Last day at barnehage

Today was our last day at barnehage. Rhiannon's class had a going-away ceremony of sorts in the afternoon that I was invited to attend. First they sat in a circle on the floor with Rhiannon sitting on a chair.
Bente, the head teacher for Rhiannon's class, presented her with a book of drawings that her classmates had done especially for her. Bente went through each drawing and the artist explained what they had drawn for Rhiannon.
Then Rhiannon was presented with her "perm" -- the portfolio of all the photos, artwork and memories from her time at barnehage. Since she was 14 months old when she started going here, it is a very thick book full of wonderful memories... so special. Finally Rhiannon got to choose a song to sing and everyone sang together before sitting at the table for snacktime. Rhiannon chose "Tre Sma Griser" (Three Little Pigs) as her song. I had made chocolate dipped strawberries as a treat for everyone in her & Tryfan's classes (as well as extra for the staff) the night before and so everyone enjoyed these after they had finished their snackboxes.
Then I went over to Tryfan's class for a similar ceremony.
The 1 and 2 year olds in Tryfan's class were mostly excited about the strawberries and there was no formality or ceremony in here.. just Hilde the head teacher presenting Tryfan and I with his "perm"
We hung around for long enough to give hugs to everyone that was there and say goodbye. I cried my eyes out at the bigness of the 'end of an era' feeling. This barnehage and the people there have influenced me so much and have been such a big part of my/ our life here in Norway. This was the day I was dreading and I was so relieved to crawl into bed this evening! But actually after we left barnehage we had other things to do before bed -- we handed over the house officially to the new tenants at 4pm, played with Kristoffer from 4-5pm, and then had dinner 5-7pm with our other friends/neighbors Tristan and his parents. What a day! And what an end to April.

Art exhibition

Today the barnehage had an art exhibition displaying the trolls that all the 3-5 year olds made. I wasn't able to attend, but Rhodri did and he took these photos.

Temp flat, closing out

We moved into a temporary flat/ apartment on Sunday and it is right in the center of Asker so it is very convenient to continue our daily lives as almost normal.
On Tuesday the kids and I walked to the chiropractor because Rhiannon was complaining that her back was hurting. Havard fixed her and she was really excited to get a bouncy ball to chase around, plus one for Tryfan also.
While walking back to the car, we went past the train station. Rhiannon was saying "Hey! That's our train!" as she spotted the Flytoget airport train leaving the Asker station in this photo.
Now we are preparing for our last day at barnehage. I've been very sad and emotional this week as we have been closing out our life in Norway :-(

Bye for now, Bentley

Today we moved out of 'our' house. Nothing is packed yet really, so we aren't actually moved out, but we the people are now sleeping in different digs (temp furnished apartment). We also said goodbye to Bentley today as he moved in with our neighbors for the next 6 months!
We didn't actually say goodbye to him though.. we tried to act like he was just going for a walk with this family as he has done many times over the past couple of weeks. I was really sad, though, because Bentley has been such a great companion to me this past year while I've been on a leave of absence from work. Anyway, in case I have forgotten to say why he can't come with us to Gatwick, it is because we forgot to give him his rabies vaccine booster shots (..and why would we because Norway is a rabies-free country!..) so they expired and we had to start from scratch, give the vaccine, wait a month then do the blood test to prove that he doesn't have rabies, and THEN wait 6 months! So on Oct 21 (assuming the test results are ok), Bentley will be able to come live with us in the UK and be a free dog. Until then he is going to be very loved and well looked after by a family that has been wanting to get a dog for years and have been afraid to commit to that responsibility. I think we are going to miss him more than he will miss us! Anyway, bye for now Bents. We love you :-)

Busy times

We've had some busy times lately as we prepare to leave Norway. Of course, the volcanic eruptions in Iceland over the past week have created lots of interesting situations in our periphery. This hasn't affected us too drastically, other than we got to see our long lost friend Rhodri from Edinburgh because he was stranded here in Norway last weekend!
Otherwise we've been just running around busy -- working and organizing and enjoying the variable spring weather.

Bike outing with the twins

Last weekend we went on an expedition with Finn and Magnus and their parents. All the kids brought their bikes and we adults helped them along when they got tired. We went to Fornebu, the peninsula near downtown Oslo where the airport used to be located. Here was the scene as we were setting off...
Here's Rhiannon in a bit of a 'mood' during part of the journey!
Tryfan lost one of the lenses from his sunglasses, but that didn't stop him wearing them!
Throwing rocks into the fjord is always a fun thing to do.
After having a picnic, here are all the troops saddling up for the ride back to the car.
Fairly unsuccessful group photo of the kids.
Big thanks to Fiona for lending her scarf so that we could tow Tryfan (and later Rhiannon also) on the tricycle!

Outside dining with friends

Last Friday afternoon, we were invited to have dinner and play at Sofie and Johanne's house. Sofie is still Rhiannon's best friend and Johanne is still Tryfan's best friend, and we parents are dreading the day that we have to say goodbye to them :-( But we must make the most of these days now... here are the troops eagerly awaiting the pizza that is about to be served.
Group photo before going back home.

Finally melting

We've been having the most lovely weather these past few days!
From 7-14 April, we've had nothing but sunshine and high temps around 13 C/ 55 F. All the snow is finally melting and everyone seems to be rosy-cheeked and smiling! Here is the scene at the barnehage...
Apologies for not updating very much lately. I've been back at work since Easter and we've been busy making preparations for our relocation to England.

3rd Annual Easter Party

We had our 3rd Annual Easter Party on Monday. The weather held (although original forecast was for rain) and we had a good turnout. The party kicked off with an Easter Egg hunt in the backyard which started at 2pm. Lots of the smaller kids (like Tryfan) were grouchy, having just woken from their naps...nothing that a little sugar couldn't fix, though! Here are some of the kids waiting to be let loose to hunt:
Tryfan with his first discovery, preparing to put it in his pocket.
Rhiannon found lots of eggs and had to use her hat to store them in.
Here is our snow couch, which we decorated with leftover egg dye for the festivities. Too bad that by the time people got here, the colors had mostly disappeared from the top surface of snow.
Snow couch in use. We served polser and lomper, brownies and Jello. Yum!
The view from the kitchen past the snow couch and out to the swingset, which was a popular place to play.
Going down the slide of course also fun, but it's way better to sled down it.
More party footage...
Post-party coloring of paper plates while eating chocolate! Good times....
Yeah, so it was a hugely successful party by our standards. We all stayed outside for the entire time, everyone got fed, no fights broke out, nobody was injured, and we saw smiles all around. Thanks everyone for the good party!

Easter Sunday

Hurray for the Easter Bunny! No, actually we didn't even introduce the Easter Bunny - we just hid chocolates in groups of 4 and had picture clues leading to each location for the kids to hunt for on Sunday morning.
It was a gorgeous day on Sunday and so Jen and I sat outside on the snow couch during a tea break.
Kathryn and Rhiannon realized at some point that they both were wearing Hello Kitty undershirts and so started calling themselves the Hello Kitty Girls.
Eating lots of Easter chocolate (or even just a little if one is not used to having chocolate regularly) leads to extra energy that needs to be jumped off!
We had a great Easter Sunday as it turned out, with more playing outside, more playing inside, nice food and great company!

Double the fun

This weekend we've had our long lost friends from England over to visit! Dave and Jen and their two kids, Kathryn (5) and Jonathon (3), came over to visit Norway and us -- just in time before we move. We spent a lot of time playing outside. Here are Tryfan and Jonathon racing up to the top of the slide.
Digging in the snow and transferring loads from the ground to the tractor, while Rhiannon and Kathryn captured water running out the raingutter. Everything is melting but we have so much snow, it is still quite a long way to go!
Rhiannon and Kathryn were fast friends. They spent a lot of time chatting and playing together. Kathryn slept on a foldaway bed in Rhiannon's room and they both were happy to talk and share books until late in the evening when they eventually fell asleep each night.
We went grocery shopping earlier today to stock up on Easter weekend provisions.
At least once a day we had wind-down sessions with apple juice while watching a video or some television.
And of course, Play-doh is always an exciting thing to do!
This evening we talked our guests into babysitting all 4 kids so that Rhodri and I could go out to dinner in Oslo for our anniversary!

Neighboring

Last night our dear friends and neighbors who live across the road invited us all over for dinner. We've been really trying to make the most of our numbered days together and that is so sad to think about. Here is Rhiannon with baby Joakim - he is so cute!
And playing in Kristoffer's room. Tryfan was here playing too, but he always plays by himself with Kristoffer's toys while Rhiannon and Kris prefer to do puzzles and games together.