Goodbye February

I cant believe that February is over! I am going back to work full-time starting tomorrow. Mixed feelings, of course. In a way it will be easier because we can all leave the house together in the morning. In this scenario, Rhodri goes to fetch the car and drives up to the front of the house from its parking spot 200 feet away. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but when One is alone to get out of the house and there is a slight downhill which is slippery and One is carrying a squirming Minx while at the same time also carrying a backpack with work computer etc in it AND a handbag with the Minx's food and extra clothes for the day, THEN has to clear some of the snow off of the car before putting the Minx and Stuff into it... you get the picture. Waaay easier when Husband goes to get the car warmed up, free of snow, and delivered to the doorstep and we both carry all the Stuff + the Minx to the car!
Here is the Minx and Rhodri sharing a blueberry shake. Can you tell she liked it? The background is the view out our living room windows - you can even make out the local ski slope here in Asker which is lit up to the right above Rhiannon's head. The slopes are only open at night 4-10pm and on the weekends all day.

Our car, at last

Finally 3 months after the rest of our stuff arrived, we are reunited with 'Max' our car! He has a really cute Norwegian license plate now and we think he is enjoying all this snow.
Its been snowing non-stop for about a week now! We went cross-country skiing on Saturday and then Sunday we mostly stayed around home but went for a really nice walk through some fields by our house. Here is Bentley running superfast through deep snow.I also made a new movie of Bentley the Musher which I will put in the place of the previous movie with that post title.

Battle scars

Can you see the two crescent moons on Rhiannon's upper cheek? And if you look closely you can also see a lip-colored scratch just above her lip by her middle finger. These are her battle scars from her first full week at the barnehage.
So sad! The scratch above her lip is a mystery - probably the work of a zipper or a fingernail - but the crescent moons are clearly bite marks! A little boy (a known biter) did the deed unprovoked on Friday. Yes there were a lot of tears from our little Minx and I never found out exactly what happened to the little biter boy. Its probably not the last time that something like this happens, so her Daddy is already teaching her self-defense tactics. She seems to enjoy head-butting...

Second day at barnehage

Friday was Rhiannon's second day at barnehage but her first day without me there. I wasn't too worried since Thursday she ignored me the whole time. However, Friday was Carnival Day so all the kids were dressed up in costumes.
There were a whole lot of princesses and fairies! But there were also pirates, dragons, puppies and Winnie-the-Pooh characters. Our little Minx came in the only near-costume we had so she was a little cow. So cute! I really wish I had the camera with me when Rhodri and I dropped her off in the morning. We went into the 1-2 year old room and all the other kids swarmed around her, touching her hair and patting her back. She is quite a bit smaller than everyone else and it was just too cute. I think she was overwhelmed at first but then she enjoyed all the attention. Her second day was quite a long one since we didnt pick her up until 4:30pm (dropped her off at 9:30am) but the reports were that she was happy all day.

First day at barnehage

Today was Rhiannon's first day at the barnehage (pronounced "barnuh-hogguh", basically a nursery school that is for kids 1-5 years old). I was a bit worried that she would be overwhelmed and clingy but not this gal! She wanted to get down and walk around as soon as we got in the door, and she made her way down the corridor smiling her brilliant little smile at anyone who would look her way. Here she is ready for the big day...When we walked into the 1-2 year olds room, most of the kids had just diapers on and nothing else! It turns out that today was 'bath day' where the kids go play in a plastic pool 3 at a time. This happens once a month or so. Rhiannon opted out of the bath fun, but she settled right into playing with the other kids. There are 6 other 1-year-olds, but Rhiannon is the youngest.
Here she is in action! At lunchtime, everyone sat around the table and the Lunch Lady brought in a tray of open-faced sandwiches. Then before eating, everyone sang a song which turned out to translate to "thanks to the cows for giving us milk to drink" and then clapped and lunged for the goods!

Bentley the Musher

Here is Bentley pulling me through the snow (mushing) -- not the best quality video so hopefully we will get another chance to do this again soon! Also this was towards the end of the day so he isn't running as crazily as he was a bit earlier.

Naptime practice

Rhiannon is going to start at the barnehage this week. When its naptime at the barnehage, all the kids are put in their prams (which are parked outside) and snuggle inside their sleeping bags in the fresh air. Since our stroller doesnt recline all the way, we had to get a new stroller that does. Fortunately one of our neighbors lent us hers for as long as we need so we dont have to buy one! However, we did need to practice getting Rhiannon to sleep in it, so we strolled around the fjord with Bentley diving in the icy water to chase ducks. That was on Saturday. On Sunday we went cross country skiing and even Bentley got to join the fun! I will post a video of us 'mushing' soon.

Friday fun and a brush with royalty

Today Rhiannon's dagmamma had the day off so that meant that I got the day off as well! We had some friends over for a "coffee morning" and it was so nice to play around the house with the kids. Here Rhiannon is about to pounce on poor Oliver, who is NOT impressed!

We also found out this week that the playgroup that we go to sometimes on Tuesday mornings at the barnehage next door to our house is the same one that the Norwegian Prince's son goes to! Apparently he was there last Tuesday when we were but I didn't recognize him and I didn't know to expect him at that point. I think its so great that the Norwegian royalty are out sharing toys and singing children's songs with commoners. Of course, it was the Nanny that took little Magnus to the playgroup rather than the Prince or Princess, but there you go.

struggling with a boot

Rhiannon loves her purple velcro boots! She loves having her foot go into them and she loves opening and closing the velcro. It doesnt go so well when she tries to do it on her own...

Last weekend downtown Oslo

I meant to post these pictures right away... last Saturday was gorgeous and sunny and not terribly cold so we met our friends Henry and Elianne and their two kids down at Vigeland Sculpture park. Although Bentley is on a leash here, he spent most of the day scampering around the sculptures and snow with all the other dogs that were off leash.

Miracle of miracles!

This is the view from the little playground behind our house! That is Oslo fjord in the background through the winter trees. It is such a gorgeous place to be at sunrise, which usually seems to coincide with Rhiannon's morning nap and my opportunity to take Bentley out for his morning constitutional and a bit of a scamper! Of course, none of this has anything to do with my subject about miracles... I just wanted to share this beautiful view that I enjoy every morning.

The miracle news is that a place for Rhiannon opened up at the barnehage right by our office in Asker! She can start immediately (although we have opted to wait until Feb 15th) and it is all because one of the other Schlumberger families decided to have their child be at home instead of in nursery school. Hurray!!! It is almost too good to be true. I have been stressing and worrying about this for MONTHS, especially because I am expected to go back to work fulltime on April 1st and it would have been such a nightmare to drive back and forth to Sandvika twice a day during traffic times. I had been really discouraged because the whole process to get into a barnehage is strange and convoluted and the waiting lists are really long...everyone I talked to had a different thing to say. Terrible. But now because of this family that pulled out, the Schlumberger-allocated slot went to someone of Schlumberger's choosing! And because I have been SUCH a squeaky wheel to the poor ladies in the Personnel Dept, there was no question that we were the ones for the slot. I feel like a 100 lb burden has just been lifted off my shoulders :-)