting a huge smile, too!
As an added benefit, he's really learning a lot from having a calender. (No, really, he is!) Though he's been counting to 15 for a long time, he's learning about the higher numbers. Many mornings, the first words uttered out of his mouth are: 19 today!!! (Obviously, a different number each day.) Also, the calendar is helping him learn more about Christmas (in a strictly numbers and significant dates kind of way). Finally, there's the lesson of patience, for obvious reasons.
Just one thing, please remind me next year to start shopping for the 24 calendar presents in October, OK? Especially since next year it'll be 48 - with Emma's, too!

Checking the calender out on the first day of December

This picture I just had to add because I thought it was a great shot of my two handsome boys :-)

Scary?

Michael Moore's most recent movie "Sicko" has caused quite the stir, huh? No matter what you think of him as a filmmaker, you may find this clip of his trip to Norway interesting. It was originally shot for "Sicko" but left out of the movie. (Keep in mind that he lays it on thick and that the clip doesn't necessarily give an exact rendition of Norway!) If you have a couple of minutes to spare, take a look!

Where do people get the time...HoHoHo!!!

The Christmas season (from what I remember) was all about relaxing, eating good food and visiting family and friends. WHAT HAPPENED?? I mean, don't get me wrong - it still is all about those wonderful things (even more so now with kids of our own) - but it sure is hectic!! Our parents made it seem so effortless when we were kids. Who knew they were so busy in the midst of all the holiday cheers?? Many heartfelt thanks to all the parents out there who put in so much time and effort when we were kids, to make Christmas such a special time!

All we need in Norway now is some snow...."Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!"