Halloween Potluck Party

We had a Halloween Potluck Party yesterday which turned out to be a big success! The invitation said "Find something to wear and bring something to share", and that's what we all did. Here we are, Tryfan as a Firefighter, Rhiannon as a Pirate, and me as a Kitty Cat. Rhodri was a Cowboy (photos further down).I think the concept of a Potluck was new to most of our invitees, but everyone put in a great effort. The food was outstanding; we had samosas with dipping sauces, a yummy salad, chili-marinated chicken with couscous, meatballs with new potatoes, muffins, cakes, toasted pumpkin seeds, carrot & coriander soup, two different quiches, cookies, eyeballs (grapes with raisins stuffed inside and frozen), roasted beet quinoa salad, and probably more which I've forgotten about. Of course there was plenty of candy around, although none of it was provided by us. Somehow, Tryfan managed to not eat anything except for sweets the entire night -- I eventually just gave up trying to get him to eat something else. But I think this is the first time in the history of Norwegian parties where there have NOT been either polsers (hot dogs) OR coffee. Hurray for diversity! We also played some games. Here is Rhodri the Cowboy and our little Firefighter getting ready to "Bob for Apples" in the cooler. The spread of food is behind.
We also played "Musical Statues" (where the music plays and everyone dances, then when the music stops, everyone has to freeze) and then 5 of the kids played "Musical Chairs". We started the party at 4pm and our last guests left just after 9pm, and the count was 17 adults and 11 kids.
I probably put too much effort into it, as some of the decoration subtleties and festive touches were lost upon the group... the frozen hand in the punch bowl melted quickly and the fingers broke off, the oranges that took me forever to hollow out so the kids could decorate them were a non-starter, and not many people ate the freshly toasted pumpkin seeds. I'll try to remember that next time in hopes that I won't stress so much on the day! It's an awful lot of work putting on a party, and Rhodri was feeling under the weather so that was less than ideal. In fact, both kids and Rhodri have been coughing a lot lately, so I sent out a message to all invitees on Halloween morning warning them as such, and sadly 2 families canceled as a result. The kids are not sick - just coughing a lot, but we wanted people to know this ahead of time. All in all, we had a good party but I'm pretty glad it's over. In fact, as I write this entry it is 4:30pm on the day after Halloween and 3 of the 4 of us are still wearing pajamas. I would still be in my jammies, except that Bentley still needed to go for a walk outside. Anyway, there we are.

With affection and sourdough

One thing I love about Norway and Norwegians in general is that there is not much in the way of embellishment with romantic adjectives or unnecessary verbage - they pretty much tell it how it is. I love this because I can trust it - I know there is minimal exaggeration. And so I just made myself a late night piece of toast and was reading the label on the yummy bread that I was eating, and it said "Bakt med kjaerlighet og surdeig", which translates to "Baked with affection and sourdough". And I thought, yep, that's about right. It is entirely possible, however, that this phrase has some kind of hidden meaning that only Norwegians know about and so doesn't show up in my dictionary...

On a blind course

Today I visited Rhiannon's class in the forest. The teachers built a "sensory ropes course" which was a long piece of rope tied between various trees, up over a small mound of rock, around some small trees and then through a little gully. There was a log to climb over and another log to go under. Rhiannon is the 2nd one in line, wearing red in this photo. Everyone was watching the other teacher demonstrate walking blind through the course.
Everyone took turns doing the course, first pulling their hat down over their eyes and then holding onto the rope and walking around. Rhiannon didn't want to do it blind the first time, and the second time she did but she stopped to peek out quite a few times!

Rowing

We have a rowing machine that gets used relatively often (usually by Rhodri rather than me - I still have bad memories of ergometer workouts from my rowing days), but this is the first time that the younger Lewis' have been allowed on...

Tryfan is saying (in the above video) that he is watching a [Fireman] Sam video - he was pretending that the little computer screen on the rowing machine was showing videos. Now it's Rhiannon's turn:

Quiet week

It's been a quiet week and weekend here. Rhiannon has been a little under the weather, so she stayed home a couple of days this week and then barnehage was closed on Friday so we were all home together that day. It's been a little rainy and pretty cold, but we still go outside and play everyday. It looks a lot like this... pretty leaves still clinging to a lot of the trees, but there are plenty of fallen yellow lovelies on the ground too.

Tryfan turns 2!

Today is Tryfan's birthday but we celebrated it mostly yesterday.
I say mostly because the barnehage celebrated it today by hanging a flag outside the building, making him a paper crown to wear, and conducting the traditional "bursdagsamling" which involves a wooden birthday train with the appropriate number of candles on it,treats provided by the child's parents, imaginary fireworks (birthday child gets to pick which colors the fireworks get to be, and the number of fireworks that are let off depend on how many years old the child is), and everyone in the class singing the Norwegian birthday song. This song is not the 'normal' Happy Birthday song with Norwegian lyrics set to it. It is a completely different, more thoughtful and celebratory song. Here is Rhiannon singing most of it (I think she left out a couple of lines in the middle):


As for the main party yesterday, we had a birthday brunch from 10am-12:30 on Sunday morning. We were 6 families altogether, with a total of 8 kids...very manageable and only a little chaotic. It was a bit of a potluck brunch: Anne-Stine brought fresh apple juice made from the apples on her trees, Elisabeth made a quiche, and I made cinnamon rolls from this recipe. Here are the troops preparing the apple juice glasses.
We just ate, chatted, and played for the morning and it was wonderful.
Rhiannon was such an adoring and excited big sister. She helped Tryfan open the presents (because he hasn't figured out how fun it is to do that yet) but she always asked first if he wanted help from her (because sometimes, you know, one doesn't want help from their elder sister).
Tryfan's favorite presents were a fire truck that makes siren noises and a firefighter's hat. He is totally obsessed with fire-everything.
And so our little guy turns two.
Aside from being obsessed with firetrucks, firefighters (especially "Fireman Sam" - the Welsh cartoon series), and all things fire-related, Tryfan:

• loves sweets, especially M&M's and Smarties
  
• appreciates soft fabrics like fleece, satin and wool, and always comments when something soft is next to his skin (usually he says "ooh that's NICE" and closes his eyes with pleasure)
• is very strong, fast and agile
• is very good at hugging, kissing and cuddling
• is VERY ticklish
• continues to just have his own jokes going on -- he talks and giggles to himself all the time
  
• sometimes uses a strange voice to talk in and does the 'chicken walk' during some of those same times
• has very mischievious eyes
• is shy and bashful with people he doesn't or barely knows
• loves kitty-cats and the color pink
• adores Rhiannon and wants to be with her a lot of the time - their favorite activity of late is going down the slide as a train (Rhiannon in front and Tryfan behind)
  

We are so grateful to have Tryfan in our lives!

Long week

This week I worked all day every day at the barnehage. It was Very Hard Work, especially the language part, as all the communicating was in Norwegian. So I learned how to say "You are not allowed to hit people" and "Please sit properly and eat your food" and "Can I help you with that?" and so forth. It was fun to get a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes work and organization that goes into keeping this barnehage thriving. Here is Rhiannon with Sofia just enjoying the late afternoon sunshine earlier this week.
On Tuesday I got to go "på tur" with the 3-year-olds. We went on a 4 hour hike through the forest, with a stop at a playground for lunch. It was a very cold sunny day. The forest we went through is one that I know well because I take Bentley there very often. It was so fun to just play and explore and ramble through the forest with a herd of small kids!
Here are the stragglers on the walk across a plowed field on the way back to the barnehage.
Rhiannon was coughing a lot this week and so she ended up staying home on Wednesday and Friday with Rhodri while I hung out with her friends. Sad! But it was the right thing to do.

The day that could have been

It was this day 2 years ago that I *thought* (and hoped) that Tryfan would be born. It would have been nicely symmetric to have Rhiannon's birthday of 12/10 (as in Dec 10) and Tryfan's as 10/12 (as in Oct 12). But it wasn't to be since he wasn't born until a full week later, and I guess that's okay because with the date/month vs month/date confusion between America and Europe, it would probably have caused us trouble at some point. But whatever. It wasn't to be, and there we go. Still, I love this time of year for all of the chilliness and colors, and my memories of walking walking trying to encourage this baby to leave the womb (for he was 12 days late in the end) are still so vivid.
This photo is a little out of context, but it shows Tryfan's giddy face as he hems and haws over which M&M to choose. He looooves M&Ms, and so we bust them out on special occasions (or not).
As for this day today, I can say that we all miss Daddy/Rhodri and look forward to him returning really really late tomorrow night. We have been a house with lots of sleep lately. Tryfan and Rhiannon both love their beds, but Tryfan especially loves to snuggle in with his kitty, llama and blanket. There is no protesting from these two (touch wood!), although I remember the struggles we have had in the past. The true darkness comes at a civilized time of ~6:30pm now and goes away around 7:15am, and these kids are sleeping about 12 hours every night. In fact, I had to wake them up today for the first time because since I have to be at my new job for 8:30am, we have to leave here by 8:15 at the latest.

New job...

Today I worked at the barnehage for the 2nd day in as many weeks.
During the day, I was asked if I could (and wanted to!) work every day next week. I agreed to it, and so I have a new job, even if temporary. I have been and will continue to work in the "other" big kids class so that I won't be looking after Rhiannon. It's better for everyone that way I think, but of course we see each other and play outside together during parts of the day. I don't see much of Tryfan because the little kids are on a different routine.
The hardest part is the language aspect because these 3-5 year olds speak so fast and so much in Norwegian! I reckon by the end of next week, I will be fluent in playground speak. The other teachers are really helpful because they go out of their way to speak slowly to me and make sure I understand. They also (at my specific request) correct me when my words or grammar are wrong. I've had a really great time so far - I think it is so fun to be with kids this age! It's like a part of me is still about 4 years old -- so I fit right in regardless of my language skills.

Not a typical evening

Last night (Thursday), Rhiannon was invited to her best friend Sofie's birthday party from 5-7pm so Tryfan and I made the best of it. I took this photo of Rhiannon just before leaving to [try to] convince her that she looked pretty with the hairband in her hair (she kept pulling it off).
Since Rhodri is away, we need to do everything together or not at all, so Tryfan and I escorted Rhiannon to the party and then drove down to Trekanten shopping center in town. First we went to the library and practiced using our "inside voices". Yeah, right! Tryfan is very excitable and he talks nonstop now. He found a book about fire trucks and boy, was he ever stoked! Combine that find with an empty climbing wall (with crash mattress below) and stuffed crocodiles, and he was literally happy-dancing and chattering noisily for all to observe! A bit embarrassing, but the library was about to close anyway so I wasn't too worried. After we checked out a couple of books (the fire truck one and "In the Night Kitchen") and a Fireman Sam video for him, we went to the grocery store to buy some deli food for dinner along with other groceries to take home. We rode the escalator a couple of times (always great fun to do), then played at the toy shop for awhile. Since his birthday is coming up, I wanted to see what things specifically he was keen on. So after enough of that, we ate our spring rolls under fluorescent lights right next to the ice cream shop. Tryfan eventually ate enough of his dinner to warrant a special treat of ice cream. He chose pink, of course.
We try to avoid bribing with the treat of dessert, but every now and then I reckon its okay. Anyway, we had to hurry to finish so that we wouldn't be late to get Rhiannon, and poor Tryfs got his first ice-cream-headache! But then we got to ride the escalator back downstairs and everything was okay again ;-)

Høstsuppe

Today was the annual "Autumn Soup" gathering at barnehage. Yesterday Rhiannon's class walked into downtown Asker and bought vegetables to turn into the soup, so it was extra special to eat it today. Here we are in Tryfan's class - Rhiannon's is visible through the door behind.
"Cheeeeese!" says Tryfan while showing off the shirt that he got to decorate for Autumn Soup festivities.
Rhiannon and Tryfs just being cuddly in our kitchen.

Turn-ing

Rhiannon is taking gymnastics lessons now every Monday night, but here in Norway gymnastics is called "Turn". And so last night we went turn-ing with our friend and neighbor Kristoffer and his Mama Monica.
Of course, all of the little girls in the class wear pink leotards with pink foofy tutus, pink tights and pink ballet shoes. When we went to the first class a couple of weeks ago, Rhiannon didn't have the get-up but somehow she already knew that girls are supposed to wear the pink uniform. She insisted on wearing her old swimsuit (size 2T!) which is mostly pink and sparkly. I talked her into wearing a shirt over the top of it but then vowed to myself to buy her a proper get-up that she would be excited to wear. So when I was in the US last week, I bought her this pink (but not too gaudy) leotard and ballet shoes which are quite a bit too big for her. She was really happy to get to wear it last night (although she had already been wearing it around the house the whole weekend).
Rhiannon and Kristoffer are the oldest in the class and they are really into it. One of the benefits of this is that they don't really want their Mamas by their sides - they want to run and climb and jump all by themselves, so Monica and I get to chat and watch. I thought about signing her up for a 3-5 year old class, but since Kris had already signed up for the 2-4 year old class, we figured that's where we should start.
I brought Tryfan to the first class also, thinking that he would probably want to do it too, but he wasn't ready to let go of my hand. However, I think I will bring him along in future weeks and just let him join in when he wants to.

Changing of the guard

Well, as soon as Rhodri came home last weekend, I left to spend the week in Cape Cod, Massachusetts working on a project. So the troops got to spend the transition week into October speaking only Norwegian and Welsh (except for when they talked to me on the telephone every night). I think its good to take turns being away sometimes. I really missed all of my sweeties, though, and it was wonderful to come home on Saturday afternoon for a happy reunion. Here they all are when we went on a walk Sunday morning.
Lately Rhiannon has been really into climbing trees, particularly this one in the backyard which has a rope ladder going up the trunk. The rule is that she can only go as high as she is able to climb back down. So she goes up and down and up and down, each time going a little higher or putting her feet in slightly different places. It's so fun to watch her progress and build confidence in herself.
Tryfan is just itching to get up there too, but he is only allowed on the first rung - after all, he isn't even 2 years old yet! But look at his adoring eyes as he watches Rhiannon up in the tree -- you can just see the wheels turning inside his head!
Now this week Rhodri is going away again... in case you were wondering, we really do like each other! These separation trips are not intentional, its just the way the schedule worked out.

Our perfect autumn day

The kids and I had quite possibly the most perfect autumn day ever! The only sad thing was that Rhodri wasn't here to share it with us :-(
Our friends Fiona, Karl-John and twins Finn and Magnus came over at 10am to spend the day with us. First we loaded the canoe onto the car and set out for a canoeing adventure. We helped our guests launch the canoe first and we walked along the lakeshore trail until we got to a place where Karl-John could pick us up (after dropping off Fiona and the boys on an island). Here are the troops happily scampering along the forest path, with Tryfan giving me his homie sign (not really - he was telling me that he got to eat "a LOT" of M&M's).
We spent our day out on the small island that we had visited a few weeks ago (on our very successful canoe outing as a solo family). This time, however, we packed a great picnic and collected firewood along the way for a true Norwegian outing. Here is our picnic site.
All four kids were so good and fun to be with! They played with sticks in the water, drank hot chocolate and ate our yummy lunch without incident. Of course they each fell down at some point but nobody got hurt or even really wet! All of this was happening around midday which is normally when Tryfan is napping, so by about 1:30pm he came over to me and said "Tryfs sleepy guy" and wanted to curl up on my lap. We didn't have a good place for him to sleep, so he just had to hang in there. Here is the campfire that Karl-John built for us to cook pølser on. It was quite windy, so we used the canoe as a windblock.
We decided to head back home around 2pm before things went horribly wrong, so all of us piled into the canoe and we set off. Fiona and Karl-John paddled while I sat with Tryfan in my lap and the 3 big kids sat in front of me. We made it back to our launching site with just a little bit of whining which was quickly remedied by the stash of gummy worms! Sugar treats are just so useful sometimes. This is the scene that Fiona saw as she turned around to see the rest of us in the boat.
When we got back to the house, Tryfan went for a sleep and the 3 big kids played outside: climbing trees, sliding down the slide, riding bikes around the deck, and playing with rocks. Fiona, Karl-John and I sat in deck chairs in the sunshine and drank tea/coffee, just relishing the perfect afternoon with our kids playing so purely and happily together.
After they left, Rhiannon and I did an art project with autumn leaves and then Tryfan woke up so we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Rhiannon loves riding her scooter and she wanted to go really fast on a flat path, so she rode her scooter, Tryfan ran after her trying to keep up, and I walked briskly with Bentley trying to make sure that everyone stayed on the pathway and didn't go into the street! I love this joyful photo of Tryfan even though it isn't properly focused.
We came home and then Kristoffer from across the road came over to play outside while I made dinner. There was a tense moment when I heard Rhiannon crying and saw Kristoffer take off running around the side of the house. We tried to get him to come back or at least wait, but he ran across the road back to his house and that is Not Allowed! So I turned off the stovetop and we three followed him home to talk about what just happened and make some rules with his Mama to ensure that everyone knows that they are not allowed to run off home OR cross the street without a parent with them.
Anyway, after this discussion we came home, gobbled up our dinner of ravioli with chicken and vegetables and then treated ourselves to ice cream bars for dessert. This video speaks for itself...

Then after some dancing to Mamma Mia and Tryfan's current favorite song "Super Trooper" (also from the Mamma Mia soundtrack), the troops went for a bath, 2 stories, a song and then sleep. Truly a fantastic day! We are really looking forward to tomorrow when Daddy comes home!

Dinner guest

We had our friend Michel over for dinner tonight. He met us at the barnehage and we went home together, played outside, had supper and then he got to participate in the bedtime routine of bath-stories-singing-bed. Here they were all playing on the slide in the backyard:
Tryfan wearing the necklace that Rhiannon made and SO determined to run up the slide before Rhiannon came down.
In jammies, reading "Room on the Broom" with Michel.
The kids were so happy to be with Michel, and although of course they acted up a bit during dinner etc, we had such a fun evening together. Thanks, Michel, for coming over!

Asker Days

This weekend was the "Asker Dagene" (Asker Days) celebration so we decided to make a day of it on Saturday and join the crowds in the town center. Our neighbors across the street invited us to join them so we did! Kristoffer is just 6 months younger than Rhiannon so they play together really well and Tryfan just follows them everywhere, so its a pretty good fit. Here they are at the Fire Station Open House, wearing hats and eating sweets they got for free.
Tryfan got to climb into the BIG fire truck and that was extremely exciting for him, even though we bypassed the queue for the driver's seat and just climbed into the back seat. He is still talking about it today. Rhiannon didn't want to climb in, but she did want to get into the rescue boat so she and Tryfan got in. They don't look too stoked in this photo but they actually were in real life.
On the way home, we stopped at our local Rimi grocery store for some dairy products and bread. The kids each took a shopping cart of their own and went around putting things in. Rhiannon was very helpful and asked what kind of yogurt we needed, then offered to carry it in her cart. She kept her cart near mine and we made the rounds. Tryfan, on the other hand, pushed his cart at full, chaotic, crashing-into-people, running speed, scouring the aisles with his eyes to find something worthy of the cart. He found a cake mix (blue box) and that was it for most of the store until we got to the checkout area. I went on one side of a row and about 30 seconds later, I heard Tryfan grunting and rustling bags so I followed the noise and found him deep in the candy section filling his cart with these giant bags of sweets!
I had to join the other shoppers who were laughing at him and so I took this photo, but then we put all the bags back on the shelf (with very LOUD protesting), paid for our stuff and went home. Phew! It was a fun but long day and we miss Rhodri. He is away in Houston for a week now, and so he wasn't even home for his birthday TODAY. Happy Birthday, Rhods!

Photo day

Today was Photo Day at the barnehage, so everyone came in looking well-groomed and tidy for the start of the day. Our two were no different - hope this year's photos turn out better than last years! Right now Tryfan has a black eye (his right eye) and a visible scar from our neighbor's cat that scratched him on his left cheek, so he is looking pretty tough most of the time ... except when he is getting ready for bed and has his kitty, blanket and now recently adopted "Pink Baby" who he carries around with him. This was the view tonight of the troops on the baby couch reading stories to each other.
This week we have had glorious autumn weather - cool temps in the upper 30's (F) during morning times and then maxing out at about 62 F in the early afternoon, accompanied by full sunshine. Yay! The leaves are slow in turning but I have been out in the forest every day with Bentley monitoring their progress.

In other news, Rhodri and I played in a golf tournament yesterday that was organized by our Company. Rhodri actually won the tournament even though he claims to have been playing poorly. I made it through the full 18 holes with only losing 1 ball and not giving up on any hole despite playing consistently bad the whole afternoon. But it was great weather! And with free food!

Since the deal kicked off at 1pm and finished at 6:30pm, we arranged for Michel (of Bessegen organizing fame in the previous post) to pick the kids up from barnehage. Since Michel is a twenty-something French bachelor living downtown Oslo, this wasn't exactly his comfort zone... but fair play, he used Rhodri's bike with the Burley trailer attached to get the kids from barnehage and then cycled them home to our house to play and eat snacks until we got back. When we finally arrived at 6:45pm, train tracks were laid out all across the deck, games were open and half-played, books piled up and strewn upon tables, and candy wrappers were scattered all around. The kids were SO happy to get to play with Michel for the afternoon and they really didn't want him to leave. Michel enjoyed the afternoon too, and he even got to change his first ever diaper/ nappy! Thanks, Michel :-)

Bessegen

This past weekend I went to the company 'hytte' (cabin) with 7 other people. Everybody knew at least one other person, but nobody except Michel (the organizer) knew more than 2 others. Here are (l to r): Tobias, Admir, Staffan, me, Michel, Polly, Christine and Christer... 3 Swedes, 1 Bosnian, 2 English girls, 1 Frenchman and 1 American. I was the oldest by at least 8 years ...
It was a really fun weekend but the highlight was hiking the "Bessegen trail". This is a moderately strenuous hike up and over a mountain and between two lakes that are at different elevations. It is a really famous hike inside the Jotunheimen National Park -- probably one of the most famous in Norway. Here is the view looking at the central and most exciting part of the hike... the trail starts from the end of the light blue lake and goes up and around from behind the plateau mountain, then down the nose and between the two lakes.
Here is the view from the top of the plateau, starting the climb down the nose. The previous photo was taken from the opposite side looking back at this place. This part you really have to use both hands and both feet to climb up/down. It was snowing at the top of the plateau so the rock was very slippery.
Mandatory self-take with beautiful light blue glacial lake behind me.
At the end of the hike, looking back downlake to the starting point 11 km(6 miles) away. One can take a boat to/from this point to the end of the lake. We were originally going to start with the boat to here and then walk back to the start, but the boat was full so we did it in reverse. This view reminds me a lot of a certain place in Washington State...
I decided to not take the boat back to the start and to walk the lakeshore trail 11 km back instead. This was a bit long (extra 3 hours) after a full 6 hours of strenuous hiking up and down the ridgeline above this lake, but I figured that since I so rarely get to hike in such a gorgeous place, I ought to live it up a bit. It's so nice walking in the early evening anyway.... I was treated to this view back 'uplake'. Autumn colors were creeping into the vegetation and it was just so lovely.
And zooming in on the spectacular lighting and clouds
At the start/end of the trail there is a hangout-lounge-bar-restaurant that is so lovely and civilized....couches, candles, warm and cold beverages, mandatory boot-removal-at-the-door policy... here is the view of the lower lounge with Bessegen in the background.
The Buckner sisters have Norwegian counterparts !!!!! Look at this photo of 3 lovely ladies on top of the mountain:
I had a great time but it was very nice to come home to my sweet family :-)

More tur-ing

Yesterday was finally Tryfan's day to go paa tur again. He asks everyday if it is "Tryfan tur day?" I sent my camera along with one of the teachers and she took these photos. Tryfan was wearing his pirate bandana for some reason (not that one needs a reason to wear a pirate bandana!).
All of the 2 (or almost 2) year olds sitting in a circle and eating their matpakkers (packed lunches).
Holding onto the rope, ready to walk back to barnehage for naptime.
The whole class lining up for the walk back to barnehage (actually it is 2 classes combined).
Today I am going hiking with my friends from work and leaving Rhodri and the kids alone for the weekend. Wish us all luck!

Da iawn

Tryfan is really talking now. He doesn't parrot very much - he thinks of his own things to say now. And quite often I find myself doing the unprofessional mother thing and laughing at the wrong times (this has always been a problem for me). Anyway, one of Tryfan's favorite things to say is "da iawn", which is Welsh for "very good". He says this a lot at the dinner table when he is eating his food. It just sounds really cute and funny when he says it!
Yesterday I made a plum crumble from the plums that our neighbors gave us. These particular neighbors are an elderly but very active couple. We brought some of the crumble over to the neighbors to thank them for the plums (although I am sure they had plenty of plum-products already), and as we were walking over there, Tryfan said loudly "Old man!". I started laughing and he promptly said "No funny, Mama". Then I was really laughing. Good thing these neighbors don't speak a word of English.