Gangnam crazy

These kids are crazed by this Gangnam Style song..

Cousins reunited

Nia, Cris, Gabs and Valentin arrived on Saturday afternoon and we had a very happy reunion! There was a lot of running up and down the stairs, excited jumping, wild screeching, parental warnings and then finally some chillout time in front of the telly...

On Sunday we finally got out of the house just after lunch, and we went for a circular walk from Gills Lap to the North Pole (Pooh territory) and then around the top of the forest back to the car. It was a muddy ole walk but we took our time.

The three amigos, putting the world to right

 After we returned and settled back in with cups of tea and mince pies all around, the Papas and the kids continued building their own Lego creations.

A few days ago (or maybe more like a week ago), we finished the gingerbread tipi village. Grandma Debi had cooked and decorated the tall tipis when she was here, then Rhiannon and I went crazy with the smaller versions and the reindeer. I *love* gingerbread

 Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and we are all gearing up for a party at the village hall!

Post Christmas

We had a low energy day yesterday, and today was much the same except that Rhiannon felt 100% better and Tryfan had a turn curled up on the couch. We did manage to go for a walk but it was one of those walks that required a lot of bribes to keep going. In fact it was a very short walk that just barely qualified as a walk. But it was better than nothing and Bentley sure appreciated it.

When we got back home, Tryfan sloped off to the couch and we watched films on telly for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Happy Christmas

We had a restless night listening for reindeer hooves on the roof. Actually, it did sound like hooves for a bit but it was just pouring rain. (Again.) During the early hours, Rhiannon came into our bed complaining that she didn't feel well. And as the morning started, with her and Tryfan early to go downstairs and check that Santa had actually come, she did spiral downhill until she was horizontal on the couch, in and out of sleep all day. So it was pretty late in the day (relatively speaking) before we opened the presents.

Wearing our gorgeous handmade hats from Monica in Asker

The kids were delighted to see that most of the stuff they left out had been consumed, except for the yellow sweets (because all elves know not to eat yellow snow or sweets that look like they have snow/ sugar on them). And Santa did bring them what they most wished for: an Innotab2 (kid version of a ipad) for Rhiannon and the Great Devourer Ninjago Lego set for Tryfan. Stoked! We all received really wonderful presents. 

Today was a lovely day with just the 5 of us. We did have a traditional Christmas lunch and it was fun to cook together on our own time, then spent the rest of the day and night playing with our new stuff.

Santa goodies

Here is the video of the troops explaining the goodies they have set out for Santa and the elves...

The night before Christmas..

.. and the children are busy leaving gifts for Santa, the reindeer, the elves and Mrs Santa. They know that she is busy holding down the fort up north and preparing a wonderful breakfast feast for the big guy when he finishes his long night. Bless them, they are so thoughtful. They counted out 4 carrots and figured the 8 reindeer could share evenly, and they left out red, yellow, and rainbow colored sweets for the elves as well as a mince pie and milk for Santa.

Laying out the treats for Santa and his gang, while Tryfan adds his name to the letter Rhiannon wrote

The original card that Rhiannon wrote on got messed up because she wanted to use fancy watercolor pencils and the water blurred the words together. So she asked for a wintery card and wrote something inside that instead. Her message was, "Dear Santa, well done for all of your hard work. To the elfs, congratulations you have all worked really hard this year. You guys are great. You too, Mrs Santa. Love from Rhiannon and Tryfan Lewis"

Rhiannon's best fancy writing on the outside of the envelope

I have a little video of them explaining what is on the plate left out for Santa, the reindeer and the elves but can't upload it now for some reason. I'll try later...

Christmas preparations

We've been busy making Christmas Crackers, decorating the house to be more festive, and putting together presents for our friends and each other. We haven't done anything too crazy or creative, but its just been a lovely stretch of days and nights

Rhodri with his carefully colored Christmas Cracker

Rhiannon got some Sylvanian families figures for her birthday and has built a home for them in these shoeboxes

 We also watched Elf two nights in a row - Saturday night with just us and then also tonight when Bruno, Cat and Lee came over and they had never seen it before. I love Elf and I just don't get sick of it!

Busy week with Grandma

We've had a really busy week and it has been so nice to have Mom/ Grandma Debi here to support us. Besides school, work and lots of last minute orders for Nordic Life to deal with, we've also had social nights out for both Rhodri and I as well as a night out together. It hasn't been too exciting for Grandma - she's done a lot of reading and relaxing by the fire during the main part of the days - but it has been lovely just to have her around.

School finished for the term at 1:30pm yesterday and we all went to see Rise of the Guardians in the cinema at 3pm and then out to dinner afterwards, courtesy of Grandma Debi. This morning (when the world didn't come to an end as predicted by the media) Grandma Debi came into Gatwick with me and took the bus to Heathrow to catch her flight to Washington DC to visit Will, Rebecca and Phoebe for Christmas. It was sad to say goodbye but it has been a really great visit and we hope she comes again soon!

Messages from the North Pole

I received a couple of emails the other day from Santa Claus, who had sent video messages to both Tryfan and Rhiannon. I don't know if this link will work..
http://www.portablenorthpole.com/watch/mL5iVyJHiYzZqYWjyzqPhLw
Rhodri filmed them from this angle as they were watching their video messages, and here are the moments that Tryfan found out he was on the Good List:

 

  

 It's pretty awesome that Santa takes the time to send personal messages to all the kids in the world. Watching them watch these videos made Rhodri and I a little teary...

New baby cousins!

Last week Rhiannon and Tryfan got a first baby cousin on the Gans side of life...

Here is Phoebe Evelyn Wai Yun Gans, weighing in at 6 lbs, 15.1 oz. She was born December 5th in Washington DC to my brother Will and his lovely wife Rebecca. We are so excited she is finally here!

About a week previous to Phoebe's arrival, we got a new baby boy cousin on the Lewis side -- named Brython Trystan -- who was born November 27th in Llandudno, Wales. We are excited to meet him sometime too.

Rhiannon's Birthday Party

We had 10 kids over this afternoon + Rhiannon and Tryfan for the birthday bash. The [loose] plan was for everyone to come for what has become a standard Lewis household birthday party: first a settling-in activity, then some dancing, musical statues/ musical bumps, then some food, then more games or activities and finally some cake.

The semi-finalists mid move

 We made Christmas Crackers and everyone did some excellent coloring around the table

Freya, Sophie, David, Stanley, Sam, Jed, Rhiannon and Tryfan

Tryfan, Agnes, Charlie, Max, and Iris

 Grandma Debi made the delicious 2-layer cake with Hello Kitty riding on a dolphin over the waves

The party ended at 6:15pm and then we walked over to the village hall for the annual Tree Lighting ceremony. We were a bit late so missed the actual tree lighting but we did get to sing some carols in a packed room with most of the village present. All the kids from the school sang a few songs for everyone, which was wonderful and heartwarming. For some reason known only to himself, our friend and neighbor Ollie was stood in the front and center of the school group singing with his fist raised in front of him as though he was leading the pack somewhere. Bizarre, but very entertaining for us parents especially as his mother was standing next to us!

Raggedy King video

Here is a little video of the finale

The Raggedy King

Yesterday and today were the kids' school performances of the Christmas Nativity play "The Raggedy King". Rhodri went to the Monday performance and my Mom and I went to the Tuesday performance. Rhiannon was in the role of Mary and Tryfan was a camel.

Rhiannon, a donkey, Tryfan and Oscar as camels sitting in front of the angels and stars

I think originally Rhiannon wanted to be Mary because she didn't want to have any lines, but when the performance came she was a bit grumpy that she didn't get to do any dancing or talking.

Center stage with about half of the cast

Joseph smothering a baby Jesus while Mary rocks an imaginary one

Post-performance sibling pose for the camera

The whole thing was ridiculously adorable and heartwarming, and it brought tears to my eyes - all the gorgeous children trying so hard to remember the dance moves and words to the songs, with their missing teeth and carefully fitted costumes. Rhiannon managed to maintain a pretty sour expression throughout the whole play, but as someone pointed out, Mary had only just given birth so shouldn't be expected to be in the best of spirits!

Grandpa Carl would have been laughing so much at Rhiannon's facial expression.. I'm sure he was looking down from heaven and laughing to himself. Just thinking of him laughing at her expression brings a smile to my face (as well as tears to my eyes).

Rhiannon turns 7

Today is our big girl's birthday and it's hard to believe that she is 7 years old already! And so, at this ripe old age, Rhiannon...

• is thoughtful and empathic towards others
• has nurturing tendencies, especially towards babies and anyone younger than her
• loves to do art
• is a really good dancer
• is able to read just about anything, and seems to really love reading
• makes a mean guacamole
• still enjoys playing with her babies and little animals (Sylvanian families)
• is very resourceful and solution-oriented
• is normally very happy and sociable but at the same time fully capable of scowling in the most miserable way
• loves to play and wrestle with her brother
• works really hard in school
• is getting better at brushing her hair everyday
• is beautiful inside and out

A very welcome visitor

This evening my Mom (aka Grandma Debi) arrived for the start of a 12 day visit. It was so wonderful to have her finally get here! Of course, she was quickly roped into reading stories as well as being read to by the excited grandchildren.

Superheroes

Today Rhiannon and Tryfan were both invited to Oscar's birthday party over in the village hall. Everyone was invited to come dressed as a superhero (or anything really), so these two transformed into Bumblebee and Superman. They came back with painted faces but I didn't take photos of them at that point.  Good times!

Asker revisited

I got to spend this past week in Asker where we used to live. I was there for work, but it was very special to be able to spend the evenings with old friends and former neighbors. I didn't take many photos of these special people, as sometimes it feels too intrusive to take photos. But I loved looking at all of the "Jul" (Christmas) magazines and books, full of such beautiful crafty ideas, so I did take some photos of these images and made a little collage...

Anyway, it was wonderful to be there and I'm grateful for the opportunity. Maybe next time we can all visit as a family again...

Pre-Oslo pic

I went to Oslo this week, and before I left I took this picture of my 3 little homies on our green couch that we are about to replace:

Tryfan in spots

The other day (actually it was Nov 16th), Tryfan got to get a sticker in Assembly. It happened to be Pudsey Bear day when everyone dresses up wearing polka dots. We didn't have anything very polka dotty for Tryfan, but he was game to wear this aboriginal print sarong that my Mom gave me a lot of years ago!

Tryfan was being recognized for showing really great improvement with reading and now he is working with the Year 1 group instead of his Reception group. Well done, Tryfan!

Dash to Solihull

The day after my Friday night party, we drove up to Solihull near Birmingham to spend the rest of the weekend with Dan, Beckie, Joe and Teddy. We had a leisurely morning and didn't leave until 1pm, then had a relatively quick 2.5 hour drive north to their house in really nasty driving conditions (rainy, trafficky). But then we arrived and had a nice dinner and evening of chatting over bottles of wine, then eventually went to bed.

Morning artwork in the living room

Sunday morning I went to Catholic mass (a first!!) with Beckie, which was interesting and lovely. Then we met up with the Daddies and kids who had been at the park and we walked around Solihull city center until we found a place for lunch.

Teddy, Tryfan, Joe and Rhiannon (looking a bit too mature for her age)

 The kids went on a Helter Skelter slide (get a mat and walk up the stairs to the top, then slide down a spiral slide to the bottom) and then on the teacups.

Waiting for the teacups to start spinning

We ate lunch at Pizza Express and managed to take over a whole corner of the restaurant, which was absolutely perfect! Then we drove home and this ended up taking a really long time because there was an accident on the M25 which brought everything on our side to a complete standstill. Tryfan had been experiencing an upset tummy all day and ended up having one of those awful accidents when stuff comes out that is not supposed to when you are not sitting on a toilet... Poor little guy had to just sit still with full pants for another 1.5 hours before we got home and Rhodri carried him + his car seat up to the shower!

My birthday party

I always feel weird on my birthday, and usually not in a good way. Its nothing to do with being a year older - I'm just always emotionally on edge and then relieved when the day is finally over.
This year was the same except a lot better because it was just a normal Monday and nobody at work knew, so I could just get on with the day without any expectations. And it was lovely to receive a smattering of messages from loved ones who remembered.

But for my birthday this year, I had stepped out of my comfort zone and planned a party! What inspired me was thinking of our longtime family friend, Susie Williams, and how she plans fun things for others on her birthday. So she gets out of herself and focuses on giving to others on her special day. Thinking that way helped me be able to plan a dinner party at Forgewood Barn. My vision was to have a destination dinner and boogie where you go to a small place in the middle of nowhere, have a gorgeous dinner, then clear away the dishes and chairs, turn down the lights and turn up the music, and have a little boogie! Rhodri and I went to a place in Italy about 10 years ago which was like this and it was superfun. Anyway, that was my original vision and in the end the party was beautiful and special but there was no dancing.

Lou had done all the orchestration of the night: arranging the menu with Chef Ed,  making leaf bunting with the children at Nursery, coordinating the transportation of everyone with the help of Emma, liaising with Rhodri to get some "defining moments" photos of me through the years so everyone could laugh, and then decorating the Barn with leaves and candles and the pheasant wings from our Foraging workshop last weekend. Then she was the MC and made the whole evening really special and fun. I didn't take any photos so you'll just have to imagine...
A converted barn with exposed beams on a cathedral ceiling, white walls and wood tables and chairs...lots and lots of tea lights and autumn leaves scattered round the 2 tables (one seating 8 in a square and one seating 4). We had 8 courses to eat through the evening, and between each one we did a Chinese Fire Drill (carrying our beverages) so that we could all have a chance to sit next to everyone else at some point. And so, there were 12 of us ladies and as I looked around the room I felt so grateful to know these beautiful women. 
A heartfelt thanks to those who made it possible..

A meal of vegetables and autumn leaves

The other day I participated in a sort of "taster session" at Forgewood with Lou for the summer day camp/ holiday club that she wants to run this summer at the Forgewood Campsite. This was on a Thursday, and normally I would be running Forest School with Tryfan's class back at home, but this was a special occasion so I mobilized my campfire cooking stuff and spent the morning cooking over a fire.

My firepit and the parachute-covered gathering area in the background

I was inspired by an article I read in a magazine about a Swedish chef, and in the article was one a recipe for cooking potatoes and other root vegetables with autumn leaves. As there were plenty of leaves on the forest floor, I figured the children could help cook by collecting leaves for me.

 

The recipe is actually just 2 steps: Step 1: cook, but don't overcook, the vegetables by boiling them with leaves and water. Step 2: serve, instructing the diners to use their hands to crumple the vegetables and dip them in butter before eating.  I loved how primitive and basic it all sounded. It was a very enjoyable morning spent mostly by myself getting the fire to a good stable cooking condition and then doing enough vegetables to feed 30 adults + 40 kids!

Here are the remnants at the bottom of my biggest pot (my canning pot!)

Foraging feast

For a birthday present to myself, I invited my friend Lou to accompany me on a Foraging Feast workshop in nearby village of Buxted.
Today was a gorgeous autumnal Sunday - chilly and clear. We started the day by learning how to skin a pheasant in a rather elegant way, and then we flash seared the breast meat on the open fire outside. Then we set off for a walk around the area and learned about several edible and/or medicinal plants. Robert was our guide, and Erica assisted in her vast knowledge of plants, and it was such a special day! It was only a small group of us (5 paying customers) with several helpers including a photographer who took the photos below*.

  

   

 

 

* I copied them from the Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/makeityoursworkshops
After the day was over, Lou and I met Rhodri and the kids at nearby Buxted Inn for a nice supper. Too bad we weren't very hungry after all the delicious pheasant and other wild foods we had been feasting on all day! But it was a wonderful way to end the day. Thank you Rhodri and Lou!

Auntie Sions!

This weekend Auntie Sioned came to visit us and it was soo nice to have her here. She arrived on Thursday night and left on Sunday afternoon. It was a quiet (sort of) weekend and just really nice to have Sions around the house playing games and hanging out.

Big brother and his little Sis

We went on a walk over at Forgewood (this is where I'm planning to have my birthday party) before she got in the car to drive home this afternoon and it was such beautiful light.

Family photo that Sions too

Forgewood on a gorgeous Friday

Today we spent the afternoon with our friend Lou and a selection of her children and other miscellaneous friends at the Forgewood Campsite, which is on the Eridge Park Estate. This is a place that is kind of a potential project in coming months, but more on that another day...
We went hunting for some ice caves (as in, where people used to keep food in the olden days -- not caves formed by ice, but I didn't know that until we found them). It was a beautiful autumn day but I felt strangely quiet and reclusive somehow.

Tryfan and Rhiannon making their ways across the swollen (but tame) stream

Finn and Tryfan at one of the ice cave entrances

 Anyway, we had a good day out playing in and around the caves until people got hungry enough to trek back to the main site and have warm drinks. Tryfan and Finley had an especially good time together (though Finn is 11 yrs old and big T is only 5, they have similar senses of humor and also energy levels! A good combination..).

Forgewood in the waning afternoon sunlight

Rhodri and Steve (Lou's husband) met us there and we had a scrumptious 3 course dinner at Forgewood Barn prepared by Chef Ed himself. The whole herd of kids together were pretty wild so it was good we had the place to ourselves!