The other day...

...Marcus went nordic skiing for the very first time in his life... and he loved it:)
Such a clever, patient skier! He did uphills, downhills and stragiht forward. And didnt want to go home what so ever.

Wow, I imagine a new Björn Daehli...


























Adrià was basically into pulling his sledge and hardly wanted to sit in it.
The rest of the time he spent eating snow and walking around by himself enjoying the peace and harmony a winterlandscape can give you.
















































A family sledging race is compulsory. Bom, bom, bom downhill on hard snow trimmed the assmuscles a bit at least! And much, much fun:)

Dinner on a friday.

Spinachsoup with boiled egg:

500 gr fresh spinachleaves,
5 schalotonions,
1 clove of garlic,
1 dice of vegetabel/chickenstock
5 dl water
5 dl creme fraiche
salt and pepper.



Fry onions, garlic and spinach in some oil. Pour on water and creme fraiche and boil for 2 minutes toghether with the dice of stock.
Use a handmixer to make a smooth consistency.

I fried datils with bacon as a little snack on the side. Toghether with "sugarbeans". Delicious:)

I am really having a soon- to- be- schoolboy??

Wow, I have been to a meeting for parents who have kids starting school this autumn...
Marcus is formally inscribed here and will also be in Spain as we cant really decide where to go on living.

It will be really exciting to see him as a schoolboy wether here or there... He is eager to learn to read and write but we havent worked especially on that at home. He is strong in the preschoolgroup in the kindergarden and that is satisfactory to hear ofcourse.
From his schoolyears in Spain he already knew how to write his name when he was 3.

From now on we should sit down with him and read books while we point out the words we are reading and tell him how they are pronounced.

In Spain we have friends Marcus' age and they already know how to read and write...
I anyway believe that its a bit of wasted time to teach 3 year olds this...
Well, what I mean is that I think it takes less effort when the child is more mature and has an interest himself. And I think 5/6 years must be the right age to emphasize the reading/writing.

As the catalan kids seem to be a horsehead ahead of us, we really have a job to do before we go back. They do capital and small letters, and are even teaching the kids how to bind the small letters together...

For sure it will be a big difference to the kindergarden. Somehow I almost feel pity for the small kids sitting still by a table for hours every day ( I hope its not like that...) with their books...
Norwegian and math will be the most important subjects. I just hope that they will keep on doing experiments and emphasize practical learning.
I also realize that maybe a Waldorf school would fulfill my criterias more...

And what about the SFO? (pre and afterschoolactivities). I guess its good for the kids to socialize and stay with their friends a couple of more hours? And be able to play freely and from their own initiative?
My impression is that most kids stay some hours after school is over. I am still not sure what is better in case one of us is home anyway...
I guess it depends on wether they are joining some afternoonactivity or not.

Right now I would just like him to go on in the kindergarden.
Maybe its just ME not being ready for having a schoolboy...

Curious about the belly???

I realize I havent posted a single photo of my preggerbelly...
I havent fooled you:)

This is me right now, soon entering week 25. Slightly above the curve. It will be another BIG boy I assume.
It grew so much a couple of weeks ago. Until then people at work could hardly tell I was pregnant. Now its like: wow, THATS what I call a belly...!



















I feel still very good. I miss feeling quick and light though, but you know, those times will come again. Now I try to focus on the pregnancy (likely the last one for us) and enjoy every little kick:)
I really want to work full time until the last as I havent worked that much the last years.

I have a working weekend ahead of me and inbetween Salvas birthday tomorrow:)
Planning to bake more "fastelavnsboller" but as we already had that yesterday I dont know...

Maybe I´ll just make myself a big cup of hot chocolate and use the leftovers of whipped cream in it;) But first a big bowl of homemade carrotsoup that I´m preparing right now.

Nice weekend to all of you!!

Memory from the summer

We`ve just received a disc with a lot of photos from the kindergarden. Plenty of nice photos and its so much fun to see what they are actually doing there. Excursions, experiments and so on.
Marcus is explaining quite a bit about how they are spending the days, but I am so glad to have some photos to accompany his stories.

This photo makes me smile and I think it illustrates the little "luring" that he is:)

Kul-tur

Check out this facebook site and like their page!
These great activitycards are the prize in a competition on this blog.

So many super ideas for activities that can be done with your kids, they are also easy to bring along in your backpack when you are travelling.

Last day to join is the 18th of feb!!

Greeting from Spain

House swap this summer???

We have english friends who would like to come and visit us in the summer! Since we are having our baby by that time we will run a bit short of space to offer a family of 4 to stay with us...
Therefore I wonder if anyone is into the idea of houseswapping with this lovely family that has a really charming small house just half an hour drive from Barcelona.

They are looking for a house/flat in Bergen and would also be interested in swapping cars for that period. A couple of weeks or even a month would be interesting. Around june/july/august.

Imagine living in a nice neighbourhood, get the chance to live like a catalan family, get all the "inside" information about where to hang out, shops to visist, restaurants to go to, nearby beaches and the proximity to Barcelona. It could be the dreamsummer:)

You have to be fine with pets as they have a few. A rabbit, a gineapig, and a couple of cats.

They have done houseswapping before and were happy to change house with a french family for two weeks.

Click here to see more of their house!

Leopard...?

Me and mum took a little look in the second hand shop today.
Its so nostalgic and much fun to go there.

I found this cool "poshy" jacket there...
Should I buy it or not was the big question!

Do you think I bought it???

We had a good laugh as it is SO NOT MY STYLE.

Anyway, we thought of ways to turn it into a disguise for the kids or a pillow....

But probably it would never be done...

So, I left the shop without it, and I dont regret!

today i feel tired and heavy...

not everyday is a day on pink clouds... i feel incredibly heavy and tired, and also lack
of air somehow... its like petit is squeezing my lungs to the
size of raisins and i have to breathe heavily. so i basically stay in the coach with my lovely
kids and we watch tom&jerry; their favorite after scoobydoo!
we've had some gløgg to heat on... its freakin cold now...
17 degrees in banyoles is what they can look forward too:) lucky
bastards!!

We found snow

Did I tell you we got a virus on the computer???
It sucks....

That means; no internet, no music, no phonecalls to Spain...
We are so depending on our computer.

Well, Salva and the boys are travelling to Spain on tuesday and will bring the computer to the doctor there.
Hopefully it will be healthy again;)

Today Salva, Marcus and me had a wonderful morning in the snow just outside Bergen.
We had so much fun skiing and sledging.
It was about 5 years ago since I had my fisherskis on my feet. It was a great feeling to air them again:)

Adria was home with my parents. He has been poor since monday... Fever, diarea, cough...
Poor little thing. I am sure the Spanish sun will help him recover. I still have to wait another twelve days to reach southern latitude.

Well, these days when I am on my own I will start knitting a Marius sweater for myself. Cant wait to start:)

sick...

we are home today, me and adria. he has high fever and generally low. he acted really weird during the night, shouting and spinning around in the bed complaining over footpain... some kind of fevercramps? i took him to the doctor and it seems to be a non bacterial infection, but his fever was measured to 40...
i always freak out at high fever.
so, we are here in the sofa watching t v and trying to recover. i am not used to see my super
healthy kids like this, but it makes them stronger to have an infecfion now and then...

Me and Adrià.

Adrià and I had a little date today. I had a day off and he needed a new passport for our travel to Spain in the end of the month.
As in the "old days" we took a visit to the open kindergarden we used to visit so much a year ago. It s such a nice place and the staff is so lovely.
We had a great time learning new songs, eating well (A had 4 knekkebröd with macrell)
and socializing with new people.

Afterwards we had a cinnamonroll in "godt bröd"... those are so good.

I loved having some time alone with him... I wish we were better at doing that more often. I see how they fight between them to get our attention sometimes. It must have been a relief to have me totally by himself the whole day.

Thanks!

Morning everyone!

And thanks for all the nice greetings considering our babyboy:)

Its the day before our big party and I have been shopping pink dragwig for our model...! haha.
Of course I will keep it for myself later!

You ask me about how I feel? I feel great, better than ever:) My pregnancies have always been a nice experience for me, and especially the second trimester. Not too big, not too heavy, full of energy and positivness. I know that there will come heavier moments;)

The kids were happy about the news and Marcus wanted to study the photos closely. We talked about how the baby can live inside the belly, how it gets food and how it drinks and pees.
He found it funny:)

Still I have only received nice feedback on the fact that we are having another boy! But I assume some will tell me "oh, another boy...?!
I find it just great that they will be three of the same sex. They will share so much between them. And petit will inherit toys and clothes from the older brothers. What a saving as well;)

Hope you are having a nice thursday!

I am waiting for my charityburger in Cafe Magdalena. A place run by Kirkens Bymisjon. Nice atmosphere and sweet people working here. A good place to support.

Ultrasound news!!

So, finally! Today was time for our first (and last I guess) ultrasound!!
We both had a dream last night that we would have a girl.
I can only say that our dreams didnt come true...
We are having our third BOY!!!!!!

Holy.... This can be a lot of fun:)
I imagine the three of them best friends:)
He was so cute and Perfect!! I had a tear in my eye all the time, smiling from ear to ear.
Life is fantastic.

I thought he could just come out already, he looked so ready. And he gave us a little show as well, kicking like crazy.

Marcus was really happy to hear that it was a boy. Those were his last words yesterday as he went to bed: "I hope its a boy".

Well, I am so pleased to know that everything is fine with little raisin.

Now, I can go on planning this weekends party with 150 kollegues, where I am one of four partyplanners;)
There will be a fashionshow with transformed laboratoryclothes... interersting:)
Our man will be dressed as a transvestite, haha!

Lovely xmas!

After many days of lovely xmas food we felt the need of giving our bodies some nice fish again.
Cod in spanish salsa turned out really tasty.
Tomatoes, baked red pepper on a can, lemonjuice, cod, fresh basil and almond potatos in sweet harmony.

We have celebrated the best xmas of our times. Its been some days to remember!
We are working these days but our little carrot is a trip to Spain in only a months time:)

The last xmas workshop

I so wish I had a day off tomorrow to fix the last things...
But I dont, so it will be as it will be. Good enough.

We had the last xmas workshop yesterday... The kids made decoration and it turned out really great. I always keep some saltydough in the fridge in case of instant need of creating something.

I bought buttons and other small items to glue on from Panduro. It doesnt take much to cheer up these salty angels and mooses a little bit. They will look perfect on the tree.

We'll go to my parents for a couple of days and enjoy the calmness of xmas. The kids are really exciteted and are counting days for xmas to come. How BIG xmas is when you are a kid!!
I do remember...

Have a happy, happy xmas everyone:)

Marcus invents jokes

Marcus:

"There were two lorries driving down the road. Then came a dinosaur and stepped on one of them. The other one said: come on frisbee!"

Who taught you that one I asked?
I made it up myself... You see... I think rather much:)

Friday evening snack

This was a pretty good eveningmeal we prepared yesterday.
We are quite found of sweet potatoes and ate a lot of it in Spain where it is a common vegetable in autumn/winter.

You bake the sweet potatoes in the oven for about an hour. They should be soft and sometimes the "caramel" leaks out as well.
Then you mix some fetacheese with a little bit of creme fraiche that you stuff it with together with some black olives and thyme.

Give the sweetpotato a chance folks:)

Hard to be a kid

Marcus said something funny tonight:

Mum, I dont wanna go to the kindergarden tomorrow. I just wanna have a cosy day. Like you adults; when you come together you have coffees and cakes but we kids have to construct and make things all the time. Thats tiring.

Marcus is not staying home tomorrow, but I told him to take a little timeout from making and constructing.
So he will sit on a chair and do nothing. Those were his own words.